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

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

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Don't you feel the love?

[Saint X]

*folds in headdesking as usual*

Again boredom has forced me to complete another of my OC projects that have been stalled for some time- well not really complete as this release is only for a Beta Version of this OC

I think some of you will find the following concept a bit... [insert word here] for your tastes.

Spoiler for Papermaster Trial OC:

Name: Yami Readman
Alias / Nickname: None, you can call him Yam/Yam-yam or Yami-Yami though to piss him off
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Birthday: Ras (June) 12, MCY 0059
Hair: Boyish Short dark Violet
Build: Average Male, though slightly thin.
Height:
Weight:
Homeworld: Ordered Space Registry No. 0001-041400, Administrated World 1, Midea.
Heritage: Second Generation of Earth Ancestry with Japanese Origins. Civil Registry dates Establishment and Naturalization of Family Name by MCY 48. (Though there are possibly more than one Readman Family in Ordered Space, the date of "Establishment and Naturalization of Family Name" means the date that this particular Readman Family was fully registered, family tree logged (from originating/applying/first generation family members to already existing relatives) and verified separate from other Readman families in the Civil Registry).
Magic System: If Papermastery is not to be regarded, none.
Magic Color: None, though it shows as a whitish sheen and "aura" when he infuses paper.
Mage Rank: Linker Core Levels show a potential of A-, actual output indicates B and below.
Threat Level: Estimated Threat Level currently at A+, will tone up/down/be retained as evaluations continue.
Personality: An avid lover of books and more outgoing. At first glance you will not know that he's even a bookworm-ish type character. Has a rather rough personality that gives a brattish impression at first glance.
Affiliation: TSAB Academy Special Cadets Group A. A group for people with non-descript (not fully Bureau Documented and used) Magic Types, medi-magical conditions (medical conditions that naturally affect a person's magical ability), those with abilities that interest the Bureau and "magical geniuses" (people who are "over-ranked" for their age, like Nanoha, Fate and Hayate). In theory, this is the group that was established to allow the Aces and other exceptions to study in the academy, as well as to provide distinction from other "common" cadets. He's one of nine cadets in the group.
Device: Not counting paper, generally has none. A consultation with renowned a Device Artificer provided him with a storage device for Barrier Jacket use only. Barrier Jacket is a standard Bureau Issue.

Spoiler for About Papermastery:

Papermastery is an innate ability of one person of manipulating the intrinsic and extrinsic properties of paper to beyond its normal usual properties, giving it abilities that seem impossible for the medium, like turning it into viable armor, stopping bullets and cutting objects way harder and tougher than the medium itself, all without the "magical interfacing" that is common with material manipulation (Comapare it with the "paper shikigami" arts, where in most popular culture, they require incantations and/or enchantments in the form of written characters, runes or symbols). But Yami's brand of papermastery is unique among all others because of having a Linker Core. Having this unique Organ and the capability to use magic has further expanded his papermastery beyond what his Grandmother can imagine and do.

Asides from the default abilities of using paper as/turning paper into a weapons and protection, creating paper "summons", makeshift transport, he can infuse his magical energy into the paper to make it do some really unique things, for starters, his capability to make paper explode/explosive at will, a helpful offensive/defensive tactic. He can also infuse his energy to make his paper defenses even harder to break, especially by fire, water or beam shots, which can normally burn/penetrate his paper defenses w/o magic infusion- on a much more effective note, he can "gloss" the paper for it to be reflective of beams, heat absorptive and water repellent. And sometimes, his magic energy-infused paper summons can also fire back with small beams of their own, or bear paper weapons coated with his energy or even create small shields to protect from attacks.

But papermastery has several weaknesses, namely the nature of the medium and the abundance of it. Paper is paper, made from plant fibers or from recycled paper and is hence, not generally resistant to the actions of water, heat and wind- though the wind issue is only/may be limited to strong winds. Though he can make his paper resistant to elemental actions, he spends magical energy on it- and with his current output, the length of time he can do that is severely limited- also included in this issue is paper's low physical integrity (as we all know paper can tear). Also the abundance of paper on hand is also an issue, since physical damage to each sheet of paper makes it less effective as a tool and thus he needs to restock to maintain effectiveness- a total loss of paper will result in total defeat and a motherload of it will make him unstoppable- even paper bills are not spared just in case.

To prevent undue scarcity of paper in a fight, he stores several special leaf cases under his clothing/Jacket, about 30 at maximum- each capable of holding about 100 sheets of 3x4 paper sheets and he also stores a deck of paper playing cards just in case those leaf cases run empty- reserved usually for powerful blasts for escape- earning him his Alias of "Gambit". Though on a magical Aspect, under the presence of AMF, any enchantments to the paper can be lost, but this weakness is more than made up for his sheer capabilities to destroy the AMF emitter/s if there are any within reach. His unique ability has interested the Bureau for practical covert applications, such as assassination, where his lack of device can make him easy to pass thru any standard or even some advanced security checks, in Urban Combat, especially in certain zones, such as offices and libraries.

Spoiler for History:

Yami was born at a time when after years of working hard, the Readman Family, whose registered ancestors were Earth Immigrants, began to live the life promised to them when they first arrived- how they managed to get info on immigration and related issues was totally unknown. He was raised in a mix of cultures, from Urban Japanese to Suburban Midean. Among the many things they brought along with them to the new world, was the innate (the opposite of Magical) art of paper manipulation, or Papermastery as it was called. Yami's father was a mere neutral but excellent Papermaster and Systems Administrator at a local company when he married his mother, a mere clerk in the Bureau. This marriage of neutral and magical people was the way Yami acquired his Active Linker Core- which was kind of surprising when his father and subsequently, his grandparents found out. Nonetheless, Yami was raised as a normal child, along with Anita Makohari, the daughter of her grandmother's close friend's son- since the two were also neighbors and by coincidence, also immigrated to Midea by the same channel. Soon though, the Makohari family moved to another principality- impacting Yami's mood.

