Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Character Creation and Discussion (second reincarnation)

[Silvance]

Percival? . Yeah, I just made a lot of changes on her barrier jacket and device. The first one was too plain. Well, to me at least...

Oh, since I'm at it, I'll repeat myself, her new device is called, "Blitz Fang Calibur"

I kinda rushed through it since I was asked by a friend to make a Vampire Knight sketch. I might go back and adjust some areas in the sketch later.

-EDIT-

I understand now what you meant about Ginga becoming the new Percival. (￣▽￣)

[XenahortCharybdis]

Originally Posted by -Fate-

Percival? . Yeah, I just made a lot of changes on her barrier jacket and device. The first one was too plain. Well, to me at least...

Oh, since I'm at it, I'll repeat myself, her new device is called, "Blitz Fang Calibur"

I kinda rushed through it since I was asked by a friend to make a Vampire Knight sketch. I might go back and adjust some areas in the sketch.

-EDIT-

I understand now what you meant about Ginga becoming the new Percival. (￣▽￣)

*sigh*, Code Geass will be Code Geass.

Some areas is about right. I would suggest the shoulders - the ballooning effect is being taken a little too far there, and the arm width in relation to the torso (which means you need to adjust both). Besides that, is it just me that the close up of Gin-nee has an unnatural pharaoh's chin? That might need a little fixing as well.

That's just a brief sweep, shan't criticise more than some idiot who hasn't drawn a thing in 2 and a half months should, really.

[Silvance]

Thanks for pointing out my mistakes ;D. And yes, Ginga's chin needs to be adjusted . As for the ballooning effect, I kinda did that in purpose. The reason for that is because there are metal plates inside...is that a bad idea? o_O

[XenahortCharybdis]

Hur, sorry, I think it IS a bad idea.

Firstly: Barrier Jackets in and of themselves aren't needing of protection: They ARE protection.

Secondly, from an aethestic point of view, it looks a little huge no matter what reasons you give it. If it was meant to have metal plates, then all the more I think it'd be sleeker for it. And more importantly, it changes the way her shoulders look; it makes them unnaturally and unnecessarily wider, which, I'm afraid, isn't a very good idea.

Okay, next, the arms and the torso:

I think you can keep the torso, but in that case, you'll need to decrease the length (just a bit is fine), and the width of the arms (just a bit too.) Just remember that for most people, two arms should only equal the torso at its thinnest point, even for guys (unless it's a variation of the Buff Man, then that's different.) For this one, her arms equal her torso even at the Oppai Section, which is...well, kinda weird. You know, because Gin is supposed to be pretty fine there and all...?

As to the chin, filing off the hook at the end of her chin should resolve the issue, although one thing could lead to another while you're fixing it. It happens to me a lot; me and my self-made complications.

Lastly, I just noticed. Is the drill made of two seperated screwdriver-like segments? If it is, then I note some degree of perspective error; since Gin-nee has her hand out flat-horizontally, and not at an angle, then the further drill segment should be a bit lower down and be less thick than the foreground drill segment. Right now the difference isn't very large, and at the very tip of them, the visibility of the further drill should be near nil (if my perspective is not mistaken anymore), since it would be increasingly blocked by the foreground drill.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by XenahortCharybdis

Lastly, I just noticed. Is the drill made of two seperated screwdriver-like segments?

It's a blade drill if I'm not mistaken: Those are two flat hooked blades that rotate around the wrist to form a drill-like effect.

[XenahortCharybdis]

Looks like I'm more relevant that I thought, then

[Silvance]

Wow =D. Thank you for the detailed explaination. It actually helps me what to watch out next time I make a sketch. I'll make the necessary adjustments later. Honestly though, I really appreciate you telling me my mistakes in the sketch.


Now then, after learning that I have to improve in many things...I have to do my best and improve (in other words, sketch a lot) while I'm still on vacation!.

[XenahortCharybdis]

Originally Posted by -Fate-

Wow =D. Thank you for the detailed explaination. It actually helps me what to watch out next time I make a sketch. I'll make the necessary adjustments later. Honestly though, I really appreciate you telling me my mistakes in the sketch.


Now then, after learning that I have to improve in many things...I have to do my best and improve (in other words, sketch a lot) while I'm still on vacation!.

Hur hur. It's my pleasure, (although it does give me pangs of guilt that I'm not doing anything with my own advice myself.)

...Maybe I should really get down to drawing again, preferably without jeopardizing my studies or my fic-writing. Suffice it to say that I cannot yet balance all three. Two or nothing is what I've got right now; and thus far drawing has been the main casualty XD

Oh well, maybe I could do one now since I'm not really doing much...mmm.

[dkellis]

Lord Mulloch furrowed his brow. "Wha hae ye praett aen boot?"

"As it so happens, that is an excellent example of the sort of thing I mean," Ginga said. "With all due respect, sir, you do not speak Midchildan."

"Las, nae ken ye t'lanj spooch t'ye plaean as dy?"

"Sir, the polite way to say it is that you have a burr, a lilt, a brogue, an accent. But that is an euphemism for the true problem, which is that you are not speaking Midchildan."

[Estavali]

A thought came to me while re-reading Katharine Kerr.

I wonder if it's possible (or canon) for telepathic conversations to convey hints of the speaker's current emotional state as well as any hidden thoughts. It's like the proverbial hearing the anger/fear/joy/etc in one's vocal voice/tone, but more tangible, since (AFAIK) the conversation links the minds of all parties involved, thus allowing each to greater access the others' inner thoughts/feelings. It's like how cooking, as depicted in manga and anime, is sometimes (or is it usually?) shown to convey the cook's internal state to the perceptive.

For thoughts like treachery and bloodlust, the listen might receive them in the form of a physical reaction or phenomenon that s/he associates with that kind of thought, like a sickeningly sweet stench for treacherous thoughts and a sharp pain for murderous ones.

In a way, it's like reading the other parties' minds, since that's what telepathy (in the usual sense) does. Of course, this theory automatically collapses if canon states that telepathic conversations are like talking over the phone or walkie-talkie and measures are in place to avoid invasions of mental privacy.

[Evangelion Xgouki]

And I return from a short trip back home .
Glad to see this place isn't all that dead. Though still a little lacking for what I was hoping for when I got back

Originally Posted by Kagerou

Unformatted as usual; will be when I post it on the internets in full.

Spoiler for It All Begins Here:

*snip*

Ah, it continues . And now for the tie-in to the first season, huh?

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

I has a brainchild!!! >=D This actually came to me just before I went to bed, I hope you like it.

It is a Subaru/Tiana one-shot that I wrote and dished out, so there will be errors.

Spoiler for Diamond Night:

*snip*

Mmm...WAFF :3

Originally Posted by MeisterBabylon

It's part of my identity revision exercise I'm going through. I'm going to stop telling myself no I can't and move on, and that also involves trashing my past and the ingrained negative thinking. And since my internet ID is very much a part of me, the very first step I took was to attribute all my self-blame, misguided self-beating, and detached-from-reality self-perception to my other self named Kha, then erase his existence from the internet. Since Kha is such a big net-ID, the process is been slow.

It's not a whim of mine; this is part of the psychotherapy I'm going through to fix my ADHD and identity issues. We shouldn't see that sock-puppet account any more than we should from now on thus.

It has helped a bit. I'm actually starting to see some hope in my writing. I have never felt more... like I can do something right for once, for frankly the first time in my entire life, with my own power.

1,718 words. I can do this!

...sounds like something you should see a shrink about

Originally Posted by Sheba

Spoiler:

Merry Christmas Asylum Rejects!! Ya all been bad boys!!

There are pics of his daughter too.

The Santa of the OC, huh?

Originally Posted by MeisterBabylon

EDIT:

I guess I should tell all. So I was napping with meds still active, meaning sleep would be disturbed, but I was too tired so I knocked off.

