Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Riot Force 6 Chapter IV Growth
“Just another day,” Farukon commented, as he stared off towards the island that was the holographic training field. “Another day and you officially get your unit back.”
“I still find it hard to believe it, Faru-chan,” someone responded wistfully, as the person called up screens as it displayed all three teams starting their morning training warm-ups. “I didn’t think that my request to reform the unit would go through at all.”
“Just goes to show what happens when you have a strong career, Haya-chan,” Farukon replied back, glancing over at the person next to him. Taking a quick glance around, Farukon smiled lightly as he patted Hayate’s head.
“Stop that,” she pouted as she swatted his hand away. “You know I don’t like that.”
“That’s why I do it,” Farukon teased, lightly rubbing the top of her head.
“You want me to pull rank?” she teasingly shot back. Smirking in satisfaction from his reaction, Hayate glanced back at the screen, and watched the various teams train. Hayate couldn’t help but let a satisfied smile pass her lips. It was still hard to believe that she had actually accomplished her goal of bringing back Riot Force 6. It had been 6 years after the original disbandment of the unit, but now here she was again, about to take on the mantle of leadership for the entire unit. But this time, she wasn’t going to be alone.
“You think you can handle this?” Farukon asked.
“Definitely,” she strongly replied. “I know I can do better this time.”
“You’re really excited about this, aren’t you?” he commented.
“I have you to thank for that,” Hayate quietly replied, and took his hand in hers. “You’ve been a big part of my life.”
“Only 4 years,” said Farukon, lightly squeezing Hayate’s hand in assurance. “Compared to your Knights, I’ve just been a minor add-on to your life.”
“You’re wrong, Farukon,” Hayate responded, turning her attention solely on him now. “You provided me something the Knights couldn’t give me. You gave me a great gift, a special confidence I didn’t have before.” Farukon simply stared at her for some time. It was true, he couldn’t help but agree to the fact he did give something incredibly special to Hayate. It was that special gift that gave her the confidence to really bring her dream back to life, and expand on it.
“I guess I did,” said Farukon finally and lightly flicked Hayate’s forehead. “While I would enjoy talking to you mindlessly, I’ve got a hammer to forge.” Mentally glad she was only up to his chest height, he lightly patted Hayate on the head again before walking off.
“STOP DOING THAT!!” she yelled out behind him, which only earned an amused laugh from Farukon.
Meanwhile on the training field, Rue continued to hound, and drill her squad mates. Although there were some improvements from yesterday, there was still a lot of ground they had to cover before they could really focus on the combat preference of each fighter. Luckily for Rue, she had been privy to the combat videos that had been recorded, and watched how all three of them fight. She was by no means a combat expert herself, but she knew enough that she could at least help them along to ensure they could fight properly and not get killed. Anything more advanced, she would let the Captain teach the team.
“Syn, watch your footing,” Rue snapped as she continued to watch them practice through a set. “Vivio, your strikes need more force. Hayato, your footwork is not solid enough.” Vivio and Hayate were responsive enough, but Rue frowned at Syn’s lack of taking her seriously. Since yesterday, the girl seemed really defensive about being ordered around. If anything, it looked like she hated being anyone subordinate.
“Finish this set and then take a break,” said Rue. “The Captain’s going to show up soon, so he’s probably going to go about teaching us other things.”
“Hai,” they all responded, despite one of them sounded really forced. Rue could only sigh. There was something definitely wrong with the girl. Taking a hard look at Syn, Rue couldn’t quite figure out the girl. There was something about her that seemed just a bit off. Her focus didn’t seem to be here, on the moment. She seemed to be thinking about something else. But what exactly, she couldn’t figure out. She’d have to get to the bottom of it soon, before the team fell apart before the foundations could be formed.
“Alright, rest for now,” Rue ordered, bringing the practice to a halt as they finished the set.
Immediately, Syn headed straight for the nearest tree and sat down underneath its shade. In short, she was pissed. In a span of one week, her life took a major hit. She had been brought in to fight against Keroko. She had been told, and then subsequently coaxed by Vivio to join Riot Force 6, and then later was assigned to Hammer Squad. Next, he ended up saying she was nothing but a brawler who would only get killed. And now, the so-called 2IC of the squad was hounding on her fighting, and what was worse, she was drilling them to no end!
“I don’t like this,” she grumbled sourly.
“What’s wrong Syn?” Vivio worriedly asked, sitting down and joining her friend.
“Everything,” she sourly replied. “Who the hell does she think she is?! She’s acting like she’s our leader. Not only that, our so-called Captain is a prick! Who the hell does he think he is, saying that we need work! I don’t need work!”
“Syn!” Vivio cried out in surprise, somewhat taken aback by her vocal displeasure of the squads leaders. “What’s wrong with you? They’re out leaders!”
“Leaders my ass,” Syn grumbled. “They probably like those pricks back in the Academy.”
Vivio could only sigh in exasperation. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why Syn had to continue maintaining her present persona. If anything, the change of environment should have helped her. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have done anything, but further her ever growing sour mood.
From his vantage point, Hayato could only watch as Vivio and Syn argue with one another. He couldn’t exactly hear what they were talking about, but from their expressions, Syn was saying things that were bothering Vivio quite a bit, but he just couldn’t put his finger on what they were talking about. Not that he could either way, especially since he didn’t know to read lips.
“What am I going to do with that girl,” Rue muttered.
“Maybe ask Vivio-san about it?” Hayato offered. “She seems to have known her the longest, and she might be willing to help, if it’s for the team and all.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Rue confirmed. “If we’re going to achieve our goals, we’ll need to work together.”
“A good frame of mind indeed, Sergeant,” a voice called out from behind. Looking behind, they saw Farukon calmly approach the group, again dressed in his training fatigues.
“Good to see you guys starting ahead of me,” Farukon commented as he walked up to the group. “What have you done so far?”
“Sir!” Rue snapped, and saluted the captain.
“First thing, don’t worry about those formalities around me during training,” said Farukon. “However, around other seniors officers do so.”
“Yes sir,” Rue replied back.
“Now, you were about to report?”
“We haven’t really done much,” Rue replied. “We’ve just been working on the three training sets the Academy teaches.”
“I see,” Farukon commented, before clearing his throat. “Alright everyone, gather around. We’ll begin our morning training now!”
By the time they entered the mess hall for breakfast, Farukon had already run them ragged. He had them do laps around a track he had set up on their portion of the training field, before having them go through an obstacle course three or four times. And when asked why they were doing this, they got a rather surprising response.
“Do you honestly believe you can last a fight with that kind of attitude!” he had shot back at them, in a hard, stone-like fashion, which had contrasted greatly with the rather laid-back attitude he had before. “Stamina is everything to a fight! You think you could possibly outlast against several squads? What good is your power, if you do not have the stamina to power it!
“Stamina is what keeps your legs moving. Stamina is what gives your punches strength! Stamina is what allows you to call upon your linker core!
“Do you think you could actually fight if you get tired after running those laps?! Now do this course again!”
It was easy to figure out that Farukon wasn’t going to go easy on their training, if his attitude was any indication. He was dead set on running them ragged, and that was what he apparently was set to do.
“I’m beat,” Hayato groaned as he helped himself to the food they provided.
“I was not expecting that,” Rue replied, quietly eating her food. “And to think, that was morning training.”
“Great,” Syn grumbled. Rue could have sworn that she heard something snap in her head, but took a very deep breath as she calmed down her nerves enough so that she wouldn’t do anything she would regret in the future.
“Oi, what’s with the attitude,” Hayato asked in exasperation, clearly displeased about her present attitude as well. All he got in response was a glare that was sent in Rue’s direction.
Vivio could only really look on worriedly from her spot. At this point, there wasn’t much she could do, but try to calm down her friend, lest it escalated into something that would warrant the attention of one of the senior officers, namely her mothers.
“How’s everyone settling in?” a new voice asked, who turned out to be Tesla, as she sat down and joined them. “Trouble with anything?”
“Not really,” Syn replied, clearly displeased with the sudden presence of another senior officer. Tesla on her part simply raised an eyebrow in surprise at her attitude, having not expected it form her.
“Oh?” she asked, maintaining a calm attitude. “It doesn’t seem like nothing.”
“Don’t you have a squad to attend to?” Syn shot back angrily, her temper clearly rising.
“Not really, what with Lutecia replacing me as Lightning 05,” Tesla replied, before adding another comment. “And you know I could call you on insubordination right?” The comment received a very angry glare in return. She simply sighed and got up, picking up her tray.
“Don’t let your experience determine everything for you,” Tesla cryptically pointed out, before walking off.
“Whatever,” Syn muttered quietly, as she stared down at her food, prodding it from time to time with her fork.
“What was that about?” Hayato asked curiously, a bit surprised from it all.
“None of your business,” Syn snapped.
“I honestly think it is,” Rue firmly stated, clearly stating that she wanted an answer from the rebellious girl. “You’re on this team, and we’re trying to help. But quite frankly, you’re only making this worse by resisting.”
“Well maybe I don’t want your help!” Syn shouted. “I don’t need anyone’s help! I’ve been fine since the day I stepped into the Academy, and I’ll be fine here and now! I can take care of myself, so fuck you!” Getting out of her seat, she immediately stormed out of the mess hall.
“Syn!” Vivio called out after her, and moved to catch up with her.
“Don’t,” said Rue as she grabbed Vivio’s wrist. Vivio looked back at her in surprise, wondering why she had been stopped.
“Let her be,” said Rue. “She’s not going to be consolable yet.”
“But-”
“Let her calm down first,” Rue calmly explained, pulling Vivio back into her chair. “Wait until she can think clearly. Right now, she’s angry, and it’ll only hurt the two of you in the end. Trust me on that.” Vivio simply stared at Rue for some time. Her best friend was angry, and was wandering the halls by herself, where she could possibly end up in more trouble. But the more she thought about it, the more Rue had a point. Syn was usually hard to talk to when angry. In the end, she sighed and sat down and went back to her food, albeit unenthusiastically.
“Try to eat up guys,” Rue suggested. “We’re going to be in for a long day.”
“I wonder what our captain’s got planned for afternoon training, especially since he said bring out devices,” said Hayato as he continued to eat.
“Probably something difficult,” Rue simply said as she continued to eat, while keeping a close eye on Vivio. Unfortunately, her mood seemed to have deteriorated quite a bit. That brought a frown upon Rue’s brow. The last thing she needed was a team-mate who was down in the dumps.
“Hey, why the long face?” Rue asked, in between bites.
“It’s Syn,” Vivio sighed, feeling that it wouldn’t do any good to hold this in. Normally, she’d talk to Nanoha or Fate about her issues, but considering that her mothers had specifically assigned her to Hammer, saying that she needed to make new friends, she may as well try to respect their wishes.
“Back in the Academy…she wasn’t exactly well liked,” Vivio began to explain. “It was found very early she wasn’t normal.”
“In what way?” Hayato asked. Vivio remained silent for some time, obviously struggling whether or not to tell them. Whatever it was, it was a personal secret she seemed uneasy about sharing.
“Vivio, whatever it is, I promise you, it will only stay between us,” Rue gently offered, placing her hand atop Vivio, offering her as much assurance as she could. Vivio couldn’t help but look at her worriedly. It was definitely a hidden secret that she didn’t want just anyone to know.
“You can trust us,” Hayato added in, hoping that it could somehow assure the girl. Vivio continued to give them worried looks for some time, before finally coming to a decision. One that she hoped she wouldn’t regret.
“She…she’s attracted to girls,” Vivio replied. “It didn’t really sit well with our classmates. I was her only friend, so they both ended up teasing us for it.”
“But…How does that translate into her disliking me and Capt. Reddo?”
“She had tried to bring it up to the instructors and officers on the base. Every time they tried something, it somehow always slipped through the cracks, although we’re not sure how. Eventually, they just stopped caring at let it happen, but in such a way they couldn’t exactly be penalized for it. Not even Fate-mama could do anything, because there we no proof. She eventually began to just distrust everyone, except me, and her family.”
“So that’s her story in a nutshell eh?” Rue remarked, thoughtful expression forming on her face. “Now how to deal with this…” Rue continued to eat and mull over the idea. If there was something she couldn’t resist, was a challenge. If anything, Syn was simply a harder challenge since it wasn’t often she had to deal with insubordinate people. Plus with the fact she eventually wanted a command of her own, this was a very good chance to learn how to deal with disgruntled subordinates.
From a far corner in the mess hall, Farukon couldn’t help but break out a wide smile. Even from the distance he was, he could recognise the look of a person trying to solve an issue. Quietly typing up notes, he quietly muttered to himself.
“She’s doing well indeed. I made a wise choice asking for her.”
The rest of the morning, and early afternoon had passed by without incident.
Rue on her part had spent her time trying to put together a means of getting Syn to calm down. With the fact that she has a strong distrust towards almost everyone, there was definitely going to be friction between her, and the rest of the team for some time before they could crack her open, and eventually get her to become a more active member of the team.
From what she could tell, the hardest part would be to getting her to open up to the team. If they could get past that hurtle, then Syn’s transition into the team’s dynamics would be an easy part, as she then she’s slowly start to become more accepting towards their desire to help her out, and be her friends.
Hayato and Vivio on the other hand, simply mulled around the base, exploring the various features, buildings, and facilities it had. The two of them had quickly become friends. Despite different upbringings, they were able to chat amiably about some things. Hayato had made it a point not to touch any subjects that involved Syn, however, since it was clear there was some deeper meaning behind their friendship, than she was willing to say yet. Trust like that only came with time. And if his assignment was any indication, he was going to have quite a bit of time with Riot Force 6.
By the time the designated time to meet on the training field came around, all four members of Hammer squad stood assembled together as they quietly waited for Farukon to arrive. Unfortunately, Syn had chosen to distance herself from everyone, including Vivio, which resulted in some minor tension, because they were worried Syn may have some emotional outburst and take it out on them, verbally, and possibly physically.
“Alright let’s get started,” Farukon called up from behind the group, cutting off any of his usual laidback attitude. “The goal of your training today, is to go through this maze.” With a tap of a button, the Hammer’s section of the training field immediately altered itself as it soon established itself into a maze.
“The mission is that if any of you gets to the end of the maze, you will all pass this portion of the training.”
“Umm…sir, what exactly is the goal of this exercise?” Rue asked.
“That is for you to figure out,” said Farukon, as he tapped a few more buttons, and 5 doors opened up. “There is more than one way to get through this maze. Inside, you will find various obstacles hindering your path that you will have to go through or bypass, which will range form bobby traps, to patrol guards.
“That is all, you have 5 minutes to prepare.” Leaving no room for them to ask questions, Farukon immediately walked off.
“Five minutes?” Hayato groaned. “That’s not much…”
“Let’s go in together,” Rue suggested. “It’ll take longer, but considering we don’t have any Intel, it’s not worth the risk.”
“You sure?” he asked back.
“I’m positive,” Rue replied back, as she did a few warm-up stretches. “This is a classical team-building exercise. The objective is to go through a maze where you have little to no Intel about it, except that there will be traps and the like, and go through it as a team.”
“You do your own thing,” Syn muttered. “I’ll clear this maze myself.”
“Syn, think about it,” Rue shot back, albeit in a calm, cool manner. “You don’t know what’s in there. What if you get hurt? No one is going to be able to support you or help you out should that happens. This mission is about teamwork, not go out soloing and getting yourself killed! The settings for these missions will be enough that if you’re hurt, it’s going to hurt. Syn huffed, and took position at another door.
Rue moved to stop her, only for Farukon to tell them to start. In that moment, Syn immediately bolted through the doorway before Rue could as much as tell her to stop.
“After her!” Rue called out, and ran in, making sure that Hayato and Vivio were hot on her trail.
“Kyouka!”
“Roger that, Danchou!”
In response, her hands glowed momentarily before a pair of black gloves with red gems on the back of each hand formed.
“Feint Mirage!” she commanded, as her gloves glowed momentarily before casting a red haze around her body. Assured that she would be able to bypass some of the traps, she hurried on forward, confident that she would be able to complete the course.
“Damn it, I’ve lost her signature,” Rue cursed as she slowed down her speed to a calm walk.
“It’s probably Feint Mirage,” said Vivio. “It’ll hide her from being detected magically.”
“That’s just perfect,” Rue muttered as she took a moment to calm down, and catch her breath.
“So do we go after her, or complete the course?” Hayato asked.
Rue pondered on that thought for a few moments before giving him an answer, resolute in her decision. “Our primary objective is to complete this course, but we need to find Syn to complete it. But first, what gear do you guys have?”
“Umm…I have my devices,” Hayato replied, pulling out his two gun devices.
“I have my own device as well, Himmel-Tänzer,” said Vivio, as she activated the device, which turned into a pair of black gloves, with blue gems on the back of her hands.
“I’m assuming it translate into something in Mid-Childan?”
“It means Sky Dancer.”
“I’ll work that,” Rue replied back. “Now I don’t really know your fight style but we need to proceed with caution. Hayato, you will take point, I’ll be center guard, and Vivio you will take rear point.” The two simply nodded. “I have no idea where that idiot has gone to, but hopefully we’ll be able to find her, and get her to bloody cooperate.” Motioning for her team to get moving, everyone quickly moved into position.
“Just keep going this way until we hit something,” Rue ordered.
For a few minutes, the team just continued to walk and advance forward, occasionally taking turns here and there. And occasionally, Rue had Vivio punch the wall to mark their progress. They continued on for some time, occasionally running into drones, or minor booby traps, but they had yet to run into anything major that could possibly hurt them.
“So far, so good,” Rue commented. “But it’s getting harder. That’s both a good and bad thing.”
“How now?” Hayato asked.
“We’re getting farther from the start, and reaching the end, but that’s a bad thing because now it gets harder, and we still haven’t found Syn yet.” To both Rue’s and Hayato’s surprise, it had been Vivio who answered. “Right?”
“Quite right actually,” Rue replied back, a bit taken aback by Vivio’s response.
