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

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Got rolling in a scene again tonight, and I think I accidently stumbled on some nice emotion here...

It's not a full change, but it marks the begining of Crash growing into the character he needs to be by the end of the story.

Spoiler for Shouting match with Vita:

“A little hot headed this morning isn’t he?” Vita indicated the billowing smoke cloud that rose from ground zero. Overhead, Nanoha’s pink contrail was already circling, attempting to entice more attacks.

“You’re not really one to talk,” Signum pointed out. “You’ve smashed three alarm clocks this week alone.”

“Shut up.” Vita quipped, then added after a few seconds, “It was only two.”


Signum chose not to respond again and continued to watch the scene.

“It’s rather quiet,” she continued a moment later. “Did they get him on the first shot?”

“I doubt it,” Vita responded, walking up to the retaining wall and squinting. “He’s might be a bit thick, but he’s not a fool, and definitely resilient. He took a large explosion, a grenade to the face, and had part of a building collapse on him and still came out swinging.”

“I’m surprised you noticed that,” Signum prodded.

“I was angry, not blind,” Vita quipped. “We both know he’s got potential and-“

CRACK! FWOOSH!

Cut short by the roar, they watched a white pillar contrail erupt from between the simulation buildings, rocketing skyward through Nanoha’s contrail circle before arching towards the open sea, picking up speed.


“No way!” Vita snapped her eyes wide. “After I just praised his ass! He’s not…”

“He’s running away,” Signum shrugged. “At that angle and velocity, he’ll be over the horizon in under five minutes. I wouldn’t even bother trying to chase him.”

“BULLSHIT!” Vita snarled. “I could catch him with my Rocket! I’ll run him down if I have to run myself to exhaustion… Dammit, where’s- What’s his damn comm frequency!?”




“Crash?” Nanoha’s filtered voice questioned. “Crash? Crash come in… Crash! Banshee One, where are you going? We do not have clearance to leave practice area airspace! Do you read me? Banshee One, respond!”

“Dammit dammit DAMMIT, DAMMIT…” Crash muttered to himself as he ignored Nanoha’s ever more persistant radio calls. “Four on one! Right from the start… Like I’m some sort of play thing… Didn’t even give me time to get ready, NONE at all. And not even a teammate.”

Nanoha’s calls continued to get more critical as he approached mach three, but continued to ignore them as he mulled over what had just transpired. Nanoha announced the mission, and the forwards jumped him immediately. Battery had beaten him to throwing up a Cholbham armor before it had fired off enough howler flares to sound like a funny-car race. He’d somehow managed to weave through the resulting blind melee attacks until the Grav Drive systems had warmed up enough to take off. How, he could only guess, but he bought enough time to clear the area and even managed to blow right past Nanoha on Supercruise Acceleration. At this velocity, by the time they realized what he was doing, not even Nanoha’s legendary ranged attacks would be able to effectively chase him down.

“HEY! CHICKEN!” Vita’s voice suddenly drowned out Nanoha’s. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?!”

No! Don’t listen Crash. Ignore it. They’ve already figured it out, don’t rise to the bait.

“I asked you a question!” Vita snarled again. “I expect an answer, or by Kaiser I really will use you for Croquet practice!”

First bait, then threat… Ignore it.

“Are you running away?” she crackled again. “Is that what you really are?! A coward who hides behind his test pilot status because he’s afraid of throwing a punch? A wimp who can’t even take a few bruises to his body and ego and shrug them off as another day’s work?! You’re a TEST PILOT! You’re supposed to be the bravest of all of us, staring at death, laughing at the unknown as you push the envolope! But you act like a phony! Too scared to have a little scuffle with a couple of kids doing nothing more than morning exercises because you got scratched in a fight once! You’re living a lie! Balled up like a little kitten crying for it’s mother! You disgust me! You’re a total Fraud!”

That did it…


“AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!” Crash roared over the radio on all open channels, his momenum arrested almost instantly as he stood straight in the air. “WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY THINK TO BELIEVE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HOW I AM!? TO BE TREATED LIKE A LIVING NATURAL DISASTER BY ALMOST EVERYONE YOU KNOW, AVOIDED BY THOSE YOU DON’T… AND THE ONES WHO DO TAKE INTEREST IN YOU ONLY WANT TO THROW EVERYTHING THEY GOT AT YOU JUST TO SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE IT! WHAT DO YOU THINK IT FEELS LIKE TO SPEND EVERY DAY WONDERING IF YOU’RE EVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO JUST ONCE HAVE A NORMAL ONE?! “


“I KNOW ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE WHEN EVERYTHING I CARE ABOUT COULD BE TORN AWAY FROM ME IN A HEARTBEAT!” Vita screamed back. “I FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL FOR EVERYTHING I’VE GAINED AND TOOK ON ODDS SO FAR OUT OF MY FAVOR I SHOULD BE DEAD, AND PROBABLY HAVE BEEN DEAD A HUNDRED TIMES! I KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WONDER IF I WOULD GET A NORMAL DAY! I WORKED HARD TO GET THEM! DON’T EXPECT ANY FUCKING SYMPATHY HERE!”

“THEN WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME!?” Crash snarled. “WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!? I’M TIRED OF THE DAMN WHISPERS AND SHADY LOOKS! STOP LEADING ME WITH CARROTS AND JUST FUCKING TELL ME!”


“FIGHT! BACK!” Vita’s response was loud, and curt.


“I’M NOT A FIGHTER!” Crash responded in kind.

“YOU! ARE THE BEST DAMNED ROOKIE COMBATANT I’VE SEEN IN TEN YEARS!” It was the truth as the opinion of everyone who watched the test battle. “YOU HAVE THE REFLEXES, THE ABILITY TO THINK ON YOUR FEET, AND AN INSTINCT TO MATCH! YOU FIGHT LIKE A CAGED ANIMAL WHEN PUSHED INTO A CORNER, AND IN THAT ARMOR, HAVE THE POWER YOU NEED TO BACK IT UP WITH SIGNIFICANT FORCE! IF YOU DIDN’T ACT LIKE SUCH A WUSS! YOU’D BE A LIVING WEAPON! GROW A PAIR AND MAN UP TO THE FACT THAT YOU CAN FIGHT!”

Crash looked down, staring at the heavy gauntlet of the Olympian Armor, and worked a fist with his hand, then opened it. Triple density titanium and tungsten carbide backed by barrier jacket magic. According to Cooper, it could take a three and a half mega-joule impact in a one square centimeter crossection before even taking into account actual active defenses. It could lift five metric tons, fly at two-thousand, three-hundred miles per hour, maneuver like an air combat mage despite weighing half a ton, and had enough extra goodies onboard to give him a decisive edge against just about anyone before he even began tapping into actual combat magic. With the assistance of Battery, he’d successfully fought a Supreme Aggressor combat instructor head to head and had survived six to one odds against combatants that wanted to kill him.
So what was he so afraid of?

“We all have to fight for the things we want most,” Vita’s voice crackled back again, calmer now. “Some of us would even kill for it if it came to that…”

Crash looked up at the ocean spanning before him, then turned to look over his shoulder. In the distance, he could barely make out the shoreline, but beyond that, rising clearly above the haze hugging the surface, the sharp angles of the TSAB Ground Force Headquarters towers in the middle of Cranagan. Looking forward again, he glanced once more at the metal gauntlet encasing his hand. Then sighed.

“I’m such an idiot,” he muttered.

“We noticed,” Vita’s voice crackled. “But pretending not to be what you are doesn’t help your case.”

Crash narrowed his eyes.
“Did you really kill for your happiness?” he asked.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Vita’s voice responded. “I’m not too proud of that particular time.”


“I’ll make you a deal then,” Crash announced. “If I win, you tell me all about it. If I get my ass kicked, I’m all yours to train any way you see fit.”

“Deal,” Vita crackled. “But be warned, I’ll make you wish you hadn’t said that.”

“Then I guess I had better win then, right?” Crash asked, turning in mid air.

“Let’s see what you’ve got!” Vita came back defiantly.

CRACK-BOOM!

Crash was supersonic in under a second as he made a beeline towards the simulation area. It was time to start fighting back.

[LoweGear]

So I watched a certain movie today... and one scene got me cracking up this extremely short scene:

Spoiler for Fire Mission:

“I hope the Claudia’s orbital cannons have good aim Wes.”

Wesson looked at his brother with much curiosity.

“What do you mean Smith?”

“I told them to aim for the orange smoke.”

Outside the window, beyond the broken remains of the dilapidated house they were using as cover from the hail of bullets, debris and shrapnel flying around in the cacophony of battle, was a billowing mass of orange smoke. It source was burning only a couple of meters away from them, so close that it was stinging Wesson’s eyes.

“That orange smoke Smith?”

“Yes.” Smith muttered very, very nervously. “That wasn’t my best toss.”

Both looked up at the darkening sky, as the clouds ominously parted into a ring directly above them.

“Oh shi-“

And preview of the next short I'm working on...

Spoiler for Preview:

"I'm more than just my company and my money!"

[Wild Goose]

Look like Smith failed his FAC training

[NorthernFallout]

Previous Chapters

Knight of Exodus

Spoiler for Chapter 8 - Breaker of Minds:

Life, as all things, hails from a shared source. Before the creation of that source there was nothing. No planets, no materials and thus, no life.

But within the blink of an eye a spark of light brought a change to this state of stagnance and the universe, the universe we know and love, was born. The building stones of life, the fundaments of stars, all of it came from this one source and spread with vast speed through the nothingness. It continued to grow, to expand, beyond the nothingness and set in motion an event that all life is thankful for.

Stars were born, rocked to the silent noise of vacuum and the energies of their parent. Those materials that didn’t make it that far formed planets, orbiting around their mothers. Solar systems eventually formed, then shortly after, galaxies became visible to one another. As the wheel of time turned, clusters of galaxies populated the darkness. Billions upon billions of stars and planets finally inhabited the infinite expansion of space.

But it didn’t stop there. The universe that was created, this endless vast space, decided this wasn’t enough. It split into other universes, several copies of the first one. Soon enough a number of universes existed and each with their own different types of materials and potential sources of life.

Then, after a time of waiting, the first signs of life began to appear in the various dimensions. Bacterial lifeforms born from the many oceans across the vast area of space, showed no slack in populating their native worlds. They grew and evolved, developed and changed. After centuries of evolution there came to be on some worlds bipedal creatures that showed promising signs of intelligence. These humanoids, as they came to be called, started inventing and building things. Tools were created to get better result from their labors. Clusters of settlements began to form across the surfaces of these worlds. They built mechanical constructs that rolled across the lands, transporting them to reaches they hadn’t been before. It was not long before they even conquered the skies with mechanical machines acting like avian creatures. They developed faster than anything seen before.

A troubling behavior slowly revealed itself during these humanoids’ evolution from bacteria. They are violent and seek battle with anyone or anything. Wars plague worlds, scorching the lands and taking innumerable lives. However, they never once stop to think about why. It comes natural to them.

That is because these humanoids, the collective entity known as mankind, are the destroyers of things. They seek to explore, to invent, to develop, to live and to conquer. They seek amazement of the mind, adventures for the body and a need to expand beyond their domain. Space was the final frontier for these humans, but it was far into the future for them before they could explore the far reaches of the cosmos.

Except for one race of humans. They raced ahead, unknowing of the other human races in the same universe and in other dimensions. Metal behemoths eventually roamed the skies and explored the cosmos beyond anything they had thought possible. They developed superior technology unlike anything ever seen. They even created artificial life, a vital building stone in their chase for godhood.

For that’s what they really wanted.

To be God.

~~****~~

5 years ago, Northern Beskanti, Cancri.

Sigrid turned over another page in her Knight System Logic book when a loud crash from the kitchen pierced her ears.

