Be it bad luck or bad timing, Erio Mondial’s attempt to escape the seemingly angry Vita Yagami
was met with mostly failure. To his merit, he did manage to get a few dimensions away before the
Knight of the Hammer tracked him down. Though, that was about as far as he would go.
In what would be considered Erio’s most shameful battle, he was subdued in record time.
Added to that was the shame of being hog-tied and hanging by his limbs off of the elongated
shaft of Graf Eisen.
“Why were ya runnin’, kiddo?” Vita asked as she hauled him back to Supool, where she could catch the next transport back to Mid Childa.
“I though you were going to kill me!” Erio yelped in indignation. It didn’t help that the ropes
were biting into his wrists.
“Kill ya? Why would I kill the father of Signum’s child? That’s really weird, by the way. You’re,
what, 14? She’s as old as dirt.”
The boy grimaced, “That’s not nice to say…”
“What? I’m the same way, and unlike that titty monster, I’m stuck in the body of a child. At least
she can feasibly have a significant other; I’m kinda SOL here,” Vita’s voice lowered into a
grumble. “I either get the lolicons or guys not serious enough to stick around. I’ll probably grow
old and die looking like this…”
Erio’s grimace turned into one of sympathy. However, before he could say anything, the hammer
loli had already recovered.
“Ahh well! That’s my lot in life, I guess,” the eternal girl renewed her vigor, smirking as she
looked at the captured boy. “But man, Signum? What’s Caro gonna say? Or Lutecia? Weren’t
you seeing them?”
“Err… well, kinda. Not officially?” Erio just looked off to the side, speaking softly, “We were
just taking things slow. I totally didn’t expect Signum-san to, well…”
“Pff. Kids these days, full of vim and vigor and not much else. I thought we taught you better
than that?”
“You taught me how to dodge pink beams of befriending, not how to handle a relationship!”
“Point. That would be Fate’s job,” Vita shrugged. Oh man, the blonde was going to freak. “So
what are you gonna do when they find out?”
Run far far away and hope they don’t pick up the scent of fear. No, Fried might, and Voltaire
will be knocking on whatever door he’d be hiding behind. Or Lutecia’s bugs will hound him to
the ends of hell, with Garyuu attacking at every possibly moment. And then there’s her super
summon of death.
All happening at once.
In his mind, Erio could hear a cheerfully stupid voice singing some bizarre song about doom.
“Pray.”
==
Ever since their return from the doctor (and Vita’s rapid exfiltration to retrieve a certain
someone), Signum had been in a state of blissful wonder. Her hands were constantly on her
belly, as if gently embracing the precious life forming within her. For the longest time, the Knight
of the Sword knew only war and conflict, her hand dealing out death and destruction. Only
when she found her new meister did Signum know peace. And now…
Now, she was creating life.
It was a blessing Signum felt she did not deserve, yet the reality of it all was undeniable. She was
with child, a gift of life from whom could be considered a child as well. Even better, none of her
family questioned her decision to, well, copulate. Really, they were all so very supportive,
leaving Signum both relieved and confused.
“Signum?” Hayate’s voice interrupted her thoughts
“Yes, mistress?”
“May I speak to you for a moment?”
“Of course.”
“Signum, I know you are fully aware of the responsibilities of being a parent, and I won’t
criticize your choice in mates, but I’m curious: why Erio?”
Signum had an uncharacteristic blush coloring her face, looking off to the side with a wistful
expression, “I do not know fully why I feel this way, yet it is not the first time. Did you know
that I had an attraction to Scrya and Harlaown when they were younger?”
“That’s… unsurprising, considering the situation,” Hayate nodded slowly. Though secretly, her
brain was doing backflips. Signum’s a shotacon? Well, that could explain her lack of intimate
relationships with males (or females) her age…
“I made no attempt, however. I knew of Limietta’s relationship with Harlaown and Scrya’s
attention on Takamachi, so I remained distant. I thought it would fade away someday, that I
would eventually be in a normal relationship. But then…”
“Erio came,” Hayate finished the line.
Signum only nodded, before looking away in shame, “I know that my interests are… abnormal.
I know that many will say it is wrong or that I am a sick person. Maybe they’re right. I am a
sick person…”
Good grief. My kids are so troublesome…
“No, you’re not.”
Signum looked up.
“For what it’s worth, for what little our opinions may be, none of us here think that way.
Perhaps it was too soon, or perhaps Erio won’t be ready, but I will not let anyone else ruin what
you have sought for. Even if he can’t take responsibility, I can.”
“Hayate…”
“Signum, you know I love you. I could care less about what others may whisper about or what
rumors fly. What is important is your happiness. You’ve already said that this is what you want,
without a doubt, so it is now my responsibility to make sure what comes next will not bring harm
to you—” Hayate moved her hand to the swordwoman’s belly, “—or your child.”
All Signum could do was smile sadly.
===
Behold, the returning conquerer Vita Yagami, her prize still uncomfortably hanging off of her
hammer’s shaft. With the entire Yagami family collected here in the living room, Vita finally cut
her catch loose. Erio predictably fell with a help, pushing himself back up to his feet while
rubbing his sore wrists.
“I could have walked, you know…”
“Sure you could have,” was all Vita said.
He shot off a glare at the girl before focusing his attention forward. Before him, sitting on the
couch, was the woman he had… well, that was a night never to be mentioned again, though it
teased him in his dreams. A flush colored his face as the memory of what happened return, but
he reigned it in well enough.
“Hello, Signum-san.”
“Hello, Erio-kun.”
“How are you?”
“I am well, if a little… surprised.”
“Then, what Vita-san said…”
“Yes, it’s true,” Signum nodded.
The boy felt a wave of… he didn’t know what it was. Fear? Panic? Amazement? Glee? He had
never felt this way before…
But he knew why he was here. He knew what was expected of him.
“Signum-san, I…” Erio started, then stopped, trying to find the words that were stuck in his
throat. This was far more than a simple choice, with repercussions that would be with him for the
rest of his life. Still, this was something he could not run away from. He could not be called a man
if he just let this all slip away without him doing anything about it.
And he refused to be a coward.
“I will take responsibility. With everything I have, I will be the best father I can be for my
child—no, our child.”
“Then…”
Erio nodded. “If you will have me, then… we will raise this child.”
The look on Signum’s face could be described as utter joy, mixed in with overwhelming relief
and a strange glow of love. What happened that night was a fit of passion, yet something else
grew from it (other than the obvious).
“You break her heart,” Vita cut in, “I’ll break you in two.”
“They will never find the body,” Zafira mentioned
“Even if they do, it’s not that hard to make it seem like an accident,” Shamal smiled innocently.
“That’s if they can find the ashes,” Agito prepped a fireball in her hand.
What a loving family.
“Now now, no threats just yet. We’ll give him a chance first, and then keelhaul him later if he fails
to meet our expectations.”
Hayate liked the kid. He was honest, hard-working, and deserving of the love and respect from
Fate and the others. His growth was incredible, and there seemed to be no cap for his magical
development. Heck, Signum couldn’t have picked a better guy.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t mess with him for a bit.
“By the way, Erio-kun~” The Kansai girl sing-songed, “I took the liberty of informing Fate-chan.
She’s your legal guardian, after all, and you’re still considered a dependant. I should warn you,
though: Fate-chan can’t keep a secret to save her life. So, it’ll be a matter of time before—”
The phone rang, immediately picked up by Zafira. He spoke quietly, hanging up after a few words.
Just as he put down the receiver, however, it rang again. Once more, he answered it, and after a
few more words, put it back on the cradle. The Guardian Beast looked up, stern eyes bearing
down upon Erio. There was a hint of respect and a dash of pity in those eyes.
“Lutecia and Caro just called. They are looking for you.”
Erio sighed, “Fuck my life…”
Yep.
Also, new sig :3
Now, Erio have two opinion - either to hide for the rest of his life... or have a harem.
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by vic-vic
Now, Erio have two opinion - either to hide fro the rest of his life... or have a harem.
You, my friend, are operating under the wildly mistaken belief that Erio has any 'options' at all. His 'options' are to accept whatever Caro and Lutecia choose to do to him, nothing more, nothing less. They are quite officially Women Scorned, like whom Hell Hath No Fury. That baby better get used to the idea of being an only child, because one gets the impression Erio's testicles are going to end up a trophy on someone's mantle by the end of the week.
Fate looked at Nanoha tiredly after being pulled out of the ocean. "You won..."
"Yeah..." Nanoha nodded. "If I didn't finish the fight then, I would have lost."
Fate blinked as Nanoha grimaced slightly. "What happened?"
"Eh heh... Felt like my head was going to explode... Not used to some of mom's spells yet."
Fate nodded and looked down to see Arf, Yuuno and Lina looking up at her. "...Would she be willing to train me?" She nodded as Nanoha let go and handed her device back to her.
"I think so." Nanoha nodded to her, smiling softly.
"Put out." Nine Jewel Seeds appeared around Bardiche and Fate.
(---)
Lindy sighed, she wasn't too happy about how things ended up, even if it worked out for the best.
"Mother? What should we do?" Chrono asked her as he turned to look at her.
"Well, we need to talk to miss Testarossa anyway, get into contact with them. Hopefully she'll be willing to hand over her Jewel Seeds without incident." If that was the case, then Fate would be allowed to go on her way without incident. Well, mostly without incident, there was what she did over the ocean, but she was certain that it wouldn't be too bad, since nothing happened as a result.
"Captain!" Amy called out, gasping as a powerful lightning strike blasted Fate, stunning her, another one smashed into the beach below before the Jewel Seeds started to float away on their own.
"Track them, Amy."
"Already on it, ma'am." Amy's hands flew over the controls. "We'll get her!"
Lindy nodded and turned to the rest of her crew. "The rest of you, get those five up here."
"Five?" Chrono turned to Lindy, who nodded. "Even her?"
"Yes."
(---)
"Huh, doesn't look like Star Wars at all." Lina commented as she walked with the kids. She had wondered why they put handcuffs on Fate so quickly after she got there, but she wasn't going to say anything. If the charge was legitimate, there wasn't much to do. It wasn't like they were trying to arrest Fate on the crime of being herself after all.
"...Why do I have a feeling that if I hadn't come here, that would have happened to me eventually?" She mumbled to herself as they continued to walk before they were greeted at the bridge by the captain.
"Your mother's weird." Arf, Yuuno and Fate said to Nanoha at the same time.
Nanoha, for her part, blinked in confusion. "She's just mom, she's always been like this." Why did people think she was weird when she did things like this?
The door opened and they saw Lindy and Chrono looking at a screen where several people in uniforms and staffs were facing a dark haired woman on a throne.
"Nanoha, can you get Miss Fate out of here? I'd rather she not see her mother get arrested."
Nanoha nodded at her. "Come on, Fate-chan, let me show you the room they let me stay in."
Lina ignored that and looked at the screen. Her eyes widened slightly as a little blond girl in a tube appeared on the screen. "What the hell?"
"You were nothing more than a replacement for Alicia..." Precia continued to say to them. "So I'll let you go!"
"Stop it!" Nanoha called out while Fate trembled in her arms.
"You want to know something, Fate?" Precia practically rasped out. "All this time... That you wanted my love... I hated you."
Fate's eyes widened, before she gave up and fainted, her body giving out on her as she slumped to the ground.
On the screen, Precia started laughing maniacally, the Jewel Seeds floated around her. "I'll use these Jewel Seeds... And I'll get to Al Hazard! Then I can undo all the mistakes that I made."
Lina frowned, before grimacing and clutching at her left eye. "No... you FOOL!" She screamed before disappearing in a black and gold flash.
"Where did...?" Yuuno started to say, before gasping. "How'd she get there?!"
"What?!" Chrono gasped as he looked at the screen, where Lina was in front of Precia.
(---)
Precia looked at the short redhead in front of her. "Who are you?"
"Lina Takamachi." The redhead smirked at her softly. "So, all this, throwing away your child, for what? To break the world into pieces? Is that what you want?"
Precia snarled and swung her staff before firing a magic blast at the woman, who casually blocked it with contemptuous ease. "Al Hazard! None of this matters if I can get to Al Hazard!"
"And this Al Hazard will let you..." Lina shrugged as she looked at the girl in the tube. "Bring her back, huh?"
"Yes! All the lost magic in the world! All the forbidden magics! They're all in Al Hazard!"
Lina rolled her eyes. "I knew something like that, it was guarded by Gold Dragons. So, you're going to destroy the world to undo mistakes? Have you thought about where this place is?"
Precia snarled at her as the Jewel Seeds spun around her wildly. "It exists between the dimensions! When I cause a dimensional tremor, I'll fall in with Alicia into Al Hazard."
Lina yawned as several golems appeared around her. She snapped her fingers, destroying all of them with several Mega Brand spells. "Do you even know what's there?" Lina pointed to a crack and the blue light the appeared. "Do you even KNOW what will happen if you fall in?!" Lina started walking towards Precia, who fell to her knees and coughed up blood. "I bet you have no clue, do you?"