“Any idea of where she could possibly be though?” Hayato asked, as the continued down the hall.
“I’m not sure,” Vivio sadly replied.
“This isn’t good,” Rue muttered. “Stop.” Stopping, Vivio and Hayato turned and looked at Rue. “I have a feeling this lesson has another meaning.”
“What do you mean?”
“Normally, right at the beginning, the traps are already quite hard, and we haven’t come across any of that,” Rue began to elaborate. “We’ve mostly been running into trainer drones, set at a very low combat level, which is normally abnormal for a maze of this type of training scenario.” The two simply continued to stare at her, still not really following.
“If anything, the purpose of this test, is focusing on a different aspect of teamwork. Despite us not knowing what any of us are capable of, we can easily adapt our strategy to this situation on the go. There has to be another reason as to why,” she trailed off as a sudden idea hit her. “This lesson isn’t about teamwork, but more so trust!”
“Trust?” Hayato repeated.
“Yes, trust. More so for Syn,” Rue replied. “In short, the captain purposely gave us multiple entrances, because it was an issue of which door we should take, and if we would actually take our role as a team seriously. This was more so to see we’re able to come to terms with one another, so that we can finish this mission, as a team!” No sooner did Rue finish her explanation, did an ear piercing scream reached them.
“That was Syn!” Vivio shouted, and bolted straight for the direction of the scream.
“Oi, Vivio wait up!” Rue shouted. “Hayato, let’s go!” Sprinting after her, the two quickly caught up with Vivio, and followed her.
Outside, Farukon watched from his display as his team raced to find Syn.
“Let’s see what you’ll do now, Syn,” he said to himself. “Your team is on the way.”
“This is just great,” Syn muttered, hiding behind a slab of concrete as trainer drones continued to pound her position. Unfortunately for her in her haste to dodge, she ended up spraining her ankle badly. She couldn’t put too much weight on it, and that was a problem. She couldn’t move now. And what was worse, it was hard for her to think, with the pain that was screaming in her ankle. Worst cast scenario was that she broke her ankle, and wouldn’t be able to move for a while.
“How can things get any worse?” Syn sourly asked herself. Debris and explosions continued to pepper her position, but she refuse to move. But then again, there wasn’t much she could do at the present situation.
“Your orders Danchou.”
“How the hell can I do anything when I’ve a sprained ankle?!” she angrily asked herself. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
“Syn!”
“What?!” Beyond her range of vision, she heard Vivio continue to call her name. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone, much to her chagrin. She could hear the two other sets of footsteps close behind her, meaning that the entire team was here.
“What the hell do you want? I’m busy!” Syn shouted.
“But we heard you screaming,” Vivio replied back, as she and the others took cover as well.
“I was screaming in victory, that’s what, now get going! We have a mission to finish!”
“Not without you,” Rue shouted this time, before grabbing Hayato’s attention. “How fast can you take them out?”
“If they’re not that well defended, one shot for each,” Hayato replied, and pulled back the sliders on both his devices.
“Go!” Syn called back. “I can take care of myself!”
“Hayato, on my signal, go,” said Rue.
“You got it, Sergeant.”
“If you can take care of yourself, why haven’t done it already?!” Rue called back. She was met with nothing but gunfire and explosions, her question having caught Syn by surprised. “Shit, she’s injured. Hayato, go!”
Bolting out of his hiding spot, Hayato cast two balls and set them out forward as they jumped from one target to the next, bouncing off all of them before returning to Hayato.
“Perfect,” Hayato said, as he continued on forward, leaping over terrain, and ducking behind debris as he made his way closer. One he was close enough, he peeked over from his position, and open fired with both pistols, as each shot met their mark, and destroyed the drones.
“Let’s go,” said Rue as she and Vivio went over to Syn’s position, with Hayato in tow. When they got to Syn, they found her sitting against the wall, clutching her left ankle.
“Let me see it,” Rue calmly asked Syn, kneeling down next to the girl.
“Screw you!” Syn shouted, and immediately attempted to stand up. “I can…do this…on my-” her words were cut off as her ankle buckled under the weight, and would have fallen on her face, if Rue hadn’t caught her.
“Syn, don’t be stupid,” said Rue, as she helped her lean against the wall. “Not everyone is as pigheaded as you think they are.”
“What do you know?” Syn angrily muttered, as she held her ankle protectively.
“Enough to know that you went through something some thing you shouldn’t have,” Rue simply replied. “Your comrades, and your superiors didn’t take of you properly, and you got angry. It’s only natural. However, you shouldn’t let those experiences affect your judgement on others. I’m not like your superiors from the Academy, neither is Farukon. Your comrades aren’t like your classmates either.”
“It doesn’t mean you won’t be like them later,” Syn angrily bite back.
Rue couldn’t help but sigh, and give her a sad look. “Do you really believe that? What do you think we’re doing here, even though we know your orientation?” Syn immediately gave Rue and Hayato a horrified look.
“It’s not easy I’m willing to bet,” said Rue, gently reaching out. When Syn gave no reaction, Rue gently placed her hand on Syn’s shoulder.
“But we’re willing to accept you for who you are, if you let us.” Syn gave Rue an incredulous look. She was unsure whether or not to believe them.
“Syn, trust them,” Vivio quietly implored, taking Syn’s hands in hers. “They won’t judge you like they did back then. Trust me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me.”
Syn gave them a hard look. She didn’t want to go through that again. She never wanted it to happen again to her. That much she was certain. From what she could tell, there were no hints of deceit from them. Her device also concurred on that assumption, which didn’t leave much of a choice.
“Alright, but don’t you dare backstab me.”
“You have our word,” said Rue, and held out her hand.
“Just heal my leg already,” Syn muttered sheepishly, and looked away. Rue couldn’t help but laugh at that, as she set about undoing the Syn’s boot.
“Congratulations, you passed,” Farukon’s voice echoed through the maze, as it soon rematerialized back into the forest they had started in. Now finding themselves underneath the cool shade of a tree, they looked behind to see Farukon approach them, with a proud smile on his face.
“That wasn’t an easy choice to make, considering your past experience, Private Visage,” said Farukon. “I can only hope we can live up to your expectations.”
“Like I said, just don’t backstab me.”
“You won’t have to worry about that,” Farukon assured. “You’ve all done well. Syn on getting over her fears, although I know they will continue to surface for some time as she gets used to us. Hayato and Vivio for being able to actually work well with people they hardly knew. And lastly, Rue, you were the most impressive, even from day one.” Rue gave him a curious look, even as she started to heal Syn’s ankle.
“Not only did you take charge of your team, you saw through my scenario for what it was. Trust was the big factor for this mission, as it will be for any other mission. If you cannot trust your team-mates, then it defeats the purpose of being a team. The team, is only as strong as its weakest link. As a team, you all must need to grow, and evolve. You are each other’s support. You are your own glue. Although I lead, what makes a team, are the people that make that team.
“You four have to want this team to succeed. If I can inspire that out of you, then I’ve accomplished one of my goals. The other goal, of making you the strongest team, again comes from you. You have to want that title. I can show you the means, but ultimately you must take the steps to reach the goal.
“Hammer squad is your squad. I am simply the leader. I’ve already been there, been on some of the best teams, and worst, and have worked with people all over the spectrum. I am here to show how what I’ve learned, and hope you one day and surpass me. That is the goal of Hammer.
“With that said, go take Syn to see Shamal ASAP, and then go take a shower, and prep your dress uniforms. Tomorrow is Lost Property Riot Force 6’s official activation, which will include a full-scale swear-in ceremony where Hayate will be officially recognized as Commander of Riot Force 6. Inspections will also be included, so you’d better prep your uniform well.
“Breakfast will be 0700 hours on the dot, parade practice will be 0815 sharp, and the actual parade will be 1100 hours. From there, I have yet to figure out. Dismissed!”
Farukon watched as Vivio and Hayato helped Syn up, and help take her to the medical bay, with Rue taking up the rear. He couldn’t help but let a broad smile pass his lips. They were going to make a fine team. That much he knew. Already, he could see a strong future for them.
Syn character development FTW! =3 And looks like you've gotten Keroko's idea down nicely too.
Syn's experience reminded me of my pre-teen harem experiences. A helluva mess that was, and mind you from a conservative society, that already got daggers stared at me. I can't imagine if it were really like Syn and Vivio's situation...
Parades! Yes PARADES! Finally someone other than Rebuilt will cover this awesome but useless ritual! XD
Fayate FTMFW! And I can hardly wait for Keroko's surprise. =3
Quote:
Originally Posted by LoweGear
Well, primarily the same I see... asides from Artei getting to embarrass Nena Arisa there
It makes a difference; once you take control of Keira Nightly, Uno will first walk you through Novus Marines units and structures, then once Saji Crossroad reinforces Saber and Setsuna, you will get to use the Cleric-Knights and Saint Guard, as well as have a feel of what a Schattenjaeger (Setsuna) fights like. So Artei must be included, though I can easily have him complain "Looks like Kha forgot me again," but that's characteristic of ME and not God Emperor Kha.
Once that is done, Sophia will radio that she has finished up coordinating the Sisters' and will begin to pull them back. As such, the exits first plugged by Knight-Sisters will be overrun. Use Makoto's stun grenades and the Novus Marines' Magic fire mode to slow them down but not kill them. Get the sisters to the Thunderhawk transports and the Novus Marines will upload into the Flow Pylons and liftoff. Mission complete!
All through the skirmish, you will catch snippets of Kha/Fate's talking (Keira notes wryly that the whole fight's more like domestic violence ) and glimpses of their battle. Once the Marines depart, the end of mission cutscene begins. The twist awaits!
...help in my excitement I spoiled all my Khrack... T_T
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
Focuss is a lot more towards Hayate recently, but to say Nanoha gets 'the least' love after all the love she has recieved over the course of this thread... This is more a small downpoint then anything else.
My bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
Even Satashi used Keroko more then once.
If you count every segment of Kha's life, then every different timeline of Cente Gravia, then all the AU Khrack I'm putting her through, as individually separate fics...
...and that's just me. Add it all up with the other writers, and you'll realize how popular Keroko is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
The hardest to achieve ending?
Curiosity growing...
The pairings are somewhat linear depending on the timeline, and I forgot to include the neutral endings (no pairing) in all timelines, but yeah in UBW, the Sophia ending is easiest to get and the neutral somewhere in the middle (since you get to swap the Aces around for your own benefit at the cost of developing a relationship). Keroko is hardest, because of all that I've said above. She's a good co-fighter and not exactly a buffboard, but there are far more solo-fights in UBW than any other timeline, so it curtails it even more.
However, if you made it, Keroko Kor Fuzion will give you access to both Light and Shadow powers, and Kor Fuzion Schneiderform is H4XX enough for you to go toe-to-toe with Gilgamesh in the final boss battle for glorious justice, and for all the pain you went through to get there. :3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
*shrug* depends, Keroko is impulsive and if you push the right (or wrong, depending on your point of view) buttons, she can be ticked of quite easilly, and she will lash out when pushed the wrong way.
An important point, does this play in a universe with the TSAB? How close does it follow Kerokanon untill the madness starts? If Keroko hasn't met Nanoha for long, her temper is a lot worse, and she is far easier to tick off.
It also matters to her skills. In both cases she has the Instinct and Battle Continuation skills, however is she hasn't met Nanoha or hasn't known her for long, Keroko is succeptible to Madness depending on the situation, while she has the Knowledge of Foremost Harmony if she knows Nanoha for a while.
On that note, Keroko is still succeptible to Madness even if she does know Nanoha, but it is far harder for her to reach that state as her mind is much calmer.
It follows Kerokanon exactly up till they turn 15, then when the Duels begin, UBW deviates. So Keroko'd have all that you see there.
Btw, looks like Madness is the time Kha gets to score some points.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
Chaos, Necron, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tau, Tyranids, Orks... take your pick.
No not Orks. Fungal lifeforms got KINSHI'd even in the IRC.
Thrall on the other hand...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
Rebuilt only allows small amounts of crack. Cente Gravia has more crackpotential because of the sheer base of the story and the fact that its supposed to be AU.
Now get writing, I want more.
Yeah that's why Heaven's Feel has the least Khrack, since the Fate ending is the fanon timeline. :3
I will... Once I kick all that Khrack out of me for the day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keroko
Ah, you can =3 at crack again. Good. :3
Now for an 3pic Kha/Fate battle.
It's a little hard to do it from 1st person, but I'll try.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki
Novel? What novel? And where can I get a copy to read?
There's too many retcons in there for us to recognize as canon, that's why we never refer to it, but if you like there are translations on the net somewhere...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki
And when things get out of hand...bubble-hearth
:3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki
Hope you brought a lot of mana pots
Mana pots are for the WEEK! [Mana Potion Injector] for me. :3
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki
Holy crap that's an overhaul . IMO you should do whatever you want (within certain limits that is ). It is your story after all. Just...DON'T YOU DARE DROP THE PROJECT
Ark taught me how to carry on, so I think I'll be fine...
...just need to stop making Khrack long enough to write!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki
Well...2,4 is pretty big patch. Not to mention that new badge is gear is sweet...
Through her life, she has walked through more than any human has ever experienced. Kha was born to Kio and Toura, and lived her early life in bliss, but the Sacking of Renault soon put an end to that, setting her on the path to becoming the cloaked crusader fondly know as the Cleric.
Kha from the day she gained her Tome of Devotion, everyone knew she was different. Her Holy powers were beyond that of the best Knight-Sister, a traditionally impossible occurrence. The Tome was an artefact of the all-male Cleric-Knights led by Tohkiha Ichigo AKA Stephen Alexei, and yet it chose her to be its master, granting her the skills of a Cleric-Knight, and more. Kha-chan knew Tracing, a skill her father taught her, allowing her to learn spells by just watching them in action.
Most of all, it is rumored that Kha-chan was the fabled Messiah of New Belka, something that she'd deny with all her being.
She was eventually assigned to protect the Church's newest addition to their corps, Hayate-kun. Through him, she met the other Aces, the F4 of the TSAB: the ever-courageous Nanoha Takamachi, his fast and furious brother Kero Takamachi, and the dashing, sauve yet kind and gentle Feito Testarossa.
Over time, the F4 warmed Kha who had become frozen from her bitter encounters with life. She would eventually understand her role in the Grand Plan, strengthen her resolve as the Cleric, meet her adopted daughter Eria and eventually fall in love...
Thanks to the F4, Kha became human again.
Now as Operation StrikerS is about to begin, Kha was forced to assume the role of Canoness despite her being married to Feito in law. Nevertheless, she still gives her duties her all, nurturing her younger sisters and protecting the Church and everyone dear to her.
As a Heroine of Justice always would.
Ma-oh Shounen Lyrical Nanoha - Of Bishounen and GAR and WUUUD?!
Like Kagerou-chan, this Khrack was born in the Chaotic environment that is the IRC. Unfortunately, even the IRC was destroyed by this bomb...
THE GENDERBENDING OF NANOHA TAKAMACHI, HAJIMARI-MASU!!!
Through her life, she has walked through more than any human has ever experienced. Kha was born to Kio and Toura, and lived her early life in bliss, but the Sacking of Renault soon put an end to that, setting her on the path to becoming the cloaked crusader fondly know as the Cleric.
Kha from the day she gained her Tome of Devotion, everyone knew she was different. Her Holy powers were beyond that of the best Knight-Sister, a traditionally impossible occurrence. The Tome was an artefact of the all-male Cleric-Knights led by Tohkiha Ichigo AKA Stephen Alexei, and yet it chose her to be its master, granting her the skills of a Cleric-Knight, and more. Kha-chan knew Tracing, a skill her father taught her, allowing her to learn spells by just watching them in action.
Most of all, it is rumored that Kha-chan was the fabled Messiah of New Belka, something that she'd deny with all her being.
She was eventually assigned to protect the Church's newest addition to their corps, Hayate-kun. Through him, she met the other Aces, the F4 of the TSAB: the ever-courageous Nanoha Takamachi, his fast and furious brother Kero Takamachi, and the dashing, sauve yet kind and gentle Feito Testarossa.
Over time, the F4 warmed Kha who had become frozen from her bitter encounters with life. She would eventually understand her role in the Grand Plan, strengthen her resolve as the Cleric, meet her adopted daughter Eria and eventually fall in love...
Thanks to the F4, Kha became human again.
Now as Operation StrikerS is about to begin, Kha was forced to assume the role of Canoness despite her being married to Feito in law. Nevertheless, she still gives her duties her all, nurturing her younger sisters and protecting the Church and everyone dear to her.
As a Heroine of Justice always would.
Ma-oh Shounen Lyrical Nanoha - Of Bishounen and GAR and WUUUD?!
Like Kagerou-chan, this Khrack was born in the Chaotic environment that is the IRC. Unfortunately, even the IRC was destroyed by this bomb...
THE GENDERBENDING OF NANOHA TAKAMACHI, HAJIMARI-MASU!!!
Location: In the Netherrealm, thinking who to betray next...
Hey!
Afriend in the Fanfic thread sugest me that showing the images of my fic one by one in my post could make it a bit too hard to read, so here is a link to download them all for easy for those who want to check it
Too drowsy for a proper breaker...but I HAD to comment now:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
And...
<.<
...
>.>
...
*drops bomb and runs for it*
21STE-01 Genderbent of Kha
Bring Me To Life... Feito-kun...
Spoiler for Kha der Kleriker:
Kha der Kleriker
Through her life, she has walked through more than any human has ever experienced. Kha was born to Kio and Toura, and lived her early life in bliss, but the Sacking of Renault soon put an end to that, setting her on the path to becoming the cloaked crusader fondly know as the Cleric.
Kha from the day she gained her Tome of Devotion, everyone knew she was different. Her Holy powers were beyond that of the best Knight-Sister, a traditionally impossible occurrence. The Tome was an artefact of the all-male Cleric-Knights led by Tohkiha Ichigo AKA Stephen Alexei, and yet it chose her to be its master, granting her the skills of a Cleric-Knight, and more. Kha-chan knew Tracing, a skill her father taught her, allowing her to learn spells by just watching them in action.