What in the… Angelika.

In a hurry she threw the book down on the table in front of her and rushed out of the living room. The only one at home except for herself was her younger sister, Angelika. She hadn’t seen her for a while and Sigrid had assumed she was resting.

“I’m sorry, sis.”

A face full of shame greeted Sigrid when she stumbled into the kitchen.

“Angelika,” she said while her eyes travelled over the mess on the floor. “What happened?”

“I-I’m not sure. I think I stumbled on the table leg.”

Sigrid went down on her knees beside her sister and checked. True enough; the leg of the table had moved a fair distance together with the rug.

“You are bleeding.”

She hadn’t noticed until now, but on Angelika’s hand there was a piece of a ceramic stuck in it. Blood dripped onto the floor.

“I’m fine, really,” Angelika said and quickly covered the wound with her other hand. “But what will Mother say… That was one of her favorite vases.”

“Angelika, don’t worry about that. Here, let me help you up,” Sigrid said and took her sister’s uninjured hand to help her up on her feet. “Hold still, I’m going to pull this out.”

She took a hold of the ceramic and pulled it out. Angelika grimaced from the stinging pain.

“Ouch… What are we going to do about the vase, sis?”

“I said don’t worry. It was an accident. You know how understanding Mother is.”

Angelika lowered her head, but eventually nodded.

“More importantly, how could you not see the table leg? It’s hard to hit.”

Angelika froze for a second at the question, but then relaxed. She raised her head and met Sigrid’s deep blue eyes.

“My right eye… I think it’s getting worse. After I woke up from my nap it’s darker and more blurry than before.”

“Let me see,” Sigrid said and reached for Angelika’s head. She let it rest gently in her hands while she stared into her sister’s right eye.

“I think you are right. It’s hard to see, but it seems brighter than yesterday. We need to let Doctor Emolus take a look at it.”

She let go of Angelika’s head and they fell into silence. Angelika covered the wound on her hand and let her gaze drop on the floor. Sigrid observed her silently and wondered if she felt ashamed or if there was something else on her mind pestering her.

“Sis…”

“Yes?”

“Why was I born with this eye?”

She had asked that several times and every time Sigrid didn’t know how to answer. She wanted to give her sister an explanation. She wanted to explain to her why she had gotten that eye that had caused her so much misfortune.

But she couldn’t.

“Angelika, I promise I will give you a clear answer sometime in the future. I’ll do everything I can to help you find out, but for now I still don’t know.”

Angelika stepped over the crushed ceramic and tugged at Sigrid’s shirt. She looked up at her with gloomy eyes.

“Promise?” she said in a quiet voice.

Sigrid felt a need inside her to hug her sister, which she did. She let her fingers dance over her hair and patted her on the head.

“Yes…I promise.”

~~****~~

When Sigrid returned to her apartment with her newly bought clothes, she was stopped in the doorway by Forseti. He told her that there was an informant waiting for her at a bus stop north of the city, but when Sigrid asked who it was Forseti refused to answer. She tried various ways to persuade him, but he kept quiet.

The next morning she got on the bus and headed north. This time she had Forseti with her and she was dressed in her usual combat attire. Thanks to that she earned a few suspicious glances from people on their way to work, wondering why a combat mage in such strange clothing would take the bus to her destination. Luckily, no one made an attempt to inquire about who she was.

On the way out the weather had turned sour, and big, dark clouds occluded the sun. The weather report had stated earlier in the morning that a possible storm might arrive from the sea. Not that it bothered Sigrid; she had other matters on her mind.

When the bus arrived at the stop, Sigrid stepped off and took a seat in the bus cage by the side of the road. Large drops of rain had already begun their descent, sliding down the windows of the cage. Sigrid sat there in silence, waiting. She hadn’t bothered asking Forseti anymore about who she was supposed to meet. His virtual lips were sealed and knowing his personality, he would never tell.

The rain increased in strength and the noise of the droplets hitting the ground started to grow louder. Puddles were starting to form around the cage when Sigrid heard a noise. It sounded like a boot splashing through water and she turned to its direction.

The figure of a tall man stepped through the rain and walked towards her. He wore a black raincoat that was slung over his whole figure so Sigrid couldn’t see his face. His posture was hunched, as if trying to avoid being seen. As he got closer, Sigrid could hear an additional pair of feet walking behind him. She couldn’t see the person but judging from the steps taken, the other person was lighter.

The man stopped a few meters in front of her, still out in the rain and spoke.

“Knight Captain, it has been a good while since I last saw you.”

She recognized the voice immediately but couldn’t believe her ears. She got up on her feet and stood just outside the cage, letting the rain fall on her too.

“Ragnar?”

“Yes, it’s me.” He tilted his head upwards and let the hood fall off. A familiar face was looking at her and whatever doubts about his identity vanished. “But I’m not alone.”

He snapped his fingers. The figure behind him stepped out as if commanded and took of its hood. Blonde hair flowed down the shoulders and a peculiar yellow eye peeked forth.

At the sight of that, Sigrid’s throat locked up.

“I’m sorry for not letting you know I was alive,” the girl said and walked up to Sigrid. Her arms embraced the taller woman and pressed against her.

Sigrid slowly came back to her senses and touched the girl hugging her, as if assuring herself that this was not a dream.

“Angelika… I thought… how?”

Tears flowed while she spoke, because this wasn’t what she had expected. Her sister who was kidnapped two years ago was now hugging her, on another planet, three-hundred light years from their real home. It was too surreal.

“I thought you were dead…and you too Ragnar.”

“I’m not that easily killed off, you know.”

His bragging demeanor never took a pause and even in this moment he retained it. Sigrid smiled at memories flooding up and held Angelika tighter. Ragnar smiled too but kept his distance. He observed them for a few seconds before turning around and his face turned into something akin to worry and annoyance.

“Knight Captain, not that the situation fits, but, we are still being chased by someone.”

Sigrid released her hug on Angelika and looked up.

“’Chased’?”

Ragnar nodded and let his face show a hidden sense of guilt. If it was intentional or not she couldn’t decide.

“We ran into some trouble after we landed and I couldn’t take care of Ms. Angelika thanks to a wound I had received earlier. I had to make use of her… powers.”

“Powers?” Sigrid was dumbfounded and didn’t know what was going on. Angelika remained oddly quiet and let Ragnar do the talking.

“Oh right, right, you don’t know about that. Well… shit. Come on, let’s get out of here first and I’ll tell you later.”

He grabbed Angelika’s hand and began to run towards a house not far from where they were. Sigrid followed after a few seconds of hesitation. Her ears picked up something mechanical amongst the rain, something almost like a helicopter.

The ground they ran on was muddy and slippery, but they managed to retain their footing all the way over the field. When they arrived at the house they noticed it was abandoned, which was perfect for the moment. Ragnar released Angelika’s hand and slammed his body against the front door. It was weaker than he had thought and he literally flew through it and landed inside.

“Are you OK?” Sigrid asked.

“I’m just fine. My left arm is broken anyway.”

“…your arm is broken? That’s just typical not telling me about it.”

Sigrid had regained her senses fully by now and ordered him to sit down on a chair. He took off his coat and jacket exposing the broken arm fully. It was bloody and bent at a strange angle.

“While I work on fixing this,” Sigrid said and began to fix a bandage thanks to a first-aid kit she had found left behind in the house,” tell me everything. Start from two years ago.”

Ragnar sighed and nodded. His tone was that of someone who really didn’t want to talk and just wanted to enjoy the momentary peace.

“Very well. Angelika, you know that part best.”

Angelika sat on a sofa nearby with her legs close to each other and her hands on her lap. She had watched the two while they talked.

“That night, on your twenty-fifth birthday, it’s true I got kidnapped. I was awakened by some men in my room scrounging about but before I could scream they put something over my mouth. I got sleepy again and I don’t remember anything after that until they woke me up. I was in some sort of basement, a prison cell perhaps, with guards around it. I can’t recall what they were talking about, as my mind was still foggy, but I think they mentioned me a few times. They left after that. I was never really awake throughout the whole ordeal.
After some time had passed, I’m not sure how long it was, they returned and began their interrogation. They strapped me to this strange chair, put some machine on my head and-“

“Angelika, stop.”

Ragnar held up his other hand and interrupted Angelika’s account. She had begun to ramble and was losing focus. He also noticed that the more Sigrid listened to her story, the more flustered she had became and made more and more mistakes while bandaging his arm.

“I’ll take it from here,” he said. “Knight Captain, do you remember the days after she got kidnapped and I was unable to come with you on a few occasions?”

“Yeah, I remember. You told me you had a doctor appointment or that you would be meeting with someone.”

“Yes, that. Actually, I was lying.”

Sigrid stopped what she was doing and stared at him.

“What?”

“I didn’t want to tell you back then because… well you weren’t very stable the few days immediately after Angelika’s kidnapping. I began to investigate the matter myself and a few interesting things popped up.”

“And how long did the investigations go on?”

“Until a few days before the revolution. I disappeared that day without telling you. I wanted to but something got in the way.”

Sigrid glanced at Angelika and then back to Ragnar. She had finished the work on the bandage, a white material stretching around his arm several times.

“And then?”

“I found her. It was a few soldiers from our own army that had rebelled against us and placed her in an old prison building. She was in pretty bad shape when I arrived though; I’m not sure what they did.

It took some force to break in, but when I got inside there was only five of them, ordinary soldiers. I don’t think they even had a plan so I overpowered them pretty fast. I got to where Angelika was held, escaped the facility with her and tried to get back to base. Before I could contact you or reach the base, the revolution broke out. We hid for a while and made our way to another spaceport where we stole a shuttle. After that my mind is blank until we crashed here. I think something malfunctioned within the cryopods.”

“By Thor’s hammer, that’s insane. Two years and you hid it from me.”

Ragnar shrugged.

“I can be elusive when I want to, but don’t even for a second think I enjoyed it. As Knight Captain you should have known what I was doing but I just didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want you to have any false hopes since there was always the chance that I might fail.”

Sigrid didn’t say anything and rose to her feet. The air between them was dark and quiet. Angelika still sat quietly and observed them, but gritted her teeth for what was to come. She had seen her sister like this many times, never against her, but at other people.

Ragnar himself felt uncertain and didn’t dare to look up. He waited for that slap he hadn’t felt in two years to fall upon his cheek, as it often did after he had disobeyed orders or gone behind Sigrid’s back.

However, a pair of lips fell upon his cheek instead and a whisper reached his ear.

“Thank you.”

While Ragnar tried to make sense of what had just happened, Sigrid ventured over to a window to take a look outside. A searchlight wandered around the field outside and the sound of the helicopter got closer. She couldn’t see it, but it wasn’t far off.

“If they have IR vision we can’t escape, but why we are fleeing from them in the first place? I know these people; I can get you out safely.”

“I doubt it,” Ragnar said and looked at her wearily. “Things happened until we reached you.”

“Such as?”

“I have strange… powers.”

The calm voice that interrupted them came from Angelika. She still sat on the couch with her hands on her lap, looking completely calm. When Sigrid saw her like that she realized something. The sister she knew was a little different from the person that sat before her now. In such situations Angelika would constantly worry and not show this kind of serenity.

“Yes, you mentioned it before. What kind of powers?”

Sigrid sat down next to Angelika and wrapped an arm around her reassuringly. The warmth of her sister was comforting and reminded her that they were together again.

“Strange powers that I don’t like or understand. I just need to access a certain part of my brain and people break down. I’m not sure about the extent of my powers.”

“I thought about this,” Ragnar said and sat upright on the chair,” and I have a theory; what if her Gift, the one that was deemed weak and unusable, is the factor that affects her vision and gives her these powers?”

