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

[Comartemis]

Nanoha is out of the picture, having been wounded in the ambush that was sprung on her as she tried to save Vivio. She was also sent a message by the kidnappers not to intervene, and was given a present from Vivio and the kidnappers.

A small, bloody cross.

Made from fusing two of Vivio's fingers together.

Ye gods Goose, I feel physically ill just from reading the premise.

This'll probably be my last post for the weekend unless I can get to an internet cafe up north. Look forward to my first ever backlog breaker on Monday if I can't get online this weekend.

[Kha]

Originally Posted by Comartemis

Alright gang, my muse went and hit me over the head with something akin to a lead pipe of an idea, and I’d like some opinions on it before I give it serious consideration. I’ve been kicking this idea around in my head for a few hours and I think it has the potential to be viable if used properly.

Spoiler for Possible plans:

Comacanon as it stands now diverges from established canon several months after A’s with the Fate Incident replacing the Nanoha Incident. Well, what if I put the divergence a considerable distance farther back? As in all the way back to first contact with the TSAB and Earth?

Here’s what my muse is pushing on me: change the Earth of Nanoha canon into the Earth of Mahou Sensei Negima canon and see where things go from there. The early divergence point begins when Earth is discovered by the TSA to have a sizable population of mages living in secret amongst the mundanes. Contact with the Terran mage community occurs long before the series begins, but the mages of Earth express a desire to maintain the status quo and keep the public in the dark about magic, something the TSA agrees with. The end result is that Earth becomes a “work-in-progress” Non-Administered World where the local mages are left to their own devices, but are allowed to make contact with the TSAB and join up if they should wish to do so.

If I were to go with this idea, Nanoha canon would occur several years before the start of Negima canon; Negi himself would still be a newborn while Nanoha is attending Mahora Academy’s primary school with Suzuka and Arisa. In this universe, the Ala Rubra would be working for the Saint Church as agents in Earth’s magic world, which is where Asuna would be encountered and eventually turned over to the Church for safekeeping (What exactly the Ala Rubra are doing there in the first place still needs to be discerned, as I can’t seem to find any data on their activities in the manga). She retains her Void Magic abilities but also has the “older than she looks” quality to her, so she’s still only about 14 or so when StrikerS rolls around.

Anyways, Nanoha, Suzuka, and Arisa attend Mahora Academy. Yuuno comes looking for the Jewel Seeds and Nanoha joins up with him. This is where things start to get interesting, because it’s not very long before Nanoha encounters a 10-year old Alex, a young knight of the Saint Church ordered to come to Earth on Carim Gracia’s orders (Carim’s following a prophecy, as usual). Alex joins up with Nanoha and assists her with the Jewel Seed collecting, but right around the time Fate first shows up, Nanoha and Alex have the distinct misfortune of catching the attention of Miss Evangeline A.K. McDowell, who's still in a really bad mood over being caught in the Infernus Scholaticus curse for what will probably be the rest of eternity.

Evangeline doesn’t care much for the TSAB butting in on her territory, nor is she particularly sympathetic to Fate’s plight, so whenever the three of them meet on Mahora’s campus grounds, the fight turns into a three-way battle royale, usually pitting Alex against Eva (with the Infernus Scholasticus curse on her, so no uberspells yet), Fate against Nanoha, and Arf against Yuuno. Eventually the situation is resolved when the Asura shows up in orbit and the school dean all but orders Eva to stand down and let the bureau take control of the situation.

During Classic, Eva becomes intrigued with Nanoha’s extremely rapid progress as a mage and decides to take Nanoha under her wing following the end of the Jewel Seed incident. Alex stays on Earth with Nanoha and spends several months training with her family, who are still somewhat involved in the bodyguard business in this timeline, so Alex winds up learning a bit of Fuwa-style kenjutsu to match Nanoha’s experience with Evangeline. When the Wolkenritter enter stage left, Eva decides to use them to test Nanoha’s progress and sides with the Wolkenritter, just to keep the fight from getting too off-balance for the Wolks when Fate and company return.

After A’s, things more or less return to normal in Mahora. Comacanon picks up where it’s supposed to with the onset of the Fate Incident, and Eva now takes Hayate under her wing despite misgivings about her personality. The match between them is actually eerily similar, not only because Hayate’s and Eva’s specialties are both with Dark and Ice-elemental spells, but also because Eva’s attitude starts to rub off ever-so-slightly on Hayate. Devious!Hayate plays occasional pranks on her friends just for the lulz but also displays uncanny tactical abilities in magical combat, a bit like Lelouch but more focused on single combat than on commanding armies.