Most of all, it is rumored that Kha-chan was the fabled Messiah of New Belka, something that she'd deny with all her being.
She was eventually assigned to protect the Church's newest addition to their corps, Hayate-kun. Through him, she met the other Aces, the F4 of the TSAB: the ever-courageous Nanoha Takamachi, his fast and furious brother Kero Takamachi, and the dashing, sauve yet kind and gentle Feito Testarossa.
Over time, the F4 warmed Kha who had become frozen from her bitter encounters with life. She would eventually understand her role in the Grand Plan, strengthen her resolve as the Cleric, meet her adopted daughter Eria and eventually fall in love...
Thanks to the F4, Kha became human again.
Now as Operation StrikerS is about to begin, Kha was forced to assume the role of Canoness despite her being married to Feito in law. Nevertheless, she still gives her duties her all, nurturing her younger sisters and protecting the Church and everyone dear to her.
As a Heroine of Justice always would.
Ma-oh Shounen Lyrical Nanoha - Of Bishounen and GAR and WUUUD?!
Like Kagerou-chan, this Khrack was born in the Chaotic environment that is the IRC. Unfortunately, even the IRC was destroyed by this bomb...
THE GENDERBENDING OF NANOHA TAKAMACHI, HAJIMARI-MASU!!!
*RUNS AT THE LUDICRIOUS SPEED OF TIME*
...
......
.........
O_o
I knew as soon as I saw your new avi and title, I knew something was up...even with all the genderbending stuff around lately, that's not like you...
So, I must follow in the traditions of Cadian shock:
Through her life, she has walked through more than any human has ever experienced. Kha was born to Kio and Toura, and lived her early life in bliss, but the Sacking of Renault soon put an end to that, setting her on the path to becoming the cloaked crusader fondly know as the Cleric.
Kha from the day she gained her Tome of Devotion, everyone knew she was different. Her Holy powers were beyond that of the best Knight-Sister, a traditionally impossible occurrence. The Tome was an artefact of the all-male Cleric-Knights led by Tohkiha Ichigo AKA Stephen Alexei, and yet it chose her to be its master, granting her the skills of a Cleric-Knight, and more. Kha-chan knew Tracing, a skill her father taught her, allowing her to learn spells by just watching them in action.
Most of all, it is rumored that Kha-chan was the fabled Messiah of New Belka, something that she'd deny with all her being.
She was eventually assigned to protect the Church's newest addition to their corps, Hayate-kun. Through him, she met the other Aces, the F4 of the TSAB: the ever-courageous Nanoha Takamachi, his fast and furious brother Kero Takamachi, and the dashing, sauve yet kind and gentle Feito Testarossa.
Over time, the F4 warmed Kha who had become frozen from her bitter encounters with life. She would eventually understand her role in the Grand Plan, strengthen her resolve as the Cleric, meet her adopted daughter Eria and eventually fall in love...
Thanks to the F4, Kha became human again.
Now as Operation StrikerS is about to begin, Kha was forced to assume the role of Canoness despite her being married to Feito in law. Nevertheless, she still gives her duties her all, nurturing her younger sisters and protecting the Church and everyone dear to her.
As a Heroine of Justice always would.
Ma-oh Shounen Lyrical Nanoha - Of Bishounen and GAR and WUUUD?!
Like Kagerou-chan, this Khrack was born in the Chaotic environment that is the IRC. Unfortunately, even the IRC was destroyed by this bomb...
THE GENDERBENDING OF NANOHA TAKAMACHI, HAJIMARI-MASU!!!
*RUNS AT THE LUDICRIOUS SPEED OF TIME*
:3:3:3 Archer-ko is :3
Yes, Kha, we shall blame you for this bomb after this.
But F4????? I pray to God they don't end up becoming a boyband.
It makes a difference; once you take control of Keira Nightly, Uno will first walk you through Novus Marines units and structures, then once Saji Crossroad reinforces Saber and Setsuna, you will get to use the Cleric-Knights and Saint Guard, as well as have a feel of what a Schattenjaeger (Setsuna) fights like. So Artei must be included, though I can easily have him complain "Looks like Kha forgot me again," but that's characteristic of ME and not God Emperor Kha.
Once that is done, Sophia will radio that she has finished up coordinating the Sisters' and will begin to pull them back. As such, the exits first plugged by Knight-Sisters will be overrun. Use Makoto's stun grenades and the Novus Marines' Magic fire mode to slow them down but not kill them. Get the sisters to the Thunderhawk transports and the Novus Marines will upload into the Flow Pylons and liftoff. Mission complete!
All through the skirmish, you will catch snippets of Kha/Fate's talking (Keira notes wryly that the whole fight's more like domestic violence ) and glimpses of their battle. Once the Marines depart, the end of mission cutscene begins. The twist awaits!
...help in my excitement I spoiled all my Khrack... T_T
... Saji? Keira Knightly?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
21STE-01 Genderbent of Kha
Bring Me To Life... Feito-kun...
Spoiler for Kha der Kleriker:
Kha der Kleriker
Through her life, she has walked through more than any human has ever experienced. Kha was born to Kio and Toura, and lived her early life in bliss, but the Sacking of Renault soon put an end to that, setting her on the path to becoming the cloaked crusader fondly know as the Cleric.
Kha from the day she gained her Tome of Devotion, everyone knew she was different. Her Holy powers were beyond that of the best Knight-Sister, a traditionally impossible occurrence. The Tome was an artefact of the all-male Cleric-Knights led by Tohkiha Ichigo AKA Stephen Alexei, and yet it chose her to be its master, granting her the skills of a Cleric-Knight, and more. Kha-chan knew Tracing, a skill her father taught her, allowing her to learn spells by just watching them in action.
Most of all, it is rumored that Kha-chan was the fabled Messiah of New Belka, something that she'd deny with all her being.
She was eventually assigned to protect the Church's newest addition to their corps, Hayate-kun. Through him, she met the other Aces, the F4 of the TSAB: the ever-courageous Nanoha Takamachi, his fast and furious brother Kero Takamachi, and the dashing, sauve yet kind and gentle Feito Testarossa.
Over time, the F4 warmed Kha who had become frozen from her bitter encounters with life. She would eventually understand her role in the Grand Plan, strengthen her resolve as the Cleric, meet her adopted daughter Eria and eventually fall in love...
Thanks to the F4, Kha became human again.
Now as Operation StrikerS is about to begin, Kha was forced to assume the role of Canoness despite her being married to Feito in law. Nevertheless, she still gives her duties her all, nurturing her younger sisters and protecting the Church and everyone dear to her.
As a Heroine of Justice always would.
Ma-oh Shounen Lyrical Nanoha - Of Bishounen and GAR and WUUUD?!
Like Kagerou-chan, this Khrack was born in the Chaotic environment that is the IRC. Unfortunately, even the IRC was destroyed by this bomb...
THE GENDERBENDING OF NANOHA TAKAMACHI, HAJIMARI-MASU!!!
*RUNS AT THE LUDICRIOUS SPEED OF TIME*
Probably not as surprised since you already spoiled us... but still At least you picked Caren Ortensia as template
Genderbend fever is RISING
Quote:
Originally Posted by USB500
But F4????? I pray to God they don't end up becoming a boyband.
[quote=Keroko;1481980]The main difference is that prior to RF6 Hayate had things to do herself anyway. She had school, her own training, probably recovery therapy as well. And according the the manga, she and the Wolkenritter worked together as often as they could, as Hayate is described 'spearheading her Wolkenritter' Hayate and the Wolkenritter tried to stay together as much as they could, but placing Hayate in a captain seat would send her away from Hayate for more then a few days. It would mean she would be away for months.[quote]That was the main thing that always seemed a tad skeckty about the idea.
Quote:
Good points. I think I'll scrap the idea as 'cute, but too OOC to go along with.'
Good, good... *with her now free TK ponders jamming Tesla into his latest fic at somepoint* It didn't make sense with her in the Navy, but it could now... ponders.
Quote:
Oh don't worry, she doesn't clearly recall it at all. The story would start with a few flashbacks that made no sense to her, and the memories would be viewed in her sleep as dreams. Most of the times when you dream you forget them, so this would mean that viewing the memories is for the 'viewers' Tesla herself won't remember much beyond a few flashes here and there.
Tis all good then.
Quote:
I disagree with this. I'm not expecting her to go out and defeat the likes of Vita or Signum in melee (hell, even multi-class Teana should be beyond her), but I do expect her to be able to hold her ground in melee untill help arives or she can find a better vantage point (fend of, take distance, fire away). This is a world of magic after all, there are various ways to rapidly close distances. Teleportation, invisibillity, rapid movement, without melee the Nanohaverse is a dangerous place.
Instructor mode activate!
You say this but you fail to consider a key fact anything that can rapidly CLOSE distance can also rapidly OPEN distance. If we’re fighting in jets I can light my burners and try to close with you, but you can turn away and open up your own throttle and keep the range open. (Assuming rough parity in aircraft). This is why speed is so important in ALL military operations the faster fighter dictates how and where the battle happens and he can use that defeat a technically superior enemy if he exploits it well or gain a huge edge on a lesser foe.
Once speed is roughly equal then you get into stuff like weapons and electronics (spells) come into the equation more forcefully. Hayate has monstrous firepower her problem is she lacks the speed (in all forms) to fully exploit it. The solution isn’t a half assed attempt at melee skills it’s boosting her speed and agility so she can’t be caught to begin with. This is in some ways a problem with Nanoha air combat doctrine in general which seems to involve simply spamming at the enemy and if they get close just giving up or raising a shield. Evasion, use of terrain, team tactics, or even tactical retreats etc appear almost unknown as the mages simply float around firing at targets with little cohesions or tactics apparent.
Hayate seems to have inherited the worst of this sort of doctrine her huge range and power somewhat balance it, but only slightly. She doesn’t need melee skill she just needs to be able to stay OUT of melee. She has plenty of options for this, but she’s never going to get to a point where she can fight even vaguely effective up close in a reasonable amount of time. Besides that playing against her strengths and it’s a one trick pony. If you learn some up close melee skills or defense that’s all you can use that stuff for so basiclly the only time these skills are even useful is when something has gone wrong. Basiclly your wasting a bunch of time learning stuff that you hope to never need to use.
On the other hand speed and various other movement aids are useful in lots of situations for getting to a fight quickly, for getting away from one just as quickly, for keeping the range open, for moving about the battle zone to provide support, etc. Not only will this aided speed probably serve to protect her from melee better then half assed close range skills it can also be useful is supporting her primary mission (as I see it) of providing heavy mobile fire support. (literal flying artillery)
Specialization is not inherently bad in fact it’s vital the problem is that Hayate specialized, but didn’t learn all the needed skills to exploit that specializtion to its fullest potential.
Quote:
According to your logic the army doesn't need to train hand to hand combat either. After all, they've got guns, what do they need hand to hand combat for?
The Army doesn’t really train for hand to hand in actual battle hand to hand training nowadays is basiclly for subduing suspects without having to shot them. It’s also done to instill “aggression”, but its not even vaguely expect that troops are going to go out and do Judo on the enemy or something. More so since most of this training is superficial at best a few hours stabbing stuff with a bayonet and maybe some minor training in grappling. It’s a pittance at best compared to the training done with other sorts of weapons. The fact is a gun is just as effective fired in your face from six feet away as it is from 60 or even 600; same deal with a bombardment spell really.
Also note that most of the newest rifle concepts don’t even have the option for a bayonet anymore. Instructor mode end
Quote:
Focuss is a lot more towards Hayate recently, but to say Nanoha gets 'the least' love after all the love she has recieved over the course of this thread... This is more a small downpoint then anything else.
I don't know she dose seem a tad neglected at times, but oh well she got plenty of screentime on the show proper...
Quote:
A looooong time back, when 4koma crack was still strong.
I don't even see it as that OOC I think she's more devious then many people really give her credit for.
Quote:
So much to write...
I'm almost done on my latest monster 14,000 words only need to polish up one more scene... and I've got a bunch more planned. I'm acutally kind of pumped about this fic.
Quote:
Plenty of times. I always get them back though.
My family is mostly male with my sister away at school in another state my mom always complains about being surronded by stupid men. Though it flips back with the extended family I've got eight first cousins on my dads side and another eight on my moms, three of those are male besides me and my brother.
Quote:
Chaos, Necron, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tau, Tyranids, Orks... take your pick.
Well the orks where deemed to crack even for IRC.
Quote:
I like it, especially the bit about him not liking certain individuals. We need more bad blood in the OC-thread, everyone is getting along too well.
Part of the issue I think is that if you make a character that bad mouths or disses another the author can take it personally; I see it happen WAY too often in RPGs. I know in one RPG I was in my guy beat the shit out of a ten year old kid that attacked another crewmember in a manner that he didn't intend to be, but could have been lethal. That's harsh, but my guy was a fucking 40k Inquisitor (and already the most ludicrously tolerant one in all the Imperium most likely…)
It was totally IC in my (and others) opinions, but he still bitched about it and insinuted I somehow got off on writing about my guy beating a child.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arkhangelsk
What? Wait. You made Tesla a ship's Captain? I thought you meant you made her an "Army" Captain.
Still, for a Devil's Advocate, it might actually still be a good idea. For one thing, Keroko and Tesla must only show up at the fringes of known continuity if they are not to ruin it, and this whole Captain business might be a way to do it naturally.
It's a tad late for that really and this was alaways post StrikerS anyway so the entire thing is moot.
Quote:
You can still have your Tesla side story (the Thrawn parody thing) by having Tesla's ship be the first one into sector (managing to get one ship into place makes the TSAB look a tiny bit better too). TSAB Captains have a tendency to jump into the fray (or send their best mages in their stead) when they feel it necessary - Lindy, for example, so that might be what she did.
If they have no other choice, but I doubt it's smiled upon as something you ought to do regularly. I also don't think many Naval captains are acutally high level mages since those skills have NOTHING to do with running a battleship and having an S rank sit in a chair on a cruiser hardly seems like an effective utilization of human capital... I’d acutally bet that high level mages are greatly discouraged to take positions among the crew of warships.
Quote:
Further, Tk's thing about "gone months" simply does not apply to the TSAB patrol zones. Travel times in the TSAB is generally very short - Unadministered 97 is somewhere around an hour at most to TSAB HQ, which itself is three hours travel to Midchildra. In fact, there seems no place they couldn't get to so far within a day, or even 12 hours.
I don’t recall anything being said about the ships coming from TSAB HQ in StrikerS nor about earth being only an hour away. Where exactly are these numbers coming from?
Quote:
Given this short travel time, by a careful selection of patrol route (surely a mix of Lindy, Carim, Chrono and Verossa could do something about this given what they had already done so far), Tesla could be shipboard and still spend plenty of time with Hayate. Of course, a Captain is supposed to spend time on her ship. But this is the TSAB and in any case Tesla is not technically trained to run ships anyway, so it probably won't be a hazard to safety to leave day to day running to the Vessel Steerer*.
I doubt TSAB ships act like airplanes and take off and go back to the TSAB all the time. There's little reason for them too and even if it only saves a few hours getting to a scene those could be the diffrence between "problem contained with minmal damage" and "City is now a crater".
Quote:
*A TSAB ship does not seem to have a Navigation Officer, only a Vessel Steerer (who will probably act like a steuersmann, not a mere helmsman) and a few people who double as sensor / comms crew led by a single comm / sensor officer.
Insanely small crews an Anime/Sci-fi staple as people tend to drastically underestimate how many people it takes to run a ship and totally neglect to consider who the fuck is running it when the main cast has to you know SLEEP.
Personally I've padded out the crews of my vessels considerably with bridge crews of more like 15 to 20.
Now for something the IRC guys know, and now posting the first part now:
Spoiler for The Shattered Girl:
Name: Epsila Synaisthima Labatt
Alias: E.S., EpSyn, Epsila, Eppy
Gender: Female
Known Age: 219 (as of MC0067)
Origin World: Unknown
Birthdate: April 1st
Height: 5’0”
Weight: 92 ilbs
Complexion: fair
Hair color: Silver
Eye color:
- Erste: Red
- Zweite: Green
- Dritte: Blue
- Vterte: Yellow
- Funfte: Pink
Spoiler for ID Image:
[Epsila Dritte, as differentiated by her blue eyes. Note that this is only one of her five bodies, which are identical in appearance save for their eye color. Dreite is the body which represents Sadness.]
History:
Epsila Synaisthima, the name of a soul afflicted by a most abnormal condition, a condition that seeks to analyze and dissect the very fabric of what it means for a person to have the human requisite known as emotion. Known only by many today as Epsila, this enigmatic Lost Logia is a testament to the universal quest by many a genius mind to achieve absolute scientific knowledge - no matter the cost.
By her own admission Epsila has long forgotten her true name, but tells of a time nearly a bicentennial ago in her now extinct and unknown homeworld long erased from any record. Once, she was but a normal child like so many others her age then, living life a day at a time, and looking forward to the most petty and trivial of pleasures.
The circumstances of the creation of her current form are hazy at best, the only clues being Epsila’s insistent reluctance to bring up the matter, and her constant terror at even remembering. She was the unwilling subject of a queerest experiment that much is obvious: but to what end? Was this an experiment gone wrong? Was this the purpose of the experiment? Was this some sick joke played upon her by the immoral scientists that tore apart her very being? Nobody really knows, and Epsila won’t answer.
One thing’s for certain: the event left her permanently shattered, in the most literal of senses: where once she had one mind and one body, now that singular mind resided within five identical artificial bodies under her dominion. And her emotions split into their most basic components between each vessel, representing Joy, Sorrow, Anger, Fear and Curiosity.