"Then... If you know so much, explain it for all of us!"
Lina looked at Precia with lidded eyes. "All that awaits you... Is judgment by the creator. What you opened is nothing more than a crack to the Sea of Chaos!"
(---)
"What did she say!?" Lindy gasped, her eyes wide. "Sea of Chaos?!" There were old rumors and legends of a power, of a being that existed only in a chaotic sea of power. "Impossible!"
Chrono had been prepared to run and get over to the Garden of Time, but he didn't move since Lina had teleported over there freely. "What is she talking about..?"
(---)
"You lie..." Precia growled at her. "You lie! The Sea of Chaos! It doesn't exist!" she raved, letting loose a stream of her potent lightning magic.
Lina, calling upon her experience as an high class adventurer, quickly stepped to the side, avoiding the first volley completely. She then rushed toward the dark haired, and at this point, quite mad mage, alternatively dodging or using her own Shamanism to counter the deadly bolt of energies by intercepting them with the occasional boulders until she was right next to Precia.
"It does!" Lina grabbed Precia and lifted her up. "The Sea of Chaos! You know what that is?! The Lord of Nightmares, the creator of all! The Sea of Chaos is her mind! She is the Sea of Chaos!" Lina then tossed her onto her back. "I should just let you go. The Lady isn't evil, nor is she good, she might let you go." Lina snorted and held her hands in front of her, cupping them as if she was holding a ball. "But I'm not one to let you go. You're going to live, and face judgment for what you did to your daughter, to Fate."
Precia stood up and was about to do something when she felt herself unable to move. She looked down and saw a knife in her shadow.
"Shadow Snap. That should keep you still..." Lina smirked as a blue ball appeared in her cupped hands. "Now, here's a spell I've developed in the past fifteen years. If we were back where I'm from, I'd use a Dragon Slave, but..." She chuckled, her eyes glowing red and gold and terrifying Precia as she looked. "This spell, is equal to a Dragon Slave in all aspects."
A black magi-rune appeared under Lina as black and white lightning crackled around her while she chanted her spell, a powerful new trump card, one she hadn't used since she had created it.
"Master of the Dark Sky, you who dwell upon the Azure Abyss.
Oh, ruler of the paths of Life and Death.
May the souls of those that oppose us be swept
upon the maelstrom of thy wrath!
Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the power you and I possess." Lina REALLY wished that she had thought up something more original for the last part, but the gods and ma-oh seemed to like that last part for some reason.
"What are you..?" Precia gasped as Lina looked behind her.
"Nanoha! Pay attention, this is the kind of spells that I used when I was younger!"
"Nemesis Breaker!"
(---)
"Ma'am! We're getting a SS reading coming from that woman!"
"What?!" Lindy looked at the screen as Lina chanted. "What kind of spell is this?!"
"Nemesis Breaker!"
Lindy stared, her eyes wide as Lina fired a giant blue fireball straight down. "What's going on?!"
There was a massive blue explosion, engulfing the Garden of Time.
"MOTHER!" Nanoha yelled, tears falling down her face.
"What?" Lina asked, causing Nanoha to spin around and gasp as both Precia and the girl in the tube appeared with her. "I had everything under control." She rolled her eyes but smiled as Nanoha hugged her tightly. "Hey, I'm okay. Casting a spell like that, I have a barrier when I cast my stronger spells." She blinked as everyone stared at her stupidly. "What? Doesn't everyone have a barrier around them when they call forth power from Chaotic Blue?"
__________________
My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.
Fate looked at Nanoha tiredly after being pulled out of the ocean. "You won..."
"Yeah..." Nanoha nodded. "If I didn't finish the fight then, I would have lost."
Fate blinked as Nanoha grimaced slightly. "What happened?"
"Eh heh... Felt like my head was going to explode... Not used to some of mom's spells yet."
Fate nodded and looked down to see Arf, Yuuno and Lina looking up at her. "...Would she be willing to train me?" She nodded as Nanoha let go and handed her device back to her.
"I think so." Nanoha nodded to her, smiling softly.
"Put out." Nine Jewel Seeds appeared around Bardiche and Fate.
(---)
Lindy sighed, she wasn't too happy about how things ended up, even if it worked out for the best.
"Mother? What should we do?" Chrono asked her as he turned to look at her.
"Well, we need to talk to miss Testarossa anyway, get into contact with them. Hopefully she'll be willing to hand over her Jewel Seeds without incident." If that was the case, then Fate would be allowed to go on her way without incident. Well, mostly without incident, there was what she did over the ocean, but she was certain that it wouldn't be too bad, since nothing happened as a result.
"Captain!" Amy called out, gasping as a powerful lightning strike blasted Fate, stunning her, another one smashed into the beach below before the Jewel Seeds started to float away on their own.
"Track them, Amy."
"Already on it, ma'am." Amy's hands flew over the controls. "We'll get her!"
Lindy nodded and turned to the rest of her crew. "The rest of you, get those five up here."
"Five?" Chrono turned to Lindy, who nodded. "Even her?"
"Yes."
(---)
"Huh, doesn't look like Star Wars at all." Lina commented as she walked with the kids. She had wondered why they put handcuffs on Fate so quickly after she got there, but she wasn't going to say anything. If the charge was legitimate, there wasn't much to do. It wasn't like they were trying to arrest Fate on the crime of being herself after all.
"...Why do I have a feeling that if I hadn't come here, that would have happened to me eventually?" She mumbled to herself as they continued to walk before they were greeted at the bridge by the captain.
"Your mother's weird." Arf, Yuuno and Fate said to Nanoha at the same time.
Nanoha, for her part, blinked in confusion. "She's just mom, she's always been like this." Why did people think she was weird when she did things like this?
The door opened and they saw Lindy and Chrono looking at a screen where several people in uniforms and staffs were facing a dark haired woman on a throne.
"Nanoha, can you get Miss Fate out of here? I'd rather she not see her mother get arrested."
Nanoha nodded at her. "Come on, Fate-chan, let me show you the room they let me stay in."
Lina ignored that and looked at the screen. Her eyes widened slightly as a little blond girl in a tube appeared on the screen. "What the hell?"
"You were nothing more than a replacement for Alicia..." Precia continued to say to them. "So I'll let you go!"
"Stop it!" Nanoha called out while Fate trembled in her arms.
"You want to know something, Fate?" Precia practically rasped out. "All this time... That you wanted my love... I hated you."
Fate's eyes widened, before she gave up and fainted, her body giving out on her as she slumped to the ground.
On the screen, Precia started laughing maniacally, the Jewel Seeds floated around her. "I'll use these Jewel Seeds... And I'll get to Al Hazard! Then I can undo all the mistakes that I made."
Lina frowned, before grimacing and clutching at her left eye. "No... you FOOL!" She screamed before disappearing in a black and gold flash.
"Where did...?" Yuuno started to say, before gasping. "How'd she get there?!"
"What?!" Chrono gasped as he looked at the screen, where Lina was in front of Precia.
(---)
Precia looked at the short redhead in front of her. "Who are you?"
"Lina Takamachi." The redhead smirked at her softly. "So, all this, throwing away your child, for what? To break the world into pieces? Is that what you want?"
Precia snarled and swung her staff before firing a magic blast at the woman, who casually blocked it with contemptuous ease. "Al Hazard! None of this matters if I can get to Al Hazard!"
"And this Al Hazard will let you..." Lina shrugged as she looked at the girl in the tube. "Bring her back, huh?"
"Yes! All the lost magic in the world! All the forbidden magics! They're all in Al Hazard!"
Lina rolled her eyes. "I knew something like that, it was guarded by Gold Dragons. So, you're going to destroy the world to undo mistakes? Have you thought about where this place is?"
Precia snarled at her as the Jewel Seeds spun around her wildly. "It exists between the dimensions! When I cause a dimensional tremor, I'll fall in with Alicia into Al Hazard."
Lina yawned as several golems appeared around her. She snapped her fingers, destroying all of them with several Mega Brand spells. "Do you even know what's there?" Lina pointed to a crack and the blue light the appeared. "Do you even KNOW what will happen if you fall in?!" Lina started walking towards Precia, who fell to her knees and coughed up blood. "I bet you have no clue, do you?"
"Then... If you know so much, explain it for all of us!"
Lina looked at Precia with lidded eyes. "All that awaits you... Is judgment by the creator. What you opened is nothing more than a crack to the Sea of Chaos!"
(---)
"What did she say!?" Lindy gasped, her eyes wide. "Sea of Chaos?!" There were old rumors and legends of a power, of a being that existed only in a chaotic sea of power. "Impossible!"
Chrono had been prepared to run and get over to the Garden of Time, but he didn't move since Lina had teleported over there freely. "What is she talking about..?"
(---)
"You lie..." Precia growled at her. "You lie! The Sea of Chaos! It doesn't exist!" she raved, letting loose a stream of her potent lightning magic.
Lina, calling upon her experience as an high class adventurer, quickly stepped to the side, avoiding the first volley completely. She then rushed toward the dark haired, and at this point, quite mad mage, alternatively dodging or using her own Shamanism to counter the deadly bolt of energies by intercepting them with the occasional boulders until she was right next to Precia.
"It does!" Lina grabbed Precia and lifted her up. "The Sea of Chaos! You know what that is?! The Lord of Nightmares, the creator of all! The Sea of Chaos is her mind! She is the Sea of Chaos!" Lina then tossed her onto her back. "I should just let you go. The Lady isn't evil, nor is she good, she might let you go." Lina snorted and held her hands in front of her, cupping them as if she was holding a ball. "But I'm not one to let you go. You're going to live, and face judgment for what you did to your daughter, to Fate."
Precia stood up and was about to do something when she felt herself unable to move. She looked down and saw a knife in her shadow.
"Shadow Snap. That should keep you still..." Lina smirked as a blue ball appeared in her cupped hands. "Now, here's a spell I've developed in the past fifteen years. If we were back where I'm from, I'd use a Dragon Slave, but..." She chuckled, her eyes glowing red and gold and terrifying Precia as she looked. "This spell, is equal to a Dragon Slave in all aspects."
A black magi-rune appeared under Lina as black and white lightning crackled around her while she chanted her spell, a powerful new trump card, one she hadn't used since she had created it.
"Master of the Dark Sky, you who dwell upon the Azure Abyss.
Oh, ruler of the paths of Life and Death.
May the souls of those that oppose us be swept
upon the maelstrom of thy wrath!
Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the power you and I possess." Lina REALLY wished that she had thought up something more original for the last part, but the gods and ma-oh seemed to like that last part for some reason.
"What are you..?" Precia gasped as Lina looked behind her.
"Nanoha! Pay attention, this is the kind of spells that I used when I was younger!"
"Nemesis Breaker!"
(---)
"Ma'am! We're getting a SS reading coming from that woman!"
"What?!" Lindy looked at the screen as Lina chanted. "What kind of spell is this?!"
"Nemesis Breaker!"
Lindy stared, her eyes wide as Lina fired a giant blue fireball straight down. "What's going on?!"
There was a massive blue explosion, engulfing the Garden of Time.
"MOTHER!" Nanoha yelled, tears falling down her face.
"What?" Lina asked, causing Nanoha to spin around and gasp as both Precia and the girl in the tube appeared with her. "I had everything under control." She rolled her eyes but smiled as Nanoha hugged her tightly. "Hey, I'm okay. Casting a spell like that, I have a barrier when I cast my stronger spells." She blinked as everyone stared at her stupidly. "What? Doesn't everyone have a barrier around them when they call forth power from Chaotic Blue?"
So, the story reaching the end, i like it, but the shame that we didn`t meet the mazoku.
BTW, Wolkenritter.. *points* there's Moczo! he did it!
Are they secret plans?
Somehow I think I'm going to have nightmares about that kind of an explosion. It's like nuclear war IN SPACE!
It seems to me like Nanoha's having a little trouble dealing with this seperate method of magic, Is this going to cause a problem in the forseeable (or perhaps unforseeable) future?
__________________
"The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul"
"When desperate there are two choices: Lock shields for the last stand or draw your sword for the final charge"
"There are no winners or losers, there are only the living and the dead."
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nanya01
Don't worry...
I have...
Plans...
BTW, Wolkenritter.. *points* there's Moczo! he did it!
Stop blaming me for your evil!
Ladies and dog, I didn't do anything. All I did was suggest a Lina/Nanoha team-up, because why have a crossover without one? He decided to torture you all on his own.
Evil is contagious it seems *reaches for ten foot pole* Its not going to do me any good is it? I've been corrupted, true what they say about the dark side though.
__________________
"The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul"
"When desperate there are two choices: Lock shields for the last stand or draw your sword for the final charge"
"There are no winners or losers, there are only the living and the dead."