In the StrikerS timeskip, Suzuka and Arisa wind up becoming involved with the activities of Class 3-A (Arisa as Baka Red?) and will most likely become powerful Terran mages in their own right. While they won’t play any role in StrikerS RemiX (formerly known as Nanoha BladeS), they will almost certainly have some role to play in the post-StrikerS timeline. This will become easier to discern as I gain access to more of the post-Chao Negima manga volumes (Speaking of Chao…) and see where the story is going; it’s possible that Fate Averrnicus and his associates may have some history with the TSAB, but that will have to wait until I can get a clearer picture of the events of the Second Term.

Yup, I'm reading Negiha here. Not that I mind; I do have a Chao Lingshen in my cast, and I've long toyed with the idea that the Infinite Library could be linked to the Library Island via a channel undiscovered by both the TSAB and the Library Exploration Club. I was wondering whether dkellis would give me the liberty to have Rancer-tachi make first contact. :3

[USB500]

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

Naaah Marisa's been doing the beamspam seven years before Nanoha even picked up the habit. If anything, Nanoha learned from Marisa.

Besides, it's not that hard.

Spoiler for Marisa's Lesson:

Originally Posted by Evangelion Xgouki

So does this mean Nanoha is a Touhou player?

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

It would explain her unnaturally good adaptation to magic, flight, and dodging.

Originally Posted by Keroko

...

Spoiler for Exempt from episode 18:

"I said I'd be her mother, that I'd protect her. But I couldn't be by her side, I couldn't protect her."

Fate moved to embrace her distressed friend, but before her arms reached Nanoha-

-TWACK!-

....


Silence reigned supreme, and Fate stared in shock and surprise as the broom that had just smacked Nanoha's head moved away.

"Mataku, what kind of pathetic girl are you? A little bad thing happens and you go to pieces. What happened to your spine? Do I need to cram it back in?"

Fate was at a loss for words as she stared at the blond girl dressed in what looked like a... black witch costume? She even had a broom, which was currently tapping against her shoulder in frustration as her purple eyes glared at Nanoha.

Speaking of Nanoha... Fate turned to her friend. Nanoha was also staring at the intruder with shock, but her shock was different, her eyes were wide, and her mouth open trying to form words... did she know this person?

"Shi- shishou-sama?"

...

Wait.

Roll back.

"MASTER!?" Fate yelled out in shock.

...

Gah! Crack! Go away! I don't even know a thing about Touhou, why is this crack assaulting me!?

Originally Posted by Sheba

Join us in Touhou madness!

Originally Posted by Saint X

the Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You
The Power Of Touhou Compels You

Oh-hooo...........

Looks like everybody's expecting a Nanoha/Touhou crossover? I like where this thread is going

and while we're at it...

Spoiler for teaser?:

The portal widened, and from it came out an elegant, if not mysterious, lady carrying a parasol. Almost in surreal manners she floated in midair, lingering for a while before her feet touched the snow-covered land.

“Well, you seem to have arrived later than my expectations,” the parasol lady said.

“Who told you about this?” Nanoha demanded.

“A close friend of mine,” the parasol lady answered. “Of course, I assume none of you would know the name if I say it now.”

“We can settle that later, but first please tell us your name and this place,” Keroko said.

“Oh, I’m sorry for my lack of manners,” the parasol lady giggled; a few seconds later another person appeared from the portal, this time bearing the unmistakable resemblance of a kitsune albeit with a fox-ear hat on her head one tail less to make it nine. “I am Yakumo Yukari, and this is my assistant Ran. (The kitsune woman bowed to them.) As the head of the Yakumo Mansion I welcome you to Gensokyo.”

Yeah, you know what will happen next

On related note, Keroko, is Keroko-chan available?

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Nanoha is out of the picture, having been wounded in the ambush that was sprung on her as she tried to save Vivio. She was also sent a message by the kidnappers not to intervene, and was given a present from Vivio and the kidnappers.

A small, bloody cross.

O_O

>_<++

These kidnappers must meet....

Spoiler for >X ( ] "DEEEEEEEEEEATH!":

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by Keroko

*rubs eyes tiredly* I'm tired and going to sleep, but I managed to finish this before I go.

Spoiler for Syn Virage:

Name: Syn Virage
Mage rank: AAA
Military Rank:
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Magic type: Belkan
Magic colour: Blue
Hair color: Blue
Eye color: heterochromia, her right eye is red, while her left eye is blue.
Hair style: Syn’s hairstyle varies often, as both her mother and Vivio love to play with her hair.

