Mid-Childa, Cranagan
Every generation great heroes arise from scores of mundane people. Heroes, who break the cycle of boring everyday tasks to have daring adventures and who protect the innocent people of the universe from wicked and evil fiends. Heroes like Nanoha Takamachi and now the newest of them all… Vivio H. Takamachi!
At least she would be were she was allowed to do things on her own.
“I don’t need a babysitter!” Vivio H. Takamachi, age fifteen, was in a sour mood. She’d been waiting for this day, this single solitary moment, for years. This was the day she was supposed to complete her first solo mission. And unless the dictionary had changed, solo still meant alone not alone plus a giant blue wolf!
“I am merely an observer,” Zafira stated. “Please continue as you would normally.”
Vivio’s eye twitched, “If you’re an observer then what are Rein and Agito!” She flung her arm out, pointing at the two unison devices floating above them.
“Then perhaps backup?”
“If you don’t know then don’t answer.” She puffed out her cheeks and put her hands on her hips, “Shesh they’re so overprotective.
“I believe your parents are only looking out for you,” Zafira sat back on his haunches in the air as Vivio looked the other way.
Vivio had grown up nicely. Opposed to the view into the future that Nanoha had seen during the Jail Scaglietti incident, Vivio had grown into a happy young woman. Like her mama she kept her hair tied up in a giant side ponytail but hers was far thinner then Nanoha’s. She had a pretty cheerful face and would easily hold the attention of any boy; of course that boy would then have to go through a family of mages. Vivio didn’t have any interest in romance however. There was no time for it in her busy life.
“But come on I’m not five!”
“Come on let’s get going Vivio!” Agito looped around in the air. “I have important things to do!”
“But I thought Signum gave you the day off to help Vivio?” Rein tilted her head to the side.
Agito whacked Rein over the head, “stupid!”
“Why are you so mean Agito-chan?” Rein rubbed her head.
“Why are you so bratty?”
“Ehem!” Vivio drew the attention back to her.
Rein and Agito straightened up and came to attention. Then they seemed to remember exactly who it was they were talking to and relaxed again.
Rein floated forward, “Please state your name and rank.”
Vivio sighed, “You’ve known me since I was five. Is this really necessary?”
Agito groaned and crossed her arms, “Just say ‘em so we can get on with it.”
Vivio half-heartedly saluted, “Vivio H. Takamachi, Civilian Collaborator.”
“You too Zaffy,” the red head glared down at the wolf.
“I am Zafira, the official bodyguard of Commander Hayate Yagami and Vivio H. Takamachi’s current overseer,” Zafira looked very serious but he was always like that so it was nothing new.
“Now for the briefing,” Agito pulled up a screen. “Alright,” She messed with the screen, screwing her forehead up in concentration. “Let’s see…” Data flew by at an incredibly fast rate but Agito seemed to understand it all. “Ah here.” Suddenly the data came to a halt, stopping on a single screen. “Your job is really easy, so even though you’re a kid you should be able to handle it.”
“I don’t want an easy mission!” Vivio protested.
Rein giggled, “When Agito-chan—
“Don’t call me that!”
“—says easy she means medium level difficulty, don’t worry Hayate specifically requested you do this one.”
Vivio nodded. “Alright then what is it?”
“It’s a retrieval mission,” Agito spun the screen around so it faced Vivio. “Your job is to retrieve the lost logia on this truck,” A large transport vehicle was displayed on the monitor. There were no marks on it, nothing that made it look out of the ordinary… except for the lack of marks.
“What kind of logia?” Vivio raised an eyebrow.
Agito shrugged, “Who knows.”
Vivio sighed, “Thanks for the help Agito.”
The device missed the sarcasm in the teen’s voice and merely grinned. “No prob!”
“Falling Soul!” Vivio held out a small orange cube in her hand. “Set up!”
[Roger Vi] The distinctly male AI answered back in English.
The cube glowed, extending well beyond the length of Vivio’s arm into a glaive. The pole itself was almost as long as Vivio’s body, the crescent shaped piece that curved along the top was just about as long as her forearm. The entire thing was a dark orange, not the most fearsome of colors but it would do, though Vivio had asked Falling Soul if he’d be kind enough to be ANY other color, of course he refused.
Vivio’s barrier jacket soon followed. Dark gloves, almost like gauntlets, formed around her hands. Pitch black armor formed around her body like something out of a fantasy novel. The out fit was topped off by a heavy helmet. “Somehow,” Vivio’s voice echoed out of her helmet, “this looked cooler in my head.”
Zafira shook his head, “This is why I told you to practice making a barrier jacket before putting it to use.”