“You mean her Gift is what makes her eye go yellow and blurry? Sounds ridiculous,” Sigrid said. She didn’t want to believe it but at the same time it felt hopeful, as if she finally had an answer to Angelika’s question.

“I know it’s just a theory. We need someone else to look at it; a specialist in Gifts would be preferable.”

“I might know someone that could help in that area. During my time here I’ve meet a lot of new people, nice people. I’m sure someone knows a specialist that would be willing to help.”

Ragnar chuckled.

“Three-hundred light years from home and you already made new friends. Amazing.”

Sigrid risked a glance outside the window again. The searchlight had disappeared but she could still hear the helicopter somewhere in the vicinity. It was only a matter of time before they resorted to IR.

“Well, they wanted knowledge from me and I let them have it. They even gave me an apartment in the city, although I guess you know that already.”

“Yes, I made some investigation into that. Some hacking here, some infiltration there and I found your address. A longshot, but I’m glad it worked. However, I think they want more of you than that.”

“More than knowledge you mean? Certainly, they will probably not let me leave if this goes on, but it’s not like I can go back anyway. Neither can you.”

Ragnar merely nodded and fell quiet.

The noise from the helicopter’s blade slashing through the air intensified as it flew over the house. The searchlight came online again and a voice called out into the air.

“This is the TSAB! Come out with your devices offline and your hands behind your heads! Any attempt to escape will be gravely punished so don’t even think about it!”

“Time to go then,” Sigrid said and kissed Angelika on the forehead. “Trust me.”

“I always have and I won’t stop now.”

That answer brought up a strong resolution in Sigrid who walked out of the door first into the warm light.

~~****~~

“This is Airfox 1 reporting. We have located three individuals at an abandoned house a few miles north of the city. Confirming identities…
Identities confirmed. It is our two suspects and the woman you said would be with them ma’am, over.”

“Roger that Airfox 1, you are clear to disengage. Pelican 3 will take over from here, over.”

“Confirmed. Disengaging, over and out.”

The panel in front of Hayate turned itself off and Rein Zwei circled around her.

“Uwawawa, do you think Sigrid is hurt? Maybe they tried to capture her or something…”

“She can take care of herself and they didn’t mention anything of that nature. Besides, she would only have herself to blame going so far out without telling me.”

“Is she in trouble?” Rein said and stopped flying around to eye Hayate.

“Maybe. I’m not aware of the circumstances yet, but I will chew her out anyway. She can’t do what she just did.”

Hayate was visibly agitated and Rein refrained from commenting any further. She flew over to her little miniature desk and took her seat. She spun around with it a few times with a worried look on her face.

[Nya~n]

And with this, I officially join the party.




Name: Kido Shinji
Gender: Male
Birthday: October 19 MC0059
Age: 26 as of MC0085
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 67kg
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Brown
Mage Rank: B
Magic Type: Mid-Childa
Magic Color: Crimson
Magic Specialisation: Balanced Melee and Ranged
Combat Specialisation: Close and Mid-ranged

Spoiler for Ryuki:

Device: Ryuki
Device Type: Storage
Device Primary Structure: Buckle and Deck
Device Storage Form: Deck Case with a gold embossed dragon motif

Spoiler for Project Background:

Following the research conference in MC 0068 that set the groundwork for the subsequent Masked Rider projects that sprung up, one too many proposals have popped up, of which scores of them were rejected by the TSAB; several placed on probation to see if they do get anywhere; and just a handful received clearance to commence on the project.

Following the success of the DenLiner and ZECT projects, a new wave of interest in the research community rose once again, and, like the initial wave just a few years ago, there was a surge in the application numbers. Of the few new probationary projects, one of the rare few that showed the most promise and was eventually given TSAB approval and backing was the one whose file was simply labelled “401”, a new submission named after the lab of which the project manager was the chief researcher. TSAB investigations into this scientist only managed to present his name as Shiro Kanzaki, and nothing more than that. There was no record of where he originated from, nor any of his qualifications. Kanzaki had merely walked straight up the doors of the research facility and presented his skills and unexpectedly accepted.

Kanzaki’s ideas for Project 401 were fairly simple. Having seen the sheer power that Summoned Creatures had, he sought to harness the powers of these powerfully magical beings provided for the Riders use. A B-rank mage, no matter how weak, would have had his powers heightened, augmented by these creatures.

Numerous summoners were consulted, their Summons scrutinised, until the team settled on Summons contracted from the plane of Ventara. These monsters, while strong, made for easy Contracts as long as an adequate supply of magic was supplied, an easy feat as the team tapped into the magical mains of Administered World 94 where the research facility was located, a loosely populated planet that had adequate magical resources to fuel the various projects in the facility.

Instead of contracting the monsters to a Summoner, what the team did was to Contract the Summoned to a Licence – cards that the team came to call the Advent Cards. The monsters would heed only the call of the one who owned its card. Other blank cards were then created, which adapted themselves into weapons or spells that corresponded with the contracted.

Years later, in MC 0076, the project was completed, and tragedy struck. The facility was razed to the ground, and all projects in the compound were terminated, including #401.

Spoiler for The Device:

To the unsuspecting eye, the Ryuki Deck appears to be nothing more than a large card holder with a dragon motif embossed on its cover in gold.




In order to activate the Rider system, the user simply announces “Set up”. This initiates the V-Buckle to form on the waist of the user. The transformation is started by announcing “Henshin”, before sliding the Deck into the Buckle in order to start up the transformation into Ryuki.




Ryuki
Ryuki bears a red colour scheme, a product of the Rider's pact with the "Matchless Dragon" Dragreder, dyeing the Rider armor in it's own colors. True to it's name of "Ryuki"(translated as "the Dragon Knight"), the Rider's helmet bears significance with a medieval knight's helmet.

Drag Visor:
Resembling Dragreder’s head, the Visor is the card reader for the Rider, and is located on Ryuki’s left forearm. It reads the scanned cards as commands to relay to Dragreder to provide the requested support by Ryuki.

Spoiler for The Advent Deck:

The Advent Deck contains the Advent Cards are used to call out to Dragreder to assist Ryuki, which range from providing Ryuki with weapons to even summoning Dragreder itself.



Advent – Summons Dragreder



Sword Vent – Summons a aword for Ryuki to use. The saber resembles Dragreder’s tail. The blade, now imbued with the Crimson Dragon’s magic, allows Kidou to employ melee attacks of up to A+ rank.



Guard Vent – Ryuki calls forth a shield resembling the creature’s chest plate. This shield also grants Ryuki Dragreder’s flames of protection, increasing the power of any defensive spell that the Rider uses.



Strike Vent – Ryuki is given a gauntlet that enshrouds his hand. It is modelled after Dragreder’s head. It acts as a knuckle-duster to improve Ryuki's punching attacks, and is also his only access to long range as it summons up Dragreder's flamethrowing abilities.



Final Vent – Fully summoning Dragreder, Ryuki is shrouded in Dragreder’s flames, and performs a flying side kick. In certain cases, Dragreder itself also attacks Ryuki’s target simultaneously with Ryuki’s kick.

Spoiler for History:

Shinji was the primary tester for lab 401, and as such tested the first test unit, which was a good match as Shinji’s preference fighting in close range suited Ryuki’s slant towards melee combat. By the time the system was completed, Shinji found out about Kanzaki’s plans to develop more Riders to cripple the other projects by destroying their Riders and facilities, therefore earning himself a chance to gain the top spot in the TSAB research department.

Shinji’s sense of righteousness compelled him to destroy Kanzaki’s project, and therefore proceeded to destroy the lab, resulting in Dragreder destroying the research facility as collateral. Shinji has since been listed as MIA after the incident, but he has in fact been flitting through different worlds and living by himself to avoid detection by Kanzaki, regularly transporting himself to uninhabited worlds to let Dragreder feed on the magical creatures that dwell there. This carries on until he comes across the Riders of the other Rider Projects during a NERV-RF6 collaborative mission and reveals himself when he assisted the overwhelmed Riders.

Shinji was temporarily detained by the NERV personnel afterwards for his ‘crimes as the Renegade Rider’, where he explained the situation behind the disaster that befell the research facility on AW-94 on MC0076, providing enough evidence for Fuyutsuki to turn a blind eye to his case and alert him to Kanzaki’s intention.

Since then, Shinji has been operating as an off-the-records member of the division, mainly serving as an information gathering agent from the darker echelons of society like has always done; basic recon; and tying up loose ends on the field. With Shinji being off the records, he retains the level of secrecy he needed to hide under Kanzaki’s radar.

Nonetheless, his cover would soon be blown during a blunder, exposing the continued existence of Ryuki to Kanzaki in a fluke. The ambitious scientist, who had since created a few more of the same Rider system, devised a plan to make use of Ryuki’s involvement with NERV to cripple them. Sacrificing the only one who was close to Shinji when he was still around, Kanzaki evicted the user of the Raia Deck to pass along an “upgrade”.

This “upgrade” was the Survive Vent – a new concept that Kanzaki was working that forces the Contract Monster to trigger a temporary evolution by initiating an advanced summon. The prototype was completed, and Shinji was to fulfil his role as a tester.

The prototype was perfect: the Ryuki Rekka displayed higher magical output and the improvements in the Barrier Jacket supported by the Contract Monster provided Ryuki with a great boost in overall capabilities. For Shinji, this was perfect – except for Kanzaki’s trick, his little payback.

The Survive upgrade, though it provided a powerful boost, would initiate a program shortly after the card’s activation. This “Red Shoes Program” would turn the system against the user’s allies, and Shinji could only watch in horror as the Rider systems moved on its own against his volitions, crushing his comrades, the people whom he had come to call family.

The devastation continued, until the Red Shoes Program was stopped by a collaborative effort – Riot Force 6’s captains wearing him down; the consummate Riders Den-O, SaSword and Kiva’s finishing attacks breaking through his defence to terminate the program; and lastly, Julie Liu Ming’s pleas for him to stop the program, which finally gave him the strength he needed to freeze the suit’s movement for a moment for the Riders to carry out their attack.

The aftermath was just as devastating to Shinji as it was to those injured during the program’s rampage. In fear of suspicions of Survive altering the general system as well, he would not dare use the system again, lest the same disaster happens once more. While still capable in his own right as a B-ranked mage, he could only watch on as the other Riders participated in other battles, knowing that should be there with them.

Shinji would eventually sink into depression, quite like how Hayashi Hayato did after his mother’s death(of which Shinji had unearthed her mutilated device from the ruins where she perished, providing the mourning, young man full closure). If he had been detached from everyone ever since meeting them, he was practically foreign now, an alien to their system, keeping himself completely withdrawn. Even the goading and baiting from love rival Gilliam Aker couldn’t budge him.

Julie Liu Ming eventually managed to get past his defences, and there he pleaded her to save him. And save him she did. Between her duties in Liu Ming Enterprise, her SGS duties and working on Ryuki system and removing the Red Shoes program, she found the time to counsel him herself, dragging him out of his despair and tightening their bonds, much to Aker’s chagrin… though he was happy that Shinji had finally got back to his feet.

Spoiler for Personality:

In his youth, Shinji was a happy-go-lucky type of person. A little clumsy, prone to accidents and a knack for getting himself into trouble, he was nonetheless a spirited person who dealt with incidents as he deemed fit.

Dissatisfied with Kanzaki’s plans for the Riders, he trashed the facility and destroyed all traces of the project that he could find and went into hiding 5 years, laying low and living amongst Ordered Space’s underworld. These 5 years would change his perception of others and shape his character into a vastly different mould from his young self.

Following his revelation to NERV, Shinji is best described by them as an over-jovial individual by those in his vicinity, though those that have come to know him better and of his history would understand this cheerfulness comes from him struggling to cope over the period of time when he lived by himself until he came across NERV; and that despite the joviality that makes him so amicable at first impression, he is in fact a very lonely person who keeps everyone locked out. Also, despite his buoyant impression, Shinji can be oddly cold and calculative at times, a trait honed over his years in hiding.