Apearance:

Spoiler for Syn in casual clothing:

Spoiler for Syn with her mother, Elena Virage:

Personality:
Blunt, sharp with the tongue and a smartass to boot. The terror of teachers, you could say. Syn can be extremely annoying at times, driving people up the walls with smart remarks. Smartass she may be, though, she is not stupid. Most of the times when she is in one of her moods, she will drive to the edge, but never over it. If she is not in one of her moods –which must be said, is more often the case-, you will find that while she may poke fun at other people’s expense, she doesn’t mean it in a harmful way. When encountering Syn on one of her more calm moods, she is easy to get along with, albeit a bit stubborn.

Despite her tough-girl attitude, Syn can actually be a very shy girl, as she is very uncomfortable when it comes to physical contact. She won’t blush and faint, but you will clearly note that she gets very uncomfortable when people start getting intimate with her. A hand on her shoulder can make her slightly nervous, but not much, while a friendly hug makes her very nervous.

Background:
Syn is a Mid-Childan born girl, her parents being high-ranking officers in the navy, the talent for magic was quickly discovered and a career in the TSAB seems almost assured. However, when it came to picking a school, Syn was more interested in going to the far calmer school run by the Saint Church. Her parents agreed easily, possibly because they realized schools run, or otherwise funded by the TSAB may show favoritism.

When in the class, Syn felt isolated. With her mother being an Admiral in the navy, and her father a captain, she was treated with a certain amount of respect, awe, and unfortunately distance from her fellow classmates. This is probably why she quickly made friends with Vivio, whose mother was the even more famous Takamachi Nanoha. The two felt a shared connection between each other, and quickly they would work, eat and hang out together. It was during one of these hangout sessions that Vivio began to play with Syn’s hair, and developed a liking for it, much to Syn’s embarrassment.

Vivio quickly met Syn’s mother, Elena Virage, who had settled down for a desk job after becoming pregnant with Syn in order to raise their child. The two hit of perfectly, as Elena’s openness quickly accepted Vivio, and the two shared a liking for making sure the ‘plain’ Syn looked attractive.

To this day Syn still isn’t sure whether to bless or curse the fact that these two get along so fine.

A few years later, after successfully graduating, Syn applied to the TSAB along with Vivio. Their talent and heritage allowed them to bypass the lengthy Ground Force Training and the two were given the crash-course of several months. After successfully passing the AAA-rank test, the two quickly applied for the Armed Corps in the Main Branch.

Barrier Jacket:
Syn’s Barrier Jacket was designed by her mother and Vivio. Her initial idea was to simply use the standard Barrier Jacket the Armed Forces used, but the two would have none of that, and set of to design Syn her very own and personal Barrier Jacket.

The result was this:

Spoiler for Barrier Jacket:

Needless to say Syn was downright mortified, in fact at first she flatly refused to believe this was true, and frantically kept telling herself it was a dream and she would wake up soon. Syn’s Barrier Jacket is focused on high-defense, with as much maneuverability as possible, but only as a secondary concern.

Device:

Spoiler:

Hellskor is Syn’s Bow-type Device, its stored mode materializes as a bracelet worn on Syn’s right wrist. Hellskor is an Armed Device, and as such is not equipped with an AI as advanced as the types of Raising Heart and the like. Hellskor’s AI is more on the level of Levantine or Graff Eisen. Hellskor is made to specialize long-ranged bombardment magic, as well as physical shots. It allows Syn better control over her guided shots, and increases the accuracy of unguided high-speed and long-range projectiles.

Being in a Belkan school, and having a friend very important to Belkan history, Syn grew up favoring the Belkan school of magic. However, from her nature Syn had always been more of an archer then a swordfighter, so she decided to take a rare step for a Belkan mage: Become a ranged Belkan fighter.

Due to the nature of Belkan Reinforcement magic, this meant that her choice of weaponry was limited. Most gun-based Devices were build to support the Mid-style magic, and lacked any form of physical shots. Rescue came in the form of Signum, whom Vivio had told lots of stories about, and the Bow-form of her Device.

A bow allowed for the use of as many physical projectiles as the user could generate, and arrows were the perfect weapons to Reinforce, as they could take on any shape the mage desired with few restrictions.

Syn has virtually no melee skills, nor spells to support them, so she is completely dependant on getting her enemies from a far range.

Spells:
Offensive spells
Sperrfeuer -- Curtain Fire: A bombardment-type magic, while only one arrow is strung on the bow; many more arrows materialize around Syn, which can be fired simultaneously. These projectiles strike with high speed and strength, but cannot be controlled.