Vivio sighed as her helmet retreated into the form of a headband. Her armor then followed, sliming down to nothing more then creamy grey colored buttoned up light overcoat trimmed with silver. The coat didn’t button up completely, revealing the black pants underneath them. The gloves, however, stayed the same.
“No skirt?” Zafira uncharacteristically teased. “That might be the first time I’ve seen a flying mage in pants.”
“Do you want me to flash everyone?”
Zafira shuddered, “No of course not.” He straightened up. “Now if you’re done we should see if there’s any information on recently stolen logia and—”
“That’s boring!” Vivio dived off the roof of the building they had been standing on. “It’ll look important so we’ll know it!”
“Vivio maybe you should try listening to your elders,” Zafira growled and bounded after her, leaving the two unison devices to observe them.
---
Vivio loved Cranagan. Of course it was natural to love and have pride in where one grew up but Vivio particularly loved her city. Ever since she had learned to fly (at age ten) Vivio had used her ability to explore the city. It was illegal of course and Zafira called it “a blatant disrespect for authoritative figures” but it was too fun for Vivio not to. Besides, it wasn’t like her flying hurt anyone.
As Vivio bounced around the city’s rooftops she recalled the familiar feeling of being lighter than air. Vivio only half flew, she preferred to jump from roofs and glided to the next, not only was it more fun it used only half the mana if even.
“Watch the road!” Zafira instructed from behind her. Of all the teachers Vivio had had, Zafira was by far one of the few she listened too, even if she never seemed to care what he said.
“I am!” Actually no she hadn’t been but she wasn’t about to let him know that.
“We’re looking for the truck!”
Vivio rolled her eyes and looked back, “I know that!”
Zafira’s eyes widened, “Vivio no roof!”
“Huh?” Vivio looked down and realized she had just jumped into the air. “F-Falling!”
[Activating Arial Ace]
Light orange energy wings popped out of Vivio’s back allowing her to slowly stop her fall.
Vivio sighed in relief. “Thanks Falling Soul.”
[As long as you’re an idiot Vi, I’ll be here to save you]
Vivio glared at the device and contemplated throwing it away. “You know Raising Heart and Baridiche aren’t this noisy.”
[Old timers like that are boring]
“I’m starting to regret letting Aunt Shari upgrade you.”
[What’s done can’t be undone]
“Children!” Zafira barked out from above. “Eyes on the road!”
Vivio turned and saw the thing they had been waiting for.
Whoever had decided it was a good idea to leave the truck unmarked was a moron. The steel car stood out like a sore thumb among the brightly colored cars on the highway. They might as well have written ‘suspicious vehicle’ on the truck’s side.
Vivio and Zafira started to follow the truck as it rolled down the road at a rapid speed that was just pushing the limits of legal.
“Looks like this is a job for that attack,” Vivio grinned like the Cheshire cat.
[Sounds fun!] Vivio could almost hear the device’s excitement.
“Starlight!” Vivio started her attack.
“Wait a minute!” Zafira sounded almost panicked. “That attack is for emergencies only!”
“Canon,” Vivio giggled as Zafira nearly fell out of the sky. Energy started to gather in the crescent’s hollow and Vivio moved to better prepare for the fall back.
The sound of cartages being used up and falling to the ground filled the air.
“Don’t do that again,” he paced in the air.
“I wasn’t about to use breaker here.”
[Ready]
“Lock onto that truck.”
[Locking…]
[Locked]
Vivio squared her feet. “And fire!”
The energy burst out of Falling Soul, compressed into a ball. It rocketed towards the truck and hit it with enough force to take out a few walls at once. It took all Vivio had to keep it from shooting through the truck and destroying whatever was inside. The force as Vivio forced the ball to break apart was enough to knock her back into the building behind her.
Vivio rubbed her head. Brick walls hurt but if she hadn’t had her barrier jacket on it would have hurt a lot more. She looked up as the rubble from her attack settled. The truck had overturned, its side wide open. Its drivers, however, hadn’t emerged yet.
“That was overkill,” Zafira motioned towards the wreckage.
“Heh,” Vivio chuckled nervously, “oops? I guess I’m just too strong.”
Zafira started his usual lecture, “Maybe magically but remember—”
“—control is just as important as power. Uncle Yuuno says the same thing.” She had heard this a million times.
“Then listen to it!” He shook his head, “Your mothers caused more property damage in their youth then the entire air force combined could.”
“I kinda have work to do,” Vivio pointed down, people had started to surround the truck.
“Then go the clock is ticking.”