Shinji also has an intense fascination with BelkaBlue Julie Liu Ming, a combined result of something similar to love-at-first-sight and that in a certain way, he shares an understanding with her on the masks that people keep. His ability to play along with Julie’s many personalities surprised even Mayura, who has been poking fun at him ever since Tury misunderstood the term “boytoy” and called him just that.

Shinji also has a friendly rivalry with sniper Gilliam Aker as his love rival, though the two are rather close(most probably nurtured from their long standing rivalry for Julie’s affections), and would set aside their trivial differences in protecting Julie from others, the most notable examples being the annual motor racing event organised and sponsored by the Labatts, shielding her and eradicating most of Julie’s fanboys itching snap a shot of their “fair maiden” in skimpy booth uniform, or worse.

Shinji also practices a unique fighting style resembling tribal dances which NAW-97 residents may notice resembles the martial art known as Capoeira.

Spoiler for Survive Rekka(Blaze):

The upgrade system for the Riders from Project 401, the Survive Vent card triggers a temporary evolution of the Rider’s Contract Monster via an advanced summoning spell. This would increase the Contract Monster’s magical outflow greatly, which is taken advantage of by the Rider system, which absorbs this magical output and reconfigures the armour to provide higher defence. In Survive mode, the V-Visor is also reshaped, making it more effective in combat.

In Ryuki’s case, the Barrier Jacket’s simple armour is redesigned, with tougher armour for his torso and more elaborate designs for the enlarged protective plates on the rest of the barrier jacket. The Drag Visor is also updated. It is now named Drag Visor Zwei and is no longer secured to the left forearm, instead assuming the form of a gun-like apparatus resembling the head of Dragreder’s new form that can flip a blade out of the device at will. Julie also makes modifications in the functions during the removal of the Red Shoes program, and installs components into the Visor that allows it to shoot low level shooting spells at the squeeze of the Visor’s trigger. With the rise in defence, increase of magical supplies and the easily accessible blade and shooting modes, the Ryuki Survive provides higher overall capability.

This new form, Dragranzer, assumes the form of mechanical red-gold dragon, and due to a perk in the Survive card after Julie’s ministrations, can assume the form of a bulky bike.

Advent – Summons Dragranzer
Sword Vent – This Vent can be triggered without using the Vent card, as the blade flips out of the Visor like a switchblade. By using the Sword Vent card, the blade, 1.2m in length, can be further enhanced with Dragranzer’s flames.
Guard Vent – Resembling a barrier spell, the Ryuki Survive is shrouded in a fiery barrier of Dragranzer’s flames. Alternatively, Dragranzer may coil itself around Ryuki. Both versions of this Vent is called “Fire Wall”.
Shoot Vent – Using the Shoot Vent, Ryuki can charge up a few variations of bombardment spells using Dragranzer. Techniques using the Shoot Vent are called “Meteor Bullet”.
Strange Vent – As the “wild card”, the Strange Vent can assume the function of any Vent card, including cards not in Ryuki’s deck. Ryuki most commonly uses this to imitate the functions of the Trick Vent, which allows him to create solid copies of himself.
Final Vent – Fully summoning Dragranzer, Ryuki is carries out variations of his finishing move which is dubbed the “Dragon Firestorm”.

• Variation 1: Like Ryuki’s original flying side kick, Dragranzer shrouds Ryuki Survive with it’s flames, propelling the Rider at great speeds to deliver a powerful kick. Also, like it’s original, Dragranzer may shoot fireballs at the target simultaneously.
• Variation 2: Ryuki Survive rides Dragrazer, which assumes its bike form and fires a series of fireballs at the target before crashing into it.
• Variation 3: Probably the fanciest variation, Ryuki Survive locks his foot in a notch at the back of Dragranzer’s head as fires at the target before crashing into the target headfirst.

[Keroko]

Welcome to the party, Nya~n. You'll have to excuse me for not giving a full read-through yet, but I still have 25 other stories and profiles to read through. Having finally gotten my hands on Tales of Vesperia doesn't really help either (I call dibs on Rita, by the way. I have plans for the girl).

I can say this from my global read though: While most of the Kamen Rider things are going *woosh*, I do like the idea of a rogue character. Did he actually join up with NERV after he revealed himself, or does he still stay in the shadows?

[krisslanza]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Welcome to the party, Nya~n. You'll have to excuse me for not giving a full read-through yet, but I still have 25 other stories and profiles to read through. Having finally gotten my hands on Tales of Vesperia doesn't really help either (I call dibs on Rita, by the way. I have plans for the girl).

I can say this from my global read though: While most of the Kamen Rider things are going *woosh*, I do like the idea of a rogue character. Did he actually join up with NERV after he revealed himself, or does he still stay in the shadows?

Keroko has gotten Vesperia? Oh dear...

[Nya~n]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Welcome to the party, Nya~n. You'll have to excuse me for not giving a full read-through yet, but I still have 25 other stories and profiles to read through. Having finally gotten my hands on Tales of Vesperia doesn't really help either (I call dibs on Rita, by the way. I have plans for the girl).

I can say this from my global read though: While most of the Kamen Rider things are going *woosh*, I do like the idea of a rogue character. Did he actually join up with NERV after he revealed himself, or does he still stay in the shadows?

ToV? I have heard great things about that game. I dunno who this Rita is, but I guess she's all yours. We're still working on Amu too, that cracky abomination I told you about a couple months back.

As for Shinji... He's not a rogue Rider per se. He's had his reasons for razing Project 401 to the ground, and he's laying low only to avoid detection by the project chief since he's pretty sure the chief's still alive somewhere looking for him.

As for NERV, I've yet to discuss with Eva about it(it's his unit, after all), but if it all goes according to my intentions, Shinji is under "protective custody"('So this is what they're calling it these days?' said Shinji, looking pointedly at Fuyutsuki, earning a snort from Nagisa and a chuckling Nogami. '"Protective Custody?"'), boarding up in NERV dorms. And since both Ryuki and Shinji have already been listed as MIA years, no records of him in NERV exists and can therefore serve as the perfect shadow member, the Rider that no one knows exists.

[Wild Goose]

I have seen a certain movie.

Must...not...add....railgun....sniping....

Must...not...turn...Aurion...into....Ossan robot....

Must...stay...true...to....Nanoverse...

Spoiler for "History repeats itself':

“I hope those OFM pilots have good aim, Soap.”

Mio McTavich gave her subordinate A Look. Despite being covered in sweat and grime, dressed in unflattering desert camo fatigues, body armor and a scarf around her neck, she continued to radiate focused intensity on the mission.

As well as an unstoppable wave of moe.

Not that the moe did much to negate the force of The Look.

“What's that, Roach?” she asked, continuing to skewer him.

“I told them to aim for the orange smoke,” replied Barrett Smith.

Outside the window, beyond the broken remains of the dilapidated house they were using as cover from the hail of bullets, debris and shrapnel flying around in the cacophony of battle, was a billowing mass of orange smoke. It source was burning only a couple of meters away from them, so close that it was stinging Mio’s eyes.

“That orange smoke, Roach?”

“Yes,” Barrett muttered very, very nervously. “That wasn’t my best toss.” He had the good grace to look ashamed of himself.

Both looked up at the sky, as several shapes knifed through the cloud cover: the sleek shape of SR-103C Delphinus fighters and Longsword fighter-bombers.

“SHIT!" screamed Mio, yanking Barrett to his feet, and running like hell. "What the hell were you thinking!"

"That my dad was in this same position, only it was an orbital strike!"

"Maybe if you started paying more attention to the job instead of m-"

Whatever else Mio would have said was drowned out by the roar of jet engines as the OFM pilots came in deep and hard.

....much apologies to lowe and to all who believe I have desecrated Mike Whiskey 2. Which I probably have. -_-

[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Welcome to the party, Nya~n. You'll have to excuse me for not giving a full read-through yet, but I still have 25 other stories and profiles to read through. Having finally gotten my hands on Tales of Vesperia doesn't really help either (I call dibs on Rita, by the way. I have plans for the girl).

Oh...is that so? I finally got HDD space to install Prism Ark, so I'm having fun playing it and also harvesting ideas for my stories

Did 3 routes already (Priecia, Kagura and Fel) and doing the remaining 4 soon :3

*warps to Wind Land*

[JamesEdwards]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Having finally gotten my hands on Tales of Vesperia doesn't really help either (I call dibs on Rita, by the way. I have plans for the girl).

Hey, Keroko, not to rain on your parade, which I am doing on purpose, but you're kinda late to the Tea Party there, buddy. Yeah, SLOWPOKE.jpg much? And please, don't be a Kha by laying claim to a character like you own the property. I will have you know myself and Tempest already have plans for Rita AND Raven; we're just not megalomaniacal douches who have to come onto the thread and lay claim to stuff like Sir Fabulous Zero of the Black Knights.

...you are definitely NOT Fabulous enough to go around doing that, so get back in your hole, mole.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by JamesEdwards

Hey, Keroko, not to rain on your parade, which I am doing on purpose, but you're kinda late to the Tea Party there, buddy. Yeah, SLOWPOKE.jpg much?

It's hard to get any faster, considering the game has only been released over here an amazing five days ago, and work prevented me from buying it until 2 days ago.

Originally Posted by JamesEdwards

And please, don't be a Kha by laying claim to a character like you own the property. I will have you know myself and Tempest already have plans for Rita AND Raven; we're just not megalomaniacal douches who have to come onto the thread and lay claim to stuff like Sir Fabulous Zero of the Black Knights.

...you are definitely NOT Fabulous enough to go around doing that, so get back in your hole, mole.

Never said I was going to somehow prevent you from making your own plans (how the hell would I do that anyway?). 'Calling dibs' is simply another word in this thread for 'I'm going to use this design for something, so keep your eyes peeled.' You should know that, seeing how long you've been here.

[Tempy]

Whoa man, let's cool the aggressiveness down. I understand your need to make the claim, but Keroko had no prior knowledge, nor have we ever discussed this outside of PMs. There's no need to fault him for that.

That said, our plans with a Rita-like character is only relatively minor in comparison to the others. I don't feel a need to put up a profile about her. Besides, her role won't come in for a long while.

EDIT: Dammit Keroko stop posting when I'm typing.

[Keroko]

I don't see the problem with two (or three in our case, I guess) people using the same character design anyway. Nya~n and I are doing the same thing with using Amu. I use her for Chevelle, while Nya~n uses her design as well for a yet-to-be-released character.

[9taileddemon]

Finally got a chance to finish this damn thing. Two whole months it was incomplete. But now it is my first fully completed profile. Gokel!!

Added one more paragraph to personality, added more relationships, added a small section about Nitro's storage form, and made an abilites/attacks section. For now I think that is enough to call it complete.

Spoiler for Gokel's Profile:

Name: Gokel Banchor
Nickname: Embodiment of Armageddon (self-titled)/ Sky Demon
Gender: Male
Age: Looks to be about 27 but has actually existed for over 500.
Occupation: 4th apprentice to Aaron Zafayat (Another OC)
Height: 6'
Weight: 155 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown hair with long bangs in the front.
Magic Style: Was originally Belka but later switched to Mid-Childa feeling that he was better suited to it.
Magic Color: Light Red
Clothes: Wears a long sleeved gray shirt with black pants. Often wears a long blue cloak. The cloak was made with the ability to use a tiny bit of his magic to move about as if it is in a mysterious wind.
Battle Style Long Range High Powered Assault and Aerial Bombardment.
Device: Intelligent Device-Nitro

Spoiler for Background:

Gokel was originally a soldier in a small army on his home planet, Vorzo, which was attempting to hold back the Belkan Empire's Army. While at first the Vorzonian Army was pushed back by the Belkan's, they managed to create a new technology to rival the cartridge system. The battle then became a slow war of attrition with neither side being able to completely overpower the other. During one of the battles Gokel was injured and had to leave the battle field for medical attention. The doctor's realized that he had been overusing the new technology and had suffered internal damage because of it. To Gokel's horror he was ordered to be discharged from the army until he could recover.