Seeing the world through five sets of eyes, hearing though five pairs of ears, and speaking through one mouth at a time, the drastic change nearly drove her insane, as her young and once simple mind struggled to comprehend the absurd insanity of her situation. Day after day, month after month, year after year, the excruciating migraines fueled by the exponentially increased overload in new stimuli would threaten to tear open and rip apart her entire being, as the immoral men have once done – and relentlessly still were. Struggling to hold on to whatever sanity and humanity she could salvage left her a withdrawn and pathetic being, and with each passing day she found that small, stubborn light of hope for deliverance burning within her slowly fading away.
Her deliverance would only come through another atrocity: a genocidal purge fueled by war that ravaged throughout her world, and threatened to destroy each and every last living being that breathed. In their only act of pity her handlers put her in an induced coma, and locked her away in a cold dark cell. There her immortal and unchanging body lay in slumber for nearly two centuries undisturbed and undiscovered, seemingly forgotten by time.
Two centuries later, her peaceful slumber was disturbed by greedy treasure hunters searching for valuables and riches. Seeing no use for this perplexing creature reawakened from her slumber, yet recognizing her value, they sold her off to slave traders to be used as they saw fit.
Even in this strange new world it seems, she was once again in the mercy of brutal and uncaring handlers. Was there really no hope for one such as her? She very nearly gave up on that question… Until that one day in the Hambrabi Desert…
Armed with raging power in their fists, flaming passion in their mouths and burning fire in their hearts, heroes from another world who believed in the ideals of Love, Justice and Freedom for one and all!
The Belkarangers have come forth!
And while she could not be bothered to remember the events that lead to her rescue, there was one image that imprint itself in her mind, that of the yellow-haired girl with that soft and gentle smile reaching out her hand to this once miserable child, and with her lips that spoke:
“It’s alright now… you’re safe with me.”
For the first time in a long, long while… she felt the warmth of hope wrapping around her from this stranger’s arms, this lady’s gentle voice, and her radiant smile.
The lady known as the Honest Heart, Mayura Lee Labatt; her savior, her deliverer and after all was said and done… that kind woman she would come to know as ‘Mother’.
__________________
Against all the evil that hell can conjure, all wickedness that mankind can produce... We will send unto them, only you.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Riot Force 6 Chapter V Mission Accepted
The last couple of weeks had been passed by well. A number of things had happened since Syn’s agreement to try to work with the team. The parade that had occurred two weeks ago had gone off without a hitch. The Admiralty went about their inspection of the entire unit, did their speeches, swore in Hayate as the unit CO, and then toured the base, observing all the various operations that occurred on base. Suffice it to say, they were fairly pleased with the work Hayate and her staff had done so far. The day after, Farukon had begun to train Hammer more actively. His training included working on their stamina, team tactics, and mastering two new sets of stances.
He continued to hammer them day in, and day out, as he continued to build up the foundations that would support the pillar that was Hammer Squad. He knew he had a long way to go, but one day, they would be able to stand as taller, if not as tall as Stars and Lightning.
Others had questioned why he didn’t teach them a particular style, to which his response was always, “That’s because they already know how to fight. I am simply building the foundations for how they fight.” He had long knew that Vivio and Syn were the type to prefer working together, especially since their spell sets heavily complimented each other. Syn was the front liner while Vivio was her support. Syn knew Buster-based spells, while Vivio had a wider range of shield spells.
Hayato on the other hand needed to know how to fight. When he had first met him, the boy’s combat skills were fairly basic, possibly on the level of Enforcer Lanster when she had left Riot Force 6 when it disbanded. Now though, Farukon was certain that Hayato would be able to hold fairly well on his own, especially once he started to learn how to use his weapons in close combat.
Rue was just a fast learner. On top of that, her form had already begun to dramatically increase, with the constant practice of the basic forms, on top of all the training he had put the team through. She was the team’s support. Her magic was based on support, which could augment and improve upon her team-mate’s fighting potential. And with the fact her hand-to-hand combat was improving drastically, he felt that she would be more than ready to take anyone that would attempt to take on her in close-combat.
With that in mind, he would train them on what they already knew, and build upon that.
Looking back, despite everything that’s happened, Hammer squad was beginning to become a team as the days went by. There were still issues of getting Syn to work with the team, but at least she was trying. That was the most they could ask out of her.
This afternoon, Farukon watched as Rue led the team through the five sets they knew. The first three being the Academy’s basic sets, while the other two had been the ones Farukon had taught them. He couldn’t be more proud of them. They were definitely becoming better and better as each day went by. Reviewing what they had been going through over his head, he believed that they were ready to take the next step in their training schedule. With such thought in mind, he decided that he would end the morning practice early.
“Rue, after this set go through cool-down,” Farukon ordered.
“Yes sir!” Rue replied back.
Twenty minutes later, Hammer squad was resting under the comfortable shade of the trees. It was June, and already the sun was blazing hot, despite it was only 0800 hours.
“Well I must say, you guys are doing quite well,” Farukon happily stated, which earned pleased expressions from his team, which included Syn, although it was more so through her eyes, as her face remained indifferent.
“With that said, I’m going to be altering our training menu to accommodate your improvements, starting today.
“As usual, from 0600 to 0800, we will be doing our usual morning run, followed by practicing your battle stances. Between 0800 and 0900 hours, that time is for you to rest up, eat, shower, etc. From 0900 to 1200, we will be undergoing endurance training. 1200 to 1400 again is your personal time.” From here, Farukon let a righteous grin settle on his face as he explained the next part of the training routine. “From 1400 until 1800 or 1900, depending on what I plan to cover, will be combat training, and tactical simulations.”
Farukon had to struggle not to join them in the glee that broke out from all of their faces; even Syn was excited about the news.
“You guys are ready for it. So this afternoon, we will commence your training.”
“What will the training cover?” Rue immediately asked.
“I was just getting to that,” said Farukon. “Our afternoon/even sessions will work on your individual styles, where we work on improving upon them, and them if I feel that we have enough time, or I believe it needs to be put into a practical situation, then you guys will be placed into tactical simulations. On top of that, from time to time, I’ll be bringing in guest instructors to help you guys on your fighting styles.”
Farukon took a moment and let the information sink in. He could tell they were really excited about the new menu. He had hounded them just over a couple weeks ago about how bad they were, but within a little over two weeks, they had improved dramatically. They had still a long way to go, however, but they were ready to advance to the next stage of their training. He hoped that they’ll have enough time to get used to fighting with each other before any mission was called up that required all three teams.
“Now go eat and clean up,” said Farukon. “Just be here in time for your midmorning training.”
“Yes sir!” they all replied, and ran off for breakfast, and a nice morning shower.
The rest of the midmorning, and early afternoon had passed by well. Farukon had drilled them through and through, ensuring that they were in top form. But as 1400 drew closer, all of Hammer squad was already excited about what was to come. Finally they would be able to start the actual combat training. What form of combat training they would actually do, they had yet to find out, but from Farukon’s attitude, it would be well worth the wait.
“This is it, this is it, this is it,” Hayato excited muttered. He was, for all intents and purposes, bouncing on the balls of his toes, pacing around as he tried to contain his excitement. From all the intensive training Farukon had been putting them through, he hadn’t had the time to find some time to actually work on his own style. All the time had been devoted to working on nothing but the basics and endurance training. But now, there was some actual time set aside that he could take what he had learned, and apply it to good use.
“Oi, calm down ya nutcase!” Syn called out. “He’ll be here, so just wait!”
“What about you?!” Hayato shot back. “I’m betting you’re just excited as I am!”
“Yeah, I am,” Syn conceded. “But do you see anyone expressing their excitement like you are?”
Looking at the rest of his team-mates, he realized that Syn had a point. Rue was sitting underneath a tree doing some work, while Syn and Vivio were quietly waiting. Blushing at realizing what an idiot he must have been, he sheepishly laughed and sat down underneath another tree, and kept quiet, less he wanted to embarrass himself again.
“Alright, let’s get started!” came the familiar shout of Farukon, as he walked up to the four of them, a screen floating in front of him as he continued to type, along with another officer. Syn and Vivio immediately recognised the officer as Shari, due to her signature hairstyle, and her glasses.
“I’m assuming you’ve done your warm-ups already?” Farukon asked, to which Rue immediately paled at the mention of warm-up, to which Farukon smirked.
“Oh? In that case, 10 laps right now!”
The four of them groaned in exasperation for forgetting such a thing. But a glare ended their complaints, as they all got up and started running their warm-up runs.
“Kids,” he chuckled as he started to input the commands that would be needed for the training.
Twenty minutes, and ten laps later, Hammer squad stood ready and waiting in front of Farukon. They were eager, and ready to go. That much Farukon knew. And being a man of his word, he wasn’t going to disappoint his team.
“As I said, I will be bringing in guest instructors from time to time, like this fine officer here,” gesturing to the officer next to him. “She’ll be briefing you on what you’re doing.”
“Thank you Captain,” Shari replied, and stepped up. “I’m Sergeant Finieno Shario, but please call me Shari. Everyone does anyways.
“Due to the special intentions of Hammer Squad, Farukon has asked of me to design special training system for you guys.” Calling up a screen and tapping a button, four humanoid drones materialized next to her. “These drones are designed for close combat specialists. Depending on the scenario, they can be set up to combat you guys with any weapons, ranging from standard devices, to range specialists, to the most dirty of fighters.
“Each drone can be preset to combat you guys specifically, or be set up with a different programming, giving you guys a feel of fighting someone who fights completely different from you. Any questions?”
When none answered, Farukon stepped up again. “In that case, every one of you will take one of these drones, and combat them. The plan for the first hour is for me to observe how much you guys have improved, and for me to take into consideration what exactly is your weakness. And don’t worry if you destroy them, as the program will regenerate them when you are ready to go again.”
Following the captain’s orders, the four of them took one of the drones, and found a spot away from one another, and began sparring against them.
“Shari, I’m assuming you can keep tabs of how they’re performing?” Farukon asked. Although he had heard that Shari was extremely reliable and was able to keep tabs of all the various forward members of RF6, Farukon had never worked with the girl, so he couldn’t say for sure.
“Yes sir,” she confidentially replied, as with a wave of her hand a whole console formed before her.
“Good,” Farukon replied, and began to cycle through his team.
His first stop was Syn, and to his surprise, she was easily storming through the drone, each time it was rebuilt.
Running straight towards the drone, she ducked underneath the strike, and threw a punch straight for its midsection. As it stumbled back from the force, she stepped back and delivered a kick to the midsection, throwing it across. Not even giving it a moment’s peace, she ran up to it and reared her arm back and smashed its head in. Moments after, a new drone appeared, and Syn was already on the move, repeating the same results as before. She would charge, dodge the attacks, and then lay on a series of attacks that would leave most inexperienced fighters dazed.
“Stop!” he called out. Syn grinded to a halt, as her fist stopped just short of the drone’s face. She turned and looked at him, her expression screaming at him, as she wondered why he stopped her.
“Increase drone combat level by 2 ranks,” Farukon ordered.
“Order accepted,” the drone replied, as it stepped back from Syn, and took on a fighting stance.
“What you do now?”
“You’re not going to learn anything if you’re fighting and winning with that much ease,” Farukon replied. “Before you begin, you’ve definitely improved. You have a better idea of where, and how to strike.” Syn simply smirked in response, but inside, she knew he was right. And surprisingly, it felt good to actually be complimented, rather than be ignored like the way her instructors did back in the Academy.
“Get set,” Farukon snapped, pulling Syn from her train of thought, and focused on the drone in front of her. “Start!”
Immediately, both she and the drone charged straight for one another. As they clashed, the drone dropped into a sweep in an attempt to trip her. Leaping over, she landed behind the drone and delivered a reverse round house to its head. To her surprise, the drone grabbed it with one arm, reached over with its other arm and pulled her leg from under her as it threw her over.
Reacting on instinct, she threw her hands out and flipped over, narrowly dodging a shot that would’ve gone for her head. Regaining her footing, she turned back and faced the drone again.
“Now you’re talking,” she smirked. “Kyouka!”
“You got it, Danchou! Force Burst!”
Charging forward, Syn leapt forward and threw her punch straight for the drone, to which it sidestepped the attack, only for her to swing her arm out and backhand the drone, as the spell triggered, releasing a concussive force that sent the drone flying sideways, momentarily stunned before it recovered, although its movements had been greatly hampered, most likely simulating the results of receiving such a blow.
“Now you’re talking my language,” Syn called out.
Smiling to himself, Farukon moved on to the next person on the team, which happened to be Hayato.
Hayato had definitely improved. Although the boy had yet to learn proper pistol whipping, he was holding out on his own. While he had the least proficiency in hand-to-hand, he was actually doing quite well. While before his repertoire had been mostly blocking and lining up for a shot, he was starting to use kicks, elbows, parries, and other movements as well. His style still revolved around using pistols in close range. On top of that, he had read the report he compiled, and knew that he needed a lot of work, and he needed to change a lot of the aspects if he is to use it effectively.
Block, parry, kick, attack, was the general pattern that Hayato was following. Having increased the difficulty after the first try, he was now starting to have trouble. Although the level of difficulty wasn’t as bad as when he had fought Keroko, the trouble was still there.
He was fast. By no means that he was a slouch, but due to the fact that he had a different kind of weight in his hand compared to a sword, a staff, or other weapons that are meant for hand-to-hand, it was affecting his balance, and the way he followed through with his movements.
Parrying an attack, he found an opening and attacked. Brining his gun to bear, he lined straight for the exposed torso and fired, knocking the drone back. Not giving it a chance to recover, Hayato fired again straight for the unit’s head, as it exploded from the shot.
“Getting there, PFC,” Farukon commented. “However, you need something to either support, or you strengthen your wrists, so that they can handle the stress should you ever end up in a hand-to-hand situation.”
“Yes sir,” Hayato replied, as he sat down for a moment to catch his breath.
Moving on, Farukon soon came across Vivio, only to see her racing through drone, after drone, after drone, without stopping. Farukon prepared to stop Vivio, but noticed something peculiar. Watching closely, he realized that while the drones were set at a very low combat level, she was shattering them to pieces. Each shot attack she made carried a level of focus that she didn’t have before. As he continued to observe, he realized she was practicing the strength of her attacks, and ensured she could keep it up. Each attack, each kick, each punch, they all met their mark and utterly destroyed the drones as they came.
It was actually a rather interesting way to train. Had had seen her fight, and she had the most skill of all four, especially since Keroko was her sister, and Nanoha and Fate being her parents.
There wasn’t much he could say at this point, especially if she was taking his statement to heart, although hopefully she wasn’t going to do this on a regular basis. Making a note to keep regular tabs on her particular method of training, he moved on.
At Rue’s spot, he watched as she practiced against the drone. And rather than attempt to outright destroy everyone else was doing, Rue was practicing attacking endurance. Based on the fact that the drone was set quite higher, her intention seemed to be for disabling opponents, rather than actually taking them out. When he thought about it, it was right up her alley, as her role as the support specialists for the group. Although he was sure that she would be more than capable of fighting off opponents, her role first and foremost was supporting her team-mates.
Seeing as there wasn’t much to comment on yet, he simply let the hour pass.
By the time dinner was round, all of Hammer was exhausted, beat, and completely drained. After the first hour, Farukon had them practice in tactical simulations. He had led the squad through the first few simulations, which had simply been extractions with minimal guards. Eventually, the mission dynamics changed as the difficulty increased, and Rue was placed in charge of the group, with Farukon monitoring the group from afar, with Shari monitoring their progress.
The final mission had been just a simple one, with brutal results: take out a small army of drones. That had been a difficult mission, one that they had lost badly. Despite all of Rue’s defences, the explosive power of Vivio and Syn, and Hayato’s usage of his tracers to assist in shooting, they were taken down quite easily, even with their usage of cover.
“That was brutal,” Hayato groaned, as he slumped into his seat, with dinner in front of him.
“Who knew Farukon would train us so hard,” Rue commented, equally tired.
“He’s evil I tell ya,” Syn moaned, resting her head directly on the table.
“I’ve never seen someone so…into it,” said Vivio, as she struggled to sit up straight to properly eat her food.
Meanwhile, Farukon calmly entered Hayate’s office. “Reporting as order, ma’am.”
“Come in,” said Hayate, as she closed down the last of the files she had been running. “So, how are they?”
“They’re ready to sortie,” Farukon replied.
“Sounds good,” Hayate happily replied, calling up a file, and passing it off to him, via his device. “There was a request, but I had to bring in some outside help, due to Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan and their teams already on call.”
“Aren’t they going to be back soon?” Farukon asked, as she called up the file.
“They won’t be back until the day after the mission starts,” she replied back, as she waited for Farukon to finish reading the file. The next expression that formed on his face sent her over, as she burst out laughing. The look of shock, surprise, and horror on his face was well worth the wait.
“Are…are you serious?!” he sputtered, feeling that he had just been blindsided by the last thing he had expected. “You asked for THEM?!” Now he was confused. He had not expected the file to have the specifics that it did.
“Who else is there?” she responded back calmly. “They’re the closest unit, and considering you are an officer of an Elite unit, head office won’t mind.”
“I…I see,” Farukon muttered in surprise, slightly twitching at the fact they of all people were going to help.
“Plus, I’m sure your team would learn a lot, considering three out of your four members use Neo-Belkan magic,” Hayate added, giving him an amused look.
“Sure…I’ll get on it…so…we have today, and the day after to prepare, right?” Farukon asked.
“Yes, you do,” Hayate replied. “I suggest you tell your team tonight, so they can be ready for it. All Intel, including the layout of the complex, and what you’re looking for is in the Ops Order I just gave you. Have fun.
“Oh and before I forget, they’ll be joining your team for training.”
“You serious?” he groaned, the look of exasperation growing on his face.
“Quite serious, Faru-chan,” Hayate replied happily, adding the little nickname for extra measure. Farukon couldn’t help but stare at her for some time. He definitely had not expected it. He knew he was going to be in for it, especially since their leader was quite eccentric, among other things. Sighing to the fact he wasn’t going to win the argument, he resigned his fate, and would take it in stride.