Anyway I woke up thinking I was sleeping with Fate, but to my horror I realized it was Keroko-chan. @__@

Then I got "backrubbed" by Anita, Deed, Kaguya and Saber, if you know what I mean. @____@

Before I got my bearings, it ended with me getting Zambered by a dark!Fate. @___________@

Then I woke up again.

Yeah I know, WTF is going on. @_________@

Kha...seriously...don't fall asleep while on meds again. I think this confirms that you're nuts, in more ways than one. (And damn glad I was not part of your dillusion otherwise I'd have to mail you a RIDER KICK)

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

lol I just had to do this

Spoiler for YUUSHA'OH SUBARU:

*snip*

...

....

Oh lawd

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Ix: Oh Subaru, I made a song for you!

~ Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Nakajima, Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Nakajima~

Subaru: ...
Teana: Subaru's recording it!!!



*FLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES*

*whacks Lowe with the IXA Knuckle*

[stormturmoil]

just to remind everyone that I'm not dead, a little drabble skit that suddenly popped into my head:

Spoiler for snippet:

" so why is Agent Brown so reserved about coming into this office? He's supposed to be co-operating with our division isn't he?" Hayate asked innocently.

Nanoha sighed. " the truth is, 'Eerie' Brown has worked with us -that being myself and Fate- before. Unfortunately, that lead to trouble, and the upshot of that is that there's a lot of tension between Him and the Harloun Family..."

" What she's trying to say" David answered, appearing round the door like the proverbial Devil (of the non-white variety), " is that you've got connections with both Enforcer Fate and Admiral Chrono, and neither of them are all that thrilled by my presence..."

" And why would this be?" Hayate immediately asked before Fate, sat at the desk next to her, could finish the objection she had opened her mouth to voice.

" As best I can tell" David began, " Chrono is annoyed with me because I made a Pass at his mum. Fate on the other hand...is annoyed that I made a pass at her mum and not her..."

" Why you!..." Fate exclaimed, and then bit back whatever variety of verbal vitriol she had been about to unleash. " I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to step outside...."

The two rival agents left the building. Nanoha sighed in relief.

" Why so relieved?"

" I thought we were going to have to redecorate in here again." Nanoha answered, shuddering.

from outside, two distinct cries of 'ZANBER FORM!" were heard, followed by the unmistakable buzz and howl of clashing power blades.

"Do they really hate each other that much?" Hayate asked.

" Hate each other? What gave you that idea?" Nanoha asked.

" The way they immediately departed to try and slash each other open was what clued me in" Hayate replied.

" Hayate, this is Fate. You know our past. How does Fate view people who try to blast her into senselessness?" Nanoha asked rhetorically. " Those two get along so well it's actually kind of scary. Quite aside from the issue with Lindy, they actually have quite a lot in common. Probably why they got together, and almost certainly why they fell apart again..."

" Those two were in a relationship?" Hayate asked confusedly....

"We-ell...I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, actually. According to Fate, the sum total of their contact, when they were even in the same dimension, consisted solely of violent sex and intense fights, and not necessarily in that order..." Nanoha confided. " personally?" Nanoha whispered " I think she wore him out"

" What makes you say that?" Hayate asked.

" That Device of his? I'm damn sure that those last two modes are an attempt to 'compensate' for something..." Nanoha asserted.

" What does that Make Fate's Bardiche Assault's last mode then?" Hayate asked " A certain kind of envy?"

Nanoha raised an eyebrow at this unexpectedly shrewd comment from her CO.

For those wondering about the comments about device modes, picture of the device and modes in question is below. You work it out.

Spoiler for Device modes picture:

[Oseng]

I'm still around, just been busy with the holidays and some other things.

Looking over the Internal Affairs Department at the moment and trying to come up with a roughly final version, along with coming up with some general bios for the team I'm creating for a fanfic I plan to write.

[Aaron008R]

I'm back. :3

Happy New Year to everyone!

Suffice to say, I had a very fun Christmas Vacation. It always happens, but I can never stop marveling at how wonderful it feels to be at your hometown. There wasn't a single moment I was bored despite the lack of the internet and other common city commodities. I realized that I was only usually bored in the city due to the feeling of the lack of freedom there. At the province, I could do usually do anything I want, whenever I want at my leisure. I also had lots of open space and clean air too.

And the best part, the computer that we were using in a different place was brought back to our house! And of course, that means I was able to write a lot for my OC works!!! The combined progress count already exceeds 10,000 words on a couple or so of my fics. >=3

I remember that around last year I posted the first chapter of GenerationS during a similar time, which was around the start of the year as well. I also remember that I gave the fic as a belated birthday gift to both LoweGear and Keroko. Well, it looks like I have the birthday gifts again...

And thus, I, Aaron008R of the OCT Veterans, officially (tries to) gives a start-of-the-year kick start to the thread for the second time running! Let's go through the Year of the Ox at

ZENRYOKU ZENKAI!!!

HYPER BLUECHEESIUM!!!
BUSTAA CANNON!!!!!

*Episode One*

Spoiler for Prologue:

[TSA Technological Development Center, Mercantile City, Midchilda] [August 13th, MC 075] [2153 hours]

“Tea, Tea!” Subaru yelled through her comlink with her partner, “Are you alright?”

“Somehow…” Teana answered back. She clicked her tongue in irritation as she hid behind a large piece of the wreckage that littered the area. Reloading her cartridges, she peeked around her hiding place-

“Wah!”

-only to be almost hit head-on by several beams from the Gadget Drones!

“TEA!!!” Subaru screamed.

“SHUT UP, IDIOT SUBARU!!!” Teana screamed back in frustration at her partner.

“Uuu~!”

“Sorry.” The orange-haired girl quickly followed through. Now was not the time to be arguing. “How’s it going on your side?”

“No problem so far…” an explosion can be heard, “There’s just so much of them right now!”

“Tch.” Teana readied her device, Cross Mirage.

Today wasn’t a very easy day for Riot Force 6. With several matters to attend to, the Unit was once again forced to split up its forces; an occurrence that was beginning to become more frequent within the recent weeks. Right now, Signum, Tesla, Caro and Erio were in a separate mission. Keroko and Vita were attending to other matters in the Air Force. That left her, Subaru, and Captains Nanoha and Fate of the Stars and Lightning Squads, respectively to handle this area.

‘Teana.’ another voice contacted her telepathically.

‘Fate-taichou!’ (Captain Fate)

‘I am currently hovering over your position right now, I’ll be attacking most of the larger targets on your way, so can I count on you to take care of the rest?’

Teana smiled; there was no need to reconsider her options, ‘Yes, please!’

‘That’s good. Here I come!’

[Plasma Lancer. Multi-target Lock.] said a deep, mechanical voice.

“Fire!” rang Fate’s voice from above.

Teana braced herself as several explosions occurred beyond her hiding place. Sneaking a quick look revealed that most of the Gadget Drones which were blocking her way were destroyed. “Fate-san cleared up most of them… The rest would be easy for us to handle.” she commanded her pistol device, “Cross Mirage!”

[Variable Barrett.]

She lunged out of her hiding place and ran sideways, carefully taking aim and quickly shooting down the seven remaining drones. After taking another scan of the area, Teana contacted the others, “This is Stars 4. Section C, clear!” she reported over the communication lines.

“Nice one, Tea!” Subaru called over.

Two virtual communications windows appeared beside her, both bearing the faces of the two Captains, “Good work, Teana, Fate-taichou.” Nanoha acknowledged.

“Hm.” Fate nodded with a small smile.

Nanoha focused her gaze on the Forward, “Teana, can you switch places with Subaru? She would be able to enter to find any remaining personnel faster. Fate-chan would help you get there quickly.”

“No problem here.” Fate confirmed in her line.

“No problem!” the orange-haired girl replied. She opened communications with her other teammate, “You heard that, Subaru?”

“Yes!” her partner replied, “I’ll be dashing over Section C to enter the inner premises right now!”

“Okay, let’s continue!” Nanoha called out.