"This Device of mine glows with an awesome POWER! It's mild computerized voice tells me to grasp VICTORY! Now take this! My love, my anger, and all of my FRIENDSHIP! STARLIIIIIIIGHT! BREAKEEEEEEEER!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaijo
"This staff of mine glows with an awesome power! It's pink grip tells me to befriend you! Take this! My love, my friendship, and all of our expended magic! STARLIGHT FINGER!"
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
What can I say? All the posts recently put me back in the mood!
Spoiler for 'Ready, Sette, Go!' Part 5:
In order to fully comprehend the events that followed, it was necessary to have a basic understanding of the hit Midchildan Arcade Shooter franchise, 'Blood Zombies'. I know that even with this knowledge, I still have difficulty comprehending exactly what occurred.
Created in Mid calendar year 52 by a small, privately owned company called 'Ecliptic Electronics', the original 'Blood Zombies' was a low-budget piece, to be generous. To be less generous, it was programmed by four men in a garage, it just happened to be four men who called themselves a 'company'. 'Blood Zombies' was created using technology equal to 'whatever they could find' and a budget of 'whatever they could scrounge'. As a result, the release was a shoddy product, vastly behind the times; 2-D graphics, non-learning AI, a story that was essentially nonexistent because no writer was hired. Despite this, 'Blood Zombies' quickly became a cult classic among serious gamers due to one thing it did have; brutal, unrelenting difficulty. All enemy characters moved quickly and randomly, and could only be destroyed by targeting a very specific and very small area that differed on each enemy sprite; ranging from the heads of the titular zombies to certain enemies with weak spots only a pixel or two in width. Further, the enemies tended to appear in large numbers, and did far more damage to the player than in other, similar games. Being merely proficient in 'Blood Zombies' was considered a badge of honor. Being skilled enough to beat the game was enough to make many gamers minor celebrities in their local arcades; free tokens or prizes, photos on the wall, and other such honors. Having at least one 'Blood Zombies' machine became not merely hoped for in all major arcades, but expected.
This unexpected success was sufficient to propel Ecliptic Electronics to status as a legitimate business, if a small one. Excellent sales of the more polished but equally difficult home console version pushed them further. And so, seeking to take advantage of this success, they began work on a sequel that would cement their position as a major entertainment company. 'Blood Zombies 2' was, in every way, superior to the original. The graphics were cutting edge, the story was surprisingly detailed for a work primarily revolving around a gameplay mechanic of shooting zombies until they ran out of blood, and the AI was now able to study the players as they progressed and conceive of plans to counter them.
And, of course, the famous difficulty was only enhanced by this, despite what Wendi seemed to believe. This will become important later in the report. I have here used what is called 'foreshadowing', or the use of current events to imply future ones.
At the time, of course, I knew none of this. I was merely satisfied that a combat simulator had finally been provided. It appeared to be geared toward long-range shooting combat, which was a specialty of mine (though I used thrown bladed projectiles rather than firearms, as the simulator provided), which I doubly approved of. The targets were somewhat abnormal, but I supposed it was largely irrelevant if this helped me get my long-range reflexes back.
I analyzed my weapon, considering the combat potential. According to the instructions ('Blood Zombies 2 Arcade Edition, Gameplay Instructions), the weapon could fire six consecutive shots before requiring a recharge, which was accomplished by pointing the weapon off-screen and pressing the firing trigger. This was not terribly realistic, but then this appeared to be a sort of civilian system for amateur marksmen. I supposed realism was secondary to improving basic skill and reflexes.
I lined up six shots, and felled six targets. The targets were rapidly moving and somewhat small, but my reflexes were honed in genuine combat. I was quite used to making precision attacks on fast-moving targets, and eliminated one target with each round. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill...
"Wow, you're good at this!" Wendi said. "How do you always get the... what do you mean he bit me?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Gah! Where did that spider thing come from? What the... zombie bees? Where the Hell did they get zombie bees?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Oh, come on there's no way you can be hitting... what the #$(*&, zombie pigs now?! Where the #$&^#%$ did those #*%&^#$* things come from?" Wendi screamed, loading a new token into her side of the simulator.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"H-how do you keep track of all the little... GAAAAAH! #*#$&^#! Where did he come from? I just came back to life and I'm already dead again!" Wendi snapped, adding in another admission token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Sette! Sette! Shoot this one he's got a chainsaw and... #$#*&$^*&^*&$^!$%!&$%&^!" Wendi said. I had never heard many of these words she was using before, and logged them for future analysis. She added another token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"You're cheating." Wendi said darkly. "This game is cheating. Everyone is cheating. Well, I won't let this game kill me, and I won't let my frickin' little sister out-score me, and I woSON OF A BITCH, WHAT THE #&$@ DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE ZOMBIE PIRANHAS IN THE PUDDLES? THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM FOR FISH IN THERE!" Wendi said.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"THAT'S IT. SCREW THIS GAME." Wendi snarled, laying one hand on the simulator console.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
The machine began to glow. Wendi snapped her fingers.
And I learned, first-hand, exactly how and why Wendi had been temporarily banned from the establishment upon playing the original 'Blood Zombies'.
I wondered, vaguely, if the restaurant was called 'Pizza Explosion' because Wendi ate there often?
As we left the establishment, passing the arriving fire crews, my sisters and Ginga Nakajima appeared distraught. Wendi had been banned from 'Pizza Explosion' again, this time for the remainder of her natural life. Further, our meals had not yet arrived when Wendi detonated the arcade floor and prompted management to remove us from the premises. As a result, morale among the group was low in general.
"My scores were excellent. However, I do not believe that device's memory system survived, and therefore it will be impossible to compare to existing scores to determine my placement." I said, imparting positive information in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood.
"I... I think that was a lot of fun too." Wendi said. "Like... so much fun, we should just... keep going. Let's just keep having... lots of fun."
"We are going home." Cinque said. "We'll get something to eat there, where Sette can have a nice, calm meal in a family environment. And then we'll go back out again. Only this time, you'll be staying behind."
"Why?! I wanna go out toooooo!"
"Punishment. I thought that was obvious."
"B-but it was the game's fault! I didn't want to blow it up, I just..."
"Did the same damn thing you did last time? Got mad because you were losing and blew up the game?" Nove asked.
"N-no, I..."
"You do know that when I'm involved in incidents like this, my superiors hear about it, right? They'll find out I was at the scene." Ginga Nakajima said. "I take a day of leave to spend time with my new sister, and this happens. Poor Sette must be traumatized, and here comes a new black mark on my record..."
"It is all right. I am used to explosions in contained quarters." I said helpfully. "As to your other concerns, given my observations of your behavior thus far I have determined that you most likely have many black marks on your personnel records already. I doubt that another will seriously impede your career progression."
"... ... ... ..." Ginga Nakajima said. She must have been considering the wisdom of my words. Her performance was largely sub-par in most military matters, but she seemed to take instruction well. With time, effort, and leading by example, I could, perhaps, eventually mold her into a passable soldier. As the Nakajima family were not charging me any rent for my room and board, this would be an acceptable method of repaying them, I felt.
"... right. Sette, remind me that after we finish accustoming you to your surroundings, our second lesson for you should be 'tact'." Cinque said.
"Understood. New mission confirmed, to commence upon completion of current objectives." I said. I was quite pleased; as expected, Cinque had seen the value of my presence and continued to provide suitable objectives.
"... Yes. Well. That's... great. In any event... Wendi, all you had to do was behave, and you couldn't. So it's home with you."
"She cheated! Just like Dieci cheated last time!" Wendi whined.
"I didn't cheat! I'm just a good shot!" Dieci protested.
"All of my actions were within the parameters of the simulation. Further, I can state definitively that Dieci's marksmanship scores, as of last comparison, exceed my own by a combined average of 15.7%." I said. "Cinque, please confirm this analysis."
"Neither of them cheated. They're just better than you." Cinque said patiently.
"...Th-then that game cheated!" Wendi sniffled.
"It didn't cheat, you're just not any good at it!" Nove said.
"Your... your combat strategy does tend to favor large explosions rather than pinpoint accuracy." Dieci said.
"... I don't wanna go home." Wendi whimpered.
"Tough!" Ginga Nakajima said. I believe she had been looking forward to lunch.
"... ... Setteeeeeee! They're picking on meeeeeeeee!" Wendi said.
"Oh. I see." I said. I could think of nothing further to add.
"... ... ... ... you are no help at all, Sette."
This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid.
After depositing Wendi at the Nakajima Residence, my remaining sisters, Ginga Nakajima, and I commenced our second bout of reconnaissance.
"So, now that we've dropped the dead weight..." Nove began.
"Nove, be nice." Cinque said.
"Sorry. Now that we've gotten rid of the one person most likely to ruin any excursion..."
"... when did I become den mother to a flock of children?" Cinque asked. I saw no children, so I assumed this to be some sort of play on words and not a statement that Cinque had begun a new career without noticing.
"... what do you want to do next, Sette?"
"My current mission objectives are complete. Local sites of interest have been found and inspected." I said. "I am currently awaiting Cinque's approval to commence my second mission, tentatively titled 'tact'."
"... so in other words, you're open." Nove said.
"Yes, that is true."
"You had something mind, Nove?" Ginga Nakajima asked.
"Well... Sette wanted to train herself, right?" Nove asked. "I'm feeling antsy too, and I haven't dropped by today, so... why don't we work out some of her naturally aggressive tendencies in a socially acceptable situation? How about we enroll her in my Strike Arts class?"
Cinque frowned slightly. "I'd prefer to avoid anything martial, Nove."
"With all due respect, Cinque, perhaps Nove has a point." Dieci said. "Combat is... well, all Sette understands."
"I also understand cooking." I said. They seemed to have forgotten my new-found skill with pancakes.
"... yes. Well, in any event, my point is that, maybe... it might not be a bad idea to sort of ease her out of that. Wendi was just screwing around as a way of getting Sette to shoot zombies with her, but she did have a point: a way to channel Sette's natural drives into a civilian channel might not be a bad way to begin weaning her off her military mindset." Dieci said.
Cinque considered this for a moment, before smiling slightly. "That's... not a bad point. Cold turkey rarely does any good, after all. All right, Nove, the ball's in your court."
"Whoo-hoo!" Nove said, pumping her fist exuberantly. "Sette, you're going to have a blast, I promise!"
"I see no court, nor ball." I said. "So I believe Cinque was mistaken about the ball being in your court. I apologize."
"... yeah. Yeah, that's great." Nove said. She did not sound as enthusiastic.
Perhaps she had been looking forward to having a ball.
Spoiler for Author's Note:
A bit short, but this seemed a good place to break it off, and after that last monster I posted I might still be a little burned out. Still, better than nothing, right? Right.
... I probably shouldn't do these author's notes unless I actually have something important to say, huh?
What can I say? All the posts recently put me back in the mood!
Spoiler for 'Ready, Sette, Go!' Part 5:
In order to fully comprehend the events that followed, it was necessary to have a basic understanding of the hit Midchildan Arcade Shooter franchise, 'Blood Zombies'. I know that even with this knowledge, I still have difficulty comprehending exactly what occurred.
Created in Mid calendar year 52 by a small, privately owned company called 'Ecliptic Electronics', the original 'Blood Zombies' was a low-budget piece, to be generous. To be less generous, it was programmed by four men in a garage, it just happened to be four men who called themselves a 'company'. 'Blood Zombies' was created using technology equal to 'whatever they could find' and a budget of 'whatever they could scrounge'. As a result, the release was a shoddy product, vastly behind the times; 2-D graphics, non-learning AI, a story that was essentially nonexistent because no writer was hired. Despite this, 'Blood Zombies' quickly became a cult classic among serious gamers due to one thing it did have; brutal, unrelenting difficulty. All enemy characters moved quickly and randomly, and could only be destroyed by targeting a very specific and very small area that differed on each enemy sprite; ranging from the heads of the titular zombies to certain enemies with weak spots only a pixel or two in width. Further, the enemies tended to appear in large numbers, and did far more damage to the player than in other, similar games. Being merely proficient in 'Blood Zombies' was considered a badge of honor. Being skilled enough to beat the game was enough to make many gamers minor celebrities in their local arcades; free tokens or prizes, photos on the wall, and other such honors. Having at least one 'Blood Zombies' machine became not merely hoped for in all major arcades, but expected.
This unexpected success was sufficient to propel Ecliptic Electronics to status as a legitimate business, if a small one. Excellent sales of the more polished but equally difficult home console version pushed them further. And so, seeking to take advantage of this success, they began work on a sequel that would cement their position as a major entertainment company. 'Blood Zombies 2' was, in every way, superior to the original. The graphics were cutting edge, the story was surprisingly detailed for a work primarily revolving around a gameplay mechanic of shooting zombies until they ran out of blood, and the AI was now able to study the players as they progressed and conceive of plans to counter them.
And, of course, the famous difficulty was only enhanced by this, despite what Wendi seemed to believe. This will become important later in the report. I have here used what is called 'foreshadowing', or the use of current events to imply future ones.