While at his home recovering, Gokel started to get extremely stressed because he wanted to return to the battle. He eventually started to believe that he had been removed from the fight because he was too strong and was seen as a threat. These continual dark thoughts and lack of an outlet for them started to make him angrier and angrier. Unbeknown to him, these dark thoughts would soon be blown away in a way he never expected.

The fight between the two sides was at this point reaching a fewer pitch. Casualties on both sides were on the rise and the Belkans decided that something needed to be done to finally put an end to it. They finally decided to send Aaron Zafayat, one of their most powerful mages, to find a way to defeat the Vorzonian Army. He quickly flew to the battlefield and, after some fighting, laid a magical artifact in the center of the field. He quickly flew up out of the area and concentrated his energy. The concentration of energy became so high that many people took notice, including Gokel who had been watching the fight from his home. Once the energy became strong enough Aaron fired at the artifact. The resulting energy release was tremendous as the artifact absorbed magical energy that was in the area. As it was located in the middle of a battlefield, the results were phenomenal. The explosion knocked out the majority of the soldiers on both sides of the field and gave Aaron a chance to fly towards the Vorzonian leader. He quickly put his device to the leader's head and asked that the Vorzonian Army would surrender. The leader agreed and Vorzo was added to the Belkan Empire.

Gokel watched the entire event wide mouthed. He had constantly been telling himself how great and powerful he was and here was a man that created a "second sun" in the middle of a battlefield and ended the war in less than an hour. And since the magical explosion had been set to knock out, he also accomplished it without any deaths. Gokel then made a decision that to become strong he would have to be trained by the man.

After a year of recovery Gokel was completely healed and quickly sought out Aaron. When he asked to be Aaron's apprentice he was greeted by incredulous looks from Aaron and his three other apprentices. As most people were terrified of Aaron, no one had ever volunteered to be an apprentice. Even the three other apprentices had not asked, they had basically been forced to be his apprentices. However Aaron then just laughed and agreed. His own apprentices were surprised by this and quickly asked why he would accept a former enemy as an apprentice so easily. Aaron just explained that he was strong enough to repel anything Gokel could throw at him. Gokel originally took this as an insult and tried to train as much as he could in the hope he would become strong enough to beat Aaron. However, after a while he realized that Aaron had spoken fact and that he would need many years of training before he would be able to fight on Aaron's level. Since that day Gokel has continually sought to improve his skills in the hope that he will eventually be able to make his own "second sun".

Spoiler for Personality:

Gokel is basically a battle junky. When not in battle or training he is extremely quiet and rather anti-social. He respects those that are strong and ignores people who he believes are weak. Very little interests him and even the few things that do interest him do not hold his attention for very long. As he at one point explains to a stunned Riot Force 6, "if your conversation doesn't have to do with explosions or ways to make things more powerful then I am probably not interested." However he has a weakness for things that are really flashy or over the top and explosions will capture his attention really quickly. All together Gokel is very bored with the world and only is happy when his blood is coursing through his veins at full speed and his heart is pumping at full power.

He also has mastered a very scary glare that usually will get people to leave him alone if they are bothering him.

One of the few things besides explosions that will keep his attention is when people ask him favors or he is forced to ask favors. He hates having to owe anyone and will make sure that he repays any favors as quickly as possible. In the same vein he keeps track of all favors that people owe HIM and will make sure that they are repaid and if they are not, he will find a way to make sure that he is repaid in an alternate way.

Spoiler for Relationships:

Aaron: Gokel has a large amount of respect for Aaron and constantly looks to him for knowledge. In return, Gokel is treated with the most amount of respect of the apprentices. Aaron is also one of the few people that can actually get Gokel to converse about things that aren't connected to battles.

The other apprentices: Gokel usually doesn’t talk to the other apprentices and they usually don’t go out of their way to strike up conversations with him. Tarak, the third apprentice, is the only one that Gokel actually “chats” with but they usually just discuss battle strategies and the pros and cons of various explosions.

However, every holiday season the other apprentices and Aaron try to find out what gift Gokel would like to receive. Gokel doesn’t like to receive gifts because he feels that he owes the giver something in return, and he doesn’t like to give gifts for any reason. This ended up creating a competition where the entire group tries to figure out what Gokel wants and if anyone can figure it out then he gives everyone a present. If no one can figure it out then he doesn’t give anybody a present.

Riot Force 6: Gokel is only interested in Riot Force 6 to learn about new ways to increase the power of his attacks. He has expressed interest in Nanoha’s Blaster Mode, Fate’s Jet Zanbar attack, and some of Hayate’s more powerful attacks. He also will sometimes talk to Dieci as she is also a cannon user.

Spoiler for Barrier Jacket:

Normal Form: The only change from his normal clothes to his barrier aesthetically is that his cloak becomes a darker blue with splotches of black and gray. It has a special trait that instead of reinforcing his body from outside attacks, it helps reinforce the inside of his body. This trait was created so he could use many high powered spells and attacks without putting added strain on his body. (He doesn't want to have to stay out of battles for long periods of time like when he was younger.) However since so much of its magical power is used to reinforce his internals, it has very little defense from outside attacks.
Defense form: Only utilized when his device is in Club form. Does not change appearance but the defenses shift from internal defense to external defense. Helps protect Gokel from the magical explosions of his own weapon and from other attacks.

Spoiler for Intelligent Device - Nitro:

Nitro is the name of his device. While it is an intelligent device, it is extremely quiet and will usually only answer in one word, two if necessary. However it is extremely useful in calculating coordinates for Gokel's large bombardments of many attacks. It can arrange the attacks into specific patterns or groups of small patterns to maximize efficiency. Gokel usually leaves most of the aiming to Nitro and will only give orders if necessary.

Storage Form: When in storage mode Nitro takes the shape of a small hand sized can-like cylinder. When activated this part of its body moves into the device itself and is not visible.

Cannon Form: Nitro's main form. It becomes an extremely long cannon with two areas where cartridges can be placed. Has two hand holds to keep the cannon steady when large power attacks are used.

Club form: One of the hand holds moves into the device while the other moves to the end of the device. The end closes off to become a club shape. The entire device except for the handhold will then be surrounded by a thick layer of magical energy. When it makes contact with something the energy will detonate. So if he blocks a move, hits his opponent, or is blocked it will explode at his enemy. His barrier jackets defense form blocks him from being hurt by the explosions.

Spoiler for Battle style:

As noted above, Gokel's main fighting style is long range bombardment. The further away he is from the opponent the more powerful his attacks get as he has more time to concentrate and amplify the magical energy. He can also work with Nitro to split his powerful beams into many smaller ones that can be controlled by basic patterns inputted into Nitro. His attacks are extremely powerful and he can release his full abilities against large groups of enemies such as armies.

If he is forced into close combat he can hold his own against one or two opponents until he can knock them far enough back that he can fly far into bombardment range again. His speed and power are extremely lacking so if he is separated from Nitro he will be in a large amount of trouble.

His worst trait is mid-range. He can't hit with club form in that mode and he is too close to use powerful attacks because he would risk being hit by their shockwaves. He also isn't far enough away to amplify their power. Against mid-range opponents he can only attempt to get back into long-range or close-up combat.

Spoiler for ”Abilities/Skills”:

One of Gokel’s most interesting skills is his wide knowledge of explosions and basic demolition. Not content to just watch the explosions he creates, Gokel also records information about them and tries to learn as much as he can. At this point Gokel can make almost any type of explosion he wishes to as long as he has the right materials. He is also a demolition and fireworks expert.

Gokel is also his group’s cartridge creator. Due to his extremely high magical levels he can make large numbers of cartridges in a short amount of time. Since he also burns through cartridges extremely quickly it is probably good that he makes his own. He does not create cartridges for Tarak or Aaron because the former does not use them and Aaron has his own personal cartridges that he uses.

Gokel can also increase the power of his attacks by amplifying them using cartridges. After his attacks travel a certain distance he can halt the attack, use up a certain number of cartridges, and then multiply the attack’s power. The distance needed, number of cartridges consumed, and multiplication number varies from attack to attack.

Crusher Gokel’s most basic attack. It just releases a powerful beam of magical energy similar to the divine buster. However it is also extremely large and unfocused.

Fragment of Armageddon One of Gokel’s most powerful attacks. It starts out as one solid beam, halts, is amplified, and then splits into four parts. Each of these four parts can then be amplified and then be split into four more parts. This can continue until the beam has been split into 256 parts each with one quarter of the original beams power (the amplification process partially balances out the splitting of the energy). However, to allow the amplification to occur 28 cartridges need to be consumed. The beam parts are all controlled by basic formations that are inputted into Nitro. The beams can be split into smaller numbers of fragments to conserve more energy, 256 just happens to be the limit.

The attack is mainly used for wide area devastation or against large military opponents. While similar to one of Hayate’s spells, it can not actually be aimed outside of the basic formations such as square, diamond, triangle ect. Gokel can also only use the spell once a week and needs an entire twenty four hour period to recover after it has been used. It also needs to be used from extremely far away because it needs five hundred feet between each amplification. So for full power Gokel needs to be at least two thousand feet away.

Shattering Spear Basically a Crusher that burns twice as many cartridges to focus the beam to a much smaller size. However the time to charge the attack also increases. Due to these limitations Gokel only uses this to break shields or barricades, not against living opponents.

Obliterating Blaster Gokel’s most powerful attack. It combines the collecting ability of attacks like Starlight Breaker with Gokel’s own amplification abilities. Due to the ridiculous amount of energy released the attack can only be used in emergencies with Aaron’s approval. It is also the only one of Gokel’s attacks that his barrier jacket cannot fully protect him from. Thus he suffers damage to his body each time it is used. While the damage can be healed with time, overuse could lead to permanent damage.

I know Fragment of Armageddon seems kind of ridiculous but it is only going to be used once or twice. Its drawbacks are just too extreme for it to be authorized more than once in a blue moon. And it is rare that that amount of fire power is necessary anyways.

So if you guys approve can it be placed on the front page please? So I don't have to go searching through 20 pages to find it next time. :-) Thank you.

[Keroko]

Well, time to make up on my promise. There's been too much posting and not enough commenting lately, time to change that with a good old fashioned Backlog Breaker!

This took a while to get through, mostly because the stuff was loooonnnggg.

Fun too, though, so all is well.

Originally Posted by TheShinySword

Cross posting with the FFT

Well I didn't get to post exactly at 12:00 like I wanted but ten minutes off isn't so bad.

Anyway this is a gift for Tempest who I hope sees this.

Spoiler for Belka:

-snip-

I wanted to make something longer but school work kept me down all week :<. And I apologize if I butchered Noland >< I tried as hard as I could to keep him in character. And really since it's for Tempest it really should have been all RAGE and FIRE but... I don't do rage well .__.

It's never a bad thing to see a character without rage and fire for a change. Though I do have trouble visualizing Noland without formal speech.

Originally Posted by TheShinySword

Time to post a little mini multi-chapter dealio (I'm thinking 3, 4 chapters tops probably)

OCs:

Kaon
Remy and his familiars

Case File: Morph the Cat

Chapter 1

Spoiler for MtC:

-snip-

Okay, that waking up scene was just d'aaaw~. I do wonder where the cat paws thing is going...

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

Holy F-tonne I haven't posted a shot about my other characters in a while...