“Roger!” the three replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the inner sections of the Research Facility, it can be seen that almost all of the personnel were already gone. Only a tall, blue-haired man was there, hurriedly running towards a building, his black eyes carefully scanning the surroundings. He was wearing a large lab coat, signifying his position as one of the researchers.

“Anybody there?!” Subaru’s voice resounded loudly as the Forward dashed further inwards.

Hearing the voice, the person stopped and turned towards the direction of the sound. “Hmm, reinforcements at last, huh?” he muttered.

Subaru took notice and rushed towards him, “Mister, are you alright?” she asked the man as she skidded to a halt beside him.

“Fine.” he replied promptly, eyeing Subaru appraisingly, “Those devices, are you from the new unit?”

“Yes.” she replied, “I’m Private First Class Subaru Nakajima of Lost Property Riot Force 6.” she did a quick salute, “Are anyone else here?”

“No, I and the security forces have seen to it that they’ve already evacuated.”

“That’s good to hear.” Subaru smiled in relief before reverting back to a more serious tone, “Then, please follow me, I’ll escort you to safe locati-”

“There is no need for that,” he cut her off; “I still need to check something in the next building. Just get back on to your mission.”

“Ah, but-!”

“You heard me.” he turned and made to hurry to the nearby building that hasn’t been damaged yet.

“Wait!” Subaru grabbed his arm, “I can’t let a civilian be endangered in this situation!” she insisted.

“Tch.” the older man sighed and turned to face the girl, “Listen, I am not a civilian. I’m also a mage.”

“Eh?”

“Subaru!” a female voice resounded, making the two on the ground look up to see a brunette in a distinctive white Barrier Jacket fly towards them, with an equally distinctive staff device grasped in her hand.

“Nanoha-san!” Subaru exclaimed in apparent delight. She dragged the somewhat protesting man by his arm towards the Ace of Aces.

Nanoha landed lightly on the floor just as Subaru and the other person arrived, her expression serious as she regarded her subordinate and her companion, “Was anybody hurt-huh?!” her eyes widened in surprise as she realized who her Forward was dragging by the arm. “Y-you are…”

“Hmph. A bit slow this time, I guess.” he said, “We’ve handled most of the evacuation procedures, so there’s no need to worry.” the man finished bluntly as he jerked his arm from Subaru’s grip and gave Nanoha a patronizing gaze.

“???” Subaru shifted her gaze from Nanoha to the elderly man she found, confusion in her expression.

The man’s right arm rose…

“Err,” the younger girl tentatively asked, “do you know each othe-EEHHH?!?!?!” she exclaimed in surprise at the sight before her. He was patting Nanoha on the head!

“You’ve grown, Nanoha.” He said with a smile, ruffling the Ace’s head rather roughly.

“Nn~!” Nanoha whined as she tried to remove the large hand messing with her hair. Quickly regaining composure, she asked him, “Aurion-san, what are you doing here?”

The man named Aurion only crossed his arms and scowled, “I was running inspections in this facility before it was attacked. What took you so long?”

“Erm…” Nanoha smiled sheepishly, scratching her cheek. “We came as quickly as we could. And the situation has been secured already.”

“Good.” he replied with satisfaction. He turned his gaze to Subaru, “Nanoha, would you mind if I borrowed your subordinate for a minute? I’ll have her accompany me in my search for any leftover research data in the next building.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Nanoha replied with a smile. She turned towards Subaru as well, “Subaru, will you escort and guard him for the meanwhile?”

“Uh, yes ma’am!” Subaru replied.

“Alright, you can go back to the cleanup work, Nanoha; as for you, Private Nakajima, follow me.”

“Okay, please be careful.”

“Tell that to any enemy we might still encounter. I’m not in the best of moods right now.”

“Hahaha!”

The two turned around. Nanoha gave Subaru one last nod before she flew off again, and Aurion quickly went towards the undamaged building.

“… I don’t get it!” Subaru muttered in confusion as she alternated her stare at the both of them.

“Oi, hurry up, escort!”

“Awawa, y-yes, Aurion-san!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The search for the remaining data went by very quickly. Simply put, there was nothing to retrieve.

“Damn!” the blue-haired man muttered in irritation, slamming his fist at the side of the terminal he was currently using.

“Aurion-Hakase (Professor Aurion)…?” Subaru asked politely, not wanting to aggravate him.

“We were hacked. Most of the latest classified development data have been wiped clean from all the high-security archives. Whoever did this definitely had much expertise and perhaps even high-spec electronic jamming tools.”

“I see.” she replied. She gritted her teeth. The recent activity levels of the Gadget Drones were becoming higher and higher, and it was getting progressively harder to cover all the cases with just mostly RF6 on the case. “What were the stolen data about?”

“You should know better than to ask about classified information, girl.” Aurion replied, flicking Subaru on the forehead with his finger and getting a surprised cry in reply. He then sighed and shrugged, “Well, let’s just say that those were research information to address the AMF problem. Not all the TSAB are unanimous with their policies, the same applies for the research department.”

“Okay.” Subaru replied, her hand on her forehead. “Anyway, should we evacuate now, Aurion-san?”

“No.” He shook his head, “I think I have another idea…”

Suddenly, the door burst open, alarming both of them and making them turn towards it, spells at the ready.

“Oh.” Subaru relaxed after seeing that it was only Teana. “Tea!”

“Subaru!” Teana replied, running towards them. “This is bad, there’s a second and third wave of Gadget Drones incoming. Both are just about as large as the first one!”

“Eh?”

“What…?” Aurion asked, his eyes narrowing. “Tch… That must mean they’re also targeting the facilities themselves.”

“Ah, you must be the Magitech Head Researcher, Aurion Dauer.” the orange-haired forward addressed him.

“Correct. And you are?”

She offered a salute, “I am Private Second Class Teana Lanster of Lost Property Riot Force 6.”

“I see.” his expression became more severe, “Tell me, aside from Nanoha, who else are currently here in this operation?”

Teana nodded, “Captain Fate T. Harlaown of the Lightning Squad is here as well. But that’s about it.”

*beep beep*

“…” Just then, a communication notice sounded from Subaru’s device. She raised her armored arm, a communications screen appearing above it bearing the visage of a brown-haired girl. “Commander Yagami!”

“Subaru.” Hayate gave her a quick nod, also securing a comlink with the two others in the room, “Teana, Aurion-hakase.”

“Yagami Hayate.” Aurion stated casually. He placed a hand on his hip, his stare evaluative, “What is it?”

“Professor, please have Teana and Subaru escort you out of the facility. I am going to release the limiters of Captains Nanoha and Fate to quickly deal with the threat.”

“Limiters?” he frowned, “Tsk, it seems like Admin really has a penchant for making convenient things difficult to use, huh?”

“Aurion-hakase!” Hayate said with urgency in her voice, “Please evacuate now! We don’t have much time!” she leaned closer, “There is also the possibility that even you are targeted.”

“I’ve considered that possibility the moment the attack commenced, but that would be a bad move on the enemy's part. Assassinating me would give the TSA Navy sufficient grounds to immediately step in this case. There’s a chance, but I refuse.” Aurion replied brusquely, “This area is under my jurisdiction as a TSA Head Researcher as well. And I also have the license to use magic in combat should the situation call for it.” he grinned, “Save the limiter release for a bit later in case of dire need. I’m joining the fray.”

The brown-haired Ace’s expression clearly expressed disagreement, but she soon just heaved a resigned sigh and smiled weakly, “There’s no way for me to convince you otherwise…?”

“Nope. That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t join your Unit.” he replied with a smirk. “I’m still not enthusiastic about the prospect of taking orders from an overly ambitious, half-baked Commander.” he straightened his posture, “I’m requesting authorization to provide assistance for your unit during this operation.”

“Your tongue is still as sharp as ever.” Hayate’s smile widened despite the impolite comments. Her expression immediately went back to a professional one, “Authorization granted. Thank you for your assistance.” She hesitated for a second before adding, “Please be careful… Oji-chan.”