At the time, of course, I knew none of this. I was merely satisfied that a combat simulator had finally been provided. It appeared to be geared toward long-range shooting combat, which was a specialty of mine (though I used thrown bladed projectiles rather than firearms, as the simulator provided), which I doubly approved of. The targets were somewhat abnormal, but I supposed it was largely irrelevant if this helped me get my long-range reflexes back.
I analyzed my weapon, considering the combat potential. According to the instructions ('Blood Zombies 2 Arcade Edition, Gameplay Instructions), the weapon could fire six consecutive shots before requiring a recharge, which was accomplished by pointing the weapon off-screen and pressing the firing trigger. This was not terribly realistic, but then this appeared to be a sort of civilian system for amateur marksmen. I supposed realism was secondary to improving basic skill and reflexes.
I lined up six shots, and felled six targets. The targets were rapidly moving and somewhat small, but my reflexes were honed in genuine combat. I was quite used to making precision attacks on fast-moving targets, and eliminated one target with each round. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill...
"Wow, you're good at this!" Wendi said. "How do you always get the... what do you mean he bit me?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Gah! Where did that spider thing come from? What the... zombie bees? Where the Hell did they get zombie bees?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Oh, come on there's no way you can be hitting... what the #$(*&, zombie pigs now?! Where the #$&^#%$ did those #*%&^#$* things come from?" Wendi screamed, loading a new token into her side of the simulator.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"H-how do you keep track of all the little... GAAAAAH! #*#$&^#! Where did he come from? I just came back to life and I'm already dead again!" Wendi snapped, adding in another admission token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Sette! Sette! Shoot this one he's got a chainsaw and... #$#*&$^*&^*&$^!$%!&$%&^!" Wendi said. I had never heard many of these words she was using before, and logged them for future analysis. She added another token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"You're cheating." Wendi said darkly. "This game is cheating. Everyone is cheating. Well, I won't let this game kill me, and I won't let my frickin' little sister out-score me, and I woSON OF A BITCH, WHAT THE #&$@ DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE ZOMBIE PIRANHAS IN THE PUDDLES? THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM FOR FISH IN THERE!" Wendi said.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"THAT'S IT. SCREW THIS GAME." Wendi snarled, laying one hand on the simulator console.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
The machine began to glow. Wendi snapped her fingers.
And I learned, first-hand, exactly how and why Wendi had been temporarily banned from the establishment upon playing the original 'Blood Zombies'.
I wondered, vaguely, if the restaurant was called 'Pizza Explosion' because Wendi ate there often?
As we left the establishment, passing the arriving fire crews, my sisters and Ginga Nakajima appeared distraught. Wendi had been banned from 'Pizza Explosion' again, this time for the remainder of her natural life. Further, our meals had not yet arrived when Wendi detonated the arcade floor and prompted management to remove us from the premises. As a result, morale among the group was low in general.
"My scores were excellent. However, I do not believe that device's memory system survived, and therefore it will be impossible to compare to existing scores to determine my placement." I said, imparting positive information in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood.
"I... I think that was a lot of fun too." Wendi said. "Like... so much fun, we should just... keep going. Let's just keep having... lots of fun."
"We are going home." Cinque said. "We'll get something to eat there, where Sette can have a nice, calm meal in a family environment. And then we'll go back out again. Only this time, you'll be staying behind."
"Why?! I wanna go out toooooo!"
"Punishment. I thought that was obvious."
"B-but it was the game's fault! I didn't want to blow it up, I just..."
"Did the same damn thing you did last time? Got mad because you were losing and blew up the game?" Nove asked.
"N-no, I..."
"You do know that when I'm involved in incidents like this, my superiors hear about it, right? They'll find out I was at the scene." Ginga Nakajima said. "I take a day of leave to spend time with my new sister, and this happens. Poor Sette must be traumatized, and here comes a new black mark on my record..."
"It is all right. I am used to explosions in contained quarters." I said helpfully. "As to your other concerns, given my observations of your behavior thus far I have determined that you most likely have many black marks on your personnel records already. I doubt that another will seriously impede your career progression."
"... ... ... ..." Ginga Nakajima said. She must have been considering the wisdom of my words. Her performance was largely sub-par in most military matters, but she seemed to take instruction well. With time, effort, and leading by example, I could, perhaps, eventually mold her into a passable soldier. As the Nakajima family were not charging me any rent for my room and board, this would be an acceptable method of repaying them, I felt.
"... right. Sette, remind me that after we finish accustoming you to your surroundings, our second lesson for you should be 'tact'." Cinque said.
"Understood. New mission confirmed, to commence upon completion of current objectives." I said. I was quite pleased; as expected, Cinque had seen the value of my presence and continued to provide suitable objectives.
"... Yes. Well. That's... great. In any event... Wendi, all you had to do was behave, and you couldn't. So it's home with you."
"She cheated! Just like Dieci cheated last time!" Wendi whined.
"I didn't cheat! I'm just a good shot!" Dieci protested.
"All of my actions were within the parameters of the simulation. Further, I can state definitively that Dieci's marksmanship scores, as of last comparison, exceed my own by a combined average of 15.7%." I said. "Cinque, please confirm this analysis."
"Neither of them cheated. They're just better than you." Cinque said patiently.
"...Th-then that game cheated!" Wendi sniffled.
"It didn't cheat, you're just not any good at it!" Nove said.
"Your... your combat strategy does tend to favor large explosions rather than pinpoint accuracy." Dieci said.
"... I don't wanna go home." Wendi whimpered.
"Tough!" Ginga Nakajima said. I believe she had been looking forward to lunch.
"... ... Setteeeeeee! They're picking on meeeeeeeee!" Wendi said.
"Oh. I see." I said. I could think of nothing further to add.
"... ... ... ... you are no help at all, Sette."
This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid.
After depositing Wendi at the Nakajima Residence, my remaining sisters, Ginga Nakajima, and I commenced our second bout of reconnaissance.
"So, now that we've dropped the dead weight..." Nove began.
"Nove, be nice." Cinque said.
"Sorry. Now that we've gotten rid of the one person most likely to ruin any excursion..."
"... when did I become den mother to a flock of children?" Cinque asked. I saw no children, so I assumed this to be some sort of play on words and not a statement that Cinque had begun a new career without noticing.
"... what do you want to do next, Sette?"
"My current mission objectives are complete. Local sites of interest have been found and inspected." I said. "I am currently awaiting Cinque's approval to commence my second mission, tentatively titled 'tact'."
"... so in other words, you're open." Nove said.
"Yes, that is true."
"You had something mind, Nove?" Ginga Nakajima asked.
"Well... Sette wanted to train herself, right?" Nove asked. "I'm feeling antsy too, and I haven't dropped by today, so... why don't we work out some of her naturally aggressive tendencies in a socially acceptable situation? How about we enroll her in my Strike Arts class?"
Cinque frowned slightly. "I'd prefer to avoid anything martial, Nove."
"With all due respect, Cinque, perhaps Nove has a point." Dieci said. "Combat is... well, all Sette understands."
"I also understand cooking." I said. They seemed to have forgotten my new-found skill with pancakes.
"... yes. Well, in any event, my point is that, maybe... it might not be a bad idea to sort of ease her out of that. Wendi was just screwing around as a way of getting Sette to shoot zombies with her, but she did have a point: a way to channel Sette's natural drives into a civilian channel might not be a bad way to begin weaning her off her military mindset." Dieci said.
Cinque considered this for a moment, before smiling slightly. "That's... not a bad point. Cold turkey rarely does any good, after all. All right, Nove, the ball's in your court."
"Whoo-hoo!" Nove said, pumping her fist exuberantly. "Sette, you're going to have a blast, I promise!"
"I see no court, nor ball." I said. "So I believe Cinque was mistaken about the ball being in your court. I apologize."
"... yeah. Yeah, that's great." Nove said. She did not sound as enthusiastic.
Perhaps she had been looking forward to having a ball.
Spoiler for Author's Note:
A bit short, but this seemed a good place to break it off, and after that last monster I posted I might still be a little burned out. Still, better than nothing, right? Right.
... I probably shouldn't do these author's notes unless I actually have something important to say, huh?
Oh wow. Wendi went crazy as I expected, but not exactly the way I imagined. I expected 'Go nuts shot everything everywhere', but this is just as good.
I'll hope Nove's idea will work... Then again, I'm also wondering how you can make it go wrong.
__________________
I hate sad and bittersweet endings. Why? Because I think the real world is sad enough as it is. Must our stories be sad too?
What can I say? All the posts recently put me back in the mood!
Spoiler for 'Ready, Sette, Go!' Part 5:
In order to fully comprehend the events that followed, it was necessary to have a basic understanding of the hit Midchildan Arcade Shooter franchise, 'Blood Zombies'. I know that even with this knowledge, I still have difficulty comprehending exactly what occurred.
Created in Mid calendar year 52 by a small, privately owned company called 'Ecliptic Electronics', the original 'Blood Zombies' was a low-budget piece, to be generous. To be less generous, it was programmed by four men in a garage, it just happened to be four men who called themselves a 'company'. 'Blood Zombies' was created using technology equal to 'whatever they could find' and a budget of 'whatever they could scrounge'. As a result, the release was a shoddy product, vastly behind the times; 2-D graphics, non-learning AI, a story that was essentially nonexistent because no writer was hired. Despite this, 'Blood Zombies' quickly became a cult classic among serious gamers due to one thing it did have; brutal, unrelenting difficulty. All enemy characters moved quickly and randomly, and could only be destroyed by targeting a very specific and very small area that differed on each enemy sprite; ranging from the heads of the titular zombies to certain enemies with weak spots only a pixel or two in width. Further, the enemies tended to appear in large numbers, and did far more damage to the player than in other, similar games. Being merely proficient in 'Blood Zombies' was considered a badge of honor. Being skilled enough to beat the game was enough to make many gamers minor celebrities in their local arcades; free tokens or prizes, photos on the wall, and other such honors. Having at least one 'Blood Zombies' machine became not merely hoped for in all major arcades, but expected.
This unexpected success was sufficient to propel Ecliptic Electronics to status as a legitimate business, if a small one. Excellent sales of the more polished but equally difficult home console version pushed them further. And so, seeking to take advantage of this success, they began work on a sequel that would cement their position as a major entertainment company. 'Blood Zombies 2' was, in every way, superior to the original. The graphics were cutting edge, the story was surprisingly detailed for a work primarily revolving around a gameplay mechanic of shooting zombies until they ran out of blood, and the AI was now able to study the players as they progressed and conceive of plans to counter them.
And, of course, the famous difficulty was only enhanced by this, despite what Wendi seemed to believe. This will become important later in the report. I have here used what is called 'foreshadowing', or the use of current events to imply future ones.
At the time, of course, I knew none of this. I was merely satisfied that a combat simulator had finally been provided. It appeared to be geared toward long-range shooting combat, which was a specialty of mine (though I used thrown bladed projectiles rather than firearms, as the simulator provided), which I doubly approved of. The targets were somewhat abnormal, but I supposed it was largely irrelevant if this helped me get my long-range reflexes back.
I analyzed my weapon, considering the combat potential. According to the instructions ('Blood Zombies 2 Arcade Edition, Gameplay Instructions), the weapon could fire six consecutive shots before requiring a recharge, which was accomplished by pointing the weapon off-screen and pressing the firing trigger. This was not terribly realistic, but then this appeared to be a sort of civilian system for amateur marksmen. I supposed realism was secondary to improving basic skill and reflexes.
I lined up six shots, and felled six targets. The targets were rapidly moving and somewhat small, but my reflexes were honed in genuine combat. I was quite used to making precision attacks on fast-moving targets, and eliminated one target with each round. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill...
"Wow, you're good at this!" Wendi said. "How do you always get the... what do you mean he bit me?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Gah! Where did that spider thing come from? What the... zombie bees? Where the Hell did they get zombie bees?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Oh, come on there's no way you can be hitting... what the #$(*&, zombie pigs now?! Where the #$&^#%$ did those #*%&^#$* things come from?" Wendi screamed, loading a new token into her side of the simulator.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"H-how do you keep track of all the little... GAAAAAH! #*#$&^#! Where did he come from? I just came back to life and I'm already dead again!" Wendi snapped, adding in another admission token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Sette! Sette! Shoot this one he's got a chainsaw and... #$#*&$^*&^*&$^!$%!&$%&^!" Wendi said. I had never heard many of these words she was using before, and logged them for future analysis. She added another token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"You're cheating." Wendi said darkly. "This game is cheating. Everyone is cheating. Well, I won't let this game kill me, and I won't let my frickin' little sister out-score me, and I woSON OF A BITCH, WHAT THE #&$@ DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE ZOMBIE PIRANHAS IN THE PUDDLES? THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM FOR FISH IN THERE!" Wendi said.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"THAT'S IT. SCREW THIS GAME." Wendi snarled, laying one hand on the simulator console.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
The machine began to glow. Wendi snapped her fingers.