Well then, time for my Gunslinger Hayato to take center stage for once >:3

Spoiler for length:

-snip-

Dang that was a lot to go trough. I still have to blink and remind myself occasionally that this is the Alpha Syn I'm reading.

Anyway, calm chapter is calm. The slap was expected, but appropriate, though the whining preceding it was... perhaps a bit too much whining. I can't exactly place my finger on just where though.

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

A new fic currently in the works, that features the Bloodspeaker Homicides investigation and giving more hints towards Wallachia, gave birth to the OC below.

Spoiler for Gunwald Brandt:

-snip-

Whoa, lazy git with a lazy dog. Even though he looks like he's done some exercise... which is perhaps the only minus I can see in the profile.

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

*wanders in*

Time for yet another post.

Spoiler for length:

-SNIP-

“While I admit that most of the things brought to me and Lt. Himemiya is kept in confidence, I will bring anything that I feel that should be brought up to the appropriate people, including General Yagami.”

I can not be the only one who smacked his face here and went "well, there goes that secret."

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlare

*delurks*

Hello, everyone! I know this is unexpected, but ...

*fires launcher without warning*

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha GuardianS

Transition, Part Three—Paradox

Spoiler for Transition, Part Three—Paradox:

-snip-

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlare

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha GuardianS

Transition, Part Three—Paradox

Spoiler for Transition, Part Three—Paradox (Continued):

-snip-

*runs and hides*

P/S: As always, Transitions are full of metaphors and allusions. My hobby and failure on that part. >.>

2 things.

1: Holy crap this was long!

2: Holy crap this guy is powerful!

T'was a bit vague though, but unknown characters having a first person adventure can lead to that.

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Chapter 7 is underway and below is the OC that is to be introduced later on. Also, as a extra, the spells/abilities for Angelika is also introduced. You can see them below or on her updated profile.
She is somewhat of a...unknown card in this so...

Spoiler for Ragnar:

-snip-

So he is the kind of guy who is useful, knows he is useful, and decides to take advantage of the situation?

Oh I see fun times ahead.

Originally Posted by LoweGear

Just dropping random artwork for a may-work-on/ may-not-work-on OC in the future:

Spoiler:

Koenig Schneider
Belkan Non-Cartridge System Equipped Armed Device

Save Form (aka storage)


Kaiser Form (aka deployed)

*warps out*

Sooo... how closely related would this OC be to Hayate?

Originally Posted by Comartemis

Alas, that blasted force known as Real Life intervenes the moment I start to get somewhere on the next chapter of ReduX!

My folks have finally pulled the plug on my computer access at home until I get myself a job, so I'm going to vamoose from Cadia and IRC for a couple of weeks, maybe even until or beyond the end of summer. I know you're all going to miss the constant stream of infodumps and vaporware...

*Dodges a hail of rotten fruit, sniper rounds, artillery bombardments, bombing runs, and an Ion Cannon for good measure*

...but I'll try not to let ReduX stagnate too much, even if I have to use *shock and horror!* a pen and paper to keep making progress. In the meantime...

Ah, yes. Work. Such a lovely thing considering our current economical situation.

Also one of the reasons I decided to follow another education. Going deeper into video animation this time.

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

*wanders in and drops his package*

Spoiler for length:

-snip-

*wanders out, his mission accomplished*

Oooh, someone's got a bruised ego here.

Syn: Shut up.

Hmm hmm. Also, stories like this remind me that I need to write more with Tesla. Poor girl gets the Zafira treatment from me, even the side mentions in other fics are more than I've written for her...

Maybe I'm going to center her in Force...

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

Hmm.

Previous chapters.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Gospel of Judas

Book Two: The Terror of Death

Spoiler for Chapter 2: Act 1:

-snip-

O-kay, that certainly puts a lot of things regarding Noland in perspective... Darnit! Must. Read. Next. Part.

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Here is a litte short with more info on what's going on on Cancri and what is to come...

Spoiler for Experiment:

-snip-

Ah yes, the good old oblivious scientist and evil superiors. Classic, but it still works.

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

*wanders in and drops the package*

Spoiler for length:

-snip-

*wanders out*

One of the things I always liked about Nanoha was their showing the other side of the fence. This I liked here as well. A bit shocked that killing happened so quickly (usually that's the main excuse for why criminals in Nanoha aren't punished) but at the same time intrigued where this goes.

Originally Posted by Saint X

Just passing by to drop another WIP

Spoiler for MARZ Commander:

-snip-

Holy crap! It's a mecha... mecha...

...

How do you call guys like that anyway?

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

At Lowe's request

Spoiler for length:

-snip-

I can see why Lowe requested this.

*gobbles down the delicious drama*

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

I realized that the latest chapter of Gospel was shorter than usual.

So I did this really quickly. Blame the ficbunnies that torment me.

Spoiler for Unison:

-snip-

The mental image of Rein arguing with an ancient insane Unison Device and punching him out when he wouldn't shut up had me howling with laughter.

Maybe I should do some Unison with Keroko myself. Would be a bit more drama instead of comedy though, considering the limitations I placed on Keroko regarding Unison... That, or I'll have to plothax.

I'll need to give it more thought...

Also, 'meatbag' seems to have become a standard line for droids these days, no?

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

First time ever I tried to write in 1st person PoV, but I gotta say it felt good. Naturally felt more personal and I might write some KoE chapters like this, although it's uncertain.

Spoiler for Sacrifice:

-snip-

Yeah... those kind of moments are the worst. When just a few moments earlier, the cavalry could have saved someone.

If only they had come a few moments earlier.

Originally Posted by Saint X

something for ghaz

a bit rushed thought i think..

Spoiler for The next day:

-snip-

Heh. Clingy sister. Some people claim there is no way sisters do that in real life.

Sometimes I wish they were right.

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

Four days of nothing? That's a damn shame.

So here's something.

Spoiler for Crisis:

-snip-

This... this is fitting. In many different ways.

I mean, sure, as a friend Keroko would think this is wrong, just like how Nanoha or Hayate would think this is wrong.

But Keroko also understands Noland. She understands what it means to go berserk, if not for the seals which hold back the brunt of her corrupted core, she faces the same risk herself every time she goes into Ethereal Mode.

Which is also why the magnificent line struck a chord with me.

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Previous Chapters

Knight of Exodus

Spoiler for Chapter 7 - A Hidden Past:

-snip-

For some reason I find the thought of Fate being desk bound and signing papers to be throughly amusing.

Call me cruel.

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Okay.

I worked on the scene that's turning out questions. I was re-reading the scene last night trying to get myself moving into the next scene when I decided I didn't like the FLOW of the lines, and found a way to reword the scene that comes off as Less Stupid and more natural.

Spoiler for Third Time's the charm here...:

-snip-

It definitely was amusing, that's for sure.

Though I do agree with Roland's question, if such a manual exists, why would the TSAB keep it under high-security wraps?

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Got rolling in a scene again tonight, and I think I accidently stumbled on some nice emotion here...

It's not a full change, but it marks the begining of Crash growing into the character he needs to be by the end of the story.

Spoiler for Shouting match with Vita:

-snip-

It's fics like this that remind us that underneath the hammer wielding goth-loli lies a girl with a crapload of emotional baggage.

I liked this. I really did.

Originally Posted by AtomicoX

Previous Chapters

Knight of Exodus

Spoiler for Chapter 8 - Breaker of Minds:

-snip-

Oooh, cliffhanger. Did they surrender? Did they fight? Questions, questions.

Originally Posted by 9taileddemon

Finally got a chance to finish this damn thing. Two whole months it was incomplete. But now it is my first fully completed profile. Gokel!!

Added one more paragraph to personality, added more relationships, added a small section about Nitro's storage form, and made an abilites/attacks section. For now I think that is enough to call it complete.

Spoiler for Gokel's Profile:

Name: Gokel Banchor
Nickname: Embodiment of Armageddon (self-titled)/ Sky Demon
Gender: Male
Age: Looks to be about 27 but has actually existed for over 500.
Occupation: 4th apprentice to Aaron Zafayat (Another OC)
Height: 6'
Weight: 155 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown hair with long bangs in the front.
Magic Style: Was originally Belka but later switched to Mid-Childa feeling that he was better suited to it.
Magic Color: Light Red
Clothes: Wears a long sleeved gray shirt with black pants. Often wears a long blue cloak. The cloak was made with the ability to use a tiny bit of his magic to move about as if it is in a mysterious wind.
Battle Style Long Range High Powered Assault and Aerial Bombardment.
Device: Intelligent Device-Nitro

Spoiler for Background:

Gokel was originally a soldier in a small army on his home planet, Vorzo, which was attempting to hold back the Belkan Empire's Army. While at first the Vorzonian Army was pushed back by the Belkan's, they managed to create a new technology to rival the cartridge system. The battle then became a slow war of attrition with neither side being able to completely overpower the other. During one of the battles Gokel was injured and had to leave the battle field for medical attention. The doctor's realized that he had been overusing the new technology and had suffered internal damage because of it. To Gokel's horror he was ordered to be discharged from the army until he could recover.

While at his home recovering, Gokel started to get extremely stressed because he wanted to return to the battle. He eventually started to believe that he had been removed from the fight because he was too strong and was seen as a threat. These continual dark thoughts and lack of an outlet for them started to make him angrier and angrier. Unbeknown to him, these dark thoughts would soon be blown away in a way he never expected.

The fight between the two sides was at this point reaching a fewer pitch. Casualties on both sides were on the rise and the Belkans decided that something needed to be done to finally put an end to it. They finally decided to send Aaron Zafayat, one of their most powerful mages, to find a way to defeat the Vorzonian Army. He quickly flew to the battlefield and, after some fighting, laid a magical artifact in the center of the field. He quickly flew up out of the area and concentrated his energy. The concentration of energy became so high that many people took notice, including Gokel who had been watching the fight from his home. Once the energy became strong enough Aaron fired at the artifact. The resulting energy release was tremendous as the artifact absorbed magical energy that was in the area. As it was located in the middle of a battlefield, the results were phenomenal. The explosion knocked out the majority of the soldiers on both sides of the field and gave Aaron a chance to fly towards the Vorzonian leader. He quickly put his device to the leader's head and asked that the Vorzonian Army would surrender. The leader agreed and Vorzo was added to the Belkan Empire.

Gokel watched the entire event wide mouthed. He had constantly been telling himself how great and powerful he was and here was a man that created a "second sun" in the middle of a battlefield and ended the war in less than an hour. And since the magical explosion had been set to knock out, he also accomplished it without any deaths. Gokel then made a decision that to become strong he would have to be trained by the man.

After a year of recovery Gokel was completely healed and quickly sought out Aaron. When he asked to be Aaron's apprentice he was greeted by incredulous looks from Aaron and his three other apprentices. As most people were terrified of Aaron, no one had ever volunteered to be an apprentice. Even the three other apprentices had not asked, they had basically been forced to be his apprentices. However Aaron then just laughed and agreed. His own apprentices were surprised by this and quickly asked why he would accept a former enemy as an apprentice so easily. Aaron just explained that he was strong enough to repel anything Gokel could throw at him. Gokel originally took this as an insult and tried to train as much as he could in the hope he would become strong enough to beat Aaron. However, after a while he realized that Aaron had spoken fact and that he would need many years of training before he would be able to fight on Aaron's level. Since that day Gokel has continually sought to improve his skills in the hope that he will eventually be able to make his own "second sun".

Spoiler for Personality:

Gokel is basically a battle junky. When not in battle or training he is extremely quiet and rather anti-social. He respects those that are strong and ignores people who he believes are weak. Very little interests him and even the few things that do interest him do not hold his attention for very long. As he at one point explains to a stunned Riot Force 6, "if your conversation doesn't have to do with explosions or ways to make things more powerful then I am probably not interested." However he has a weakness for things that are really flashy or over the top and explosions will capture his attention really quickly. All together Gokel is very bored with the world and only is happy when his blood is coursing through his veins at full speed and his heart is pumping at full power.