Flakfuer – Aerial Barrage: A controlled fire spell, while only one arrow is strung on the bow, multiple arrows, ranging from 3 to seven, materialize around Syn, which can be fired simultaneously. These shots have the lowest speed among Syn’s spells, but are controllable.

Caladbolg: A single-shot bombardment spell. It uses a single projectile, shaped like a strangely twisted sword-like arrow with a drill-like pattern, which is shot at high speed at the target. Its danger lies in that fact that it is a fast projectile, making it tricky to dodge. This is Syn’s most commonly used spell due to its low mana cost.

Hrunting: With little argue the most powerful of Syn’s offensive spells, with the longest of ranges in Syn’s arsenal. Despite firing only a single projectile, this spell can cause massive damage. Instead of spreading the damage over a large radius, as most bombardment spells do, this spell focuses all that damage in that single projectile, increasing its destructive qualities while lessening the damage radius. Hrunting is known for its high penetration, and few defences of its level can stand up against it.

Defensive/Movement
Movement Magic: Because Syn focuses on defence rather then mobility, she is not extremely fast. Using movement magic she is able to teleport away and reposition for another shot. The advantage of this is that it may throw an enemy of guard, the downside is that casting and coordinating the spell takes a short time.

Panzer Schild: A Belkan shield spell, this is arguably the most used defensive spell in Syn’s arsenal, using it to block her enemies attacks and counterattack afterwards. Syn is very talented in defensive spells, so her shield can take a pounding before going down.

Panzer Hindernis: A Belkan Barrier Spell, while less used then Panzer Schild, it often sees use to block attacks coming from the sides or attacks made while Syn’s hands are otherwise occupied.

Panzer Geist: A Belkan field spell, most often used to block attacks coming from all around her. Syn also uses it for its intimidating effect, because there is nothing more intimidating then someone simply standing there and taking your attacks without even flinching.

Enkidu: A binding spell, capable of being cast both at short and long ranges. Enkidu has no magic sealing or magic repelling, abilities but as a trade-off it is a very tough bind to break. It manifests as steel chains rather then magical ribbons, as the steel chains can be reinforced with Belkan magic.

Rho Aius: The second claim for the most powerful spell in Syn’s arsenal, Rho Aius would best be described as a multi-layered Barrier Spell. When casting, it appears in the form seven petals, each of which is as powerful as a concentrated Barrier. Rho Aius is a purely defensive spell created to block high-level spells. Because of its immense power required, Rho Aius is not a spell cast on a whim, and has a casting time, limiting its use to blocking high-level bombardment spells, or other spells that require a casting time before being fired.

And here we have Syn... growing from a 7 year old C to a 12 year old AAA.
Pretty good profile!
Oh! And glad you got rid of the eyepatch, she looks better that way.

On a side note... may I belive that "Flakfuer" is a spelling mistake?

Originally Posted by Kha

Hayate had a crush on Kha before choosing Grandis. Sophia was actually dere for Artei once. Arisa was confused between Nanoha, Suzuka and Artei. Yuuno also went for Keroko. Kha had a soft spot for Carym. Keira admired Signum a lot. Shamal and Zafira were hinted, and so was Arf and Zafira. Keroko was egging Nanoha to date Kha, despite herself being a little interested. Erio found himself staring at Fate. And the list goes on, Cardcaptor Convoluted Style.

Pairing Frenzy!

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

O_O

>_<++

These kidnappers must meet....

Spoiler for >X ( ] "DEEEEEEEEEEATH!":

Carnage: Don't worry. Most favorable outcome will be achieved.

[PhoenixG]

Originally Posted by USB500

Oh-hooo...........

Looks like everybody's expecting a Nanoha/Touhou crossover? I like where this thread is going

and while we're at it...

Spoiler for teaser?:

The portal widened, and from it came out an elegant, if not mysterious, lady carrying a parasol. Almost in surreal manners she floated in midair, lingering for a while before her feet touched the snow-covered land.

�Well, you seem to have arrived later than my expectations,� the parasol lady said.

�Who told you about this?� Nanoha demanded.

�A close friend of mine,� the parasol lady answered. �Of course, I assume none of you would know the name if I say it now.�

�We can settle that later, but first please tell us your name and this place,� Keroko said.