And I learned, first-hand, exactly how and why Wendi had been temporarily banned from the establishment upon playing the original 'Blood Zombies'.
I wondered, vaguely, if the restaurant was called 'Pizza Explosion' because Wendi ate there often?
As we left the establishment, passing the arriving fire crews, my sisters and Ginga Nakajima appeared distraught. Wendi had been banned from 'Pizza Explosion' again, this time for the remainder of her natural life. Further, our meals had not yet arrived when Wendi detonated the arcade floor and prompted management to remove us from the premises. As a result, morale among the group was low in general.
"My scores were excellent. However, I do not believe that device's memory system survived, and therefore it will be impossible to compare to existing scores to determine my placement." I said, imparting positive information in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood.
"I... I think that was a lot of fun too." Wendi said. "Like... so much fun, we should just... keep going. Let's just keep having... lots of fun."
"We are going home." Cinque said. "We'll get something to eat there, where Sette can have a nice, calm meal in a family environment. And then we'll go back out again. Only this time, you'll be staying behind."
"Why?! I wanna go out toooooo!"
"Punishment. I thought that was obvious."
"B-but it was the game's fault! I didn't want to blow it up, I just..."
"Did the same damn thing you did last time? Got mad because you were losing and blew up the game?" Nove asked.
"N-no, I..."
"You do know that when I'm involved in incidents like this, my superiors hear about it, right? They'll find out I was at the scene." Ginga Nakajima said. "I take a day of leave to spend time with my new sister, and this happens. Poor Sette must be traumatized, and here comes a new black mark on my record..."
"It is all right. I am used to explosions in contained quarters." I said helpfully. "As to your other concerns, given my observations of your behavior thus far I have determined that you most likely have many black marks on your personnel records already. I doubt that another will seriously impede your career progression."
"... ... ... ..." Ginga Nakajima said. She must have been considering the wisdom of my words. Her performance was largely sub-par in most military matters, but she seemed to take instruction well. With time, effort, and leading by example, I could, perhaps, eventually mold her into a passable soldier. As the Nakajima family were not charging me any rent for my room and board, this would be an acceptable method of repaying them, I felt.
"... right. Sette, remind me that after we finish accustoming you to your surroundings, our second lesson for you should be 'tact'." Cinque said.
"Understood. New mission confirmed, to commence upon completion of current objectives." I said. I was quite pleased; as expected, Cinque had seen the value of my presence and continued to provide suitable objectives.
"... Yes. Well. That's... great. In any event... Wendi, all you had to do was behave, and you couldn't. So it's home with you."
"She cheated! Just like Dieci cheated last time!" Wendi whined.
"I didn't cheat! I'm just a good shot!" Dieci protested.
"All of my actions were within the parameters of the simulation. Further, I can state definitively that Dieci's marksmanship scores, as of last comparison, exceed my own by a combined average of 15.7%." I said. "Cinque, please confirm this analysis."
"Neither of them cheated. They're just better than you." Cinque said patiently.
"...Th-then that game cheated!" Wendi sniffled.
"It didn't cheat, you're just not any good at it!" Nove said.
"Your... your combat strategy does tend to favor large explosions rather than pinpoint accuracy." Dieci said.
"... I don't wanna go home." Wendi whimpered.
"Tough!" Ginga Nakajima said. I believe she had been looking forward to lunch.
"... ... Setteeeeeee! They're picking on meeeeeeeee!" Wendi said.
"Oh. I see." I said. I could think of nothing further to add.
"... ... ... ... you are no help at all, Sette."
This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid.
After depositing Wendi at the Nakajima Residence, my remaining sisters, Ginga Nakajima, and I commenced our second bout of reconnaissance.
"So, now that we've dropped the dead weight..." Nove began.
"Nove, be nice." Cinque said.
"Sorry. Now that we've gotten rid of the one person most likely to ruin any excursion..."
"... when did I become den mother to a flock of children?" Cinque asked. I saw no children, so I assumed this to be some sort of play on words and not a statement that Cinque had begun a new career without noticing.
"... what do you want to do next, Sette?"
"My current mission objectives are complete. Local sites of interest have been found and inspected." I said. "I am currently awaiting Cinque's approval to commence my second mission, tentatively titled 'tact'."
"... so in other words, you're open." Nove said.
"Yes, that is true."
"You had something mind, Nove?" Ginga Nakajima asked.
"Well... Sette wanted to train herself, right?" Nove asked. "I'm feeling antsy too, and I haven't dropped by today, so... why don't we work out some of her naturally aggressive tendencies in a socially acceptable situation? How about we enroll her in my Strike Arts class?"
Cinque frowned slightly. "I'd prefer to avoid anything martial, Nove."
"With all due respect, Cinque, perhaps Nove has a point." Dieci said. "Combat is... well, all Sette understands."
"I also understand cooking." I said. They seemed to have forgotten my new-found skill with pancakes.
"... yes. Well, in any event, my point is that, maybe... it might not be a bad idea to sort of ease her out of that. Wendi was just screwing around as a way of getting Sette to shoot zombies with her, but she did have a point: a way to channel Sette's natural drives into a civilian channel might not be a bad way to begin weaning her off her military mindset." Dieci said.
Cinque considered this for a moment, before smiling slightly. "That's... not a bad point. Cold turkey rarely does any good, after all. All right, Nove, the ball's in your court."
"Whoo-hoo!" Nove said, pumping her fist exuberantly. "Sette, you're going to have a blast, I promise!"
"I see no court, nor ball." I said. "So I believe Cinque was mistaken about the ball being in your court. I apologize."
"... yeah. Yeah, that's great." Nove said. She did not sound as enthusiastic.
Perhaps she had been looking forward to having a ball.
Spoiler for Author's Note:
A bit short, but this seemed a good place to break it off, and after that last monster I posted I might still be a little burned out. Still, better than nothing, right? Right.
... I probably shouldn't do these author's notes unless I actually have something important to say, huh?
I feel weak-minded because I didn't realize that Sette was narrating the background information until Paragraph 6. Considerable laughter was subsequently invoked, making coherent review impossible for a period of one point four two minutes following reading. Especial attention was given to Wendi. Best line, though: " I am used to explosions in contained quarters."
Does this mean we get cameos from the ViVid cast next chapter?
But you stole my 'tact' bit from a GrimGrimoire fic that I haven't posted yet, you darned time-traveling plagarist, you!!!
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Megaolix
Oh wow. Wendi went crazy as I expected, but not exactly the way I imagined. I expected 'Go nuts shot everything everywhere', but this is just as good.
I'll hope Nove's idea will work... Then again, I'm also wondering how you can make it go wrong.
I have my ways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin
I feel weak-minded because I didn't realize that Sette was narrating the background information until Paragraph 6. Considerable laughter was subsequently invoked, making coherent review impossible for a period of one point four two minutes following reading. Especial attention was given to Wendi. Best line, though: " I am used to explosions in contained quarters."
Does this mean we get cameos from the ViVid cast next chapter?
But you stole my 'tact' bit from a GrimGrimoire fic that I haven't posted yet, you darned time-traveling plagarist, you!!!
Location: Place of rocks and trees, and trees and rocks...and water.
Age: 33
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moczo
What can I say? All the posts recently put me back in the mood!
Spoiler for 'Ready, Sette, Go!' Part 5:
In order to fully comprehend the events that followed, it was necessary to have a basic understanding of the hit Midchildan Arcade Shooter franchise, 'Blood Zombies'. I know that even with this knowledge, I still have difficulty comprehending exactly what occurred.
Created in Mid calendar year 52 by a small, privately owned company called 'Ecliptic Electronics', the original 'Blood Zombies' was a low-budget piece, to be generous. To be less generous, it was programmed by four men in a garage, it just happened to be four men who called themselves a 'company'. 'Blood Zombies' was created using technology equal to 'whatever they could find' and a budget of 'whatever they could scrounge'. As a result, the release was a shoddy product, vastly behind the times; 2-D graphics, non-learning AI, a story that was essentially nonexistent because no writer was hired. Despite this, 'Blood Zombies' quickly became a cult classic among serious gamers due to one thing it did have; brutal, unrelenting difficulty. All enemy characters moved quickly and randomly, and could only be destroyed by targeting a very specific and very small area that differed on each enemy sprite; ranging from the heads of the titular zombies to certain enemies with weak spots only a pixel or two in width. Further, the enemies tended to appear in large numbers, and did far more damage to the player than in other, similar games. Being merely proficient in 'Blood Zombies' was considered a badge of honor. Being skilled enough to beat the game was enough to make many gamers minor celebrities in their local arcades; free tokens or prizes, photos on the wall, and other such honors. Having at least one 'Blood Zombies' machine became not merely hoped for in all major arcades, but expected.
This unexpected success was sufficient to propel Ecliptic Electronics to status as a legitimate business, if a small one. Excellent sales of the more polished but equally difficult home console version pushed them further. And so, seeking to take advantage of this success, they began work on a sequel that would cement their position as a major entertainment company. 'Blood Zombies 2' was, in every way, superior to the original. The graphics were cutting edge, the story was surprisingly detailed for a work primarily revolving around a gameplay mechanic of shooting zombies until they ran out of blood, and the AI was now able to study the players as they progressed and conceive of plans to counter them.
And, of course, the famous difficulty was only enhanced by this, despite what Wendi seemed to believe. This will become important later in the report. I have here used what is called 'foreshadowing', or the use of current events to imply future ones.
At the time, of course, I knew none of this. I was merely satisfied that a combat simulator had finally been provided. It appeared to be geared toward long-range shooting combat, which was a specialty of mine (though I used thrown bladed projectiles rather than firearms, as the simulator provided), which I doubly approved of. The targets were somewhat abnormal, but I supposed it was largely irrelevant if this helped me get my long-range reflexes back.
I analyzed my weapon, considering the combat potential. According to the instructions ('Blood Zombies 2 Arcade Edition, Gameplay Instructions), the weapon could fire six consecutive shots before requiring a recharge, which was accomplished by pointing the weapon off-screen and pressing the firing trigger. This was not terribly realistic, but then this appeared to be a sort of civilian system for amateur marksmen. I supposed realism was secondary to improving basic skill and reflexes.
I lined up six shots, and felled six targets. The targets were rapidly moving and somewhat small, but my reflexes were honed in genuine combat. I was quite used to making precision attacks on fast-moving targets, and eliminated one target with each round. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill...
"Wow, you're good at this!" Wendi said. "How do you always get the... what do you mean he bit me?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Gah! Where did that spider thing come from? What the... zombie bees? Where the Hell did they get zombie bees?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Oh, come on there's no way you can be hitting... what the #$(*&, zombie pigs now?! Where the #$&^#%$ did those #*%&^#$* things come from?" Wendi screamed, loading a new token into her side of the simulator.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"H-how do you keep track of all the little... GAAAAAH! #*#$&^#! Where did he come from? I just came back to life and I'm already dead again!" Wendi snapped, adding in another admission token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Sette! Sette! Shoot this one he's got a chainsaw and... #$#*&$^*&^*&$^!$%!&$%&^!" Wendi said. I had never heard many of these words she was using before, and logged them for future analysis. She added another token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"You're cheating." Wendi said darkly. "This game is cheating. Everyone is cheating. Well, I won't let this game kill me, and I won't let my frickin' little sister out-score me, and I woSON OF A BITCH, WHAT THE #&$@ DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE ZOMBIE PIRANHAS IN THE PUDDLES? THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM FOR FISH IN THERE!" Wendi said.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"THAT'S IT. SCREW THIS GAME." Wendi snarled, laying one hand on the simulator console.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
The machine began to glow. Wendi snapped her fingers.
And I learned, first-hand, exactly how and why Wendi had been temporarily banned from the establishment upon playing the original 'Blood Zombies'.
I wondered, vaguely, if the restaurant was called 'Pizza Explosion' because Wendi ate there often?
As we left the establishment, passing the arriving fire crews, my sisters and Ginga Nakajima appeared distraught. Wendi had been banned from 'Pizza Explosion' again, this time for the remainder of her natural life. Further, our meals had not yet arrived when Wendi detonated the arcade floor and prompted management to remove us from the premises. As a result, morale among the group was low in general.
"My scores were excellent. However, I do not believe that device's memory system survived, and therefore it will be impossible to compare to existing scores to determine my placement." I said, imparting positive information in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood.
"I... I think that was a lot of fun too." Wendi said. "Like... so much fun, we should just... keep going. Let's just keep having... lots of fun."
"We are going home." Cinque said. "We'll get something to eat there, where Sette can have a nice, calm meal in a family environment. And then we'll go back out again. Only this time, you'll be staying behind."
"Why?! I wanna go out toooooo!"
"Punishment. I thought that was obvious."
"B-but it was the game's fault! I didn't want to blow it up, I just..."
"Did the same damn thing you did last time? Got mad because you were losing and blew up the game?" Nove asked.
"N-no, I..."