“Yes ma’am,” he sighed. Stepping up to the desk, he leaned over and placed a light peck on the lips.
“See ya tonight,” he whispered before snapping to attention, saluting the woman, and walked out with a wide grin on his face, leaving behind a rather flabbergasted CO.
Heading straight down for the mess hall, Farukon found his exhausted team eating dinner. Even then, they were having trouble trying to sit up straight, not that he could blame them. He had run them ragged regularly, but today, he had been quite brutal. Oh well, tomorrow was another day after all.
“Yo,” he whole heartedly greeted the team, which only earned an annoyed look from his team, especially since he was moving fine, without any sign of exhaustion. “Got an announcement for ya.”
“Oh goodie, more training tonight?” Syn muttered through her food.
“Nope,” Farukon replied, “but mind your manners young lady. It’s not polite to eat with your mouth full.” Syn simply huffed and went back to eating her food.
“If not training, what is it?” Rue asked, despite her exhausting screaming for her to go to bed.
“We have a mission coming up,” Farukon responded.
“Eh?!!” the whole team asked in surprise.
“Serious?!”
“Already?!”
“That’s fast!”
“What are the specifics?”
“It’s a simple break-in-and-enter mission,” Farukon replied. “I’ll go over details, but for the next two days, we’ll be training for it, along with the other team that will be helping us.”
“Other team?” everyone asked.
“You’ll be briefed on them tomorrow,” Farukon simply stated. He was not looking forward to meeting them, but he had too.
“Just be ready for your training. That’ll be all.” With that, he turned around and left, while muttering about the horrors that he was about to face.
The next morning, all of Hammer, save for Farukon were waiting on the training field, going over their warm-up runs. All the while, the four of them for the most part chatted amiably amongst one another as they did their run, idly speculating what kind of mission it was. Despite the fact they were going to break into something, they had no idea what. Their ideas were mostly variations of extractions, although the actual contents of the mission at times were rather ridiculous, that some they swore never to mention ever again.
“Yo,” Farukon called out. He watched as the group finished the last lap, and approached him.
“So when does this team arrive?” Syn asked, wanting to get the morning training over with.
“Soon enough,” Farukon replied back.
“That them?” Hayato asked, pointing off towards a trio who were standing before them, their faces obscured by the morning sun behind them.
“Oh no…”
“READY?” a female voice called out, as the three of them pulled out a device of some sort from a pouch on their arm.
“READY!” the other two in turn responded, who turned out to be females as well.
“BELKARANGER, START UP!” as they yelled, they ran their devices across the length of their left arm, followed by three distinct ‘Stand by ready’ responses from them. In a flash of light, the three were immediately donned in their barrier jackets. Following suit, music suddenly kicked on out of nowhere, as the center person stepped up.
“Atsuki Boukenshaa!” the first one called out, as she snapped her fingers, before flaring her arms out with dramatic flair. “BelkaRed!”
“Honest Heart!” the second person called out, her body turned to the left, with her left hand opened, the palm facing towards the knuckles of her right fist, before going through a complex martial arts movements, ending with her hands in fists, with her left pointing towards them, the other outwards to her right. “BelkaYellow!”
“Ao no Mahotsukai!” the third yelled, with her body posed in such a way she was standing on her left leg, her right knee out, and her arms were in an L-shape with her right arm up, her left arm out, and leaning back, before immediately switching her pose as she stands up straight, with her right arm up, her left arm horizontal with the ground with her hand held to her chest. “BelkaBlue!”
“Endless Bouken Spirits!” the one called BelkaRed called out.
“MAHOU SENTAI! BELKARANGER!” As they call out, explosions fill the background as the three of them take heroic poses, centralized around BelkaRed, who stands in the middle.
Now for something the IRC guys know, and now posting the first part now:
Spoiler for The Shattered Girl:
Name: Epsila Synaisthima Labatt
Alias: E.S., EpSyn, Epsila, Eppy
Gender: Female
Known Age: 219 (as of MC0067)
Origin World: Unknown
Birthdate: April 1st
Height: 5’0”
Weight: 92 ilbs
Complexion: fair
Hair color: Silver
Eye color:
- Erste: Red
- Zweite: Green
- Dreite: Blue
- Verte: Yellow
- Funfte: Pink
Spoiler for ID Image:
[Epsila Dreite, as differentiated by her blue eyes. Note that this is only one of her five bodies, which are identical in appearance save for their eye color. Dreite is the body which represents Sadness.]
History:
Epsila Synaisthima, the name of a soul afflicted by a most abnormal condition, a condition that seeks to analyze and dissect the very fabric of what it means for a person to have the human requisite known as emotion. Known only by many today as Epsila, this enigmatic Lost Logia is a testament to the universal quest by many a genius mind to achieve absolute scientific knowledge - no matter the cost.
By her own admission Epsila has long forgotten her true name, but tells of a time nearly a bicentennial ago in her now extinct and unknown homeworld long erased from any record. Once, she was but a normal child like so many others her age then, living life a day at a time, and looking forward to the most petty and trivial of pleasures.
The circumstances of the creation of her current form are hazy at best, the only clues being Epsila’s insistent reluctance to bring up the matter, and her constant terror at even remembering. She was the unwilling subject of a queerest experiment that much is obvious: but to what end? Was this an experiment gone wrong? Was this the purpose of the experiment? Was this some sick joke played upon her by the immoral scientists that tore apart her very being? Nobody really knows, and Epsila won’t answer.
One thing’s for certain: the event left her permanently shattered, in the most literal of senses: where once she had one mind and one body, now that singular mind resided within five identical artificial bodies under her dominion. And her emotions split into their most basic components between each vessel, representing Joy, Sorrow, Anger, Fear and Curiosity.
Seeing the world through five sets of eyes, hearing though five pairs of ears, and speaking through one mouth at a time, the drastic change nearly drove her insane, as her young and once simple mind struggled to comprehend the absurd insanity of her situation. Day after day, month after month, year after year, the excruciating migraines fueled by the exponentially increased overload in new stimuli would threaten to tear open and rip apart her entire being, as the immoral men have once done – and relentlessly still were. Struggling to hold on to whatever sanity and humanity she could salvage left her a withdrawn and pathetic being, and with each passing day she found that small, stubborn light of hope for deliverance burning within her slowly fading away.
Her deliverance would only come through another atrocity: a genocidal purge fueled by war that ravaged throughout her world, and threatened to destroy each and every last living being that breathed. In their only act of pity her handlers put her in an induced coma, and locked her away in a cold dark cell. There her immortal and unchanging body lay in slumber for nearly two centuries undisturbed and undiscovered, seemingly forgotten by time.
Two centuries later, her peaceful slumber was disturbed by greedy treasure hunters searching for valuables and riches. Seeing no use for this perplexing creature reawakened from her slumber, yet recognizing her value, they sold her off to slave traders to be used as they saw fit.
Even in this strange new world it seems, she was once again in the mercy of brutal and uncaring handlers. Was there really no hope for one such as her? She very nearly gave up on that question… Until that one day in the Hambrabi Desert…
Armed with raging power in their fists, flaming passion in their mouths and burning fire in their hearts, heroes from another world who believed in the ideals of Love, Justice and Freedom for one and all!
The Belkarangers have come forth!
And while she could not be bothered to remember the events that lead to her rescue, there was one image that imprint itself in her mind, that of the yellow-haired girl with that soft and gentle smile reaching out her hand to this once miserable child, and with her lips that spoke:
“It’s alright now… you’re safe with me.”
For the first time in a long, long while… she felt the warmth of hope wrapping around her from this stranger’s arms, this lady’s gentle voice, and her radiant smile.
The lady known as the Honest Heart, Mayura Lee Labatt; her savior, her deliverer and after all was said and done… that kind woman she would come to know as ‘Mother’.
I can sense an epic story coming after reading this.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Riot Force 6 Chapter V Mission Accepted
The last couple of weeks had been passed by well. A number of things had happened since Syn’s agreement to try to work with the team. The parade that had occurred two weeks ago had gone off without a hitch. The Admiralty went about their inspection of the entire unit, did their speeches, swore in Hayate as the unit CO, and then toured the base, observing all the various operations that occurred on base. Suffice it to say, they were fairly pleased with the work Hayate and her staff had done so far. The day after, Farukon had begun to train Hammer more actively. His training included working on their stamina, team tactics, and mastering two new sets of stances.
He continued to hammer them day in, and day out, as he continued to build up the foundations that would support the pillar that was Hammer Squad. He knew he had a long way to go, but one day, they would be able to stand as taller, if not as tall as Stars and Lightning.
Others had questioned why he didn’t teach them a particular style, to which his response was always, “That’s because they already know how to fight. I am simply building the foundations for how they fight.” He had long knew that Vivio and Syn were the type to prefer working together, especially since their spell sets heavily complimented each other. Syn was the front liner while Vivio was her support. Syn knew Buster-based spells, while Vivio had a wider range of shield spells.
Hayato on the other hand needed to know how to fight. When he had first met him, the boy’s combat skills were fairly basic, possibly on the level of Enforcer Lanster when she had left Riot Force 6 when it disbanded. Now though, Farukon was certain that Hayato would be able to hold fairly well on his own, especially once he started to learn how to use his weapons in close combat.
Rue was just a fast learner. On top of that, her form had already begun to dramatically increase, with the constant practice of the basic forms, on top of all the training he had put the team through. She was the team’s support. Her magic was based on support, which could augment and improve upon her team-mate’s fighting potential. And with the fact her hand-to-hand combat was improving drastically, he felt that she would be more than ready to take anyone that would attempt to take on her in close-combat.
With that in mind, he would train them on what they already knew, and build upon that.
Looking back, despite everything that’s happened, Hammer squad was beginning to become a team as the days went by. There were still issues of getting Syn to work with the team, but at least she was trying. That was the most they could ask out of her.
This afternoon, Farukon watched as Rue led the team through the five sets they knew. The first three being the Academy’s basic sets, while the other two had been the ones Farukon had taught them. He couldn’t be more proud of them. They were definitely becoming better and better as each day went by. Reviewing what they had been going through over his head, he believed that they were ready to take the next step in their training schedule. With such thought in mind, he decided that he would end the morning practice early.
“Rue, after this set go through cool-down,” Farukon ordered.
“Yes sir!” Rue replied back.
Twenty minutes later, Hammer squad was resting under the comfortable shade of the trees. It was June, and already the sun was blazing hot, despite it was only 0800 hours.
“Well I must say, you guys are doing quite well,” Farukon happily stated, which earned pleased expressions from his team, which included Syn, although it was more so through her eyes, as her face remained indifferent.
“With that said, I’m going to be altering our training menu to accommodate your improvements, starting today.
“As usual, from 0600 to 0800, we will be doing our usual morning run, followed by practicing your battle stances. Between 0800 and 0900 hours, that time is for you to rest up, eat, shower, etc. From 0900 to 1200, we will be undergoing endurance training. 1200 to 1400 again is your personal time.” From here, Farukon let a righteous grin settle on his face as he explained the next part of the training routine. “From 1400 until 1800 or 1900, depending on what I plan to cover, will be combat training, and tactical simulations.”
Farukon had to struggle not to join them in the glee that broke out from all of their faces; even Syn was excited about the news.
“You guys are ready for it. So this afternoon, we will commence your training.”
“What will the training cover?” Rue immediately asked.
“I was just getting to that,” said Farukon. “Our afternoon/even sessions will work on your individual styles, where we work on improving upon them, and them if I feel that we have enough time, or I believe it needs to be put into a practical situation, then you guys will be placed into tactical simulations. On top of that, from time to time, I’ll be bringing in guest instructors to help you guys on your fighting styles.”
Farukon took a moment and let the information sink in. He could tell they were really excited about the new menu. He had hounded them just over a couple weeks ago about how bad they were, but within a little over two weeks, they had improved dramatically. They had still a long way to go, however, but they were ready to advance to the next stage of their training. He hoped that they’ll have enough time to get used to fighting with each other before any mission was called up that required all three teams.
“Now go eat and clean up,” said Farukon. “Just be here in time for your midmorning training.”
“Yes sir!” they all replied, and ran off for breakfast, and a nice morning shower.
The rest of the midmorning, and early afternoon had passed by well. Farukon had drilled them through and through, ensuring that they were in top form. But as 1400 drew closer, all of Hammer squad was already excited about what was to come. Finally they would be able to start the actual combat training. What form of combat training they would actually do, they had yet to find out, but from Farukon’s attitude, it would be well worth the wait.
“This is it, this is it, this is it,” Hayato excited muttered. He was, for all intents and purposes, bouncing on the balls of his toes, pacing around as he tried to contain his excitement. From all the intensive training Farukon had been putting them through, he hadn’t had the time to find some time to actually work on his own style. All the time had been devoted to working on nothing but the basics and endurance training. But now, there was some actual time set aside that he could take what he had learned, and apply it to good use.
“Oi, calm down ya nutcase!” Syn called out. “He’ll be here, so just wait!”
“What about you?!” Hayato shot back. “I’m betting you’re just excited as I am!”
“Yeah, I am,” Syn conceded. “But do you see anyone expressing their excitement like you are?”
Looking at the rest of his team-mates, he realized that Syn had a point. Rue was sitting underneath a tree doing some work, while Syn and Vivio were quietly waiting. Blushing at realizing what an idiot he must have been, he sheepishly laughed and sat down underneath another tree, and kept quiet, less he wanted to embarrass himself again.
“Alright, let’s get started!” came the familiar shout of Farukon, as he walked up to the four of them, a screen floating in front of him as he continued to type, along with another officer. Syn and Vivio immediately recognised the officer as Shari, due to her signature hairstyle, and her glasses.
“I’m assuming you’ve done your warm-ups already?” Farukon asked, to which Rue immediately paled at the mention of warm-up, to which Farukon smirked.
“Oh? In that case, 10 laps right now!”
The four of them groaned in exasperation for forgetting such a thing. But a glare ended their complaints, as they all got up and started running their warm-up runs.
“Kids,” he chuckled as he started to input the commands that would be needed for the training.
Twenty minutes, and ten laps later, Hammer squad stood ready and waiting in front of Farukon. They were eager, and ready to go. That much Farukon knew. And being a man of his word, he wasn’t going to disappoint his team.
“As I said, I will be bringing in guest instructors from time to time, like this fine officer here,” gesturing to the officer next to him. “She’ll be briefing you on what you’re doing.”
“Thank you Captain,” Shari replied, and stepped up. “I’m Sergeant Finieno Shario, but please call me Shari. Everyone does anyways.
“Due to the special intentions of Hammer Squad, Farukon has asked of me to design special training system for you guys.” Calling up a screen and tapping a button, four humanoid drones materialized next to her. “These drones are designed for close combat specialists. Depending on the scenario, they can be set up to combat you guys with any weapons, ranging from standard devices, to range specialists, to the most dirty of fighters.
“Each drone can be preset to combat you guys specifically, or be set up with a different programming, giving you guys a feel of fighting someone who fights completely different from you. Any questions?”
When none answered, Farukon stepped up again. “In that case, every one of you will take one of these drones, and combat them. The plan for the first hour is for me to observe how much you guys have improved, and for me to take into consideration what exactly is your weakness. And don’t worry if you destroy them, as the program will regenerate them when you are ready to go again.”
Following the captain’s orders, the four of them took one of the drones, and found a spot away from one another, and began sparring against them.
“Shari, I’m assuming you can keep tabs of how they’re performing?” Farukon asked. Although he had heard that Shari was extremely reliable and was able to keep tabs of all the various forward members of RF6, Farukon had never worked with the girl, so he couldn’t say for sure.
“Yes sir,” she confidentially replied, as with a wave of her hand a whole console formed before her.
“Good,” Farukon replied, and began to cycle through his team.
His first stop was Syn, and to his surprise, she was easily storming through the drone, each time it was rebuilt.
Running straight towards the drone, she ducked underneath the strike, and threw a punch straight for its midsection. As it stumbled back from the force, she stepped back and delivered a kick to the midsection, throwing it across. Not even giving it a moment’s peace, she ran up to it and reared her arm back and smashed its head in. Moments after, a new drone appeared, and Syn was already on the move, repeating the same results as before. She would charge, dodge the attacks, and then lay on a series of attacks that would leave most inexperienced fighters dazed.
“Stop!” he called out. Syn grinded to a halt, as her fist stopped just short of the drone’s face. She turned and looked at him, her expression screaming at him, as she wondered why he stopped her.
“Increase drone combat level by 2 ranks,” Farukon ordered.
“Order accepted,” the drone replied, as it stepped back from Syn, and took on a fighting stance.
“What you do now?”
“You’re not going to learn anything if you’re fighting and winning with that much ease,” Farukon replied. “Before you begin, you’ve definitely improved. You have a better idea of where, and how to strike.” Syn simply smirked in response, but inside, she knew he was right. And surprisingly, it felt good to actually be complimented, rather than be ignored like the way her instructors did back in the Academy.
“Get set,” Farukon snapped, pulling Syn from her train of thought, and focused on the drone in front of her. “Start!”
Immediately, both she and the drone charged straight for one another. As they clashed, the drone dropped into a sweep in an attempt to trip her. Leaping over, she landed behind the drone and delivered a reverse round house to its head. To her surprise, the drone grabbed it with one arm, reached over with its other arm and pulled her leg from under her as it threw her over.
Reacting on instinct, she threw her hands out and flipped over, narrowly dodging a shot that would’ve gone for her head. Regaining her footing, she turned back and faced the drone again.
“Now you’re talking,” she smirked. “Kyouka!”
“You got it, Danchou! Force Burst!”
Charging forward, Syn leapt forward and threw her punch straight for the drone, to which it sidestepped the attack, only for her to swing her arm out and backhand the drone, as the spell triggered, releasing a concussive force that sent the drone flying sideways, momentarily stunned before it recovered, although its movements had been greatly hampered, most likely simulating the results of receiving such a blow.
“Now you’re talking my language,” Syn called out.
Smiling to himself, Farukon moved on to the next person on the team, which happened to be Hayato.