Anita's move somewhat affected him and for a couple of years, he was a recluse, almost giving up studying if it were not for his parents and especially grandmother. Well after the customary moving on phase, he proceeded to live normally once again, until he decided to work in the Bureau like his Mother. Upon being interviewed by the Bureau, his innate ability was discovered and it somewhat managed him to skip some steps in the usual procedure, eventually entering him into the Special Cadets Group, a Group of Cadets with extraordinary (when compared to the rest of the Bureau Cadets) abilities, strange circumstances and unheard of manners of things. But after graduation, despite the Bureau's appeals, he instead joined the the same unit where his friends Anita Makohari, Mikan Kuren and Megumi Aiorianna went, the Elite Covert Operations (ECO) Unit of the Royal Midean Army. The Bureau could not do a thing as the one who referred them to the Royal Midean Army was the Minister of Internal Affairs, HRH Queen Night Estrel de Danaan of Midea- also the Vice Commander in Chief of the Bureau Military- not even the Bureau Chiefs of Staff (which probably includes the now defunct "Three Brains" and the "Three Legendary Admirals") can sway against these persons.

More to be added or removed...

Evaluation please...

*folds out*

[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by Estavali

Here's a random thought of mine.

We have seen how easily Midchildans like Fate, Yuuno and the Arthra crew could verbally communicate with Gaian natives like Nanoha and etc. Barring the usual anime law that there is no language other than Japanese, I suspect that, after the establishment of the TSAB as an inter-world organisation, the demand for on-the-spot translation tools sharply peaked, for the sake of convenience and perhaps to avoid diplomatic incidents as shown in my "We come in peace!" example.

Our (in this case, me and him) suggestion is that the TSAB created simple and attachable translators (or refined existing ones) that allows their staff to understand foreign speech. One possible example could be translator chips or headsets (similar to those Bluetooth headsets) that can be painlessly attached to the user's head (near the temples) and convert foreign/native speech into data signals which would be further intepreted in the user's working tongue. When the user talks, this device would reverse the "input" process, sending a string of similar data signals embedded in the user's voice, which could be absorbed by the native, allowing him/her to understand what the user is saying without understanding the spoken words themselves, or creating the misconception that they share the same language when the truth is very much other-wise. Or the "output" could have been telepathic; while the user speaks, the device sends the signals directly to the target's brains. Either way (though I think the latter should be more plausible), it achieves the point of communication without over-reliance on possibly unreliable human translators (once again, my "We come in peace!" example or, for those who have read Hikaru no Go, the incident where the Korean make-shift translator unknowingly mis-translates a fairly harmless comment into what the Japanese (especially Hikaru) saw as a insult.

If the case is as I've described, this may explain why Fate could speak and understand Japanese speech while still getting dismal results for her language class (A's manga chapter 4). These devices could allow fluency in spoken communication, but when it comes to written language, that's where the user is left to his/her own. Also, while such gadgets would logically be available initially to TSAB Enforcers and other staff that handles inter-world dealings regularly, it is possible that over time the product has gone mainstream and commercial versions become accessible to civilians who make regular trips outside Midchilda, like businessmen or travelling scholars (Yuuno, perhaps?)

For the Wolkenritter, who could interact with the Gaians with equally ease, we believe that the Tome may have a function like the Throne of Heroes in Nasuverse, which provides the Knights with updates on the era and location of their awakening, allowing them to possess skills and knowledge necessary for interacting with their surroundings. Or, considering their status as programs tied to the Tome, it could also be possible that the updates could be continuous and done on a fixed schedule.

Of course, the simplest explanation would be everyone in question enjoy Doraemon's translation konjac on a regular basis .

Well...there is so plausibility in this, I've re-watched season 1 and Yuuno said that as long as nanoha had RH with her, she'd be able to talk to him telepathically.
Though, there's a time (I think >_<) where she does talk to him and doesn't have RH...but that's later in the series, it could mean that Yuuno trained her (during Sound Stage 01?) in doing it with out the help of a device...

Well...let's just not speak too much about this...not really important

Originally Posted by Kha

My pet theory has always been that a subconcious magic routine built into devices fixed this problem. Devices are linked to the mages' minds so the psylink and instant feedback is accounted for. And when they were doing Gaian tests, to play fair the girls shut off that aspect of their devices, which causes the linguistic deficit.

Of course your theory works as well, except I do wonder if the girls like to have Codex fixed to them? I'm sure Octacon wouldn't mind but...

Yeah...but what about those who don't have devices? Like Yuuno, Arf and Zafira

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

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~~~~

So...yeah....I've lurking about lately, not posting a single thing
What can I say? I can find enough drive to write. At best, I managed to write about a couple of lines...every now and then >_<

In a way...I'm being like Komachi, except I don't have Shikieiki to get me do my "job"

*warps away*

[Comartemis]

Originally Posted by Kha

My point being, how does a trapped Kaiser have such an influence if she is only an illusion all the way? Why hard-code a powerful weapon into a person, when you can hard-code a fully obedient longer-serving cyborg?

Apologies for answering a question with a question, but how does the canon Kaiser have such an influence if the entire royal line never leaves the Cradle? If her subjects never see her in person then the only way they even know she exists is from the times before she occupied the Cradle and from any media appearances she may choose to make, and I sincerely doubt that Belka wouldn't have some form of image-capture technology by which the generals could fake the Kaiser giving something like a "State of the Empire" address.

And with oppression and control rampant, we'd have a semi-sceptical populace rather than a Saint Church in MC0075.