"You do know that when I'm involved in incidents like this, my superiors hear about it, right? They'll find out I was at the scene." Ginga Nakajima said. "I take a day of leave to spend time with my new sister, and this happens. Poor Sette must be traumatized, and here comes a new black mark on my record..."
"It is all right. I am used to explosions in contained quarters." I said helpfully. "As to your other concerns, given my observations of your behavior thus far I have determined that you most likely have many black marks on your personnel records already. I doubt that another will seriously impede your career progression."
"... ... ... ..." Ginga Nakajima said. She must have been considering the wisdom of my words. Her performance was largely sub-par in most military matters, but she seemed to take instruction well. With time, effort, and leading by example, I could, perhaps, eventually mold her into a passable soldier. As the Nakajima family were not charging me any rent for my room and board, this would be an acceptable method of repaying them, I felt.
"... right. Sette, remind me that after we finish accustoming you to your surroundings, our second lesson for you should be 'tact'." Cinque said.
"Understood. New mission confirmed, to commence upon completion of current objectives." I said. I was quite pleased; as expected, Cinque had seen the value of my presence and continued to provide suitable objectives.
"... Yes. Well. That's... great. In any event... Wendi, all you had to do was behave, and you couldn't. So it's home with you."
"She cheated! Just like Dieci cheated last time!" Wendi whined.
"I didn't cheat! I'm just a good shot!" Dieci protested.
"All of my actions were within the parameters of the simulation. Further, I can state definitively that Dieci's marksmanship scores, as of last comparison, exceed my own by a combined average of 15.7%." I said. "Cinque, please confirm this analysis."
"Neither of them cheated. They're just better than you." Cinque said patiently.
"...Th-then that game cheated!" Wendi sniffled.
"It didn't cheat, you're just not any good at it!" Nove said.
"Your... your combat strategy does tend to favor large explosions rather than pinpoint accuracy." Dieci said.
"... I don't wanna go home." Wendi whimpered.
"Tough!" Ginga Nakajima said. I believe she had been looking forward to lunch.
"... ... Setteeeeeee! They're picking on meeeeeeeee!" Wendi said.
"Oh. I see." I said. I could think of nothing further to add.
"... ... ... ... you are no help at all, Sette."
This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid.
After depositing Wendi at the Nakajima Residence, my remaining sisters, Ginga Nakajima, and I commenced our second bout of reconnaissance.
"So, now that we've dropped the dead weight..." Nove began.
"Nove, be nice." Cinque said.
"Sorry. Now that we've gotten rid of the one person most likely to ruin any excursion..."
"... when did I become den mother to a flock of children?" Cinque asked. I saw no children, so I assumed this to be some sort of play on words and not a statement that Cinque had begun a new career without noticing.
"... what do you want to do next, Sette?"
"My current mission objectives are complete. Local sites of interest have been found and inspected." I said. "I am currently awaiting Cinque's approval to commence my second mission, tentatively titled 'tact'."
"... so in other words, you're open." Nove said.
"Yes, that is true."
"You had something mind, Nove?" Ginga Nakajima asked.
"Well... Sette wanted to train herself, right?" Nove asked. "I'm feeling antsy too, and I haven't dropped by today, so... why don't we work out some of her naturally aggressive tendencies in a socially acceptable situation? How about we enroll her in my Strike Arts class?"
Cinque frowned slightly. "I'd prefer to avoid anything martial, Nove."
"With all due respect, Cinque, perhaps Nove has a point." Dieci said. "Combat is... well, all Sette understands."
"I also understand cooking." I said. They seemed to have forgotten my new-found skill with pancakes.
"... yes. Well, in any event, my point is that, maybe... it might not be a bad idea to sort of ease her out of that. Wendi was just screwing around as a way of getting Sette to shoot zombies with her, but she did have a point: a way to channel Sette's natural drives into a civilian channel might not be a bad way to begin weaning her off her military mindset." Dieci said.
Cinque considered this for a moment, before smiling slightly. "That's... not a bad point. Cold turkey rarely does any good, after all. All right, Nove, the ball's in your court."
"Whoo-hoo!" Nove said, pumping her fist exuberantly. "Sette, you're going to have a blast, I promise!"
"I see no court, nor ball." I said. "So I believe Cinque was mistaken about the ball being in your court. I apologize."
"... yeah. Yeah, that's great." Nove said. She did not sound as enthusiastic.
Perhaps she had been looking forward to having a ball.
Spoiler for Author's Note:
A bit short, but this seemed a good place to break it off, and after that last monster I posted I might still be a little burned out. Still, better than nothing, right? Right.
... I probably shouldn't do these author's notes unless I actually have something important to say, huh?
*Pops from lurking to review awesomeness*
I loved this part:
Quote:
And, of course, the famous difficulty was only enhanced by this, despite what Wendi seemed to believe. This will become important later in the report. I have here used what is called 'foreshadowing', or the use of current events to imply future ones.
Real laughing out loud ensued once I had reached that part .
Quote:
"My scores were excellent. However, I do not believe that device's memory system survived, and therefore it will be impossible to compare to existing scores to determine my placement." I said, imparting positive information in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood.
Oh Sette, your attempts to fit in are funnier than your intentional statements!
The conversations between all the Nakajimas flowed well like real conversations, even though they're talking crack . That amused me to no end .
Quote:
"I am currently awaiting Cinque's approval to commence my second mission, tentatively titled 'tact'."
"... so in other words, you're open." Nove said.
Like I said, it flows oddly well as a conversation. But it's not supposed to be so normal!!! The deadpan, banal way they handle all the idiosyncrasies of their conversations is just hilarious .
Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin
But you stole my 'tact' bit from a GrimGrimoire fic that I haven't posted yet, you darned time-traveling plagarist, you!!!
I vouch for Dezo! It's a nice fic ^^.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moczo
Sorry I... um... time-robbed you?
Teach us your skills, wise one! I could use some more time!
What can I say? All the posts recently put me back in the mood!
Spoiler for 'Ready, Sette, Go!' Part 5:
In order to fully comprehend the events that followed, it was necessary to have a basic understanding of the hit Midchildan Arcade Shooter franchise, 'Blood Zombies'. I know that even with this knowledge, I still have difficulty comprehending exactly what occurred.
Created in Mid calendar year 52 by a small, privately owned company called 'Ecliptic Electronics', the original 'Blood Zombies' was a low-budget piece, to be generous. To be less generous, it was programmed by four men in a garage, it just happened to be four men who called themselves a 'company'. 'Blood Zombies' was created using technology equal to 'whatever they could find' and a budget of 'whatever they could scrounge'. As a result, the release was a shoddy product, vastly behind the times; 2-D graphics, non-learning AI, a story that was essentially nonexistent because no writer was hired. Despite this, 'Blood Zombies' quickly became a cult classic among serious gamers due to one thing it did have; brutal, unrelenting difficulty. All enemy characters moved quickly and randomly, and could only be destroyed by targeting a very specific and very small area that differed on each enemy sprite; ranging from the heads of the titular zombies to certain enemies with weak spots only a pixel or two in width. Further, the enemies tended to appear in large numbers, and did far more damage to the player than in other, similar games. Being merely proficient in 'Blood Zombies' was considered a badge of honor. Being skilled enough to beat the game was enough to make many gamers minor celebrities in their local arcades; free tokens or prizes, photos on the wall, and other such honors. Having at least one 'Blood Zombies' machine became not merely hoped for in all major arcades, but expected.
This unexpected success was sufficient to propel Ecliptic Electronics to status as a legitimate business, if a small one. Excellent sales of the more polished but equally difficult home console version pushed them further. And so, seeking to take advantage of this success, they began work on a sequel that would cement their position as a major entertainment company. 'Blood Zombies 2' was, in every way, superior to the original. The graphics were cutting edge, the story was surprisingly detailed for a work primarily revolving around a gameplay mechanic of shooting zombies until they ran out of blood, and the AI was now able to study the players as they progressed and conceive of plans to counter them.
And, of course, the famous difficulty was only enhanced by this, despite what Wendi seemed to believe. This will become important later in the report. I have here used what is called 'foreshadowing', or the use of current events to imply future ones.
At the time, of course, I knew none of this. I was merely satisfied that a combat simulator had finally been provided. It appeared to be geared toward long-range shooting combat, which was a specialty of mine (though I used thrown bladed projectiles rather than firearms, as the simulator provided), which I doubly approved of. The targets were somewhat abnormal, but I supposed it was largely irrelevant if this helped me get my long-range reflexes back.
I analyzed my weapon, considering the combat potential. According to the instructions ('Blood Zombies 2 Arcade Edition, Gameplay Instructions), the weapon could fire six consecutive shots before requiring a recharge, which was accomplished by pointing the weapon off-screen and pressing the firing trigger. This was not terribly realistic, but then this appeared to be a sort of civilian system for amateur marksmen. I supposed realism was secondary to improving basic skill and reflexes.
I lined up six shots, and felled six targets. The targets were rapidly moving and somewhat small, but my reflexes were honed in genuine combat. I was quite used to making precision attacks on fast-moving targets, and eliminated one target with each round. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill...
"Wow, you're good at this!" Wendi said. "How do you always get the... what do you mean he bit me?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Gah! Where did that spider thing come from? What the... zombie bees? Where the Hell did they get zombie bees?!"
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Oh, come on there's no way you can be hitting... what the #$(*&, zombie pigs now?! Where the #$&^#%$ did those #*%&^#$* things come from?" Wendi screamed, loading a new token into her side of the simulator.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"H-how do you keep track of all the little... GAAAAAH! #*#$&^#! Where did he come from? I just came back to life and I'm already dead again!" Wendi snapped, adding in another admission token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"Sette! Sette! Shoot this one he's got a chainsaw and... #$#*&$^*&^*&$^!$%!&$%&^!" Wendi said. I had never heard many of these words she was using before, and logged them for future analysis. She added another token.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"You're cheating." Wendi said darkly. "This game is cheating. Everyone is cheating. Well, I won't let this game kill me, and I won't let my frickin' little sister out-score me, and I woSON OF A BITCH, WHAT THE #&$@ DO YOU MEAN THERE ARE ZOMBIE PIRANHAS IN THE PUDDLES? THERE ISN'T ENOUGH ROOM FOR FISH IN THERE!" Wendi said.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
"THAT'S IT. SCREW THIS GAME." Wendi snarled, laying one hand on the simulator console.
One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill. One shot, one kill.
The machine began to glow. Wendi snapped her fingers.
And I learned, first-hand, exactly how and why Wendi had been temporarily banned from the establishment upon playing the original 'Blood Zombies'.
I wondered, vaguely, if the restaurant was called 'Pizza Explosion' because Wendi ate there often?
As we left the establishment, passing the arriving fire crews, my sisters and Ginga Nakajima appeared distraught. Wendi had been banned from 'Pizza Explosion' again, this time for the remainder of her natural life. Further, our meals had not yet arrived when Wendi detonated the arcade floor and prompted management to remove us from the premises. As a result, morale among the group was low in general.
"My scores were excellent. However, I do not believe that device's memory system survived, and therefore it will be impossible to compare to existing scores to determine my placement." I said, imparting positive information in an attempt to 'lighten' the mood.
"I... I think that was a lot of fun too." Wendi said. "Like... so much fun, we should just... keep going. Let's just keep having... lots of fun."
"We are going home." Cinque said. "We'll get something to eat there, where Sette can have a nice, calm meal in a family environment. And then we'll go back out again. Only this time, you'll be staying behind."
"Why?! I wanna go out toooooo!"
"Punishment. I thought that was obvious."
"B-but it was the game's fault! I didn't want to blow it up, I just..."
"Did the same damn thing you did last time? Got mad because you were losing and blew up the game?" Nove asked.
"N-no, I..."
"You do know that when I'm involved in incidents like this, my superiors hear about it, right? They'll find out I was at the scene." Ginga Nakajima said. "I take a day of leave to spend time with my new sister, and this happens. Poor Sette must be traumatized, and here comes a new black mark on my record..."
"It is all right. I am used to explosions in contained quarters." I said helpfully. "As to your other concerns, given my observations of your behavior thus far I have determined that you most likely have many black marks on your personnel records already. I doubt that another will seriously impede your career progression."
"... ... ... ..." Ginga Nakajima said. She must have been considering the wisdom of my words. Her performance was largely sub-par in most military matters, but she seemed to take instruction well. With time, effort, and leading by example, I could, perhaps, eventually mold her into a passable soldier. As the Nakajima family were not charging me any rent for my room and board, this would be an acceptable method of repaying them, I felt.
"... right. Sette, remind me that after we finish accustoming you to your surroundings, our second lesson for you should be 'tact'." Cinque said.
"Understood. New mission confirmed, to commence upon completion of current objectives." I said. I was quite pleased; as expected, Cinque had seen the value of my presence and continued to provide suitable objectives.
"... Yes. Well. That's... great. In any event... Wendi, all you had to do was behave, and you couldn't. So it's home with you."