Hayato had definitely improved. Although the boy had yet to learn proper pistol whipping, he was holding out on his own. While he had the least proficiency in hand-to-hand, he was actually doing quite well. While before his repertoire had been mostly blocking and lining up for a shot, he was starting to use kicks, elbows, parries, and other movements as well. His style still revolved around using pistols in close range. On top of that, he had read the report he compiled, and knew that he needed a lot of work, and he needed to change a lot of the aspects if he is to use it effectively.
Block, parry, kick, attack, was the general pattern that Hayato was following. Having increased the difficulty after the first try, he was now starting to have trouble. Although the level of difficulty wasn’t as bad as when he had fought Keroko, the trouble was still there.
He was fast. By no means that he was a slouch, but due to the fact that he had a different kind of weight in his hand compared to a sword, a staff, or other weapons that are meant for hand-to-hand, it was affecting his balance, and the way he followed through with his movements.
Parrying an attack, he found an opening and attacked. Brining his gun to bear, he lined straight for the exposed torso and fired, knocking the drone back. Not giving it a chance to recover, Hayato fired again straight for the unit’s head, as it exploded from the shot.
“Getting there, PFC,” Farukon commented. “However, you need something to either support, or you strengthen your wrists, so that they can handle the stress should you ever end up in a hand-to-hand situation.”
“Yes sir,” Hayato replied, as he sat down for a moment to catch his breath.
Moving on, Farukon soon came across Vivio, only to see her racing through drone, after drone, after drone, without stopping. Farukon prepared to stop Vivio, but noticed something peculiar. Watching closely, he realized that while the drones were set at a very low combat level, she was shattering them to pieces. Each shot attack she made carried a level of focus that she didn’t have before. As he continued to observe, he realized she was practicing the strength of her attacks, and ensured she could keep it up. Each attack, each kick, each punch, they all met their mark and utterly destroyed the drones as they came.
It was actually a rather interesting way to train. Had had seen her fight, and she had the most skill of all four, especially since Keroko was her sister, and Nanoha and Fate being her parents.
There wasn’t much he could say at this point, especially if she was taking his statement to heart, although hopefully she wasn’t going to do this on a regular basis. Making a note to keep regular tabs on her particular method of training, he moved on.
At Rue’s spot, he watched as she practiced against the drone. And rather than attempt to outright destroy everyone else was doing, Rue was practicing attacking endurance. Based on the fact that the drone was set quite higher, her intention seemed to be for disabling opponents, rather than actually taking them out. When he thought about it, it was right up her alley, as her role as the support specialists for the group. Although he was sure that she would be more than capable of fighting off opponents, her role first and foremost was supporting her team-mates.
Seeing as there wasn’t much to comment on yet, he simply let the hour pass.
By the time dinner was round, all of Hammer was exhausted, beat, and completely drained. After the first hour, Farukon had them practice in tactical simulations. He had led the squad through the first few simulations, which had simply been extractions with minimal guards. Eventually, the mission dynamics changed as the difficulty increased, and Rue was placed in charge of the group, with Farukon monitoring the group from afar, with Shari monitoring their progress.
The final mission had been just a simple one, with brutal results: take out a small army of drones. That had been a difficult mission, one that they had lost badly. Despite all of Rue’s defences, the explosive power of Vivio and Syn, and Hayato’s usage of his tracers to assist in shooting, they were taken down quite easily, even with their usage of cover.
“That was brutal,” Hayato groaned, as he slumped into his seat, with dinner in front of him.
“Who knew Farukon would train us so hard,” Rue commented, equally tired.
“He’s evil I tell ya,” Syn moaned, resting her head directly on the table.
“I’ve never seen someone so…into it,” said Vivio, as she struggled to sit up straight to properly eat her food.
Meanwhile, Farukon calmly entered Hayate’s office. “Reporting as order, ma’am.”
“Come in,” said Hayate, as she closed down the last of the files she had been running. “So, how are they?”
“They’re ready to sortie,” Farukon replied.
“Sounds good,” Hayate happily replied, calling up a file, and passing it off to him, via his device. “There was a request, but I had to bring in some outside help, due to Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan and their teams already on call.”
“Aren’t they going to be back soon?” Farukon asked, as she called up the file.
“They won’t be back until the day after the mission starts,” she replied back, as she waited for Farukon to finish reading the file. The next expression that formed on his face sent her over, as she burst out laughing. The look of shock, surprise, and horror on his face was well worth the wait.
“Are…are you serious?!” he sputtered, feeling that he had just been blindsided by the last thing he had expected. “You asked for THEM?!” Now he was confused. He had not expected the file to have the specifics that it did.
“Who else is there?” she responded back calmly. “They’re the closest unit, and considering you are an officer of an Elite unit, head office won’t mind.”
“I…I see,” Farukon muttered in surprise, slightly twitching at the fact they of all people were going to help.
“Plus, I’m sure your team would learn a lot, considering three out of your four members use Neo-Belkan magic,” Hayate added, giving him an amused look.
“Sure…I’ll get on it…so…we have today, and the day after to prepare, right?” Farukon asked.
“Yes, you do,” Hayate replied. “I suggest you tell your team tonight, so they can be ready for it. All Intel, including the layout of the complex, and what you’re looking for is in the Ops Order I just gave you. Have fun.
“Oh and before I forget, they’ll be joining your team for training.”
“You serious?” he groaned, the look of exasperation growing on his face.
“Quite serious, Faru-chan,” Hayate replied happily, adding the little nickname for extra measure. Farukon couldn’t help but stare at her for some time. He definitely had not expected it. He knew he was going to be in for it, especially since their leader was quite eccentric, among other things. Sighing to the fact he wasn’t going to win the argument, he resigned his fate, and would take it in stride.
“Yes ma’am,” he sighed. Stepping up to the desk, he leaned over and placed a light peck on the lips.
“See ya tonight,” he whispered before snapping to attention, saluting the woman, and walked out with a wide grin on his face, leaving behind a rather flabbergasted CO.
Heading straight down for the mess hall, Farukon found his exhausted team eating dinner. Even then, they were having trouble trying to sit up straight, not that he could blame them. He had run them ragged regularly, but today, he had been quite brutal. Oh well, tomorrow was another day after all.
“Yo,” he whole heartedly greeted the team, which only earned an annoyed look from his team, especially since he was moving fine, without any sign of exhaustion. “Got an announcement for ya.”
“Oh goodie, more training tonight?” Syn muttered through her food.
“Nope,” Farukon replied, “but mind your manners young lady. It’s not polite to eat with your mouth full.” Syn simply huffed and went back to eating her food.
“If not training, what is it?” Rue asked, despite her exhausting screaming for her to go to bed.
“We have a mission coming up,” Farukon responded.
“Eh?!!” the whole team asked in surprise.
“Serious?!”
“Already?!”
“That’s fast!”
“What are the specifics?”
“It’s a simple break-in-and-enter mission,” Farukon replied. “I’ll go over details, but for the next two days, we’ll be training for it, along with the other team that will be helping us.”
“Other team?” everyone asked.
“You’ll be briefed on them tomorrow,” Farukon simply stated. He was not looking forward to meeting them, but he had too.
“Just be ready for your training. That’ll be all.” With that, he turned around and left, while muttering about the horrors that he was about to face.
The next morning, all of Hammer, save for Farukon were waiting on the training field, going over their warm-up runs. All the while, the four of them for the most part chatted amiably amongst one another as they did their run, idly speculating what kind of mission it was. Despite the fact they were going to break into something, they had no idea what. Their ideas were mostly variations of extractions, although the actual contents of the mission at times were rather ridiculous, that some they swore never to mention ever again.
“Yo,” Farukon called out. He watched as the group finished the last lap, and approached him.
“So when does this team arrive?” Syn asked, wanting to get the morning training over with.
“Soon enough,” Farukon replied back.
“That them?” Hayato asked, pointing off towards a trio who were standing before them, their faces obscured by the morning sun behind them.
“Oh no…”
“READY?” a female voice called out, as the three of them pulled out a device of some sort from a pouch on their arm.
“READY!” the other two in turn responded, who turned out to be females as well.
“BELKARANGER, START UP!” as they yelled, they ran their devices across the length of their left arm, followed by three distinct ‘Stand by ready’ responses from them. In a flash of light, the three were immediately donned in their barrier jackets. Following suit, music suddenly kicked on out of nowhere, as the center person stepped up.
“Atsuki Boukenshaa!” the first one called out, as she snapped her fingers, before flaring her arms out with dramatic flair. “BelkaRed!”
“Honest Heart!” the second person called out, her body turned to the left, with her left hand opened, the palm facing towards the knuckles of her right fist, before going through a complex martial arts movements, ending with her hands in fists, with her left pointing towards them, the other outwards to her right. “BelkaYellow!”
“Ao no Mahotsukai!” the third yelled, with her body posed in such a way she was standing on her left leg, her right knee out, and her arms were in an L-shape with her right arm up, her left arm out, and leaning back, before immediately switching her pose as she stands up straight, with her right arm up, her left arm horizontal with the ground with her hand held to her chest. “BelkaBlue!”
“Endless Bouken Spirits!” the one called BelkaRed called out.
“MAHOU SENTAI! BELKARANGER!” As they call out, explosions fill the background as the three of them take heroic poses, centralized around BelkaRed, who stands in the middle.
SANJOU!!!!!!!!
Who'd have thought that the very first appearance of the Belkas in a scenario would be in your story?
I'd pay to see that scene of Farukon's look of horror on his face as Hayate helps herself laughing
__________________
Against all the evil that hell can conjure, all wickedness that mankind can produce... We will send unto them, only you.
I'm very close to getting this chapter done (Finally)...
Here's a tantilizing snippet of things to come.
Spoiler for Teaser:
"You're not SCARED are you," she asked. Damn that devilish smirk she was using.
"Scared?!" Crash asked her. Actually, yes, but not scared, TERRIFIED. But his pride wouldn't let him say that though. "I'm not scared!"
To Nanoha, it was like watching two children argue, and reminded her of earlier times. Oh god, she wasn't even into her mid twenties and already nostalgia?
"Then why don't you accept the challenge then?" Fox asked. "It's perfectly alright if you're scared. Fear is the body's way of telling you what you're doing is pretty STUPID after all. But you're an idiot, so you should be immune to fear by this point."
Fate was more inclined to note how the girl was baiting Crash, but still making fun of him and taking stabs at him throughout. If this kept up, the end result was certain.
"Maybe because I know a worthless cause when I see one," he responded.
Vita knew a fail arugment when she heard one. After all, she'd spent the better part of several months living one. Fox wasn't going to let him get away with it, certainly.
"So you're a worthless cause now eh?" she sniped.
Ohhh... a blow to pride was one thing Signum definately recognized when she heard it.
"I didn't say that!"
Hayate, having had to argue with hundreds of people to get her Riot Force Six unit set up, knew Fox had Crash cornered and on the ropes, all it needed would be a coup-de-gras to finish him.
"Sure sounded like it to me," Fox shrugged. "Crash is a Worthless Cause and can't so much as challenge an Ace."
"I am NOT a worthless cause!" Crash shot back.
"PROVE IT!" Fox snapped.
"You know what?" Crash asked. "I WILL!"
He spun around to Roland.
"Challenge Accepted!"
Behind his back, Fox smiled and gave the General a knowing wink.
What? Wait. You made Tesla a ship's Captain? I thought you meant you made her an "Army" Captain.
Oh, you didn't know? Yes I did, her ship was supposed to become the Normandy.
... Which probably explains why I came to the idea in the first place. Mass Effect crack was high back then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arkhangelsk
Still, for a Devil's Advocate, it might actually still be a good idea. For one thing, Keroko and Tesla must only show up at the fringes of known continuity if they are not to ruin it, and this whole Captain business might be a way to do it naturally.
'must only show up at the fringes of continuity'
....
*glances at their profiles*
Yeah... safe to say I've already gone and blew that rule since, uhm, forever. Why do you think the OC timeline is called kerokanon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by arkhangelsk
You can still have your Tesla side story (the Thrawn parody thing) by having Tesla's ship be the first one into sector (managing to get one ship into place makes the TSAB look a tiny bit better too). TSAB Captains have a tendency to jump into the fray (or send their best mages in their stead) when they feel it necessary - Lindy, for example, so that might be what she did.
All Lindy ever did was hop in and and throw down a Barrier. Hardly encouraging.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arkhangelsk
Further, Tk's thing about "gone months" simply does not apply to the TSAB patrol zones. Travel times in the TSAB is generally very short - Unadministered 97 is somewhere around an hour at most to TSAB HQ, which itself is three hours travel to Midchildra. In fact, there seems no place they couldn't get to so far within a day, or even 12 hours.
*blink* wait, what? Source on this?
But aside that point, the issue with patroling is that by its very nature it takes time. The TSAB doesn't just hop in a world, see if everything is still there, and moves on (or at least, they shouldn't) They need to scan the worlds for any Lost Logia activety and investigate whether people are using Lost Logia for illegal experiments. Such operations take time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghazghkull
*Flails in utter joy*
Yay! I didn't foul up!! *Does a little jig* I hope I continue to portray your characters correctly :3
Well, that's the thing with Syn. Like Vivio, her profile is still up in the air, because we know nothing of what Vivio's school years are like. This means that as long as there is development in the chapters leading up to them, a lot is possible for Syn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
If you count every segment of Kha's life, then every different timeline of Cente Gravia, then all the AU Khrack I'm putting her through, as individually separate fics...
...and that's just me. Add it all up with the other writers, and you'll realize how popular Keroko is.
So I noticed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
The pairings are somewhat linear depending on the timeline, and I forgot to include the neutral endings (no pairing) in all timelines, but yeah in UBW, the Sophia ending is easiest to get and the neutral somewhere in the middle (since you get to swap the Aces around for your own benefit at the cost of developing a relationship). Keroko is hardest, because of all that I've said above. She's a good co-fighter and not exactly a buffboard, but there are far more solo-fights in UBW than any other timeline, so it curtails it even more.
However, if you made it, Keroko Kor Fuzion will give you access to both Light and Shadow powers, and Kor Fuzion Schneiderform is H4XX enough for you to go toe-to-toe with Gilgamesh in the final boss battle for glorious justice, and for all the pain you went through to get there. :3
It follows Kerokanon exactly up till they turn 15, then when the Duels begin, UBW deviates. So Keroko'd have all that you see there.
Btw, looks like Madness is the time Kha gets to score some points.
Up till they are fifteen? Ouch, that means Madness is quite a bit harder to achieve (Madness raises all stats at the cost of sanity, it's normally the Berserker class skill. It'd be quite hard for Kha to 'score points' when Keroko is hell bent on killing him methinks. ) But Knowledge of Foremost Harmony would offset the disadvantage of losing Madness as an easy-access skill.
Far worse is that it makes the 'tick of Keroko and survive beatings' a whole lot more improbable, as Keroko has spend a good 8 years with Nanoha and is pretty much calm now, Neltharion's essence sealed away further reducing her outbursts of anger.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
No not Orks. Fungal lifeforms got KINSHI'd even in the IRC.
Wait, what? Why? We've got data-based lifeforms in canon, why are fungal based lifeforms banned?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
Yeah that's why Heaven's Feel has the least Khrack, since the Fate ending is the fanon timeline. :3
Aha, sounds like logic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
There's too many retcons in there for us to recognize as canon, that's why we never refer to it, but if you like there are translations on the net somewhere...
No kidding, the novel blatantly changes events as they occured in the anime. Talk about a controdictionary source.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kha
And...
<.<
...
>.>
...
*drops bomb and runs for it*
21STE-01 Genderbent of Kha
Bring Me To Life... Feito-kun...
Spoiler for Kha der Kleriker:
Kha der Kleriker
Through her life, she has walked through more than any human has ever experienced. Kha was born to Kio and Toura, and lived her early life in bliss, but the Sacking of Renault soon put an end to that, setting her on the path to becoming the cloaked crusader fondly know as the Cleric.
Kha from the day she gained her Tome of Devotion, everyone knew she was different. Her Holy powers were beyond that of the best Knight-Sister, a traditionally impossible occurrence. The Tome was an artefact of the all-male Cleric-Knights led by Tohkiha Ichigo AKA Stephen Alexei, and yet it chose her to be its master, granting her the skills of a Cleric-Knight, and more. Kha-chan knew Tracing, a skill her father taught her, allowing her to learn spells by just watching them in action.
Most of all, it is rumored that Kha-chan was the fabled Messiah of New Belka, something that she'd deny with all her being.
She was eventually assigned to protect the Church's newest addition to their corps, Hayate-kun. Through him, she met the other Aces, the F4 of the TSAB: the ever-courageous Nanoha Takamachi, his fast and furious brother Kero Takamachi, and the dashing, sauve yet kind and gentle Feito Testarossa.
Over time, the F4 warmed Kha who had become frozen from her bitter encounters with life. She would eventually understand her role in the Grand Plan, strengthen her resolve as the Cleric, meet her adopted daughter Eria and eventually fall in love...
Thanks to the F4, Kha became human again.
Now as Operation StrikerS is about to begin, Kha was forced to assume the role of Canoness despite her being married to Feito in law. Nevertheless, she still gives her duties her all, nurturing her younger sisters and protecting the Church and everyone dear to her.
As a Heroine of Justice always would.
Ma-oh Shounen Lyrical Nanoha - Of Bishounen and GAR and WUUUD?!
Like Kagerou-chan, this Khrack was born in the Chaotic environment that is the IRC. Unfortunately, even the IRC was destroyed by this bomb...
THE GENDERBENDING OF NANOHA TAKAMACHI, HAJIMARI-MASU!!!
*RUNS AT THE LUDICRIOUS SPEED OF TIME*
Ever since the introduction of Archerko, I've been expecting this one to come eventually.
Didn't expect you to genderbend the rest of the cast too, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuyu no Sora
We outnumber the males in my household so they're basically doomed
Likewise over here, but I have the advantage of being the oldest.