“Understood.” Aurion nodded, smiling. He quickly strode towards the door, looking backwards, “Thanks for the assistance, Privates Lanster and Nakajima.”

“H-hai!” the two forwards replied, confusion apparent on their faces. They looked at each other, both wondering if they heard correctly.

Did Yagami Hayate just call him ‘Uncle?’

“Teana, Subaru. There’s a change in orders!” Hayate addressed the two.

“Ah, hai!”
“Yes, Ma’am!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*BOOM!*

A trail of explosions occurred near the East Sector of the Research Facility. Hefting her device in its Assault Form, Fate floated in the sky above the gates, her eyes scanning the area for any other threats that would come. “Bardiche,” she referred to her device, “When would the next wave arrive?”

[The next group would arrive in approximately 3 minutes and 57 seconds if the speed is consistent with prior statistical data. No other hostile signals are detectable within a 1000 meter radius.] the black device responded in monotone.

“That takes care of the second wave…” she sighed, ‘Nanoha.’ Fate called over her co-Captain telepathically. ‘How are things going on your side? I’m done with mine for the meanwhile.’

‘There are a lot of them, but more or less manageable, Fate-chan...’ was the reply. After a few seconds of pause, Nanoha spoke again, ‘I’ve also taken care of the second wave; standing by to intercept the third.’

“Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan!” Hayate contacted both of them through comlinks.

“Hayate?”
“Hayate-chan?”

“There would be a delay in the limiter release, if they are to be released this mission.”

“Why?” Nanoha asked.

Hayate smiled, “We would be receiving reinforcements. Aurion-hakase would be joining in the operation shortly.”

“Eh?” Fate exclaimed, “But that’s-!!!” she quickly turned around, “Nngh~!” only to be met with a friendly pat on her head.

“I see you still like to fret as much as ever, Fate.” the person they were talking about said. He was already in his Barrier Jacket, which bore a close resemblance to a TSA Navy Enforcer design. His left arm from the elbow-downwards took the appearance of a robotic arm with a streamlined barrel on the forearm along with a number of buttons.

“Aurion-san!” the blond Ace shook her head and regarded him with a frown, “You shouldn’t have approached me in stealth. I almost mistook you for an enemy!”

“Wouldn’t that have been interesting then?” Aurion asked with a wide smile, “I’m confident in at least surviving your attacks for a few seconds.” he crossed his arms, his grin becoming wider, “Besides, seeing your expression when you find out you just attacked an ally would have been priceless.”

“Mou…” Fate pouted, blushing lightly.

“Ahahaha! That’s just like you, Oji-chan!” Nanoha said cheerfully over the comlink. “Glad to receive your assistance.” she finished with a wink.

“It’s good to know that at least one Ace is in the same wavelength,” he winked back at Nanoha through communications window, “unlike these two worrywarts here.” he finished, referring to Hayate and Fate.

“Oji-chan!”
“I-I’m not a worrywart!”

“Whatever.” Aurion rolled his eyes. “Let’s commence the operation, shall we?” he turned to the commanding Ace, “Area designations, ‘Commander?’”

“Right.” Hayate nodded. “Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan would widen the area margins of their enemy interception.” the coordinates were transferred over to Raising Heart and Bardiche. “Aurion-hakase, you would be handling the central and southern areas. The ground assaults would be handled by Stars 3 and 4 alongside the security mages. The current agenda is interception instead of pursuit. Tracking the source of the enemy ranks will be handled by my sub-unit, Long Arch.”

“The plan seems fine, but,” the blue-haired man frowned as he looked at his designated area, “there seems to be less chances of continuous attack where you assigned me.”

Hayate answered promptly, “I cannot allow our guest collaborator to handle too much risk. That area is also a spot where Captains Nanoha and Fate can quickly back you up should the need arise.” she smiled sweetly, “Please leave the bulk of the work to us in the military, ‘Professor.’”

“Hmph!” Aurion smirked, “It’s at least good to know you’ve gotten yourself more initiative. Very well, I guess that much should be at least enough to blow off some steam.”

[Sir.] Bardiche notified Fate, [Third enemy wave incoming in approximately 54 seconds.]

“They’re coming.” Fate repeated, readying herself.

“Same here! I’ll reestablish communication after dealing with the threat.” Nanoha cut off her communications window.

“We’re starting, be careful, Fate-chan, Oji-chan.” Hayate followed. With a nod from both of them, she cut off communication as well.

“Fate.”

“Yes?”

“Most of you are under limiters, correct? How severe is the rank-down?”

“Me and Nanoha, as well as Keroko, Signum, Vita and Tesla are set at AA. Hayate’s rank down is the largest one at A-rank.”

“Hm.” Aurion nodded, “At least it’s not as bad as I feared for the field commanders.” he placed a hand on her shoulder, “I’ll leave this area to you.”

“Understood.” Fate nodded. “Be careful with your position as well, Aurion-san.”

“Ha,” the older mage only scoffed as he turned around, “I’ve told Nanoha earlier and I’ll tell you now. The enemies should be the ones to be careful.” he took out a device that resembled a bulky, sliding cell phone and inserted it on the slot near the elbow and behind the barrel of his left mechanical arm. “Almaria.”

[Complete.] came a robotic voice from his arm upon attachment. The arm’s visible systems panels glowed and blinked for a few seconds; the voice being replaced by a young, female one after a moment, [System reassignment completed. Ready to receive orders, Chief.]

“Because…” Aurion looked back at Fate, his jet black eyes now frighteningly devoid of emotion, “I’m in a very bad mood right now.” He said in a dark tone that would have sent a chill down Fate’s spine had he been a stranger to her before flying away.

“…” Fate smiled as she turned towards the incoming opponents and held up her device, “Bardiche.”

[Load Cartridge. Haken Form.] her device’s revolver-loader loaded one cartridge, the axe-head bending outwards to unleash a golden energy-scythe.

She was confident that there wouldn’t be anything to worry about him, since Aurion was a person most people would not want to deal with when he was in a bad mood.

“We better hurry up ourselves or we’ll get left behind, okay, Bardiche?” she told her device gently.

[Yes, Sir.] he replied.

After taking a deep breath, Fate started her attack against the quickly incoming enemy drones.

=MGLN StrikerS: Outer Cadia Episode Series=
~Solitary Perspective~

Spoiler for Episode 1: Part 1:

[Lost Property Riot Force 6, Cranagan City, Midchilda] [August 14th, MC 075] [0934 hours]

After the operation, the RF6 members were ordered to return to base. Aurion took responsibility in filing the case report himself and personally went to their base to discuss the issue, which carried a high level of confidentiality. It has already been several minutes since the start of the meeting.

“I see, so that means Jail Scaglietti’s faction somehow managed to get wind of the projects being undergone by your division?” Hayate asked; her expression severe.

“Correct.” Aurion nodded, “While the progress was anything but quick, there had been a desirable rate development in the TSA Magitech Minority Faction with our anti-AMF research. But as you can see, it seems that keeping the latest development data in just the High-Security Information Archives for the time being was a large blunder on our part. Now most of the latest development information is gone.” he scowled, “Even I wasn’t able to obtain the needed information in time.”

“That’s unfortunate…” Nanoha murmured, “Those would have been really beneficial once completed, seeing that the situation is getting more and more hectic lately…”

“Personally, I think that Scaglietti’s information network is a little too accurate.” he leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms, “Have your team ever considered a high chance of inside-help?”

Fate took this opportunity to talk, “Yes. Given the results of our investigations since several months ago, it is probability is high that Scaglietti is receiving information from inside the TSAB itself. But… the problem is spotting who the double-agent or even agents are.”

“Doesn’t that General Regius Gaiz look suspicious?” Aurion asked, “I’ve been reading up on his policies and recent decisions these past few months. He’s being far from helpful. To tell the truth, he’s one of the pains in the side for the Midchilda-based Technology Division.” he sighed in frustration, “That obstinate fool doesn’t know the line between pride and arrogance. Even I’ve been getting trouble with the approval for my proposed optional defense systems for the Midchilda Ground Forces Installations.”