"She cheated! Just like Dieci cheated last time!" Wendi whined.
"I didn't cheat! I'm just a good shot!" Dieci protested.
"All of my actions were within the parameters of the simulation. Further, I can state definitively that Dieci's marksmanship scores, as of last comparison, exceed my own by a combined average of 15.7%." I said. "Cinque, please confirm this analysis."
"Neither of them cheated. They're just better than you." Cinque said patiently.
"...Th-then that game cheated!" Wendi sniffled.
"It didn't cheat, you're just not any good at it!" Nove said.
"Your... your combat strategy does tend to favor large explosions rather than pinpoint accuracy." Dieci said.
"... I don't wanna go home." Wendi whimpered.
"Tough!" Ginga Nakajima said. I believe she had been looking forward to lunch.
"... ... Setteeeeeee! They're picking on meeeeeeeee!" Wendi said.
"Oh. I see." I said. I could think of nothing further to add.
"... ... ... ... you are no help at all, Sette."
This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid.
After depositing Wendi at the Nakajima Residence, my remaining sisters, Ginga Nakajima, and I commenced our second bout of reconnaissance.
"So, now that we've dropped the dead weight..." Nove began.
"Nove, be nice." Cinque said.
"Sorry. Now that we've gotten rid of the one person most likely to ruin any excursion..."
"... when did I become den mother to a flock of children?" Cinque asked. I saw no children, so I assumed this to be some sort of play on words and not a statement that Cinque had begun a new career without noticing.
"... what do you want to do next, Sette?"
"My current mission objectives are complete. Local sites of interest have been found and inspected." I said. "I am currently awaiting Cinque's approval to commence my second mission, tentatively titled 'tact'."
"... so in other words, you're open." Nove said.
"Yes, that is true."
"You had something mind, Nove?" Ginga Nakajima asked.
"Well... Sette wanted to train herself, right?" Nove asked. "I'm feeling antsy too, and I haven't dropped by today, so... why don't we work out some of her naturally aggressive tendencies in a socially acceptable situation? How about we enroll her in my Strike Arts class?"
Cinque frowned slightly. "I'd prefer to avoid anything martial, Nove."
"With all due respect, Cinque, perhaps Nove has a point." Dieci said. "Combat is... well, all Sette understands."
"I also understand cooking." I said. They seemed to have forgotten my new-found skill with pancakes.
"... yes. Well, in any event, my point is that, maybe... it might not be a bad idea to sort of ease her out of that. Wendi was just screwing around as a way of getting Sette to shoot zombies with her, but she did have a point: a way to channel Sette's natural drives into a civilian channel might not be a bad way to begin weaning her off her military mindset." Dieci said.
Cinque considered this for a moment, before smiling slightly. "That's... not a bad point. Cold turkey rarely does any good, after all. All right, Nove, the ball's in your court."
"Whoo-hoo!" Nove said, pumping her fist exuberantly. "Sette, you're going to have a blast, I promise!"
"I see no court, nor ball." I said. "So I believe Cinque was mistaken about the ball being in your court. I apologize."
"... yeah. Yeah, that's great." Nove said. She did not sound as enthusiastic.
Perhaps she had been looking forward to having a ball.
Spoiler for Author's Note:
A bit short, but this seemed a good place to break it off, and after that last monster I posted I might still be a little burned out. Still, better than nothing, right? Right.
... I probably shouldn't do these author's notes unless I actually have something important to say, huh?
"This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid."
This line just made me want to murder Quattro for what she had done to the poor girl and her empathy. Or maybe dip her into a volcano as slow as possible, just as long as that witch suffer!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moczo
Glad you enjoyed it!
Yes!
Sorry I... um... time-robbed you?
I see. So in the future you will make a contract with The World and become a Heroic Spirit placed on a realm outside normal timeline, only to be summoned into a Magical War where you secretly gambit to meet your past self and...give him/you DezoPenguin's script?
UNLIMITED FANFIC WORKS!
PS: This is why I hate time-travel, there's already too much tense trouble for me already without it...
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by deathcurse
*Pops from lurking to review awesomeness*
I loved this part:
Real laughing out loud ensued once I had reached that part .
*Bow* Thank you. It just seemed so... Sette.
Quote:
The conversations between all the Nakajimas flowed well like real conversations, even though they're talking crack . That amused me to no end .
Like I said, it flows oddly well as a conversation. But it's not supposed to be so normal!!! The deadpan, banal way they handle all the idiosyncrasies of their conversations is just hilarious .
Hee, hee... well, I guess I'm operating under the dual assumptions:
1) They are probably all pretty used to Sette by this point.
2) They aren't exactly normal girls themselves
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiresias
"This concerned me briefly, until I recalled that none of my current mission objectives required giving Wendi aid."
This line just made me want to murder Quattro for what she had done to the poor girl and her empathy. Or maybe dip her into a volcano as slow as possible, just as long as that witch suffer!
Well, Wendi kinda deserved it this time. But ordinarily, I'm right there with ya!
Quote:
I see. So in the future you will make a contract with The World and become a Heroic Spirit placed on a realm outside normal timeline, only to be summoned into a Magical War where you secretly gambit to meet your past self and...give him/you DezoPenguin's script?
UNLIMITED FANFIC WORKS!
PS: This is why I hate time-travel, there's already too much tense trouble for me already without it...
I am the word of my story,
Spelling is my body and grammar is my blood.
I have written over one-thousand words,
But that really isn't all that impressive because 1,000 words isn't a whole lot.
Have withstood great writer's block to tell many stories,
But at the speed I update, I will never finish any of them.
So, as I proofread...
Unlimited Fanfic Works.
"So, what's going to happen to all of them?" Nanoha asked Chrono as the two of them, Yuuno and Lina were in the ship's cafeteria.
Chrono shrugged at her. "Well, we need to take them back to Mid-Childa with us to stand trial."
"You're going to put Fate in prison, huh?" Lina asked as she drank some water, getting a gasp from Nanoha and Yuuno. "She's a criminal by your laws, she showed no remorse nor regret for what she did, and she's likely to not testify against Precia, so, by the law, you don't have much of a choice."
Chrono winced mentally at that and practically flinched when Nanoha glared at him. "Look, she won't talk to anyone, if I can't get a statement from her, I won't have much of a choice. She's not helping herself."
"Excuse me." Lina stood up and walked out of the room, causing the kids to blink, before they got up and followed her. For some reason, whenever Lina did something, things went completely crazy and out of control.
But that was always so much fun!
(---)
Precia looked up from her bed in the medical bay. "What are you doing here?" She was under several seals and guards, all keeping her from using magic as they had her hooked up to various life-support machines.
Lina ignored her and looked at the girl in the tube. "...I'm surprised that they let you have her here..." She touched the tube softly before looking at the ship's doctor, who had just walked in. "Tell me, does this girl have any brain activity?"
The doctor shook his head. "No, why do you ask?"
"I mean, is there any chance for this girl to have any brain activity?"
"Um, maybe..."
"Good, find out if there is, I got somewhere else to be." Lina walked out, before stopping at the door and turning to Precia. "This isn't for you, woman, you're still going to pay for what you did, this is because I don't like sitting around doing nothing when I can try something."
(---)
"You can't..." The guard blinked as Lina smiled at him softly. "I'm sorry, but you aren't allowed to see her."
"I understand, you're just doing your job, it just wouldn't be right if you let anyone in to see her." Lina nodded at him, causing him to relax. "However, considering that if I wanted to, I could just blow the wall down and take her, her familiar, Nanoha and Yuuno with me back to Earth and there's no way you can stop me, do you want to let me in freely or do you want me to leave, come up with a plan and sneak back here and steal her away and make her a member of my family and thus no longer subject to the laws of your land?"
"She would..."
"Listen, I don't like threatening people who are just doing their jobs, so, if you just look the other way for... Let's say five minutes, I'll get what I want and you won't have any problem, hmm?"
Gulping, he shook his head. "N...No, ma'am, I can't let you..." He closed his eyes and slumped to the ground as Lina sighed. Sleeping spells weren't her forte, but they made it so easy to go and kill certain assassins who nearly ruined her husband's life.
Fate blinked as her door opened. Her eyes widened as Lina walked in and waved at her and Arf. "What are...?"
"I heard you aren't going to testify against your mother." Lina sighed as Fate looked away. "You remind me so much of Zelgadis it's not funny, girl."
Fate tensed and blinked as Lina picked her up and sat down where she had been a moment ago. "What?" As Lina rubbed her back, she trembled softly.
"You never felt this, huh?" Lina whispered softly and Fate shook her head silently. "Hmm... Well, Zelgadis was a friend of mine... He and I were once enemies and fought against each other. He was a great swordsman and spellcaster, and a reliable friend. If my life was in danger, he was one of the people I trusted to save me." She smiled softly as the girl relaxed in her embrace softly. "There was a man, his name was Rezo, the Red Priest and one of the great sages of the world. That man, born blind, traveled the world, studying magic for ways to cure his blindness. Along the way, he became known as a great healer who could cure any disease, even bring light to those that were born blind, but despite his talent in magic, he could not open his own eyes. He eventually, in the years he lived, became desperate for a cure, so much so that he turned his own grandson, or was it great-grandson, I forget, anyway, he turned Zelgadis into a chimera of a human, golem and demon, before he eventually found a mystical stone that would increase his magic many fold and finally allow him to open his eyes."
"...What happened?" Fate asked softly as she rested her head on Lina's chest.
"I got the stone before anyone." Lina chuckled softly. "Zelgadis wanted it to stop Rezo. Rezo wanted it to cure his blindness and I was just unlucky enough to be caught in the middle. Rezo eventually threatened to turn every village to stone if I did not give him what he wanted."
Lina smiled to herself as she heard Chrono, Nanoha and Yuuno all gasp as they heard that. The girl in her arms tensed, but she just rubbed the girl's back and tried to get her to calm down. In the corner of her eye, she saw Arf, in her wolf form, looking at her curiously.
"So, I went with my traveling companions at the time. After a bit of trickery, Rezo got the stone and used it. Doing so, he managed to open his eyes. But we found out that the reason he couldn't open his eyes... Was because he was acting as a seal for a fragment of the most powerful evil creature in the world."
That... had not been a fun fight, Lina didn't like thinking about how close she came to losing her life in that fight. "In the end, two people who had traveled with us had died to this creature, and Zelgadis, myself and a friend of mine, Gourry, faced off against him a day later. Nothing we used worked on him. No magic that any human could use could even affect the guy. Magic weapons, spells, even my favorite Dragon Slave was useless against him."
"How did you beat him?" Fate asked, her voice still soft.
Lina sighed softly. "I used a forbidden spell, the Giga Slave, calling the Lord of Nightmares from the Sea of Chaos into the world. It was the only way to beat him. But if I had screwed up, the whole world could have been destroyed. I got lucky."
"...Oh..."
"Listen, Fate..." Lina smiled softly at her. "Do you really not want to testify against your mother?"
"I... I have nowhere else to go." Fate whimpered softly, her body trembling softly.
"You asked if I would teach you magic, right?" When Fate nodded, Lina smiled. "Then why not come back with me? It wouldn't be too hard to get you an extra room in my house." Hell, she was tempted to get an extra room built so that Yuuno wouldn't have to sleep in Nanoha's room anymore if he didn't want to. Besides, if she was going to teach some kids, she was going to have them live with her family, darn it!
"You mean it?"
Lina nodded as Fate looked up, the little girl's eyes sparkling in wonder. "Yeah... I wouldn't mind it if you wanted to live with me."
Fate hugged Lina tightly, burying her face in the redhead's chest. "Thank you."
Lina smiled at that. "No problem."
Spoiler for Blood That Flows Part 14:
"I really wish you'd at least let me know what you were going to do before you did it." Lindy sighed softly before shaking her head. "Still, thank you. None of us were getting through to her."
Lina shrugged, it wasn't a big deal to her. "Alright, you wouldn't have asked me to the big table room unless you needed something from me. I'm guessing that you listened in on my conversation with Fate and have more than a few questions for me." She chuckled at the embarrassed look on Lindy's face. "I have some questions of my own, so, how about a back and forth?"
"I ask one, you answer, then you ask and I answer?" When Lina nodded, she sighed. "As long as it's nothing to sensitive or restricted."
"Fine." Lina nodded at her. "You first then."
"I need to know... What is the Sea of Chaos? The Lord of Nightmares? And this Giga Slave..."
"That's three questions." Lina smirked at her. "But all three have the same answer. The Sea of Chaos that exists between the dimensions, it's the Lord of Nightmares. The Giga Slave? That's also the Lord of Nightmares. The Lord of Nightmares herself? She's the one who created everything. Mother of Mazoku and Gods."
"But..."
"Ah ah ah!" Lina waggled a finger at her. "My turn." When Lindy sighed, she chuckled softly. "So, about Fate... Are you going to take her with you?"