And I love my sister too much to continuously annoy them. We tease eachother from time to time, but its not even a daily event for us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Good, good... *with her now free TK ponders jamming Tesla into his latest fic at somepoint* It didn't make sense with her in the Navy, but it could now... ponders.
Hoo boy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Instructor mode activate!
Spoiler for Instructor Mode Lecture:
You say this but you fail to consider a key fact anything that can rapidly CLOSE distance can also rapidly OPEN distance. If we’re fighting in jets I can light my burners and try to close with you, but you can turn away and open up your own throttle and keep the range open. (Assuming rough parity in aircraft). This is why speed is so important in ALL military operations the faster fighter dictates how and where the battle happens and he can use that defeat a technically superior enemy if he exploits it well or gain a huge edge on a lesser foe.
Once speed is roughly equal then you get into stuff like weapons and electronics (spells) come into the equation more forcefully. Hayate has monstrous firepower her problem is she lacks the speed (in all forms) to fully exploit it. The solution isn’t a half assed attempt at melee skills it’s boosting her speed and agility so she can’t be caught to begin with. This is in some ways a problem with Nanoha air combat doctrine in general which seems to involve simply spamming at the enemy and if they get close just giving up or raising a shield. Evasion, use of terrain, team tactics, or even tactical retreats etc appear almost unknown as the mages simply float around firing at targets with little cohesions or tactics apparent.
Hayate seems to have inherited the worst of this sort of doctrine her huge range and power somewhat balance it, but only slightly. She doesn’t need melee skill she just needs to be able to stay OUT of melee. She has plenty of options for this, but she’s never going to get to a point where she can fight even vaguely effective up close in a reasonable amount of time. Besides that playing against her strengths and it’s a one trick pony. If you learn some up close melee skills or defense that’s all you can use that stuff for so basiclly the only time these skills are even useful is when something has gone wrong. Basiclly your wasting a bunch of time learning stuff that you hope to never need to use.
On the other hand speed and various other movement aids are useful in lots of situations for getting to a fight quickly, for getting away from one just as quickly, for keeping the range open, for moving about the battle zone to provide support, etc. Not only will this aided speed probably serve to protect her from melee better then half assed close range skills it can also be useful is supporting her primary mission (as I see it) of providing heavy mobile fire support. (literal flying artillery)
Specialization is not inherently bad in fact it’s vital the problem is that Hayate specialized, but didn’t learn all the needed skills to exploit that specializtion to its fullest potential.
*scractches head* Okay, maybe I was a bit unclear on my point.
Do I expect Hayate to defeat oponents in melee? No. Do I expect her to be able to handle herself in melee (which is pretty much inevitable in the Nanohaverse, as 80% of Nanohaverse combat is close-range)? Yes.
Now, I agree that movement spells can be used to escape melee, and they should! Hayate should not stay in melee longer then absolutely neccissary. However, if someone gets the jump on Hayate, I do expect Hayate to be able to block the attack and create an opening to gain that distance. If Hayate lacks the skills to do even that, then specialization becomes a liabillity, as anyone can just take her out in a single strike. Without close-range training, Hayate will lack the experience and knowledge to react to them, leaving her extremely vulnerable.
Once again: I don't expect Hayate to wtfpwn everyone in melee (even though she has tasty melee spells such as Schwarze Wirkung, which I still find a shame to see put on the shelf) I expect her to be able to survive in melee. To be able to block a blow and create an opening to escape. To be able to react to melee attacks. To be able to use her weapon, which is blatantly called 'sword cross' with at least some efficiency.
Even Nanoha, who specializes in range, and Yuuno, who specializes in support, are able to handle themselves in melee. Why is Hayate the only not allowed to do so?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
The Army doesn’t really train for hand to hand in actual battle hand to hand training nowadays is basiclly for subduing suspects without having to shot them. It’s also done to instill “aggression”, but its not even vaguely expect that troops are going to go out and do Judo on the enemy or something. More so since most of this training is superficial at best a few hours stabbing stuff with a bayonet and maybe some minor training in grappling. It’s a pittance at best compared to the training done with other sorts of weapons. The fact is a gun is just as effective fired in your face from six feet away as it is from 60 or even 600; same deal with a bombardment spell really.
Also note that most of the newest rifle concepts don’t even have the option for a bayonet anymore. Instructor mode end
Okay, I'll take your word for that. My army knowledge isn't exactly that high.
Though bombardement spells tend to have conciderable charge timers, to use them in melee is like asking to get killed. Hardly a propper comparison.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
I don't know she dose seem a tad neglected at times, but oh well she got plenty of screentime on the show proper...
That may be one of the reasons. Another could be that she is a tad too... perfect. It's much more fun to write with characters who have visible flaws.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
I don't even see it as that OOC I think she's more devious then many people really give her credit for.
The sneaky creation of RF6 certainly does point that way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
I'm almost done on my latest monster 14,000 words only need to polish up one more scene... and I've got a bunch more planned. I'm acutally kind of pumped about this fic.
14k words? Nice, can we expect to see it soon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Well the orks where deemed to crack even for IRC.
Which makes no sense to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
Part of the issue I think is that if you make a character that bad mouths or disses another the author can take it personally; I see it happen WAY too often in RPGs. I know in one RPG I was in my guy beat the shit out of a ten year old kid that attacked another crewmember in a manner that he didn't intend to be, but could have been lethal. That's harsh, but my guy was a fucking 40k Inquisitor (and already the most ludicrously tolerant one in all the Imperium most likely…) [/COLOR]
It was totally IC in my (and others) opinions, but he still bitched about it and insinuted I somehow got off on writing about my guy beating a child.
I'd like to believe we are all a bit more mature then that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tk3997
If they have no other choice, but I doubt it's smiled upon as something you ought to do regularly. I also don't think many Naval captains are acutally high level mages since those skills have NOTHING to do with running a battleship and having an S rank sit in a chair on a cruiser hardly seems like an effective utilization of human capital... I’d acutally bet that high level mages are greatly discouraged to take positions among the crew of warships.
Actually, its the reverse. That's one of the things that pissed of Regius, remember? 'The Navy steals all the high-ranked mages' and all that. It's the main reason for the bad blood between the Ground Forces and the Navy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LoweGear
SURPRISE PROFILE POSTO!!!!!!!!!
Now for something the IRC guys know, and now posting the first part now:
Spoiler for The Shattered Girl:
Name: Epsila Synaisthima Labatt
Alias: E.S., EpSyn, Epsila, Eppy
Gender: Female
Known Age: 219 (as of MC0067)
Origin World: Unknown
Birthdate: April 1st
Height: 5’0”
Weight: 92 ilbs
Complexion: fair
Hair color: Silver
Eye color:
- Erste: Red
- Zweite: Green
- Dreite: Blue
- Verte: Yellow
- Funfte: Pink
Spoiler for ID Image:
[Epsila Dreite, as differentiated by her blue eyes. Note that this is only one of her five bodies, which are identical in appearance save for their eye color. Dreite is the body which represents Sadness.]
History:
Epsila Synaisthima, the name of a soul afflicted by a most abnormal condition, a condition that seeks to analyze and dissect the very fabric of what it means for a person to have the human requisite known as emotion. Known only by many today as Epsila, this enigmatic Lost Logia is a testament to the universal quest by many a genius mind to achieve absolute scientific knowledge - no matter the cost.
By her own admission Epsila has long forgotten her true name, but tells of a time nearly a bicentennial ago in her now extinct and unknown homeworld long erased from any record. Once, she was but a normal child like so many others her age then, living life a day at a time, and looking forward to the most petty and trivial of pleasures.
The circumstances of the creation of her current form are hazy at best, the only clues being Epsila’s insistent reluctance to bring up the matter, and her constant terror at even remembering. She was the unwilling subject of a queerest experiment that much is obvious: but to what end? Was this an experiment gone wrong? Was this the purpose of the experiment? Was this some sick joke played upon her by the immoral scientists that tore apart her very being? Nobody really knows, and Epsila won’t answer.
One thing’s for certain: the event left her permanently shattered, in the most literal of senses: where once she had one mind and one body, now that singular mind resided within five identical artificial bodies under her dominion. And her emotions split into their most basic components between each vessel, representing Joy, Sorrow, Anger, Fear and Curiosity.
Seeing the world through five sets of eyes, hearing though five pairs of ears, and speaking through one mouth at a time, the drastic change nearly drove her insane, as her young and once simple mind struggled to comprehend the absurd insanity of her situation. Day after day, month after month, year after year, the excruciating migraines fueled by the exponentially increased overload in new stimuli would threaten to tear open and rip apart her entire being, as the immoral men have once done – and relentlessly still were. Struggling to hold on to whatever sanity and humanity she could salvage left her a withdrawn and pathetic being, and with each passing day she found that small, stubborn light of hope for deliverance burning within her slowly fading away.
Her deliverance would only come through another atrocity: a genocidal purge fueled by war that ravaged throughout her world, and threatened to destroy each and every last living being that breathed. In their only act of pity her handlers put her in an induced coma, and locked her away in a cold dark cell. There her immortal and unchanging body lay in slumber for nearly two centuries undisturbed and undiscovered, seemingly forgotten by time.
Two centuries later, her peaceful slumber was disturbed by greedy treasure hunters searching for valuables and riches. Seeing no use for this perplexing creature reawakened from her slumber, yet recognizing her value, they sold her off to slave traders to be used as they saw fit.
Even in this strange new world it seems, she was once again in the mercy of brutal and uncaring handlers. Was there really no hope for one such as her? She very nearly gave up on that question… Until that one day in the Hambrabi Desert…
Armed with raging power in their fists, flaming passion in their mouths and burning fire in their hearts, heroes from another world who believed in the ideals of Love, Justice and Freedom for one and all!
The Belkarangers have come forth!
And while she could not be bothered to remember the events that lead to her rescue, there was one image that imprint itself in her mind, that of the yellow-haired girl with that soft and gentle smile reaching out her hand to this once miserable child, and with her lips that spoke:
“It’s alright now… you’re safe with me.”
For the first time in a long, long while… she felt the warmth of hope wrapping around her from this stranger’s arms, this lady’s gentle voice, and her radiant smile.
The lady known as the Honest Heart, Mayura Lee Labatt; her savior, her deliverer and after all was said and done… that kind woman she would come to know as ‘Mother’.
Heeeh? The Yellow Belka gets a daughter? Do write that scenario.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghazghkull
And now presenting, CHAPTER 5!
Spoiler for MGLN Riot Force 6:
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Riot Force 6 Chapter V Mission Accepted
The last couple of weeks had been passed by well. A number of things had happened since Syn’s agreement to try to work with the team. The parade that had occurred two weeks ago had gone off without a hitch. The Admiralty went about their inspection of the entire unit, did their speeches, swore in Hayate as the unit CO, and then toured the base, observing all the various operations that occurred on base. Suffice it to say, they were fairly pleased with the work Hayate and her staff had done so far. The day after, Farukon had begun to train Hammer more actively. His training included working on their stamina, team tactics, and mastering two new sets of stances.
He continued to hammer them day in, and day out, as he continued to build up the foundations that would support the pillar that was Hammer Squad. He knew he had a long way to go, but one day, they would be able to stand as taller, if not as tall as Stars and Lightning.
Others had questioned why he didn’t teach them a particular style, to which his response was always, “That’s because they already know how to fight. I am simply building the foundations for how they fight.” He had long knew that Vivio and Syn were the type to prefer working together, especially since their spell sets heavily complimented each other. Syn was the front liner while Vivio was her support. Syn knew Buster-based spells, while Vivio had a wider range of shield spells.
Hayato on the other hand needed to know how to fight. When he had first met him, the boy’s combat skills were fairly basic, possibly on the level of Enforcer Lanster when she had left Riot Force 6 when it disbanded. Now though, Farukon was certain that Hayato would be able to hold fairly well on his own, especially once he started to learn how to use his weapons in close combat.
Rue was just a fast learner. On top of that, her form had already begun to dramatically increase, with the constant practice of the basic forms, on top of all the training he had put the team through. She was the team’s support. Her magic was based on support, which could augment and improve upon her team-mate’s fighting potential. And with the fact her hand-to-hand combat was improving drastically, he felt that she would be more than ready to take anyone that would attempt to take on her in close-combat.
With that in mind, he would train them on what they already knew, and build upon that.
Looking back, despite everything that’s happened, Hammer squad was beginning to become a team as the days went by. There were still issues of getting Syn to work with the team, but at least she was trying. That was the most they could ask out of her.
This afternoon, Farukon watched as Rue led the team through the five sets they knew. The first three being the Academy’s basic sets, while the other two had been the ones Farukon had taught them. He couldn’t be more proud of them. They were definitely becoming better and better as each day went by. Reviewing what they had been going through over his head, he believed that they were ready to take the next step in their training schedule. With such thought in mind, he decided that he would end the morning practice early.
“Rue, after this set go through cool-down,” Farukon ordered.
“Yes sir!” Rue replied back.
Twenty minutes later, Hammer squad was resting under the comfortable shade of the trees. It was June, and already the sun was blazing hot, despite it was only 0800 hours.
“Well I must say, you guys are doing quite well,” Farukon happily stated, which earned pleased expressions from his team, which included Syn, although it was more so through her eyes, as her face remained indifferent.
“With that said, I’m going to be altering our training menu to accommodate your improvements, starting today.
“As usual, from 0600 to 0800, we will be doing our usual morning run, followed by practicing your battle stances. Between 0800 and 0900 hours, that time is for you to rest up, eat, shower, etc. From 0900 to 1200, we will be undergoing endurance training. 1200 to 1400 again is your personal time.” From here, Farukon let a righteous grin settle on his face as he explained the next part of the training routine. “From 1400 until 1800 or 1900, depending on what I plan to cover, will be combat training, and tactical simulations.”
Farukon had to struggle not to join them in the glee that broke out from all of their faces; even Syn was excited about the news.
“You guys are ready for it. So this afternoon, we will commence your training.”
“What will the training cover?” Rue immediately asked.
“I was just getting to that,” said Farukon. “Our afternoon/even sessions will work on your individual styles, where we work on improving upon them, and them if I feel that we have enough time, or I believe it needs to be put into a practical situation, then you guys will be placed into tactical simulations. On top of that, from time to time, I’ll be bringing in guest instructors to help you guys on your fighting styles.”
Farukon took a moment and let the information sink in. He could tell they were really excited about the new menu. He had hounded them just over a couple weeks ago about how bad they were, but within a little over two weeks, they had improved dramatically. They had still a long way to go, however, but they were ready to advance to the next stage of their training. He hoped that they’ll have enough time to get used to fighting with each other before any mission was called up that required all three teams.
“Now go eat and clean up,” said Farukon. “Just be here in time for your midmorning training.”
“Yes sir!” they all replied, and ran off for breakfast, and a nice morning shower.
The rest of the midmorning, and early afternoon had passed by well. Farukon had drilled them through and through, ensuring that they were in top form. But as 1400 drew closer, all of Hammer squad was already excited about what was to come. Finally they would be able to start the actual combat training. What form of combat training they would actually do, they had yet to find out, but from Farukon’s attitude, it would be well worth the wait.
“This is it, this is it, this is it,” Hayato excited muttered. He was, for all intents and purposes, bouncing on the balls of his toes, pacing around as he tried to contain his excitement. From all the intensive training Farukon had been putting them through, he hadn’t had the time to find some time to actually work on his own style. All the time had been devoted to working on nothing but the basics and endurance training. But now, there was some actual time set aside that he could take what he had learned, and apply it to good use.
“Oi, calm down ya nutcase!” Syn called out. “He’ll be here, so just wait!”
“What about you?!” Hayato shot back. “I’m betting you’re just excited as I am!”
“Yeah, I am,” Syn conceded. “But do you see anyone expressing their excitement like you are?”
Looking at the rest of his team-mates, he realized that Syn had a point. Rue was sitting underneath a tree doing some work, while Syn and Vivio were quietly waiting. Blushing at realizing what an idiot he must have been, he sheepishly laughed and sat down underneath another tree, and kept quiet, less he wanted to embarrass himself again.
“Alright, let’s get started!” came the familiar shout of Farukon, as he walked up to the four of them, a screen floating in front of him as he continued to type, along with another officer. Syn and Vivio immediately recognised the officer as Shari, due to her signature hairstyle, and her glasses.
“I’m assuming you’ve done your warm-ups already?” Farukon asked, to which Rue immediately paled at the mention of warm-up, to which Farukon smirked.
“Oh? In that case, 10 laps right now!”
The four of them groaned in exasperation for forgetting such a thing. But a glare ended their complaints, as they all got up and started running their warm-up runs.
“Kids,” he chuckled as he started to input the commands that would be needed for the training.
Twenty minutes, and ten laps later, Hammer squad stood ready and waiting in front of Farukon. They were eager, and ready to go. That much Farukon knew. And being a man of his word, he wasn’t going to disappoint his team.
“As I said, I will be bringing in guest instructors from time to time, like this fine officer here,” gesturing to the officer next to him. “She’ll be briefing you on what you’re doing.”
“Thank you Captain,” Shari replied, and stepped up. “I’m Sergeant Finieno Shario, but please call me Shari. Everyone does anyways.
“Due to the special intentions of Hammer Squad, Farukon has asked of me to design special training system for you guys.” Calling up a screen and tapping a button, four humanoid drones materialized next to her. “These drones are designed for close combat specialists. Depending on the scenario, they can be set up to combat you guys with any weapons, ranging from standard devices, to range specialists, to the most dirty of fighters.
“Each drone can be preset to combat you guys specifically, or be set up with a different programming, giving you guys a feel of fighting someone who fights completely different from you. Any questions?”
When none answered, Farukon stepped up again. “In that case, every one of you will take one of these drones, and combat them. The plan for the first hour is for me to observe how much you guys have improved, and for me to take into consideration what exactly is your weakness. And don’t worry if you destroy them, as the program will regenerate them when you are ready to go again.”