He also has mastered a very scary glare that usually will get people to leave him alone if they are bothering him.

One of the few things besides explosions that will keep his attention is when people ask him favors or he is forced to ask favors. He hates having to owe anyone and will make sure that he repays any favors as quickly as possible. In the same vein he keeps track of all favors that people owe HIM and will make sure that they are repaid and if they are not, he will find a way to make sure that he is repaid in an alternate way.

Spoiler for Relationships:

Aaron: Gokel has a large amount of respect for Aaron and constantly looks to him for knowledge. In return, Gokel is treated with the most amount of respect of the apprentices. Aaron is also one of the few people that can actually get Gokel to converse about things that aren't connected to battles.

The other apprentices: Gokel usually doesn’t talk to the other apprentices and they usually don’t go out of their way to strike up conversations with him. Tarak, the third apprentice, is the only one that Gokel actually “chats” with but they usually just discuss battle strategies and the pros and cons of various explosions.

However, every holiday season the other apprentices and Aaron try to find out what gift Gokel would like to receive. Gokel doesn’t like to receive gifts because he feels that he owes the giver something in return, and he doesn’t like to give gifts for any reason. This ended up creating a competition where the entire group tries to figure out what Gokel wants and if anyone can figure it out then he gives everyone a present. If no one can figure it out then he doesn’t give anybody a present.

Riot Force 6: Gokel is only interested in Riot Force 6 to learn about new ways to increase the power of his attacks. He has expressed interest in Nanoha’s Blaster Mode, Fate’s Jet Zanbar attack, and some of Hayate’s more powerful attacks. He also will sometimes talk to Dieci as she is also a cannon user.

Spoiler for Barrier Jacket:

Normal Form: The only change from his normal clothes to his barrier aesthetically is that his cloak becomes a darker blue with splotches of black and gray. It has a special trait that instead of reinforcing his body from outside attacks, it helps reinforce the inside of his body. This trait was created so he could use many high powered spells and attacks without putting added strain on his body. (He doesn't want to have to stay out of battles for long periods of time like when he was younger.) However since so much of its magical power is used to reinforce his internals, it has very little defense from outside attacks.
Defense form: Only utilized when his device is in Club form. Does not change appearance but the defenses shift from internal defense to external defense. Helps protect Gokel from the magical explosions of his own weapon and from other attacks.

Spoiler for Intelligent Device - Nitro:

Nitro is the name of his device. While it is an intelligent device, it is extremely quiet and will usually only answer in one word, two if necessary. However it is extremely useful in calculating coordinates for Gokel's large bombardments of many attacks. It can arrange the attacks into specific patterns or groups of small patterns to maximize efficiency. Gokel usually leaves most of the aiming to Nitro and will only give orders if necessary.

Storage Form: When in storage mode Nitro takes the shape of a small hand sized can-like cylinder. When activated this part of its body moves into the device itself and is not visible.

Cannon Form: Nitro's main form. It becomes an extremely long cannon with two areas where cartridges can be placed. Has two hand holds to keep the cannon steady when large power attacks are used.

Club form: One of the hand holds moves into the device while the other moves to the end of the device. The end closes off to become a club shape. The entire device except for the handhold will then be surrounded by a thick layer of magical energy. When it makes contact with something the energy will detonate. So if he blocks a move, hits his opponent, or is blocked it will explode at his enemy. His barrier jackets defense form blocks him from being hurt by the explosions.

Spoiler for Battle style:

As noted above, Gokel's main fighting style is long range bombardment. The further away he is from the opponent the more powerful his attacks get as he has more time to concentrate and amplify the magical energy. He can also work with Nitro to split his powerful beams into many smaller ones that can be controlled by basic patterns inputted into Nitro. His attacks are extremely powerful and he can release his full abilities against large groups of enemies such as armies.

If he is forced into close combat he can hold his own against one or two opponents until he can knock them far enough back that he can fly far into bombardment range again. His speed and power are extremely lacking so if he is separated from Nitro he will be in a large amount of trouble.

His worst trait is mid-range. He can't hit with club form in that mode and he is too close to use powerful attacks because he would risk being hit by their shockwaves. He also isn't far enough away to amplify their power. Against mid-range opponents he can only attempt to get back into long-range or close-up combat.

Spoiler for ”Abilities/Skills”:

One of Gokel’s most interesting skills is his wide knowledge of explosions and basic demolition. Not content to just watch the explosions he creates, Gokel also records information about them and tries to learn as much as he can. At this point Gokel can make almost any type of explosion he wishes to as long as he has the right materials. He is also a demolition and fireworks expert.

Gokel is also his group’s cartridge creator. Due to his extremely high magical levels he can make large numbers of cartridges in a short amount of time. Since he also burns through cartridges extremely quickly it is probably good that he makes his own. He does not create cartridges for Tarak or Aaron because the former does not use them and Aaron has his own personal cartridges that he uses.

Gokel can also increase the power of his attacks by amplifying them using cartridges. After his attacks travel a certain distance he can halt the attack, use up a certain number of cartridges, and then multiply the attack’s power. The distance needed, number of cartridges consumed, and multiplication number varies from attack to attack.

Crusher Gokel’s most basic attack. It just releases a powerful beam of magical energy similar to the divine buster. However it is also extremely large and unfocused.

Fragment of Armageddon One of Gokel’s most powerful attacks. It starts out as one solid beam, halts, is amplified, and then splits into four parts. Each of these four parts can then be amplified and then be split into four more parts. This can continue until the beam has been split into 256 parts each with one quarter of the original beams power (the amplification process partially balances out the splitting of the energy). However, to allow the amplification to occur 28 cartridges need to be consumed. The beam parts are all controlled by basic formations that are inputted into Nitro. The beams can be split into smaller numbers of fragments to conserve more energy, 256 just happens to be the limit.

The attack is mainly used for wide area devastation or against large military opponents. While similar to one of Hayate’s spells, it can not actually be aimed outside of the basic formations such as square, diamond, triangle ect. Gokel can also only use the spell once a week and needs an entire twenty four hour period to recover after it has been used. It also needs to be used from extremely far away because it needs five hundred feet between each amplification. So for full power Gokel needs to be at least two thousand feet away.

Shattering Spear Basically a Crusher that burns twice as many cartridges to focus the beam to a much smaller size. However the time to charge the attack also increases. Due to these limitations Gokel only uses this to break shields or barricades, not against living opponents.

Obliterating Blaster Gokel’s most powerful attack. It combines the collecting ability of attacks like Starlight Breaker with Gokel’s own amplification abilities. Due to the ridiculous amount of energy released the attack can only be used in emergencies with Aaron’s approval. It is also the only one of Gokel’s attacks that his barrier jacket cannot fully protect him from. Thus he suffers damage to his body each time it is used. While the damage can be healed with time, overuse could lead to permanent damage.

I know Fragment of Armageddon seems kind of ridiculous but it is only going to be used once or twice. Its drawbacks are just too extreme for it to be authorized more than once in a blue moon. And it is rare that that amount of fire power is necessary anyways.

So if you guys approve can it be placed on the front page please? So I don't have to go searching through 20 pages to find it next time. :-) Thank you.

To be frank, FoA doesn't even sound that ridiculous. Since the power of the beam is cut by a fourth with every split, it becomes either a powerful attack with a low radius, or a weak attack with a large radius. Either a powerful beam or a trash killer, so to say.

[9taileddemon]

Originally Posted by Keroko

\
To be frank, FoA doesn't even sound that ridiculous. Since the power of the beam is cut by a fourth with every split, it becomes either a powerful attack with a low radius, or a weak attack with a large radius. Either a powerful beam or a trash killer, so to say.

See if it simply was divided by four each time then it would be a lot simpler and I wouldn't think that it is kind of ridiculous. But due to the amplification that occurs at each stage the end product is crazy. Note: Each cartridge multiplies the power by two.

So if it was going to be split into 256 parts:

First the main beam is fired. Three cartridges are used to multiply the power by 8. Then it is split into four beams each with twice the original power.

Then each of the four beams uses up two cartridges to multiply their power by 4. Then each is split into 4 smaller beams that still carry twice the original power.

Then a cartridge is used for each of the sixteen beams to double their power. Then they are split into four releasing 64 beams with the power of the original beam.

Then each of the 64 beams split into four leaving us with a total of 256 beams each carrying a quarter of the original beam. (Which was about the strength of a regular divine buster.)

After this 28 cartridges have been used. Gokel needs 24 hours before he can do any other attacks. And needs a week before he can reuse it. So I feel that is kind of extreme. If you don't... well works for me. Makes my life easier.

[arkhangelsk]

OK, so, a beam with a Power of 1 is fired. You use 4 cartridges to increase its power to 8, so 4 cartridges = 7 units. The beam with the power of 8 is split into 4 beams, each with a power of 2.

Next, the beam with a power of 2 with use only TWO cartridges, each worth only 4/7, to increase power to 8?

Wait...

[Tk3997]

I am still alive, but I've been rather Busy as of late still I've managed to get a bit done so I'll just leave this here for now. It's not very big, but eh it gets the job done for now and hopefully will get me back into the mood for further writing.

Previous Chapter can be found here.

Spoiler for Chapter 4.3:

After the incident early in the afternoon things thankfully clamed down again allowing everyone to get back to work, such as it was. For O’Neil that had amounted mostly to sitting around in his office waiting for something to happen. There wasn’t allot he could do without any leads or useful information after all. Finally though early in the evening he was roused from a short (two hour) power nap by a phone call and headed out to maybe do some actual work.

So what have you got?” He asked suppressing a yawn as he wandered back into Daniel’s cave on the promise he might have something useful for him. He then paused and surveyed the room, it was even more or a mess then last time as now in addition too books and documents it was also strewn with discard coffee cups and half eaten meals. “You haven’t slept at all since I was last in here have you?” He noted disapprovingly.

Daniel seemed startled for a moment as he looked up like he’d only just noticed he’d come in. “Huh? Well I slept some, okay not really, but I think I may have found something!”

“How good is it?” O’Neil asked willing to overlook his poor sleep habits for the moment if it had bought him useful information.

“Well if you’re looking for me lay out exactly what the place was for and what it was doing you’re going to be disappointed.” Daniel informed him tersely.

“Yeah well our other lead is currently in a coma that may or may not be curable so frankly I’m not in a mood to be picky.” Jack responded equally bluntly.

“Well it’s not much, but it’s something.” He responded cautiously still trying to temper expectations. “As I began to translate more and more of the information I started to notice something odd; namely it was like the people writing it themselves didn’t have all the facts. The wording was also somewhat stilted and looked to have likely been heavily edited. Taking all that and the apparent use of codenames and such into account…”

“Opsec, they didn’t know everything or if they did couldn’t talk about it in any public records.” O’Neil surmised.

“Exactly, I’ve uncovered hints and sideways references to others labs and ‘the project’ and such so I think this location was merely part of some larger program. As for what that program was… I don’t have a clue. It seems that most of the more critical areas of the database have been purged and only fragments of the lower security parts survived. I only got this much because it seems like a few of the people were violating policy and discussing classified information in personal emails and such.”

“Heh so office gossip turns out to be useful for something after all, who knew?” O’Neil chuckled, but without much true mirth as while this was something it didn’t appear to be anything really useful. They still had no idea as to the labs purpose or now what this larger project might have been. “Not useful enough though it still seems like a dead end.”

“I was beginning to think so to, but then I came across one line in one of the emails.” He pulled up the message on one of the floating screens before them even though it was all gibberish to Jack. “He was talking about someone being transfer somewhere. Now at first I thought he’d used another codename and so it was worthless, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d seen that word before. Anyway I decided to check and found out it wasn’t a codename, it was slang for a planet.”