"We'll need to." Lindy nodded at the question. "She needs to testify, and current laws prohibit her from testifying over the phone." Lina nodded at her. "Mrs. Takamachi, when you were talking to Fate, you called the Giga Slave a forbidden spell that could destroy the world. Why would you use it?"
"Didn't have a choice." Lina shook her head. "A demonic entity known as a Ma-oh had been released from his seal and threatened the whole world." She paused, before laughing at that. "Sorry, but I never really did fight him for noble reasons like you might think. I just didn't want to die, because there was so much food I hadn't eaten, spells I hadn't learned, bandits I didn't crush." Seeing Lindy's look, she chuckled. "I was known as the Bandit Killer when I was younger, and I had a bit of an ego to me." Not that she didn't deserve both the nickname and the ego, but looking back, Lina wondered how the hell her friends put up with her. "What about that woman?"
"We need to put her on trial for setting everything up on Earth." Lindy sighed. "She might not have caused the Jewel Seeds to fall to Earth, but if she hadn't ordered Miss Fate to collect them, none of us would be here right now. Miss Fate won't have to face any penalties, since all she did was collect them." Well, Fate and Arf had attacked her son, but she was certain that Chrono wasn't going to really bother with bringing that up at trial. "This... Ma-oh, what was its name and are there more?"
"I'd almost call that two questions," Lina chuckled at her serious look, "but his name was Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo, one of the four Ma-Oh in direct opposition to the four Dragon Gods. The other Ma-Ohs that exist are Dark Star, Death Fog," Lina knew that Lindy probably wasn't going to like the next name that popped up, but oh well, "and Chaotic Blue."
"WHAT?!" Lindy gasped, her eyes wide, for reasons unknown to her, Lina looked totally calm. "You said you called upon the power of Chaotic Blue to do that Nemesis Breaker. But, doing that could..."
"Just destroy what I ask it to destroy." Lina shrugged at Lindy's look. "Despite its name, Black Magic isn't evil, even if the source is. At its core, Black Magic is just magic that's highly destructive and can affect both the physical and astral plane of reality at the same time." Well, it was more effective in fighting Gods than Mazoku, but she didn't have access to Holy Magic, so nothing could be done about that. Lina blinked and tapped her chin. "Huh... I don't think I have anymore questions..."
"I have two more then." Lindy sighed, man, this was going to be a pain in the ass to explain to her superiors. "You said to Fate that the Giga Slave can destroy the world... How?"
"Not like you think." Lina chuckled softly. "It certainly CAN destroy the world if it's miscast. But there's no guarantee. Unlike other spells that call upon the power of something, either from spirits, gods, Mazoku, demons, or your own power, the Giga Slave is a spell that calls the Lord of Nightmares INTO your world." Seeing Lindy's eyes widen, she nodded at that. "Yeah, calling the creator of everything into your world isn't the safest thing to do. If the spell is screwed up... Then the world's at her mercy. She could destroy it, leave it alone, or change everything so that mice are in charge and humans are vermin to be exterminated."
"And you would risk that, why?"
"Like I said to Fate, if I didn't use it, Shabranigdo would have destroyed the world. Guaranteed destruction of the world or possible destruction of the world? Either way, neither's a good option, but I'd rather risk everything on the chance that the world would survive rather than the fact that the world would have been destroyed." Though, a part of Lina wondered just why Hellmaster never bothered showing up when Ruby-Eyes had been freed from his seal. It would have been simple for Hellmaster to have killed her, Gourry and Zelgadis back then and use that fragment of Shabranigdo to free the Demon King of the North, find other fragments and destroy the world.
"I see..." Lindy nodded and sighed. Well, this wasn't going to be good to tell her superiors. "Have you used the Giga Slave lately?"
"Not since I was sixteen. I don't plan on ever using it again if I can help it. The spell will die with me, I doubt any manuscripts that have any information on it exist anymore, the Dragons aren't going to let anyone near the Claire Bible anytime soon."
Lindy nodded at that. "Thank you."
Lina smiled at her. "Good, now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check on something."
Watching her leave, Lindy sighed, wondering how someone could act so mature one moment and so crazy the next.
Spoiler for Blood that Flows Part 15:
"So..." Lindy sighed as she looked at the conference call she was making with her superiors. "That's the full situation here."
"If she is that dangerous, what's your recommendation?" A colonel, one she didn't recognize off the top of her head, spoke up, though he looked like he wanted to do something stupid and dangerous.
"If I may..." An older, cultured voice spoke up. "I say we do nothing to her."
"What?!"
"I'm inclined to agree with Admiral Graham."
"Thank you, Admiral Leti." Graham nodded at her. "She'd not an enemy of the Bureau, and if she's that strong and her daughter is that strong, I would rather not have them be enemies, but rather allies."
"I doubt I could recruit her." Lindy shook her head. "If we had found her when she was younger, maybe, but now? No, she has a family that she's responsible for on Earth. Her daughter, we might be able to recruit, but that's up to her, as you all know." Lindy chuckled to herself. "It's much better to have people neutral to us than against us, don't you agree?"
"Very well." The colonel grumbled. "But if she does anything against the Bureau, it's on your heads." His screen turned off and the others on the screen rolled their eyes before turning them off.
"Actually, Admiral Lindy..." Graham smiled at her softly. "I was planning on returning to Earth in a few months, perhaps you could introduce me to this Lina Takamachi then?"
"What makes you think I'm coming back here?" Lindy asked with a raised eyebrow.
Graham chuckled at the question. "You said it yourself, that woman is interested in Miss Fate, and who knows what other spells she has up her sleeves."
Considering that Nanoha and Yuuno had managed to combine Lina's magic style with the Mid-Childan style, it made Lindy curious if Chrono could learn something from Lina as well. "Alright." Plus if they could get her to use most of her spells through an Intelligent Device, they might be able to start a new magic style that could give the Bureau mages a powerful boost in combat.
(---)
"Ah, Mrs. Takamachi." The ship's doctor nodded to her and Yuuno. "About your earlier question... There's some brain activity, but only if I stimulate it..."
"So, she's not completely dead then..." Lina muttered and looked at Yuuno. "Go for it."
"You sure?" He blinked when she nodded at him.
"Yeah, get Nanoha to meet you there, you might need Raising Heart for this." She smiled as he nodded and ran off.
"Um, just what's going on?" The doctor blinked as Lina smiled at him softly.
"Let's just say... There might be a way to save her..." Lina shrugged at the doctor's look. "Whether or not it works, I can't say. It might work, it might not. We'll find out soon enough."
She idly wondered why she was even bothering, she could have just blown up the Garden of Time and gone home. Why was this so important to her?
(---)
"Yuuno-kun!" Nanoha blinked as she met him by the room. "What did you need?"
Yuuno blushed as she looked at him curiously. "Um, I need Raising Heart... That girl in the tube, your mother thinks that she can be saved."
"Oh." Nanoha's eyes widened slightly as she called Raising Heart into its staff form. "Raising Heart, please help Yuuno-kun out."
"Alright."
Yuuno nodded as he took Raising Heart into his hands and walked into the room. He ignored the way Precia looked at him as a green circle appeared under his feet. "Let's go."
Taking a deep breath, he recalled the chant that Lina had taught him, the energy matrixes, and with Raising Heart's help he began to chant while doing the calculations in his head for the conversion.
"Blessed, humble hand of God,
life and breath of Mother Earth,
I pray thee come before me,
show your great compassion to this person and deliver them back to us!
Resurrection!"
The whole room glowed with a bright light, so bright that everyone had to close their eyes, even as the light covered everyone. For some reason, all of them felt better, a lot better, well, except for Yuuno, who was about to pass out from exhaustion from holding the spell for only twenty seconds.
(---)
As she opened the door, Lina had to shield her eyes from the white light. 'Amazing. If he lived on my home world, he'd be heralded as the next great sage.' To go from just basic healing spells to being able to use Resurrection in just over a week, even if he had to leave the majority of the heavy lifting to Raising Heart, she had never heard of anyone learning that fast, aside from herself, of course. His ability to soak up magical theory had to be just as good as her own.
When the light faded, Yuuno slumped to the ground, Raising Heart falling from his fingers as Nanoha grabbed him to keep him from hurting himself.
Lina shook her head and looked at the jar. 'Now's the moment of truth.' She thought to herself.
Still, she wondered why she even cared. She should have just took Nanoha home and let these people sort it out themselves.
But no matter what she tried, something kept stopping her.
Spoiler for Blood That Flows End:
"I guess, in the end, she was gone for too long." Lina sighed as she watched Yuuno eat like she used to. "Sorry that you tried in vain."
Yuuno shook his head and gulped down the food. "No, that's fine. Better to try and fail than not try and never know, right?"
Nanoha giggled and nodded. "Yeah! That's something mom kept teaching me when I was younger all the time!"
"Be that as it may..." Lina cleared her throat. "Nanoha, it's time we head back home."
"Aww!" Nanoha pouted at that. "What about you, Yuuno-kun? You're welcome to come back with us."
Yuuno shook his head. "Nah, I wanna head back to Mid-childa for a bit. I think Fate could use a friend, you know?"
"Aww!" Nanoha pouted and crossed her arms. "Everyone's leaving at the same time."
Lina chuckled at that. "When I was a teenager, Nanoha, my friends and I went our separate ways all the time. We'll see them again."
Yuuno nodded. "Yeah!" He smiled at Nanoha. "Oh, Nanoha, you can keep Raising Heart."
"Eh?!" Nanoha looked at the gem in her hands. "You sure?"
"Yeah, she seems to like you more." Yuuno chuckled softly before blinking as Lina dropped a notebook in front of him. "Eh?"
"Some basic Shamanistic, barrier and healing spells." Lina waved her hand at him, smiling. "When you get a chance, come back with Fate, I wanna see how you two have grown."
Yuuno rubbed the back of his head. Sure, they were basic spells, but he didn't mind, he could figure out how to perfect the fusion of her style and Mid-Childan style. "Alright."
"Actually..." The trio turned to Chrono, was looking at them with an eye closed. "As much as a pain in the rear this has been, someone wants to say something." He jerked a thumb to the door behind him, where Fate walked in, looking embarrassed.
"Fate-chan?" Nanoha blinked as the girl walked up to them and smiled softly.
"Thank you... All of you." Fate smiled at them while blushing. "Um... When the trial is done... Can I come back?"
Lina smiled at her. "Yeah." She looked at Chrono, who was looking away. "Just try not to break any laws, huh?"
Fate blushed and nodded. "I'll do my best."
Nanoha blinked, she just realized something. "Fate-chan, your hair..."
"Um..." She held up her black hair ties. "Chrono said that if I wanted you to remember me... I should give you something... This is all I have..."
Nanoha's eyes lit up. "Hold on!" She undid her hair ties and let her hair down, Fate and Chrono were rather surprised how long Nanoha's hair was when it wasn't tied up, Yuuno thought it was weird that she would let her hair down. "Here. You can have mine. Then you can remember me too."
"Thank you." Fate blushed as the two of them traded hair ribbons.
Lina chuckled. "Come on, Nanoha, I'm sure that your father's worried sick for us by now."
Nanoha nodded and smiled, before giving Fate a quick hug, causing the girl to stiffen and blush, before she let go and ran over to Yuuno and gave him a quick hug as well. "I'll see you two later, I promise that I'll keep working and get stronger!"
"But only after your homework's done."
"Ahhhh!" Nanoha's eyes went blank. "That's right! I have a test tomorrow!" She grabbed her head as she started to panic. "I gotta study or I'll fail!"
The others in the room laughed as Lina grabbed her and had her move towards the teleporter.
"And don't worry." Chrono said to them as they stepped on. "We'll bring her back. It might be a few months, but these two will be back on Earth before you know it."
Lina nodded at him. "We look forward to it."
Nanoha smiled and waved at the people on the bridge, surprisingly Amy and Lindy both had shown up, along with a few of the crew members. She didn't remember all of their names, though she recognized them. In the front, Yuuno, Arf and Fate all smiled at her as she was teleported down to the surface. "Mother..."
"Yeah?" Lina raised an eyebrow as the two walked back to their home.
"I want to get as strong as I can."
Lina chuckled, she could respect that. "You better put in hard work and guts, Nanoha. For you are to learn from the Undefeated Sorceress of the East!" She took a pose, her left foot sticking out, her left arm angling down while her right hand was next to her head and her right leg was bent slightly. Really, she couldn't help it, she had been working on her Master Asia victory pose for years now!
Nanoha clenched her fist, her eyes practically lighting themselves on fire. "YEAH!"
The two stopped posing, before laughing and walking back to their home.
It was going to be interesting, the next time they saw Yuuno and Fate.
End
__________________
My fics Due to certain things, I am not here, find me over on TFF.
2010-11-02, 02:27
Author
And somehow, I get the feeling that Signum won't be too keen on sharing...
. 
Oh Sette, your attempts to fit in are funnier than your intentional statements!
Or maybe dip her into a volcano as slow as possible, just as long as that witch suffer!