“That’s…” Hayate muttered.

“I know you wouldn’t let even him off the list of possible traitors.” Aurion cut her off. “But the problem is finding proof.”

“Aurion-hakase… That’s a little…” Nanoha said uneasily.

“Do not mind my sentiments.” he answered back tartly. “He could bug this meeting table to record our conversation right now and later accuse me of libel for all I care. But the chances of him doing that are close to zero. He may be a fool, but no high-ranking military commander would be a brainless idiot. Learning to play with bigger or more dangerous fish in the pond is only basic.”

Hayate interlaced her fingers and placed her chin over it, “For one who says that, you sure do have a rather rough character when it comes to these kinds of things.” she said with a sly smile. “I could also say the pot is calling the kettle black.”

“Hah. I am not just one of the dangerous fish in the pond, Hayate.” the older man smirked, “I can also be the bait, hook and line. I am not against the possibility of catching rotten fish and leaving them out in the air to die instead of throwing them back to the pond to spoil others. And as for being a pot, I am well aware of my own soot, thank you.”

Fate smiled uncomfortably, “This is certainly one of those meetings that shouldn’t be shown to the public.”

Hayate and Nanoha laughed.

“Hmph.” Aurion continued, “People who think that a Government is supposed to be an infallible Bastion of Justice are unfortunately too many in this universe.” he shrugged, “On the other hand; there are those who are smart enough to lead but too idealistic that they actually end up trying to fulfill the role perfectly.” he finished, staring pointedly at Hayate.

“I’d like to believe that I’m not that unrealistic…” the brown-haired girl replied with light indignation.

“We’ll see what you can say about the matter after you get more time to mature.” the blue-haired man answered back before getting up and stretching, “Well, that about concludes my report. Anything else needed, Unit Commander Yagami?”

Hayate shook her head. She stood up and saluted, “No. Thank you for the information, Head Researcher Aurion Dauer. We will take the details to the higher authorities for immediate action.”

“The assistance is gladly taken.” Aurion nodded. “Meeting adjourned?”

She smiled, “Meeting adjourned.”

Everybody else in the meeting room all relaxed their postures. Aurion walked around the table and went towards Hayate, “And before I forget…”

“Kya!” squealed Hayate as the man began ruffling her hair.

“I still find it hard to swallow that a little imp like you actually has her own Military Unit now!” he said with wry amusement. The ruffling of Hayate’s hair soon eased down to a gentler rubbing.

“Thanks for the compliment, Oji-chan.” she answered with a playful glare. Out of habit, she then closed her eyes contentedly and let him stroke her head longer.

“It wasn’t my intention, but take the sentiment however you like.” he spent a few more moments petting her head before pulling back and turning to address the others, “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m afraid that I’m very busy with some urgent business.”

Nanoha pouted, “Won’t you even wait until Keroko-chan comes back?”

“A chance would present itself later, I assure you, Nanoha. But for now, I really have to hurry back.”

“We’ll at least escort you outside the grounds then.” Fate suggested.

“Hmm, I won’t mind that.”

*bsshht*

The sliding door of the room opened, drawing the eyes of the four in the room.

“… A kid?” Aurion asked.

*commercial break*

[Aaron008R]

Spoiler for Episode 1: Part 2:

Stepping in, a little yellow-haired girl with mismatched eyes of red and green; also clutching a suspiciously familiar bunny doll looked around, “Mama…?” she called out in a small voice.

“Vivio!” Nanoha exclaimed, quickly rushing towards the young girl.

Seeing her, the child perked up and ran up for a hug, “Nanoha-Mama!”

“Nanoha… Mama…?” the blue-haired man repeated slowly, turning a bemused gaze towards Fate.

“Aha… Aurion-san, this is…” Fate started to explain.

“!!!” As if realizing something, Aurion turned away from her and looked at the Ace of Aces who was holding the girl in her arms. He covered the right half of his face with his hand, an expression of blank astonishment on his face. “Nanoha… And here I thought you were one of the densest girls I’ve ever met…” his eyes were hollow, “To think that you would have a kid this big at such a young age is…”

“E-eh?”

“W-wait! Don’t misunderstand, Oji-chan!” Nanoha cried out hurriedly as she turned to face him. “Vivio is-”

“Ah, Fate-Mama!” the little girl cried out in delight as she spotted the blond Ace.

As if somebody just pushed a mute button, an unsettling silence permeated throughout the meeting room…

“…”
“……”
“………”

“W-we can expla-”

“Oh, no need, no need.” Aurion interjected, waving a hand. “I see now…” He turned to face Fate this time, his eyes wide and lips in an awkward lopsided smile, “Fate, I had my suspicions. But who knew it would turn out to be true? Who thought that you would resort to the use of advanced technology…?”

“Advanced technology? What do you mean-AH!!!” Fate’s face instantly flushed red as she caught on to his implication, “N-n-no! T-that’s not-”

“So, who bore the child?” he cut in again, unheeding her words. He dropped his fist onto his palm as if realizing something, “It couldn’t have been one of you since you were too young… was it?”

“I told you! Its-”

“Mama, what are you talking about?” Vivio piped in this time from Nanoha’s arms.

“Err, uhm, it’s something that only adults should talk about!” Nanoha answered frantically. She let Vivio down on the ground and patted her head, “We need to talk about it for a bit longer, so can you go out and play for a bit?”

“No!” the kid whined with surprising force, grabbing Nanoha around the neck again, “Vivio wants to play with Mama right now!”

“Mou, Vivio~!” Nanoha groaned weakly in exasperation.

Suddenly, another voice echoed from outside the room, “Are you guys still there?!”

“Oh.”

As if being chased by a pack of wolves, Keroko dashed into the room in a rush. Skidding to a halt beside the table, she held onto it with one hand and held the stitch in her chest with the other, gasping for breath. She raised her eyes and looked at Aurion happily, “Looks like… I made it… in time… Aurion-san!” she managed to blurt out in between gasps of air.

“Keroko.” the older man smiled back and nodded. He reached over and patted her head.

Vivio perked up again, “Keroko-Mama!”

“Hi Vivio!” greeted Keroko cheerfully with a small wave.

“…………” Aurion froze from his patting.

“E-err…”

The blue-haired man removed his hand from Keroko’s head and took a tentative step back, “A third one…?” he muttered in amazement, taking another step. “Three DNA samples? Are you people trying to make an ultimate mage? What’s next, Hayate donated her DNA too?!” he looked at each of them, his expression openly disturbed, “Let me tell you now, that won’t work. Haphazard genetic combination is as ineffective as-Oi…” he paused at the simultaneous sound of two similar groans.

With a defeated moan, Nanoha sank down to her legs, looking as if she had just had all her energy sucked out of her and leaned completely against Vivio. At the same time and with a similar moan, Fate slumped over the table, her face buried in her arms.

“Mama…?” the heterochromatic girl asked curiously, holding up her limp mother-figure.

“What’s wrong with you two?” Keroko asked the both of them, her head tilted in confusion.

“… Hahaha…” soft laughter can be heard from the other side of the table.

“Hmph… Hmhmhm.” a small suppressed chortle suddenly came from Aurion as he faced away, his hand over his mouth.

“Hahaha-HAHAHAHA!!!”
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Both Hayate and Aurion erupted into fits of laughter. As it turned out, Hayate had no choice but to hide behind her chair at the table all this time in an effort to hold back her mirth which had been building up for a few minutes already. She couldn’t hold it any longer and was now giggling uncontrollably, grabbing onto her chair for support. The odd thing was Aurion laughing along with her.

“Ungh…?” Fate moaned weakly, raising her head to look at them, her face in a deep shade of red.

“W-what…?” Nanoha murmured just as weakly as she stared at them, still leaning on Vivio, her expression as if she was on the verge of fainting.

The other two only kept on laughing.

“……?” and Keroko… could only look at all of them in bewilderment.