If the SSX translation is correct, then the Kaisers spent the whole of the empire's reign supporting or at least participating in the wars which ravaged Belka and her territories for centuries before Belka's destruction. And then one of them says "enough is enough, let's have some peace" and people deify her? After the Kaisers as a family have been indirectly responsible for the deaths of what must be at least countless trillions?

I find this interpretation to be a much more plausible scenario than what we've been told by 7Arcs. Besides, who says the generals would need to be oppressive to keep the population under control? This isn't the Imperium of Man we're talking about, Kha, much as you may like to think the two are similar. We don't need Inquisitors running around rooting out dissenters; if you have war going on for hundreds of years then you'll have multiple generations who've never known what peacetime conditions are like. From that state, you may very well develop a people into a society that places a high value on martial strength, sort of like the Saiyajin or the Ctarl-Ctarl. In such a society, people wouldn't care so much that there's a war so much as they care about how the war is going and how much they're butchering the enemy.

Then, around the time Belka gets blown up and the civilian population gets a serious wake-up call, the Kaiser, allegedly the one who's been running this thing the whole time, comes along and says "People, you've been epically had! You're not fighting for the glory of Belka, you're fighting for the glory and personal gain of a select few! Now I'm gonna go find these guys and hang 'em from the highest tree. Everyone who's pissed off at such an epic betrayal of the people's trust, follow me!"

And then come the Sankt Kaiser Unification wars, where the Belkan loyalists formed their own faction around what was left of Belka and the core worlds while the generals and their personal forces scattered to the colonies and turned themselves into warlords. Thus you have a massive battle royal between all the various warlords and what's left of the true Belkan Empire. The war ends when the generals unite under a single flag only to get pwned epically when the Kaiser faces off with Supreme Executor Cyphus Kane and his personal bodyguards in the throne room of the Saint's Cradle. A double-kill (brute force kills Kane and poison kills the Kaiser) leads to the Cradle's defense systems activating and evacuating the ship from the battlefield via dimensional transfer straight into Mid-Childan bedrock.

The Empire's military strength is broken, her leader is dead, but the war is over and the Cradle is nowhere to be found. The Kaiser is made into a martyr who brought peace to Ordered Space at the cost of her life, and upon the remnants of the Empire comes the beginning formation of the TSAB and the Saint Church. The rest, as they say, is history.

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Comartemis

A double-kill (brute force kills Kane and poison kills the Kaiser) leads to the Cradle's defense systems activating and evacuating the ship from the battlefield via dimensional transfer straight into Mid-Childan bedrock.

Ironically, despite you telling Kha that this 'isn't 40K' you just sort of described the final battle of the Horus Heresy.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

[Kha]

@Keroko: Ver'shaserra, you ninja'd my winning point.

Sorry, I've been geekspeaking the bit of Tau'v I learn every day.

Originally Posted by Comartemis

Apologies for answering a question with a question, but how does the canon Kaiser have such an influence if the entire royal line never leaves the Cradle? If her subjects never see her in person then the only way they even know she exists is from the times before she occupied the Cradle and from any media appearances she may choose to make, and I sincerely doubt that Belka wouldn't have some form of image-capture technology by which the generals could fake the Kaiser giving something like a "State of the Empire" address.

The translation listed as some of the Kaiser's family, and not all. Some may have never left the fortress for fear of safety or some reason, including yours I do not discount that. Because it says some, it becomes rather vague as a point of contention. You propose that the Kaiser was stuck there, I propose that the Kaiser could come and goes as she pleased, since she was an obedient reincarnating weapon following a set script any way (Yes now you see a bigger picture of the secret). As such the people often saw the Kaiser, and for close to a millenium (Project F trick) too. This is more than enough to create the illusion that she is a god, and the Clergy have a powerful general who can fight in person, or on the Battle Cradle. Maximum efficiency, minimum fuss, and no chance of rebellion. Until something opened her eyes that is.

Originally Posted by Comartemis

If the SSX translation is correct, then the Kaisers spent the whole of the empire's reign supporting or at least participating in the wars which ravaged Belka and her territories for centuries before Belka's destruction. And then one of them says "enough is enough, let's have some peace" and people deify her? After the Kaisers as a family have been indirectly responsible for the deaths of what must be at least countless trillions?

I find this interpretation to be a much more plausible scenario than what we've been told by 7Arcs. Besides, who says the generals would need to be oppressive to keep the population under control? This isn't the Imperium of Man we're talking about, Kha, much as you may like to think the two are similar. We don't need Inquisitors running around rooting out dissenters; if you have war going on for hundreds of years then you'll have multiple generations who've never known what peacetime conditions are like. From that state, you may very well develop a people into a society that places a high value on martial strength, sort of like the Saiyajin or the Ctarl-Ctarl. In such a society, people wouldn't care so much that there's a war so much as they care about how the war is going and how much they're butchering the enemy.

Then, around the time Belka gets blown up and the civilian population gets a serious wake-up call, the Kaiser, allegedly the one who's been running this thing the whole time, comes along and says "People, you've been epically had! You're not fighting for the glory of Belka, you're fighting for the glory and personal gain of a select few! Now I'm gonna go find these guys and hang 'em from the highest tree. Everyone who's pissed off at such an epic betrayal of the people's trust, follow me!"

And then come the Sankt Kaiser Unification wars, where the Belkan loyalists formed their own faction around what was left of Belka and the core worlds while the generals and their personal forces scattered to the colonies and turned themselves into warlords. Thus you have a massive battle royal between all the various warlords and what's left of the true Belkan Empire. The war ends when the generals unite under a single flag only to get pwned epically when the Kaiser faces off with Supreme Executor Cyphus Kane and his personal bodyguards in the throne room of the Saint's Cradle. A double-kill (brute force kills Kane and poison kills the Kaiser) leads to the Cradle's defense systems activating and evacuating the ship from the battlefield via dimensional transfer straight into Mid-Childan bedrock.