Following the captain’s orders, the four of them took one of the drones, and found a spot away from one another, and began sparring against them.
“Shari, I’m assuming you can keep tabs of how they’re performing?” Farukon asked. Although he had heard that Shari was extremely reliable and was able to keep tabs of all the various forward members of RF6, Farukon had never worked with the girl, so he couldn’t say for sure.
“Yes sir,” she confidentially replied, as with a wave of her hand a whole console formed before her.
“Good,” Farukon replied, and began to cycle through his team.
His first stop was Syn, and to his surprise, she was easily storming through the drone, each time it was rebuilt.
Running straight towards the drone, she ducked underneath the strike, and threw a punch straight for its midsection. As it stumbled back from the force, she stepped back and delivered a kick to the midsection, throwing it across. Not even giving it a moment’s peace, she ran up to it and reared her arm back and smashed its head in. Moments after, a new drone appeared, and Syn was already on the move, repeating the same results as before. She would charge, dodge the attacks, and then lay on a series of attacks that would leave most inexperienced fighters dazed.
“Stop!” he called out. Syn grinded to a halt, as her fist stopped just short of the drone’s face. She turned and looked at him, her expression screaming at him, as she wondered why he stopped her.
“Increase drone combat level by 2 ranks,” Farukon ordered.
“Order accepted,” the drone replied, as it stepped back from Syn, and took on a fighting stance.
“What you do now?”
“You’re not going to learn anything if you’re fighting and winning with that much ease,” Farukon replied. “Before you begin, you’ve definitely improved. You have a better idea of where, and how to strike.” Syn simply smirked in response, but inside, she knew he was right. And surprisingly, it felt good to actually be complimented, rather than be ignored like the way her instructors did back in the Academy.
“Get set,” Farukon snapped, pulling Syn from her train of thought, and focused on the drone in front of her. “Start!”
Immediately, both she and the drone charged straight for one another. As they clashed, the drone dropped into a sweep in an attempt to trip her. Leaping over, she landed behind the drone and delivered a reverse round house to its head. To her surprise, the drone grabbed it with one arm, reached over with its other arm and pulled her leg from under her as it threw her over.
Reacting on instinct, she threw her hands out and flipped over, narrowly dodging a shot that would’ve gone for her head. Regaining her footing, she turned back and faced the drone again.
“Now you’re talking,” she smirked. “Kyouka!”
“You got it, Danchou! Force Burst!”
Charging forward, Syn leapt forward and threw her punch straight for the drone, to which it sidestepped the attack, only for her to swing her arm out and backhand the drone, as the spell triggered, releasing a concussive force that sent the drone flying sideways, momentarily stunned before it recovered, although its movements had been greatly hampered, most likely simulating the results of receiving such a blow.
“Now you’re talking my language,” Syn called out.
Smiling to himself, Farukon moved on to the next person on the team, which happened to be Hayato.
Hayato had definitely improved. Although the boy had yet to learn proper pistol whipping, he was holding out on his own. While he had the least proficiency in hand-to-hand, he was actually doing quite well. While before his repertoire had been mostly blocking and lining up for a shot, he was starting to use kicks, elbows, parries, and other movements as well. His style still revolved around using pistols in close range. On top of that, he had read the report he compiled, and knew that he needed a lot of work, and he needed to change a lot of the aspects if he is to use it effectively.
Block, parry, kick, attack, was the general pattern that Hayato was following. Having increased the difficulty after the first try, he was now starting to have trouble. Although the level of difficulty wasn’t as bad as when he had fought Keroko, the trouble was still there.
He was fast. By no means that he was a slouch, but due to the fact that he had a different kind of weight in his hand compared to a sword, a staff, or other weapons that are meant for hand-to-hand, it was affecting his balance, and the way he followed through with his movements.
Parrying an attack, he found an opening and attacked. Brining his gun to bear, he lined straight for the exposed torso and fired, knocking the drone back. Not giving it a chance to recover, Hayato fired again straight for the unit’s head, as it exploded from the shot.
“Getting there, PFC,” Farukon commented. “However, you need something to either support, or you strengthen your wrists, so that they can handle the stress should you ever end up in a hand-to-hand situation.”
“Yes sir,” Hayato replied, as he sat down for a moment to catch his breath.
Moving on, Farukon soon came across Vivio, only to see her racing through drone, after drone, after drone, without stopping. Farukon prepared to stop Vivio, but noticed something peculiar. Watching closely, he realized that while the drones were set at a very low combat level, she was shattering them to pieces. Each shot attack she made carried a level of focus that she didn’t have before. As he continued to observe, he realized she was practicing the strength of her attacks, and ensured she could keep it up. Each attack, each kick, each punch, they all met their mark and utterly destroyed the drones as they came.
It was actually a rather interesting way to train. Had had seen her fight, and she had the most skill of all four, especially since Keroko was her sister, and Nanoha and Fate being her parents.
There wasn’t much he could say at this point, especially if she was taking his statement to heart, although hopefully she wasn’t going to do this on a regular basis. Making a note to keep regular tabs on her particular method of training, he moved on.
At Rue’s spot, he watched as she practiced against the drone. And rather than attempt to outright destroy everyone else was doing, Rue was practicing attacking endurance. Based on the fact that the drone was set quite higher, her intention seemed to be for disabling opponents, rather than actually taking them out. When he thought about it, it was right up her alley, as her role as the support specialists for the group. Although he was sure that she would be more than capable of fighting off opponents, her role first and foremost was supporting her team-mates.
Seeing as there wasn’t much to comment on yet, he simply let the hour pass.
By the time dinner was round, all of Hammer was exhausted, beat, and completely drained. After the first hour, Farukon had them practice in tactical simulations. He had led the squad through the first few simulations, which had simply been extractions with minimal guards. Eventually, the mission dynamics changed as the difficulty increased, and Rue was placed in charge of the group, with Farukon monitoring the group from afar, with Shari monitoring their progress.
The final mission had been just a simple one, with brutal results: take out a small army of drones. That had been a difficult mission, one that they had lost badly. Despite all of Rue’s defences, the explosive power of Vivio and Syn, and Hayato’s usage of his tracers to assist in shooting, they were taken down quite easily, even with their usage of cover.
“That was brutal,” Hayato groaned, as he slumped into his seat, with dinner in front of him.
“Who knew Farukon would train us so hard,” Rue commented, equally tired.
“He’s evil I tell ya,” Syn moaned, resting her head directly on the table.
“I’ve never seen someone so…into it,” said Vivio, as she struggled to sit up straight to properly eat her food.
Meanwhile, Farukon calmly entered Hayate’s office. “Reporting as order, ma’am.”
“Come in,” said Hayate, as she closed down the last of the files she had been running. “So, how are they?”
“They’re ready to sortie,” Farukon replied.
“Sounds good,” Hayate happily replied, calling up a file, and passing it off to him, via his device. “There was a request, but I had to bring in some outside help, due to Nanoha-chan and Fate-chan and their teams already on call.”
“Aren’t they going to be back soon?” Farukon asked, as she called up the file.
“They won’t be back until the day after the mission starts,” she replied back, as she waited for Farukon to finish reading the file. The next expression that formed on his face sent her over, as she burst out laughing. The look of shock, surprise, and horror on his face was well worth the wait.
“Are…are you serious?!” he sputtered, feeling that he had just been blindsided by the last thing he had expected. “You asked for THEM?!” Now he was confused. He had not expected the file to have the specifics that it did.
“Who else is there?” she responded back calmly. “They’re the closest unit, and considering you are an officer of an Elite unit, head office won’t mind.”
“I…I see,” Farukon muttered in surprise, slightly twitching at the fact they of all people were going to help.
“Plus, I’m sure your team would learn a lot, considering three out of your four members use Neo-Belkan magic,” Hayate added, giving him an amused look.
“Sure…I’ll get on it…so…we have today, and the day after to prepare, right?” Farukon asked.
“Yes, you do,” Hayate replied. “I suggest you tell your team tonight, so they can be ready for it. All Intel, including the layout of the complex, and what you’re looking for is in the Ops Order I just gave you. Have fun.
“Oh and before I forget, they’ll be joining your team for training.”
“You serious?” he groaned, the look of exasperation growing on his face.
“Quite serious, Faru-chan,” Hayate replied happily, adding the little nickname for extra measure. Farukon couldn’t help but stare at her for some time. He definitely had not expected it. He knew he was going to be in for it, especially since their leader was quite eccentric, among other things. Sighing to the fact he wasn’t going to win the argument, he resigned his fate, and would take it in stride.
“Yes ma’am,” he sighed. Stepping up to the desk, he leaned over and placed a light peck on the lips.
“See ya tonight,” he whispered before snapping to attention, saluting the woman, and walked out with a wide grin on his face, leaving behind a rather flabbergasted CO.
Heading straight down for the mess hall, Farukon found his exhausted team eating dinner. Even then, they were having trouble trying to sit up straight, not that he could blame them. He had run them ragged regularly, but today, he had been quite brutal. Oh well, tomorrow was another day after all.
“Yo,” he whole heartedly greeted the team, which only earned an annoyed look from his team, especially since he was moving fine, without any sign of exhaustion. “Got an announcement for ya.”
“Oh goodie, more training tonight?” Syn muttered through her food.
“Nope,” Farukon replied, “but mind your manners young lady. It’s not polite to eat with your mouth full.” Syn simply huffed and went back to eating her food.
“If not training, what is it?” Rue asked, despite her exhausting screaming for her to go to bed.
“We have a mission coming up,” Farukon responded.
“Eh?!!” the whole team asked in surprise.
“Serious?!”
“Already?!”
“That’s fast!”
“What are the specifics?”
“It’s a simple break-in-and-enter mission,” Farukon replied. “I’ll go over details, but for the next two days, we’ll be training for it, along with the other team that will be helping us.”
“Other team?” everyone asked.
“You’ll be briefed on them tomorrow,” Farukon simply stated. He was not looking forward to meeting them, but he had too.
“Just be ready for your training. That’ll be all.” With that, he turned around and left, while muttering about the horrors that he was about to face.
The next morning, all of Hammer, save for Farukon were waiting on the training field, going over their warm-up runs. All the while, the four of them for the most part chatted amiably amongst one another as they did their run, idly speculating what kind of mission it was. Despite the fact they were going to break into something, they had no idea what. Their ideas were mostly variations of extractions, although the actual contents of the mission at times were rather ridiculous, that some they swore never to mention ever again.
“Yo,” Farukon called out. He watched as the group finished the last lap, and approached him.
“So when does this team arrive?” Syn asked, wanting to get the morning training over with.
“Soon enough,” Farukon replied back.
“That them?” Hayato asked, pointing off towards a trio who were standing before them, their faces obscured by the morning sun behind them.
“Oh no…”
“READY?” a female voice called out, as the three of them pulled out a device of some sort from a pouch on their arm.
“READY!” the other two in turn responded, who turned out to be females as well.
“BELKARANGER, START UP!” as they yelled, they ran their devices across the length of their left arm, followed by three distinct ‘Stand by ready’ responses from them. In a flash of light, the three were immediately donned in their barrier jackets. Following suit, music suddenly kicked on out of nowhere, as the center person stepped up.
“Atsuki Boukenshaa!” the first one called out, as she snapped her fingers, before flaring her arms out with dramatic flair. “BelkaRed!”
“Honest Heart!” the second person called out, her body turned to the left, with her left hand opened, the palm facing towards the knuckles of her right fist, before going through a complex martial arts movements, ending with her hands in fists, with her left pointing towards them, the other outwards to her right. “BelkaYellow!”
“Ao no Mahotsukai!” the third yelled, with her body posed in such a way she was standing on her left leg, her right knee out, and her arms were in an L-shape with her right arm up, her left arm out, and leaning back, before immediately switching her pose as she stands up straight, with her right arm up, her left arm horizontal with the ground with her hand held to her chest. “BelkaBlue!”
“Endless Bouken Spirits!” the one called BelkaRed called out.
“MAHOU SENTAI! BELKARANGER!” As they call out, explosions fill the background as the three of them take heroic poses, centralized around BelkaRed, who stands in the middle.
... The Belkarangers... Hoooh boy, I sense many facepalms and snarky return comments aproaching from Syn's side.
You say this but you fail to consider a key fact anything that can rapidly CLOSE distance can also rapidly OPEN distance. If we’re fighting in jets I can light my burners and try to close with you, but you can turn away and open up your own throttle and keep the range open. (Assuming rough parity in aircraft). This is why speed is so important in ALL military operations the faster fighter dictates how and where the battle happens and he can use that defeat a technically superior enemy if he exploits it well or gain a huge edge on a lesser foe.
Yes and no. A difference here is reaction time and initiative. A fighter jet tends to allow seconds for reaction and both sides are usually not highly different in energy. A fight, however, may not have that luxury, especially since Hayate starts from a standing start in her bombardment position.
Even with a fighter, there will be geometries (especially in close, and Nanoha combat is basically in close by modern fighter standards) where all an extend would do is allow the enemy to get unanswered shots on your tail.
And while speed might somehow be produced, if Hayate had agility, she might not have sucked so much in melee (and note that the manga actually refers to individual fighting, which includes but is not restricted to melee).
Overall, it is almost unimaginable what Hayate's problems must be to get her to lose to Caro. It must be a huge part of the scope...
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If they have no other choice, but I doubt it's smiled upon as something you ought to do regularly.
We won't know. Lindy went out the first time, and not the second time (but she had to fire Arcenciel that time, too). It seems like Commanders are indeed not supposed to go out for small things, but it seems akin to a Captain not bothering his OOD in simple sailing conditions.
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I also don't think many Naval captains are acutally high level mages since those skills have NOTHING to do with running a battleship and having an S rank sit in a chair on a cruiser hardly seems like an effective utilization of human capital... I’d acutally bet that high level mages are greatly discouraged to take positions among the crew of warships.
Technical crew? Sure (and why would they when the TSAB is going to let them become an officer anyway). Captains or any other command position (since the "chair" on a cruiser can just as easily be the chair in some land HQ)? Do that and you are putting a glass ceiling against elite mages (it is highly doubtful they can make the higher ranks without serving a term as Vessel Commander). Call it the "good of the Sailing Force" or "efficiency" or whatever, but most people like to think their organization treats them fairly. Do something like this and you are asking them to transfer to civilian employment, where they are in great demand. Even if they stay, they will quit putting their best once the ceiling comes into sight - they know you are not gonna fire them because half their best is still worth more than ten other's "best". Some "effective utilization!"
Skills have nothing to do with running a battleship? What about the fact that an elite mage is likely to be, on average:
1) More experienced - since they'll take a disproportionate amount of tough jobs.
2) More intelligent + better knowledge - an AAA mage is supposed to have a "Master's knowledge" of magic.
3) Better character - from the Experience and also from day to day self-control of their own immense power.
4) Be more respected: Comes from 1-3, especially from accomplishments which make up 1.
What they will lack is a shipboard specialization. But a Captain is by nature a generalist - any specialist past he has is long behind him and he could at most have been a specialist in one field anyway. Given this, the lack of a specialization is unlikely to offset all the trait advantages above. In disallowing elite mages, you are also stripping your Vessel Commander cadres of some of the brightest, most experienced (what passes for them in the TSAB anyway) officers. Is that what the Sailing Force wants?
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I don’t recall anything being said about the ships coming from TSAB HQ in StrikerS nor about earth being only an hour away. Where exactly are these numbers coming from?
The three hours is from Chrono's fleet time from sortie to Earth. The ~1 hour timeframe for 97-HQ travel is based on events in A's. See how fast they evaced Nanoha to TSAB HQ's hospitals, or how Chrono can arrest our familiars on Earth, bring them to TSAB HQ for interrogation and run back. Even an hour is probably pessimistic.
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I doubt TSAB ships act like airplanes and take off and go back to the TSAB all the time. There's little reason for them too and even if it only saves a few hours getting to a scene those could be the diffrence between "problem contained with minmal damage" and "City is now a crater".
They might not always go back, but it seems like all of known TSAB space is compressed to such an extent that it is never hard to find a place where you can just skip back to HQ (or Mid) for a bit.
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Insanely small crews an Anime/Sci-fi staple as people tend to drastically underestimate how many people it takes to run a ship and totally neglect to consider who the fuck is running it when the main cast has to you know SLEEP.
Obviously, the ship is highly automated, so it can run by itself for routine ops
Besides, a small crew actually does give support to the theory that the ships have limited autonomies and often go back.
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Originally Posted by Keroko
All Lindy ever did was hop in and and throw down a Barrier. Hardly encouraging.
It was, on the other hand, the most important thing, and something that her son and Nanoha could not do.
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*blink* wait, what? Source on this?
3 hours = draw from StrikerS deployment to Mid.
1 hour = draw from events in Nanoha A.
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But aside that point, the issue with patroling is that by its very nature it takes time. The TSAB doesn't just hop in a world, see if everything is still there, and moves on (or at least, they shouldn't) They need to scan the worlds for any Lost Logia activety and investigate whether people are using Lost Logia for illegal experiments. Such operations take time.
Point. On the other hand, TSAB sensors have about two sensitivities - very high and just about zero, depending on energy output. Above a threshold they get excellent intelligence, otherwise they are effectively blind. Given this, a regular patrol circuit for maximum search area catching transients is arguably more productive than just orbiting a planet for orbit after orbit.
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No kidding, the novel blatantly changes events as they occured in the anime. Talk about a controdictionary source.
I still vote for salvage and Maximum Data Retention
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Actually, its the reverse. That's one of the things that pissed of Regius, remember? 'The Navy steals all the high-ranked mages' and all that. It's the main reason for the bad blood between the Ground Forces and the Navy.
I think Tk wants his elite mages to be Executive Officers (not Enforcers, we've made a mistake in creating a whole culture based on an incorrect Triad translation). The problem is that this causes a rank/capability inversion, which is generally not a good idea in command and control.
2008-03-24, 18:07
Author
And where can I get a copy to read? 