“Keroko-Mama?” Vivio asked her red-haired guardian, “Why are they laughing?”

“That’s what I want to know.” she answered, giving a helpless shrug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end, the two who were laughing revealed that the entire scenario was expertly premeditated by Hayate; surreptitiously staging the act with the timing of Vivio’s entrance to even Keroko’s late arrival (Neither of the two who arrived knew of the plan). Aurion turned out to be in connivance with the plot, and had played out his part spectacularly.

Keroko obviously found the joke funny, since she had spent her own little moment laughing almost as much as Hayate. On the flip side, Nanoha and Fate were naturally not amused. They sat beside each other at one side of the table, their faces red with embarrassment and simultaneously directing indignant glares at the other three.

Only Vivio remained relatively clueless about the matter, as she spent the entire time directing questioning gazes at the five older people in the room while sitting on Nanoha’s lap.

“Hahahaha! That was brilliant!” the red-haired Ace exclaimed with all smiles, still fighting back her giggles as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Haah… I laughed my heart out…” Hayate sighed with obvious satisfaction, looking as if she just won the grand price in a lottery.

“Hehehe… Now I remember why I missed the four of you so much.” Aurion finished, grinning widely.

“You’re cruel, all of you…” Fate mumbled quietly, looking betrayed.

“Taking advantage of me and Fate-chan just like that…” Nanoha followed in a huff.

“Now, now…” the elderly man stood up from his seat and leaned across the table, “You two should lighten up a bit more and learn to laugh along with these kinds of jokes.” he simultaneously laid his hands lightly on both their heads, “Being too high-strung will cause you to grow old early.”

“Haha… hahaha…” Nanoha replied with a hollow laugh, one that carried as much enthusiasm as being treated to a feast of exclusively Shamal’s cooking.

“That’s easy for you to say…” Fate followed sulkily.

“Hah.” Aurion sighed, “At least you two should have realized that I’m nowhere near stupid enough to think that this child was actually a product of you girls.” a smile crept up his face as he shrugged, “Well, it’s not my fault that I’m good at acting.” He sat down again.

“Well~, Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan are still too innocent after all.” Hayate said cheerfully; her chin on her hands.

“Mou! Fine, I give up!” the Ace of Aces declared, her cheeks puffed out, “I’ll just have to be more alert later.”

“That’s the spirit, Onee-chan!” Keroko commented. She turned to the other one, “And Fate-chan?”

The blond girl sighed and forced a smile, “Okay, I surrender too.”

“Alright!”

“Okay… Since the issue is more or less fixed,” Aurion turned his gaze towards the girl in Nanoha’s arms, “your name is Vivio, correct?” he asked the child kindly.

“Yes.” she replied. Straightening herself on Nanoha’s lap, she smiled and gave the man a small bow, “Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. (Pleased to meet you.)”

“Hmm.” the blue-haired man nodded. He turned to her mother-figure, “It’s good to see you’ve been teaching your daughter good manners despite your busy schedule.”

“That’s only natural.” Nanoha said, finally smiling. “The one who’s forgetting his manners right now is you, Oji-chan.” She added lightheartedly.

“Oh.” Aurion blinked then smiled wryly, “Ah yes, how rude of me.” He turned his gaze back to the little girl, “My name is Aurion Dauer. You could say that I’m an old friend of your mother.”

“Aurion-san…?” she asked, her head tilted.

“Yep. That should be-”

“Ne, Vivio, you could call him Ojii-chan if his name is too hard to say.” Nanoha cut in suddenly.

“The-” the man paused.

“Ojii-chan?” Vivio asked her mother-figure, craning her head back to look up at the latter.

“Oi-”

“Yes.” Fate suddenly joined in with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “Since Nanoha-Mama sometimes calls Aurion-san Oji-chan (Uncle), you can call him Ojii-chan (Grandpa).”

“Yes, that’s right! Since Nanoha-chan is Vivio-chan’s Mama!”
“That would only be natural, Vivio!”

“Even you two-” he directed critical stares at Hayate and Keroko.

“I see!” Vivio nodded enthusiastically. She turned to him and said, “I’ll call you Ojii-chan!”

“… too quick in the uptake…” Aurion’s voiced trailed off, eyebrow twitching. He sighed heavily and crossed his arms, leaning back on his chair and closing his eyes. “Well, I guess I can’t really complain. Tesla had been calling me ‘Ossan’ (‘Old man’) ever since eight years ago…” he muttered in a resigned tone, “I don’t really care about my age… And it’s not like you’re the first one refer to me as a grandparent.” he finished, referring to Reinforce Zwei. He opened one eye, “Very well. My pleasure, Vivio.”

“Hehe.” the little girl smiled widely.

The four Aces shared looks of victory.

“Alright,” the newly-promoted ‘Gramps’ said, “now that the introductions and jokes are all done and over with, I’ll be taking my leave for real.” standing up, he announced, “Let’s just hope I can visit here again some time later.” He glanced at Hayate, grinning, “This place has gotten me interested despite my reservations before. Make sure you keep this unit in one piece until then.”

“Roger!” the brown-haired Ace replied with a playful salute. She stood up as well, “We’ll escort you outside.”

He shook his head, “Contrary to what I said before the harassment of Nanoha and Fate, there should be no need for that. You girls are busy, right? Its better you all hurry back to your jobs. I won’t get lost, anyway.” Aurion stroked his chin, “Besides, I’d hate to delay the business here, no matter how appealing the idea of being escorted by four beautiful young women sounds like.” he finished, causing the Aces to giggle.

“Very well…” Hayate nodded, “I’ll be filing the report now. We can expect the reply around this evening if Admin replies quickly enough.” she started to walk towards the door, only slowing down to allow Aurion to pat her one last time on the head. As she reached the door, she looked back and waved once before leaving, “Bye, Oji-chan.”

“Seeya.” he responded. Turning back to the three remaining Aces, he asked, “Well?”

“I’ll prepare for the arrival of my squadmates.” Fate announced. She stood up as well.

“I guess I’ll keep Vivio company for a while since I just finished my report this morning.” Nanoha said next, drawing a delighted squeal from the little girl on her lap.

“I just came back, so I’m still a little tired.” Keroko said last, stretching languidly on her seat and soon after glancing disappointedly at the older man, “It’s too bad I didn’t come earlier…” She then smiled sweetly, “Ne, ne, would you mind at least one beautiful escort, Oji-chan? I still want to talk a bit.”

“One’s fine, I guess.” Aurion replied with a small nod. “Don’t worry, Keroko. I’ll make it up to you later if I can make some new inventions at the Research Lab and bring them here.” he added after some thought.

All traces of the red-haired girl’s sluggishness vanished faster than her own Hyperdrive movement spell upon the mention of ‘new inventions.’ “Really?!” she jumped off her seat, uncharacteristic childish excitement apparent in her tone and eyes twinkling. Her expression was similar to as if she was going to receive a long-awaited birthday present. “You’ll let me test the new equipment?”

“No, I was lying.” the blue-haired man declared flatly.

“Wha-?”

“I’ll be seeing you later, Nanoha, Fate and Vivio. Now please excuse me as I run away from a certain redheaded avatar of Murphy’s Law before she wastes several months’ worth of my research funds yet again after destroying my new inventions while testing them.” Aurion said rapidly in a single breath.

“E-eh?!” Keroko exclaimed.

“Saraba da. (Farewell.)” He said with a note of finality, suddenly standing right outside the door with his hand raised in a wave. He then quickly strode away with inhuman speed from the meeting room.

“Wait, what?” the redheaded Ace stared at the door in shock. “Aahhh!!!” Almost instantly regaining her composure, she dashed out of the room at the same speed as when she entered, “Wait up, Oji-chan~!!!” her voice echoed loudly from outside.

“Hahahaha!”
“Ahahaha!”

The two remaining Aces laughed at the speedy finale act.

“Bye, bye!” Vivio waved merrily at the door where the two exited.