The Empire's military strength is broken, her leader is dead, but the war is over and the Cradle is nowhere to be found. The Kaiser is made into a martyr who brought peace to Ordered Space at the cost of her life, and upon the remnants of the Empire comes the beginning formation of the TSAB and the Saint Church. The rest, as they say, is history.

My theory of her awakening from machine in a human body to fully sentient human revolves about Lyrical magic. As for the idea that she was just a weapon came from Ix's mention in SSX that she and the Kaiser were mistakes of the past. As for how a weapon came worshipped, that is Sakura's story that I pieced together using many many tiny clues in canon, plus a few more from Saga der Saga, and the authority of Lyrical magic. So it's a pet theory of mine, made by joining the dots of canon for foundation, and adding more OC dots the expand the scope.

I'd like to think of myself to be Jacob Belbo from Foucault's Pendulum. (Thanks Sakuya-san! )

Your interpretation cannot be discounted using overt canon clues and translations, and even the fine dots I found can be interpretted in your favor too. Therefore, I'm actually saying that both of us are correct, given our respective backstories we have come up for our timelines.

Nighty was right on the money to say this: Tsuzuki is not Nasu, and he has been rather vague, so on that we could make our take on the universe in any way we wish with proper justification. Hence why both of us are correct.

[Wild Goose]

Well, at least neither of you are gloating. Keep on playing nice, fellas.

*me is greatly happy because his PSP is back and it "only" cost him RM80 and 1 hour to fix instead of the RM120 & 1 week to fix he was originally quoted*

[Comartemis]

What's there to gloat about? I had an idea, and it fits what we've been told of canon Ancient Belka. There's nothing really significant about that or anything worth gloating over, it just means I pieced together something that works.

[Wild Goose]

Kha has a tendancy to gloat and go "Just as planned" whenever he gets even the slightest justifications for his khrack. I'm quite pleased that he's holding it in check.

...of course, a rational Kha may be even more dangerous.... >:|

[Keroko]

Oh he is, because a rational Kha makes sense. And a Kha that makes sense may write down ideas that may be tempting for other people to use. >3

[Kha]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

*me is greatly happy because his PSP is back and it "only" cost him RM80 and 1 hour to fix instead of the RM120 & 1 week to fix he was originally quoted*

(°_o)

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Kha has a tendancy to gloat and go "Just as planned" whenever he gets even the slightest justifications for his khrack. I'm quite pleased that he's holding it in check.

щ(ﾟДﾟщ)

Originally Posted by Keroko

Oh he is, because a rational Kha makes sense. And a Kha that makes sense may write down ideas that may be tempting for other people to use. >3

( ﾟдﾟ) ...

So that's what I am huh.

Na, imitation is the best form of flattery in my books; I should know.

And before I get back to work...

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

...of course, a rational Kha may be even more dangerous.... >:|

>=3

[Evangelion Xgouki]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Noland deserves Harem Effect.

Oh boy...

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

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...I think you're breaking Tempest

Originally Posted by Estavali

It would be fun if the Tome was a bit more thorough and made the entire Yagami-ke talk in Kansai-ben though . Though that might downplay Hayate's unique charm .

lol

Though it took Kero-chan a few decades or something to get his accent

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by Kha

So that's what I am huh.

Dangerous when you make sense? Yup.

It's like ATC, we shoot down a great deal of his ideas when he posts them as ideas, but when he writes them out, we all love them.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Dangerous when you make sense? Yup.

It's like ATC, we shoot down a great deal of his ideas when he posts them as ideas, but when he writes them out, we all love them.

The trick is to argue the ideas, find out what problems they have at the idea stage, and address those problems within' the context of the story to create yummy good material.

The fine line between genius and insanity is a knife-edge precipiece. Be sure not to fall off or cut yourself.

[Comartemis]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

The trick is to argue the ideas, find out what problems they have at the idea stage, and address those problems within' the context of the story to create yummy good material.

The fine line between genius and insanity is a knife-edge precipiece. Be sure not to fall off or cut yourself.

Hmph. And people call me stubborn and bull-headed when I argue about my ideas. Guess my ideas are more of the 'insanity' sort.

Anyways, speaking of ideas I've got a problem with Iris that I'd like some advice on.

I've been toying with the "Combat Shapeshifter" concept for a while now; the idea was initially inspired back in mid-summer by Amaha Masane and Takeru of the Witchblade anime and manga series, but got some development when I ran into Eve of Black Cat, whom the character was supposed to be loosely based on. The concept got a wake-up call more recently (less than a week ago) when I started reading Grim Tales from Down Below; specifically, it was Minimandy who got me seriously interested in doing a demon hybrid with shapeshifting abilities.

Now, however, I'm looking at the base design for Iris's character and realized that I've created a dead-ringer Expy for Eve. Shapeshifting powers? Check. Ten years old? Check. Is lacking in self-confidence? Check. Created as a super-soldier via some form of mad science (Iris's genetic engineering vs Eve's nanotechnology)? Checkaroony.

I even started using Eve's character model, primarily so I could use Golden Darkness from ToLoveRu as her StrikerS character model; they both appear to be almost exactly the right ages to fit into the cast in those time periods, and GD fits perfectly for an older version of Iris on account of being an acknowledged Expy of Eve. Here's a few references just to prove my point.