---
“Robots?” Vivio leaned into the truck’s window where two fried pieces of machinery were. “That’s anti-climatic.”
“You’re lucky then,” Zafira floated above her having finished scaring off unwanted onlookers.
“But I can’t show off if there’s no one to fight,” Vivio hopped into the trucks hull.
“That’s for the best.”
Vivio shrugged. There wasn’t anything suspicious in the truck. In fact the contents of it were more like those of a moving van’s then a smuggler’s. She blinked and flicked a pair of panties to the side. “Are you sure this is the right truck?”
“No. You’re the one who smashed it without scanning its contents,” Zafira pointed out.
“Well I don’t even know what we’re looking for!”
“I thought you’d find it because it would ‘look important’,” if Vivio didn’t know Zafira better she would have said the wolf was mocking her.
[You got mail Vi] A screen popped out of Falling soul. Rein’s face soon appeared on it.
“We found out what kind of Logia it’s supposed to be!” The unison device looked like she was about to burst from her excitement. “I’ll send the specs right now!”
“Out of the way!” Agito pushed Rein out of the frame. “Okay this thing is gonna look crazy. But trust me it’s the real deal!”
Their faces were replaced by an image.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” There was no way that was the Lost Logia they were looking for.
“That’s what you’re after!” The miniature girl was getting as red as her hair.
Vivio looked around the truck. The picture had been of a small, sloppy, handmade coffee mug. It looked like the kind a kindergarten kid would make for their parents; in fact Vivio vaguely remembered making a similar one for her parents. “We’ll never find it.”
“Good luck and remember we’re watching!”
“Better start looking,” Zafira ignored her question and motioned with his muzzle towards the contents of the truck.
Vivio groaned and started to sift through the objects.
---
“There is no way this thing is a Lost Logia.” After over an hour of searching Vivio had managed to find the mug, the mug that she was now twirling around in her hands. “It just can’t be.”
“You have to learn to accept things for what they are,” Zafira looked up from his postion on the ground, where he had been taking a nap. “We leave finding that out to the people whose job it is to study the logia.”
“But aren’t you even curious?”
“Not in the slightest.”
Vivio sighed exasperatedly and held the mug up to the light. Logia were supposed to look important not like an art project.
“Well that is a curious looking object.”
Vivio let out a small shriek as the mug was lifted from her hands. Vivio whirled around. “Give that back. This is official TSAB business.”
The man tossed the Logia from hand to hand. At first glance he appeared to be floating in the air, but closer inspection revealed he was really balanced on what looked like a silver, mechanical tail coming out of his rear. He was a strange little man, almost like a monkey. He didn’t appear to be much taller then Vivio nor much more muscular. His ears were large and stuck out from the musty brown hair surrounding them. His blue eyes appeared amused with the situation. “It must be very important for them to send out a little girl.”
That got Vivio. “If you won’t cooperate then you’ll force me to use magic.” She swung Falling Soul, fully intending to chop the head off the annoying man.
The man bounced up using his tail as a spring, just missing getting whacked. “Now there’s no reason to be violent.”
“Vivio are you alright?” Zafira jumped into the truck. “Who are you?” His fur bristled and he snarled at the sight of the monkey-man.
“No one worth mentioning.”
Zafira let out a roar. Light blue spikes burst out of the ground. The monkey man was forced to dive out of the way to avoid them. “Surrender now and the force of the law will be minor.”
“Sorry mate,” he crossed his arms, “But you better prepare to fight.”
“Vivio leave this to me,” Zafira stepped out in front of the teenager.
Vivio didn’t argue, she was too busy trying to figure out how to fry the mug’s kidnapper. He hadn’t moved. It was like he was waiting for something.
Zafira opened his jaw to call for more spikes but he was cut off as a pillar threw him into the air from below. “The hell!” He landed in a heap off to the side.
Vivio couldn’t move, she couldn’t decide how to handle them; hell she had no clue how to handle them.
“You’re late Niu,” The monkey-man twisted around to face the new attacker. “I already got it.” He waved the mug in the air.
“Niu” stood up from his position kneeling on the ground. He was a giant, at least two feet taller then Vivio. He was muscular even more so than Zafira, hairy too. His brown hair was long, knotted and thick. It fell around his face and down his shoulders. The hair was continued by his thick beard and side burns. He wore a ragged old leather jacket and a dirty pair of jeans. He had a dull gaze like he was half asleep. He grunted, “Let’s go Hou.” He turned to leave.
Zafira had other ideas. The wolf rammed himself into the back of the giant. The giant wasn’t even fazed, Zafira, on the other hand, looked pained.
“Don’t hurt yourself.”