“It’s never dull with Oji-chan, around, ne, Fate-chan.” Nanoha asked cheerfully, helping Vivio hop of her legs and land on the floor.

“Yes.” Fate answered, smiling softly. “Aurion-san knows how to keep everybody around him constantly on their toes.” She approached Vivio and patted her head, “Vivio, you weren’t scared of him?”

“Nope.” the child shook her head and smiled vibrantly, “Mamas were having fun with Ojii-chan, so Ojii-chan isn't scary!”

“I see.” The blond Ace looked at Nanoha, who only nodded, smiling brightly at the two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The game was on. The rules were simple, walking as quickly as possible away form a certain red-haired girl in a white and blue uniform while greeting any acquaintance to come across along the way. Bonus points are gained per person greeted. The finish line is the outside grounds of RF6. No continues are allowed. Current Hi-score: 0.

“Hi Rein. Bye Rein.”
“Wah! Hai desu~!”

“Wait!”

“Be seeing you later Vita.”
“Shut up, and don’t come back!”

“Wait~!”

“Till next time, Shamal, Zafira.”
“Be careful on the way, Aurion-san.”
“…*nods*”

“Wait up~!”

“I’ll be evaluating your level of expertise with devices later, Shario.”
“Yes. Thank you, Professor.”

“I said wait!!!”

“Nakajima, Lanster. Good work yesterday.”
“Ah, yes!”
“Thank you, sir!”

“I. SAID. WAIT. UP!!!” Keroko finally yelled in exasperation. She swiftly sprinted the remaining distance and lunged like a cat, catching the taller man from behind in a loose choke hold.

“Hugyak!” Aurion choked.

Whoops.

Game Over

“Why do you have to be so mean? Crushing the hopes of an innocent maiden like me?!” the redheaded Ace whined much like a child as she tightened her hold on his neck.

“What do you mean-Urk!-innocent maiden?!” Aurion retorted with difficulty. “Tell that to my financial-*gasp*-account that you’ve caused much grief over several years!” He somehow managed to continue walking while the smaller girl tried to hold him back with little success.

“I’m telling you, I’ll be more careful this time!”

“Seven hundred and fifty thousand Mid-credits say otherwise-Garkh!”

…………

From a viewer’s standpoint, it would appear like getting Game Over would entail the penalty of being physically accosted by one of the Aces of the TSAB; in this case, Keroko.

“Oh, come on! It’s not like I’m the only one who ever caused you trouble, why are you singling me out?!”

“‘Zenryoku Zenkai’ ('Maximum Firepower') may be Nanoha’s catchphrase, but her ability in causing disasters compared to yours is like comparing Starlight Breaker to the Arc-en-Ciel!”