Spoiler for Eve and GD:

So what's the problem, you ask? The problem is that Iris is an expy of Eve almost to the point of being a clone, and while I don't have any particular problem with this, the last time I posted a character who was an Expy of another (Xiro, an Expy of Lancer) I got screamed at for it by persons who shall remain nameless (You know who you are). So I need a general consensus before I move forward with this on whether it's acceptable to make Expies of other characters in Cadia; should I proceed with Iris's character as she stands now, or should I take her back to the drawing board to avoid more backlash?

*EDIT*
More specifics... Iris isn't a perfect copy of Eve, of course. There are a number of differences between the two, particularly in motives and personality and so forth, and these get much more noticeable in StrikerS, once Iris has ten years of character development under her belt. The problem I'm worried about is the initial reaction to a character who so strongly resembles another character like this.

[Wild Goose]

Working on some origin stories at the moment.

Yes, my fellow fans, major nerfings are happening. Seriously. If I did a complete 100% port I'm not sure the CCs would survive. Hell the Numbers would be dead pretty damned fast.

Also! Alex/Iris for the win!

As for the shapeshifting... we see it present in the numbers. I suggest that you make Iris based off the numbers; some genetic engineering with enough of a cyborg base to adapt Due's IS, but in a fasteracting method. Because genetic engineering is NOT going to let you shapeshift just like that. And note that Due had to stick to women with long hair....

[Tk3997]

Previous Segment

Spoiler for Sanfu 3.3:

Cave Network Ten Minutes After Entry…:
================================================== ===

Kou watched from his position second in line as Shin carefully peeked out around another corner in the winding series of unmapped corridors he was leading the small team through. As pretty much the best stealth man present Shin and the only one that could really see in the dark he’d gotten the “honor” of taking point into the gloomy unknown: At least his ass was proving useful for once.

Really though Kou rather wished they could have taken the EW mage along for the ride, but he had to grudgingly admit she was probably needed more by those outside. Even so lacking much of anything in terms of ways to scan ahead of them they’d been reduced to creeping along the tunnel walls and carefully peeking around corners. To add to there woes the corridors thus far were pretty much devoid of lighting making there eyes of questionable utility. Honestly a ten foot tall slobbering monster could have been sneaking up behind them and they’d probably never know it...

Luckily no such slobbering beasts materialized as they blindly worked there way deeper into the labyrinth. They had no real idea where they were going though there only seemed to be one cleared path, presumably opened up the archeologists, and it headed downward and thus so did they. It seemed logical enough that the enemy was somewhere ahead though where was and how far was anyone’s guess.

As the team moved deeper into the site the décor surrounding them began to change notably first the bare rock walls gave way to rock walls with struts and bolts in the walls and ceilings apparently put in place to strengthen and stabilize the cavern. A short distance further on this intern gave way to actual metal seethed hallways. These halls were still totally dark though and in an advanced state disrepair panels where missing in places, the floor was torn up, and all the light fixtures were of course long dead.

As they continued onward they began to come upon a few areas that were lit. This lighting though was provided by large stand mounted flood lights placed among a small menagerie of other bits of equipment and gear which collectively marked the places that were being actively worked by archeological teams. So far though the place was a ghost town this deep underground no sound not generated by the team could be heard and the air was stale and slightly foul smelling. It seemed more like a tome then anything else and the tension among the group was palpable as they continued blindly deeper into its depths knowing the enemy was in here somewhere, but not having a clue as to their exact location.

As they continued they stopped coming across lit areas apparently having found the limit of the area the archeologist had properly explored…“Hold up!” Shin suddenly broadcast quickly jerking his head back from peeking around the next corner.

“What is it?” Kou demanded moving up beside him.

“Light source ahead different then the others though.” He informed him.

Kou went to his hands and knees to scoot in front of his partner just poking his head out to observe the source for himself. Two things quickly struck him about the light one was that it was a dull red rather then blinding white of the flood lights and the other was that it was apparently coming up from the floor beyond the platform the near exited out onto. He signaled for everyone else to hold here as he masked himself in a cloaking spell and crept forward toward the platform to try and have a better look.

As he crawled out onto the platform prone and carefully peered over its edge he noted the source was apparently a hole in the floor of the chamber beyond. He glanced about the room it was large and circular in layout with several tiered rows of consoles forming half circles at the far side of the room. At a guess he’d have pegged it as some kind of control center, but it was hard to say given its current state namely like it had been hit by a bomb; literally. Still he saw no obvious threats in the room and so he quickly summoned the rest of the team forward to get a closer look at the hole and the light filtering out of it.

“This was blasted out with explosives.” Miller remarked authoritatively as he got a good look at the damage up close.

“Any idea how long ago?” Kou asked the entire place was a mess and a number of areas showed signs of weapons fire it seemed likely to him at least that the cause of this facilities abandonment had been an attack so it was possible this was just a remnant of that.

Miller glanced around for a moment before answering. “Pretty recent.”

“And you know that how?” Kou questioned how he could conclude that so quickly with just a glance.

“Look at the dust, it’s all been blown away from near the hole and the surrounding areas but everywhere else down here there’s a layer of it on everything. This was blasted out not long ago since the dust hasn’t had time to resettle at all.” He informed him gesturing toward the floor around them which was indeed totally devoid of dust.

Kou had to grudgingly admit that was a perceptive observation maybe he wasn’t quite as stupid as he looked. It also could explain why these guys had been after explosives... or not as the hole honestly didn’t look like it would have been that hard to blast out with magic given a bit of time. Either way it seemed they were on the right track. “Alright let’s go, but be careful.” He ordered taking the lead and hopping down into the hole it was about a 15 foot drop and as he landed he found himself in another set of metal lined halls, but these were different. First off red emergency lighting fully, though dimly, illuminated the corridors and they appeared to be in much better repair in general showing few of the signs of damage the area above did.