“Time to go,” “Hou” prepared to bounce on.
“Hold it!” Vivio finally moved, lowering Falling Soul to Hou’s neck. Why she hadn’t thought of this earlier she wasn’t sure. Out of the corner of her eye Vivio could see that Zafira and Niu were engaged in combat. “You move and I slit your neck.”
“You’re just a brat you don’t have the guts.”
[Crescent Release]
Falling Soul’s blade fired off. Her opponent managed to dodge it but not without letting it skim his ear and losing his balance. He toppled to the floor, the mug skidding out of his hands and across the floor.
Vivio dove for it, ignoring the fallen man. As soon as she had her hand around it she leapt back around turning to face the stranger. To her horror she found not only had he got up but he had created a magic seal. For all her studying Vivio could not for the life of her recognize the form.
The magic color was light brown but that wasn’t what was odd. It was the squares that made up the seal that Vivio couldn’t comprehend. Mid style used circles, Belka triangles and while there were supposedly other styles Vivio had never read of anyone practicing them on Mid-Childa particularly without a device. Deviceless magic was near unheard of and spontaneous at best.
Vivio snapped to her senses just in time.
[Guardrail]
Vivio’s own orange seal sprung out from Falling Soul. The barrier popped up just in time to protect her from… a doll? No, not just a doll. The barrier protected her from a crate, a chair, a tea set, one of the guard robots, a sink and seemingly the entire contents of the truck each now embedded with powerful magic. Vivio’s barrier couldn’t hold out for long under that kind of constant attack. She focused, willing the barrier to hold out just a bit longer. To her surprise it did. It survived to the end of the attack. Hou looked surprised and panicked.
Vivio dashed forward while he was stunned gripping both the now bladeless Falling Soul and the mug. She swung down aiming for his head.
In a frenzied last attempt to save himself he held his hands up, a barrier forming to protect himself from Vivio’s attack as he did.
Vivio saw something confusing on his hands. Either drawn or tattooed onto his hands were seals, similar to the one he had used before.
“Fallback,” he whispered.
Vivio gave him a strange look. What was he talking about? The sound of something rushing through the air hit her ears. “Shit!” Vivio cursed and threw out her hands just as a wave of objects flew at her and her barrier. The force flung her back and caused her to drop both her device and the Lost Logia.
Hou moved fast, he had switched to his feet. He snatched up the mug and kicked Falling Soul into the corner. “Niu time to get out of here!”
The giant grunted and pushed Zafira out of his way in the sky where the two had been fighting. Both looked worn though Zafira looked much worse. In two bounds he made it to his partner.
Vivio was helpless to stop them as the constant barrage of items had her flattened to the floor.
“See you later kiddo,” Hou grinned before Niu picked him up and disappeared into the sky, the attack ending with their disappearance.
Vivio smacked the side of the truck, angry tears threatening to make her bawl. Her first mission was an utter failure.
---
“Well that was an unexpected twist,” the man pressed the binoculars to his eyes. He was a small man, mousy, with a gentle, soft face and kindly features. He resembled a little ball of yarn, pudgy and squishy. His ginger hair fell over his face like a shield, hiding his thin rimmed glasses. A hint of silver poked out of the hair where his ears should have been. He was huddled on the roof of the office building, peering through the rings of the chain-link fence. “And a close call too.”
“We had it under control Shu,” Hou stretched and tossed him the mug he had retrieved. “That kid was a newbie.”
Behind him Niu grunted in agreement.
“I don’t see why Kitty wouldn’t help us though,” he shot a glance at the girl sitting on the roof with them.
She glared at him, “Why do you care? You had it ‘under control’ didn’t you?” She was a minute girl, she appeared dainty and delicate but her looks meant nothing in reality. Her cold red eyes told that. Her straight dark red hair reached to her shoulders though in the back it continued a slight bit more. She wore a girly pastel dress and sandals, she obviously had not ever considered joining in on the fight. “Do you really need a girl to bail you out?”
He looked down, embarrassed “I didn’t mean it like that Kitty…”
“Why don’t we go home?” Shu suggested trying to break up the tension in the air. “I’m sure the others will be happy to see that…” he looked at the mug for a moment. “Whatever it is.”
Hou nodded and grinned so wide it looked almost like he was all smile. “Sure.”
“If that’s what you want Shu,” the girl shrugged.
“Leader said something important is going to happen tonight so we better hurry back for that too,” Shu stood up.
“Something important,” Hou raised a thin eyebrow. “Like what?”
“That’s not our business now is it?”
2008-06-23, 15:53
Author
I'll make it up with the next and intended final segment later this week.