He tapped a key and brought up an orbital picture and several paragraphs of basic information on what Jack assumed was the planet in question. “Non-Administered World 356. It’s a water world with only a few small island chains breaking the surface of a global ocean. It has a small indigenous population and is in contact with the TSAB, but has declined membership while most of its economy is based on tourism and has been for centuries even as far back as the Old Belkan Empire. It’s rather unremarkable all around really.”

“Good place to hide a super secret lab.” Jack mused casually. “Any hints of such?”

“Since it’s not technically a member world records are limited. I haven’t found anything in TSAB files, but we’d need to make a check of local archive to be through.” Daniel shrugged.

“Right-o then I’ll go round up a team, hurry up and get packed and then get some damn sleep, that’s an order.” Jack replied offhand heading for the door.

“Yeah alrigh--“ Daniel replied weakly before suddenly bolting upright and chasing after the retreating officer as the first bit of that sentence registered in his sleep deprived brain. “This was not part of the deal Jack!” He bellowed angrily as he reached the door.

“It’ll be fun and you could use the fresh air anyway!” Jack shouted back flippantly as he picked up his pace and basically ran around a corner and out of sight.

Daniel cursed under his breath but gave no pursuit and instead wearily returned to his chair. He was entirely sure that by now the papers approving his temporary reassignment to the command had been drafted and merely awaited a signature to be approved; further resistance was futile.

================================================== ===
O’Neil’s Office Sometime Later
================================================== ===

“You wanted to see me?” Felix grumbled wearily as he entered the room and closed the door behind him with his boot. The greeting lacked any pretext of military formality or proper protocol, but he knew who he was dealing with so it hardly mattered.

“Yeah go ahead and take a seat I wanted to talk about an up coming op with you.” O’Neil gestured for one of the seats in front of his desk.

“Oh joy.” Felix replied blandly as he flopped down in one. “So what craphole am I off to now?”

“Well first off the location happens to be a popular vacation resort.” O’Neil countered and saw him perk up slightly. “But it’s not you that’s going.” And watched him deflate again as he finished.

Felix scowled but wasn’t much in the mood for ‘witty’ banter after the days earlier events and so moved on. “So any particular reason you’re not sending me and if not why am I here?”

“Well the answer to the first question is I don’t frankly think this is important enough to justify someone of your rank.”

“That’s a first!” Felix laughed sardonically that had never stopped him getting stuck in shit assignments before.

“More importantly I wanted to give someone else a try and that’s why you’re here even though you’re not going. Kiddo and few of our other people were on loan to another branch near the mission area nothing serious frankly so low level smuggling mostly, but it was good training if nothing else. Anyway I’m thinking of reassigning them and putting him in charge of the operation, but I wanted your opinion.”

Felix leaned back in his chair with a somewhat unreadable mix of emotions on his face. “I really don’t see why you need my opinion you’re in charge.” His reply was unusually neutral given his normal behavior.

“Yeah and you’ve more or less raised him for the last decade.” O’Neil countered. “You’re the closest thing to a father he’s got.”

Felix winced. “You know I hate the F-word.”

O’Neil rolled his eyes, but continued. “You’re delusional inability to accept what you clearly are aside I wanted your opinion all the same.”

Felix slumped still further into chair with an unusually thoughtful expression which he maintained for several minutes before finally responding. “I suppose you could do allot worse in a team leader then the Kid frankly.” That was about as close to a ringing endorsement as Felix gave anyone. “What’s the operation anyway?”

“Nothing serious just something to get his feet wet. It’s a babysitting assignment more or less he should just have to portal out, watch a bookworm work for a few days then come back and write a mission report.” O’Neil informed him casually.

Felix’s expression took on a serious edge at this announcement. “Write a mission report? You sure he can handle that?”

“His reports aren’t that bad.” O’Neil replied though it was a rather half-hearted proclamation.

“True, they’re almost readable now after working on them for more then half a decade.” Felix replied regaining a bit of his usual sarcasm.

“It has been almost ten years now hasn’t it. I remember when he used to barely come up to our shins.” O’Neil leaned back recalling when he’d first meet Alan.

“Yeah…” Felix recalled fondly. “It made it a whole lot easier to kick him in the ass when he did something stupid.”

“You know for all your whining and moaning you seem to have managed to turn out a pretty good kid which is more then allot of parents can say.” O’Neil leaned forward again unusually serious.

“Define good.” Felix shot back. “He’s overly idealistic, never listens, and acts like an idiot if given half the chance.”

“That’s called being a teenager Felix.” O’Neil smirked.

“Yeah well I wish he’d hurry up and get cynical and jaded, it’d make him allot easier to be around.” He grumbled back.

“You don’t mean that.”

Felix mumbled something inaudible as he rose from his chair, but gave no direct answer to the question. “Unless there’s anything else you want to pester me about I do have things I could be doing.”

“That’s about it for now.” O’Neil replied waving him toward the door and watching him exit a moment later. You really do give yourself far too little credit sometimes. He mused as it shut behind him.

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

The next night and most of the day that followed was uneventful. The entire group involved in the incident to this point seemed to be taking some much needed time to decompress and unwind. Still one group continued to soldier on throughout, working shifts as long as they could manage at O’Neil’s behest the technicians working on the unison device made steady progress. Indeed by late the next evening they sent word they felt they were ready to make a first attempt at rousing the device.

Word of the event, despite best efforts, spread rather rapidly via the grapevine. When the appointed time came the lab ended up crowded with spectators eager for a look at the rare artifact in action. This needless to say applied some not inconsiderable pressure on the team who had been doing the work as they prepare to try and wake it…

“Is it wrong that I feel the urge to cackle madly and bellow something to the effect of “It’s alive, IT’S ALIVE!!!” Cameron asked semi-rhetorically as she finished the final preparations on her console.

“It might be somewhat inappropriate yes.” Aurion chuckled.

“Yeah I thought so, was why I checked.” Scarily she was completely serious.

The small device continued just sitting on the table scanning the crowded room and looking a tad confused for about minute before finally opening its mouth apparently preparing speak. Everyone crowed in, in eager anticipation of hearing it speak for the first time… “Hwær eomic?” And blinked several times in confusion as what came out was effectively gibberish.

“You said you’d insert English into its language sub-routines!” Cameron turned toward Atuwe angrily.

“I did!” He shot back defensively.

“Oh wait.” Her anger suddenly vanished and her cheeks flushed red.

“What?” Atuwe was suddenly curious as to the mood swing.

“I uh forgot to change his default language options… err my bad, let’s try that again.” Cameron remarked sheepishly and after a few quick key strokes forcefully punched one of the buttons on her console.

The device suddenly tensed up like it had been exposed to an electric shock and flopped back into unconsciousness, but then sprang up again a second later looking more confused then ever. It once more shook off its initial confusion though and spoke again this time in perfect English. “Umm where am I?”

“Haha success! I am such a genius!” Cameron pronounced proudly puffing out her chest.

“Uh-hum!” That forceful cough from behind her caused her to glance back over her shoulder at Aurion and Atuwe. “Well okay I guess you guys are pretty smart too.”

“Umm excuse me, but about my question…?” The little device on the table interrupted as politely as possible.

“No where you’ve ever heard of more then likely you’ve been asleep for awhile.” O’Neil butted in and took charge of the situation, for better or worse.

“Umm how long is awhile?” It asked quizzically.

“A few hundred years at least by our reckoning.” Jack informed him nonchalantly.

“Oh… are you sure?” The device asked him curiously.

“Yeah we’re pretty sure.” Jack responded curtly. “So anyway mind if I ask you a few questions?” He quickly changed the subject hoping to get onto something more constructive.

“Oh, not at all.” It replied politely.

“So what’s your name?” He started things off simple.

It paused as if thinking the question over, a rather worrying sign for such a simple question. “I’m not sure.” It finally answered apologetically.

“Err how old are you?” He tried another simple one though now a hint of nervousness was slipping in.

Another long pause before responding. “Umm I can’t remember.”

“So uh how about who built you?” Jacks tone was becoming increasingly dreary with each non-answer.

“I don’t know I’m afraid.”

“How about why you were built?” His dismay was becoming palpable now.

“I can’t recall unfortunately.”

“How you were damaged?” That question was more a desperate long shot then anything.

“I’m afraid I’m drawing a blank.”

“Okay what DO you remember?” He sighed in defeat.

”… I remember waking up!” It chirped happily causing the majority of those present to want to viscously and repeatedly slam there skulls into the nearest hard surface they could find.

“Oh you have got to be shitting me the damn thing has amnesia?!” Kou looked ready to start tearing loose chunks of his hair.

“Typical.” Felix was less surprised but equally annoyed.

“Well the damage to its mental functions was significant and memory loss is an entirely probable outcome of that.” Aurion remarked evenly and it was indeed true to a point. That said while he’d suspected there might be some memory loss he honestly hadn’t quite expected it to be this severe based on the level of damage…

“Oh, but that means it’ll need a name though right!?” Daisy suddenly piped up excitedly.

“Hmm I suppose he will.” O’Neil agreed after a moment of thought.

“We should call him Useless since that’s what he is.” Kou put in rather sardonically.

“That’s not very nice!” Daisy huffed.

“Well you’re probably going to suggest something girly and absurd that would scar him for life.” Kou shot back bitingly.

“I.. I Was not!” She flushed in a mixture of embarrassment and anger at this.

“Well I think it should be named after me seeing as I found it!” Miller butted in forcefully from the side.

“What you mean you found it! You were just pounding on random buttons!” Makoto shouted back angrily.

“Regardless of the manner.” He began quickly brushing over that fact.”It was nonetheless I who discovered him thus it’s only appropriate I receive some sort of recognition!” He pronounced haughtily.

Kou smacked him upside the back of the head. “You are hereby recognized as an idiotic blowhard, congratulations.”

“Burrrrn.” Shin laughed from off to the side.

“Besides which I’m the one that fixed him!” Cameron took this moment to stake her own claim.

“I think you might be forgetting some key facts again Miss…” Shin put in good naturedly from off to her side and drew a death glare in response.

“Shut up.” If looks could kill he’d have been struck dead.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He replied sheepishly edging back slightly.

“All of you quiet down I have the perfect name!” Jack suddenly pronounced over the ruckus and indeed silence descended over the room.

“We’re not calling him Tiny Tim, Jack.” Daniel cut him off irritably having heard him talking about it off hand earlier.

“Why not it’s perfect!” Jack protested indignantly.

Daniel stared back at him pointedly saying nothing.

“Alright fine how about… Diminutive Daniel?” He offered with a smirk.

“Can’t you ever be serious?” Daniel sighed wearily.

“I can be! I just chose not to be; mostly.”

At this the room once more erupted into a series of shouted ideas and arguments over how awful said ideas where, and indeed most of them where. The verbal battle only escalated in strength over the next few minutes and showed no real signs of abating.

“Ladies and gentleman I give you the thin blue line between order and chaos in the TSAB…” Atuwe remarked blandly from off to the side as he watched this idiocy.

“Well it could be worse I think.” Aurion chuckled from beside him.

[Saint X]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Well, time to make up on my promise. There's been too much posting and not enough commenting lately, time to change that with a good old fashioned Backlog Breaker!

This took a while to get through, mostly because the stuff was loooonnnggg.

Fun too, though, so all is well.

finally...

Originally Posted by Keroko

Holy crap! It's a mecha... mecha...

...

How do you call guys like that anyway?

Shounen?

Originally Posted by Keroko

Heh. Clingy sister. Some people claim there is no way sisters do that in real life.

Sometimes I wish they were right.

well my imouto is a total 180...

a suspected yandere - dere very optional.