What the hell was this place...? He pondered to himself as the rest of the team dropped in behind him and they moved on.

Topside Same Time:
================================================== ===

“Why can’t we just fly…” Daisy grumbled irritably as the team moved through the bush in a staggered line in the general direction Keller felt the Jamming and Illusions where coming from. Overhead though some distance off the air battle continued though it seemed to be waning in intensity now as fewer and fewer genuine drones remained in the fight and even those that did had exhausted most of there ammunition anyway.

”It’s called stealth.” Emil responded irritably getting a bit fed up with her back seat driving.

“Okay rephrasing why are we bothering with stealth why can’t we can just fly up over the trees zip in and blast this guy back to the stone-age.” She countered matching his tone.

“Yes because I’m sure he’s just hanging around alone with no protecting him and no way to quickly escape if he sees us coming.” Emil replied icily and the glare he added to his counter finally seemed to silence her. Honestly her zero subtly brute force approach would at best force the guy to move and put them back at square one.

“I think I have a pretty good fix now.” Keller suddenly announced and piped him the coordinates without even waiting for his request.

A quick review of the area and a topographic map showed he could probably get a visual of the zone from the top of one of the nearby trees. Problem was being up in one of those trees would expose him as well and though it would provide decent concealment it would give no cover… Still time was an issue and surveying the map gain he saw no better positions nearby. “Hold here form a perimeter.” He commanded briskly before carefully ascending his chosen perch up into the canopy.

He looked out and surveyed the area below him this tree was situated a fair distance up a large hillside and from his position he could look down the slope over the valley below. A quick scan let him locate several landscapes and from there isolate the area Keller seemed to think to think the transmissions were coming from. Now it was time to actually try and locate the target and for that he had a special device… He quickly retrieved his pair of binoculars from his pack, adjusted the focus wheel a bit, and started scanning back and forth.

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

Shin moved up the next corner pausing for a moment before carefully leaning out around it to check the hall. Unlike the last half dozen that had all been clear though this one wasn’t oh nothing was moving or anything but debris and junk of various shapes and sizes littered the floor ahead. He indicated for the rest of the team to hold at the corner while he warily slinked around the corner for a closer look. Crouched low in a combat stance his device firmly gripped in his strong hand he moved into the hall sticking close to wall as he advanced on the largest piece of debris located about half way down its 50 or so foot length.

When he got close enough to examine in detail in the less the optimal light though he was in for a surprise. Though badly mangled and damaged he actually recognized the object before him and after a hurried sweep of the rest of the area he quickly called forward the rest of the team and soon enough all of them where present to have a look at it.

“So um…why would they blow up there own units?” Miller asked slightly confused as he examined the trashed drone before them.

“Maybe they didn’t.” Kou remarked suspiciously eying the surrounding area.

“Huh?” Miller queried confused.

“That’s a Type-4.” Shin informed him it was possible that due to his relatively less privileged status as an intelligence officer he was better informed on these matters. “Type-4s were reverse engineered from ancient Blekan units actually really it was more like they were copied whole cloth.”

“So?” Miller still didn’t seem to be getting it.

“So it’s possible the reason they destroyed this was because it was original to this base and attacked them when they entered. Indeed this sort of drone seems to have been an integral part of automated defenses from that time period.” Kou lectured impatiently now notably more on edge since at least some Type-4s could also cloak and messing around with ancient ruins was way down on his to-do list in any case.

“That would make this place some sort ancient Belkan military structure then?” Makoto reasoned.

“Unless they felt the need to install killer robots guard for there secret wine cellar or something…” Kou responded sarcastically earning a scowl from her which he ignored.

“This would neatly explain why our friends were so eager to get in here though who knows what could be down here.” Shin put in casually from his position a bit further down the hall. “Actually if you consider it’s almost a good thing they got her before the egg-heads if those poor bastards had blundered into this area unarmed and thinking it long abandoned…”

“Would have served them right if you ask me their types just can’t seem to get that some parts of the past are buried for a reason… and then when they find that out the hard way we get to clean up there mess afterwards.” Kou muttered making his dislike for archeologists plain to see and in all honesty it was one many in the bureau shared. It often seemed like at least half of the incidents the TSAB found itself trying to contain were sparked by idiots armed with shovels, too much curiosity, and way too little common sense.

“Well whatever, but it seems to me a more pertinent question here is do we keep moving forward?” Miller asked casually not caring a ton about the history or what ifs so much as what they should doing rightnow. It was a rather relevant question and one no one had an answer for right away as all of them took a moment to ponder it.

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

“Got ya…” Emil mumbled to himself as he spotted a glint off in the distance be focused in on it and pushing the zoom on his binoculars to full magnification. The outline was hard to pick out at first largely concealed by trees as it was and also apparently under some kind of blurring type illusion spell, but it was definitely a person and it wasn’t one of theirs. He wasn’t sure what had caused the glint exactly but it scarily mattered. He stowed the binoculars and un-slung his rifle bringing it too his shoulder and settling into as comfortable a shooting stance as he could given his tree top perch.

It took him a few seconds to require his target’s silhouette it was indeed well concealed by branches in the upper portion of a large tree and it was quite possible he would have missed him had that metallic glint not given him away though. Having such a reflective e object on your body at all was a very amateur mistake honestly perhaps he’d overestimated his quarry, but it would be over in a few moments in any case. He checked the range finder built into his devices scope and got a reading of about 1500 meters, not a cake walk but he’d made longer shots before. All the same he’d use a homing round for this, so thinking he worked the bolt on his rifle chambering a cartridge and lifted the rifle slightly making sure his cheek was firmly welded to the stock.