“Mou~~~!!!”

~~~~~~

Meanwhile, let us take a look at the opinions of two of the audience…

“This is… a little weird, ne, Tea…?” Subaru asked her partner, smiling uneasily.

“………. Y-yeah…” Teana, on the other hand, could only stare at her idol Ace in silent shock, her hand over her mouth.

“Hahaha!” a brown-haired girl sporting glasses approached them, “Well, let’s just say Aurion-hakase has a fair bit of history with the four Aces.”

“Shari-san?”

“History…?” the orange-haired girl asked, looking at the new arrival.

“Yep.” Shario nodded, “Aurion-hakase and the Aces have been acquaintances for eight years already, so it’s to be expected that they know each other quite well. They were assigned under the research division he was in once for advanced device research and the Neo-Belka magic style development.” she tapped her chin, “Though I heard that he met Commander Yagami even before that…”

“I see.” the blue-haired forward nodded.

“But why do they act so… differently around him…?” Teana asked another question.

“You’ll know the answer to that soon enough.” the bespectacled girl said mysteriously, pushing up her glasses for effect. She then returned to watching, just as Aurion and Keroko were now walking normally, though apparently still arguing.

“…?” the two Stars Squad Forwards only looked at each other in wonder.

A few minutes later, the man can be seen exchanging words with the red-haired Ace at the gates, no longer bickering. He was making a few gestures, pointing to the main building while Keroko nodded. With one final pat on her head, he waved goodbye and finally left.

“It looks like Keroko-san is no longer upset.” Subaru said as she saw the Ace walking back towards them with a smile on her face and a skip in her step.

“Oi~, Teana, Subaru!” Keroko called out cheerily as she approached them, “Off to train?”

“Yes.” Teana replied promptly. She hesitated for a second before asking, “Uhm, Keroko-san?”

“Hmm?”

“About your argument with Professor Dauer just now…”

“Oh that,” the red-haired girl mentioned flippantly, “Don’t worry, I managed to get a good deal.”

“You mean he told you too?” Shario asked; her eyes wide.

“You too, Shari?” Keroko blinked, “If that’s the case, yes.” She nodded, smiling mischievously.

“Huh?” Subaru looked at the both of them.

“We’ll tell you later.” the brown-haired girl winked at Subaru and Teana. “But for now, it’s…” she looked at Keroko.

Spoiler for Keroko:

“Classified Information.” the red-haired Ace finished, winking and placing her finger on her chin.

“Okay…” Teana answered falteringly.

“Anyway.” Keroko pranced around them and grabbed the two Forwards in a friendly one-armed headlock each.

“Awawa!” Subaru cried out in surprise.
“K-keroko-san!” the orange-haired girl exclaimed, her cheeks instantly glowing red.

“How about I join your training before lunch? I’m in the mood for some exercise.”

“Oh, alright!”
“Y-yes!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Mmn… Ungh~…” Hayate groaned softly as she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and stretched. A quick look at the clock beside her showed that it was still 4:17 AM, meaning that she woke up ahead of time yet again. A large part of herself still longed for the warmth of her bed, but she shook her head and willed herself to swing her legs onto the ground and stand up. She stretched a few more times before leaning over the bed to look fondly at Reinforce Zwei, who was still snoozing silently on the pillow next to hers. After gently stroking the tiny girl’s sky-blue hair so as not to wake her, Hayate straightened up and headed out of the room as quietly as she could. A quick shower and a cup of coffee were in order to fight off the remaining sleepiness.

Waking up earlier than usual wasn’t an exactly new occurrence for Yagami Hayate. Since the recent weeks, higher activity of the forward members of Riot Force 6 also came alongside with just as much and sometimes even more administrative matters to attend to. She didn’t show it, but the stress of running RF6 was at the least very tough and tiring. However, in her case, high amounts of stress tend to wind her up into sleeping less in an unconscious effort to gain more work time in order to finish quicker. She fought back a giggle as she imagined what Shamal’s predictable expression would be when she finds out that her Mistress is not having enough sleep on frequent intervals.

…………

The shower proved to be effective in washing off her drowsiness, as she was feeling wide awake when she strode towards the cafeteria to make herself some coffee.

“Oh, Commander Yagami.”
“Good morning, Commander.”

“Good morning!” she greeted the few people who were also up earlier than usual. A twinge of pride swelled inside her chest as she looked at the others who were already working at such an early time. Indeed, her Unit’s members were really dependable. And as such, she needs to be a very dependable leader for them as well.

“Commander, I’m sorry for the delay, but the report for incoming personnel reassignments would take until at least a few hours later.”

“No, it’s alright. The delay won’t be trouble as long as it’s submitted before 8:00. Good work.”

“That would be more than enough time. Thank you, Ma’am!”

Hayate nodded appreciatively at the Human Resource staff member, continuing to walk towards her destination.

“…Hmm…”

She may have only imagined it, but was the HR person smiling a bit more cheerfully than usual? It’s as if something really good happened… Well, it’s not like the matter was too weird to dwell upon. She decided to just attribute it personal matters.

“…?”

She heard faint voices as she approached the kitchen.

“Wait, so I have to put some more sugar in it?” a strangely familiar male voice echoed.

“Yes. And then a ¼ cup of creamer…” a young girl’s voice this time.

“Vivio?” Hayate muttered in confusion. She quickened her pace towards her goal. That’s strange, why was Vivio up so early? Did she sneak off from the three other Aces’ room?

As she finally reached the entrance, she instantly caught sight of Vivio. The heterochromatic girl was speaking to an older man, pointing her little finger one at the time at the several containers near the coffee brewer and narrating a cappuccino recipe as if she had been assigned to memorize it and later recite at school.

“That’s right. And then two teaspoons of that vanilla extract…” the little girl continued enthusiastically, not noticing the Unit Commander’s arrival.

“Okay then, here we go-Oh…” the other person became aware of Hayate’s arrival, pausing from making the coffee to look at her.

“Ah, Commander Yagami. Good morning!” Vivio finally took notice and gave the brown-haired Ace a bright smile and a wave, her other hand grasping Vita’s old rabbit doll.

“………” Hayate was speechless, eyes wide.

“Looks like you do wake up earlier than most. Good morning, Hayate.” the man greeted her this time; his voice only confirming to Hayate that she wasn’t hallucinating.

“What…” the Unit Commander started, “What is the meaning of this?!” she finished loudly.

“Wah-!” Vivio flinched in surprise and retreated, clutching her doll fearfully.

“Oi, oi… You’ll scare the kid.” Aurion reprimanded her mildly.

“Oh, s-sorry, Vivio-chan!” Hayate quickly apologized. She then directed a stare at the other person, “W-why are you here?”

As if on cue, Nanoha’s voice suddenly resounded from a several meters away, “Vivio~! Where are you?”

“Mama!” the small girl cried out, dashing towards the door just as the Ace of Aces rounded the corner. Vivio immediately embraced Nanoha around her legs.

“Ah!” Nanoha wobbled a little as her legs were pinned together, “V-Vivio?” she exclaimed as she regained her balance. She kneeled down and took the kid in her arms, the latter grabbing onto her neck tightly. “Hayate-chan, why did you shout-Eh?!” she stopped mid-sentence as she saw the other person in the room.

“Nanoha!” Fate’s worried tone came this time. She appeared right behind Nanoha, looking positively upset. “Oh, there you are, Vivio. Thank goodness…” she sighed out in relief.

“Fate-Mama!”

“Hmm.” Fate patted Vivio on her head, “What were you doing here-Huh?” she paused as well.

“Onee-chan! Fate-chan!” Keroko appeared this time, “Have you found-Wha?” She sounded surprised, covering her mouth. However, none of the other girls knew that she was hiding a victorious smirk behind her hand.

“Seriously…” Aurion spoke as he shook his head and poured hot water into his mug. “You girls all look like you’ve seen a ghost.” he then stirred the contents of the mug with a spoon. “It’s just me.” He finally took a sip, eyes instantly widening at the flavor. “Mm! The taste is great!” He looked at Nanoha, “I’ve got to hand it to your daughter; she actually memorized the Midoriya-style Vanilla Cappuccino recipe just from supposedly watching you make it.”

“E-eh?” Nanoha only replied perplexedly.

“Mou! Just answer my question, Oji-chan!!!” Hayate finally demanded in frustration.

“Just a sec.” Aurion raised his other hand as he looked at Hayate. He then turned his sight back to Nanoha, “But really, you should tell Vivio to not just teach the recipe to other people. It’s bad for business.” And, finally turning to the Commander, he said, “You should have met one of the Human Resource people along the way here. I’m also one of the reassigned personnel in the report to be filed later this day.”

“What?” the brown-haired girl sputtered in disbelief. “How could that happen? Any transfers of high-ranking personnel are directly notified to the handler of a unit for at least a day before!”

“As you can see, I happen to be one of those cases where the transfer was a little to sudden to effectively communicate to the leader beforehand.” he replied calmly, taking another sip.

“T-that’s still…” Fate murmured in incredulity, “Getting a transfer in such short notice is…”

“Yup, you guessed right.” Aurion smirked, “You could say I’ve got a hand in this case. Since I’ve got a lot of favors that I managed to gather over the years, getting a temporary unit transfer shouldn’t be so hard.” He cast a surreptitious wink towards Keroko, “And that means I’ll be under the care of you Riot Force Six people for at most a week. We’ll discuss the details later.” another sip of coffee.

“What’s going on…?” Hayate faintly asked no one in particular, planting her face on her palm. She could already feel a sizable migraine coming.

“Hahaha…” the blue-haired man chortled. He pointed his mug of coffee at them as if holding them at gunpoint, “Let’s just say I got sufficiently interested this time to actually take sudden action again. So for now, gentlewomen of RF6…” He smiled widely, “Yoroshiku.”

*Episode One: End*

This is the first of the number of works that I’ll be releasing/re-releasing this year. ’Solitary Perspective’ is basically my training and introductory fic to the StrikerS timeline. Using the same world as Kerokanon, I plan to make myself a few more ‘episodes’ of this fic as a fitting way of introducing my OC to readers without the need for a profile. It also gives me proper training in handling several different characters, since I’ll be playing with the StrikerS characters here. As for development, I just don’t plan on using this fic for OC-benefit, since I also plan on giving a couple or so characters some of my perceived development that weren’t developed satisfactorily in the series. Of course, I won’t be breaking what Canon has established in the events in StrikerS, I am simply inserting my own sub-episodes into StrikerS. As such, expect to see me insert my own idea of fun and development into the show thru these episodes. I can only hope that I don’t go too far off the Canon/Kerokanon mark with this. I won't make any big promises for now, except for maybe doing the best that I can currently do in making this fic as good as possible.

Of course, several thanks to Keroko for the OC’s Keroko-chan and Tesla; and also to Mercurianangel, who’s artwork I used here in my fic! Keroko! I finally got the groove (hopefully) to write with Keroko-chan too!

And above all, I hope the readers would enjoy reading my little piece of work.

Thanks in advance for reading, dear readers. And once again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, I'll be back after a bit. >:3


*Goes back to rebuilding his OC stocks and catching up with backlog*

[XenahortCharybdis]

Well, I'll be damned!

AM I LIKE THE FIRST TO GREET AARON?!
HECK YEAH!!!!!

Dammit, I've never been first at anything of this sort XD...maybe I should thank my father, my mother (and not to mention my hayate fanboyism for ribbing me into coming back here!)

Anyway, congrats about your computer and your progress (Damn, you'll overtake my speed at this rate, even given that I've been relatively fast lately...filled in over 8000 words for Zenith's Chapter 2 while you were away...I should speed up.) You didn't have to talk about breaking Canon. Since when was Aaron a canonbreaker? XD

In other matters, I'll get down to reading Solitary Perspective later...(once I'm done with this jog among other things :3)

Anyway...

WELCOME BACK, BROTHER. WE HAVE MISSED YOU.

================================================== ================================

Zenith Chapter 3 Progress Report
6,251 words (Plot-wise, I'm only 30% through or less what I intended to write in this chapter, so this worries me a little XD)

And that's all

Xena

[Sheba]

He dropped by IRC, welcomed back by Tempest and me. And I think that ATC was here and awake too ;3

[XenahortCharybdis]

Hur. I considered that possibility already (and chose conveniently to ignore it, of course)

But since I was talking about ASuki only, I suppose you wouldn't fault me for being too presumptious I guess

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by XenahortCharybdis

But since I was talking about ASuki only, I suppose you wouldn't fault me for being too presumptious I guess

Someone had to do it. I was too lazy to type in huge colored fonts. Well, it's not my kind of posting.

Page Claim!

I will post the profiles of the two main OCs featured in JourneyerS chapter 3.

For one of them, it was rather easy to find a pic that computed with her:

Spoiler for from the same race as Sieraza who was in chapter 2, but different tribe:

For the other, it will come later. Finding the suitable pic of a Goliath-sized three-eyed mercenary is a pain in danbooru.

[Aaron008R]

Ah damn, I forgot to put in Mercurian's drawing. D:

*quickly edits the second part to add the pic.*


@Xena: Thanks for the welcome.


EDIT: If Kha loves his new sig, I love my new avi!