Another reason for the homing round was that the front of the weapon was resting against a tree branch acting as a makeshift bipod while his legs hung down to either side of the larger branch he was straddling and his torso was cranked about 15 degrees left to get a clear line at his target. Hardly an ideal shooting position but he had no choice as the only way to gain line of sight was to fire from one of the trees; well that or fly up into the air and totally expose himself for everyone for miles around to see…

But that was enough random thoughts for the moment it was time to focus and banishing all stray thoughts Emil drew in and blew out several deep breaths centering himself as he double checked his earlier estimations of range and windage before slowly blowing out one last breath as he brought his finger up to the trigger. A microsecond before he fired though he suddenly caught something else in his narrow field of view. He knew what it was in an instant and it changed everything with no time to think he suddenly jerked his weapon several degrees further left and fired without a even a moments further consideration. A spilt second after the bullet was away he threw himself to the right intending to basically fall from the tree. The move was a second too slow but still probably saved his life all the same.

What he’d seen had been another glint one he was sure was from a scope and the “mistake” of the exposed target suddenly looked more like well laid trap. While his dodge probably prevented him behind shot in the head the other shooters bullet still found its mark shattering the scope on his rifle into a thousand pieces and spraying him with shrapnel. His jacket absorbed most of this fairly easily though his unprotected face didn’t fair nearly as well and after demolishing the scope the round had continued on and creased his shoulder. Slightly shocked by the injuries he gracelessly tumbled from the tree “luckily” he’d been shot before and this made the experience a bit less shocking then it might have been and gave him the precious moment of clarity he needed to keep himself from impacting the ground head first after an unarrested 75 foot fall. Even so he still landed hard on his side and fully expected to sport some lovely bruises tomorrow.

Keller arrived about five seconds later having heard the shots and then seen him tumble from the tree she was rather frantic unsure if he was alive or dead. She relaxed slightly when she saw him push himself up into a sitting position and start looking around; probably for his weapon which he’d been separated from in the fall. She only relaxed slightly though as him sitting up gave her a good look at the bloody mess that was his face and the quickly expanding red stain on his barrier jackets right shoulder. “Are you alright?!” She asked quickly kneeing down next to him to check his injuries.

“I’ll live; 20 degrees east range 1500 meters was an enemy sniper in a tall tree that splits into two forks about 70 feet up. I took a snap shot at him see if you can find any trace of him.” Emil replied considerably more composed and focused then his own partner despite being the one wounded.

Keller furrowed her brow and considered the request 1.5 kilometers would be a stretch but if she focused she might be able to get a probe out to that distance. Given that there was no way in hell she was going to leave him to try and get closer no matter what he said she’d just have to give it a go and hope for the best. Plopping down and assuming n cross legged position she closed her eyes to focus and a few seconds later the small sphere was off into the jungle in the direction of the suspected target area.

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

“Right then it’s decided we’ll keep moving forward, but we run into anything else odd we’ll fall back and wait for reinforcements.” Kou glanced at the other members of the team and getting nods of acknowledgement waved them forward with Shin once more moving into the lead. It was risky, but after a bit of discussion they opted to press on the hints as to what this facility might have been was the main driving factor. Whatever it was the enemy wanted down here it seemed rather unlikely it would be a good thing for the public at large for them to get it and as such it was imperative they disrupt their operation as soon as possible.

This of course assumed they could disrupt but he felt they had a reasonable chance of doing it since intelligence had only seen two people entering the cave and he was confident that the four of them could hold off even fairly high ranked enemies for awhile at least. He also felt that duty compelled him to at least make an attempt though the call had been made none the easier by the fact they’d lost communications with the surface and so couldn’t report what they’d found or request guidance without back tracking considerably and wasting time. So in the end for all there preparations and observation it still basically came down to him the guy on the ground having to make a judgment call based on incomplete information and with no qualified advice… typical.

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

“Those drones up top won’t last much longer.” Zubov announced impatiently tapping his foot as he glanced back at the short blue haired girl working several panels across the room from him. He hadn’t actually expected to face resistance during this operation never mind of this scale and quite frankly he didn’t have the forces on hand to fight anything besides a delaying action. They needed to get out of here, but they couldn’t do that until they secured what they’d come for.

“I’m almost done.” Helen replied slightly flustered as her fingers moved in a blur of motion “pounding” away at the holographic screens before her. She did not feel comfortable around this man at all and found his annoyed gaze directed at her back quite uncomfortable. Suddenly the room shook slightly given there depth underground there was no way the battle above should have sent so much as a tremor this deep.

She quickly opened up a new screen and scanned its contents quickly noting a rather alarming discrepancy. “Two of the drones one floor above us just completely stopped transmitting.”

“This day just gets better and better doesn’t.” Zubov remarked irritably. “You four, find out what happened and deal with it.” He could have gone himself, but then this was supposed to be a field test for them anyway and despite his bosses orders he honestly didn’t really care much what exactly happened to them.

“You can count on us!” The teams self appointed leader barked crisply in reply before nearly shoving the other three out of the room in front of him.

Zubov watched them go and found himself unconsciously rubbing his temples he would care even less if that one happened to get killed; he was rather annoying.

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

“These were different from the other ones.” Kou noted giving the blasted wreck of one of the drones the team had just disposed of a good kick. The fight itself barely even rated that classification they’d spotted the enemy first and taken both of them down before they even really knew what was going on.

”Well yeah they were moving and tried to shot back for a start…” Shin remarked wryly as he leaned over and yanked a pair of his throwing knives out of optics of one of them.

Kou glared back at his partner more or less saying ‘you know what I meant jackass’. Before turning his attention back to the road ahead. “Tunnel looks like it’s widening up ahead watch your spacing and follow me.”

The rest of the team quickly fell in behind him and they advanced slowly in a staggered line weapons held ready and with a minimum of chatter as the enemy was clearly close now. As they reached the end of the tunnel they came upon a fairly large armored door, or rather what was left of it.

“Blast pattern on that looks the same as the floor a ways back.” Miller noted quietly.

The team pressed on through the door and into a much more open area the ceiling vaulted from barely eight feet to probably over twenty and the width of the room was even more greatly expanded. This was somewhat countered by the masses of boxes and shelving that crowed the area though and taking these into account the space felt only slightly less claustrophobic then the tunnel they’d just exited. The lighting was just as bad with only the dim illumination of the red emergency lights in the ceiling, but unlike the tunnel the myriad junk in this room cast many shadows which gave ample darkness to hide in…

A brief shifting of those shadows atop one of the shelving units to his right caught Kou’s attention, but he played it cool and pressed on normally.

Did you see that? He broadcast to his partner just behind him.

Yeah something’s moving in here. Shin affirmed warily.

Play it cool don’t let them know we’re onto them. He ordered the entire team telepathically and once again dearly wished he’d gotten to bring that scanner mage with him down here. As it was he knew someone or somethingwas around, but not what or how many… The group pressed on scanning the area around them much more intently, but trying to appear and act unaware of the likely impending ambush. After another minute or so they’d ID what looked to be three to four man shaped contacts moving around them.

As they moved through the room slowly they found themselves approaching the end of the shelves and a large open area just beyond that. Anyone caught out there would have no cover and Kou was certain that was where they planned to spring there ambush. Ambush area up front, get ready. He ordered mentally stretching slightly himself and limbering up.

As they stepped out into the open area they all tensed and prepared for action Shin and Miller both had smoke bombs in hand, Kou had his bow fully drawn, and Motoko’s hand gripped the hilt of her sword. All four waited for the inevitably ambush to begin so they could swing into there counter attack… This made what happened next more then a little surprising.

Suddenly from atop one of the shelves across the open area four figures stood up in plain sight and the one in front dramatically thrust out his arm to point at the four of them. “This is as far as you go TSAB dogs!” The four officers in question exchanged confused looks to the effect of ‘Is this guy for real?’

After a moment to let his entrance sink in he then prepared to launch into the main body of speech detailing just how doomed his opponents were. He’d never get to the chance to do so though as Kou was not at all in the mood for this nonsense and before his enemy could even finish the first two words he drew down on his head and fired.

“Gah!” The man yelped in shock and reeled backwards as the shot found its mark, well sort of it, it did hit his head but sadly ended up only knocking his helmet off instead of embedding in his face as intended. In spite of this lack of injury though the surprise of the impact still sent the man tumbling off his perch and to the ground with an undignified thud.

Shit missed. Kou cursed before he suddenly noticed that everyone, from both sides, was just staring at him almost in shock. Based on the looks he was getting you’d almost think him taking advantage of his enemies idiocy and shooting him in mid stream had broken some kind of rule or something!? “What the hell are you waiting for attack!” He shouted at his teammates nearly pulling his hair out as they just gawked and totally squandered the chance to catch the enemy flat footed.

Everyone kept staring for a few more seconds before they exchanged glances shrugged in unison and all hell broke loose…

I'm back and now I'm gone again!

*re-cloaks and exfiltrates from the thread.*

[Wild Goose]

Nice. Very nice. I likes it alot, TK.

[Comartemis]

Also! Alex/Iris for the win!

Wow, Goose actually approves of something I'm doing?

*Comar watches the Four Horsemen ride through Outer Cadia*

As for the shapeshifting... we see it present in the numbers. I suggest that you make Iris based off the numbers; some genetic engineering with enough of a cyborg base to adapt Due's IS, but in a fasteracting method. Because genetic engineering is NOT going to let you shapeshift just like that. And note that Due had to stick to women with long hair....

Not just genetic engineering Goose, genetic engineering coupled with hybrid demonic abilities. Iris's shapeshifting powers come from the demonic half of her genetic structure, which she acquired through her history as a test subject of Project LEVIATHAN. I mention this in the Gene-sis data post I made on page 200. Besides, using cyborg tech stinks too much of Eve's nanomachines; she's enough of an expy as it is without making her powers tech-based.

Iris is far more flexible than Due or even Yuuno when it comes to shapeshifting; she can enhance her muscle tissues and physical frame to imitate a reinforcement spell (with a maximum hardness about on par with a standard armed device, so she doesn't lose limbs trying to parry blows with a shapeshifted arm), sprout tentacles and wings from her back, morph her arms into bladed weapons, turn her hair into any number of weapons a la Millia Rage, and disguise herself with a completely different physical form. However, besides her shapeshifting and Charles Atlas Superpowers, she's effectively non-magical, a synthetic D-rank who can barely manage a basic lighting spell.

There's a chance she'll develop additional powers out of her demonic half as time goes on, but her role is that of a Badass Normal; she's never going to have the kind of immense magical power or flexibility the other Aces have, so she makes up for it with sheer physical superiority and an unmatched mastery of the one thing she has talent with. She is, in effect, Comacanon's Shirou Emiya, the seemingly useless weakling who becomes as badass as his peers by mastering his only talent.

[Tempy]

*Tempest stops his horse and tells the rest of the Horsemen that he'll catch up later*

One minor note. I'd have to disagree with her classification as a Badass Normal, as the mere inclusion of shapeshifting powers makes her rather abnormal. Considering her age and talents, she's better off classified as Badass Lolita.

Shirou isn't a Badass Normal either -- Souichirou Kuzuki, Caster's Master, would be the real Badass Normal, as he lacks any form of magic (of which Shirou does possess) yet he still faces on the likes of Saber and company.

Edit: Page Claim in the name of... hmm... RAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!