�Oh, I�m sorry for my lack of manners,� the parasol lady giggled; a few seconds later another person appeared from the portal, this time bearing the unmistakable resemblance of a kitsune albeit with a fox-ear hat on her head one tail less to make it nine. �I am Yakumo Yukari, and this is my assistant Ran. (The kitsune woman bowed to them.) As the head of the Yakumo Mansion I welcome you to Gensokyo.�

Yeah, you know what will happen next

On related note, Keroko, is Keroko-chan available?

:O:O:O

That's something interesting

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by TheShinySword

Well she's in ch 1 And I plan on using her more :3 Syn's too cool not to use

She is? *goes to check* Whoo! She is!

*runs off to comment*

Originally Posted by LimitedEternal

Syn's new and improved build, hm?

A bit jarring going from her Alpha build to this straight ranged one, but I guess you know what you're doing. I like the build, though - glad to see she's still a smartass.

Is her spell list supposed to be that small, though?

Well, it was late and I was tired, so I figured I'd just get her core spell-list running. Most of the times a lot of spells listed don't get used anyway, or see maybe one or two uses.

Originally Posted by Kha

Somebody cast Memory Lapse on me. I meant Keroko was the Ace who wasn't a Sue. The other 5 have rep in varying degrees to be one; Keroko's agreed Sue rating is 0.

Hmm, well except for the orphan bit I guess.

Originally Posted by Kha

Hayate had a crush on Kha before choosing Grandis. Sophia was actually dere for Artei once. Arisa was confused between Nanoha, Suzuka and Artei. Yuuno also went for Keroko. Kha had a soft spot for Carym. Keira admired Signum a lot. Shamal and Zafira were hinted, and so was Arf and Zafira. Keroko was egging Nanoha to date Kha, despite herself being a little interested. Erio found himself staring at Fate. And the list goes on, Cardcaptor Convoluted Style.

That entire web evolved and ironed out, finally arriving at the set point at end of Cente Gravia. Hence why relationshipwise, StrikerS onwards are all focused on the new cast, but there ins't much to fool around with. Teana goes for Dylandy who in turn is after someone we don't know yet. Subaru is stubbornly Teana. Vivio is free game for a while. Juliet Scagletti is too sly to be committed. Serena is too cold, and her tsun-affection for Allie is more onee-chan than anything else. Allie's just running free. So our main fun may well be from the Erio x Lutecia x Caro Macross Triangle.

The web or romance is a complicated web indeed.

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlare

@Keroko: Don't worry about it, Tesla has a lot more in store for her. She has romantic partnership; she cooks (in the next chapter, no less ); she makes a particularly useful insight during their meeting; she leads a small squadron against the enemy; and she fights the battle of her lifetime against a Magus two ranks higher than she is. I always find character development in Nanohaverse shouldn't just revolve around their fighting abilities, so Tesla pretty much gets an all-round development. Hopefully, it's up to your taste and imagination.

Oh yes, very much so. Looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by Aaron008R

...

......

.........



@______________________________@

ZOMG EPIC BRAINWAVE!!!! @___@

So... that's how it was...

Hayate, whom those that read my GenerationS version of her would find out that she had a crush on Chrono during her early pubescent years mainly because of how much he stood up for her in front of Graham's plan... Not to mention completely brushing aside her unneeded guilt with Clyde's death (which she had nothing to do with in the first place)... And then she actually later gave up on him because she was still kinda hooked up on that unnecessary large amount of selflessness schtick when she finds out that Keroko and Chrono had been getting along... Just when she almost manages to get over that minor heartbreak, Kha comes along and then puts on the harem-lead-patented 'Nice to all the girls' charm (as in being nice to Hayate a bit more than usual because of her gloominess) and manages to score a lot of affection points from her. But then Hayate desists yet again in favor of Fate... That second heartbreak kinda gives her a small trauma that she decides to focus fully in her career even more (120%!!!) instead of pursuing romance. But then, there comes this time that her playful flirting with Aurion gets misinterpreted and they get rumored to have a relationship when there is actually nothing of the sort happening...

This is...@_@

(In a good way...)

*is bashed with the Tome on the head by a blushing Hayate*

X_x

Well, looks like I set off something good.

Originally Posted by Aaron008R

MASSIVE TURNAROUND OF STYLE?!?!

Well... Though I was jarred by the AAA-rank when I read it, I eventually read thru the entire profile. And what can I say, I like Tsun-tsun Archer Syn compared to eyepatch brawler Syn!

Her relationship with Vivio is interesting, more so with Elena. Her Barrier Jacket is CUUUUTTTEEE~!!!

*dodges Hrunting*

Good work. And I find Rho Aius to be my favorite spell in her list.

Well, the AAA rank is to make her and Vivio about equal in strength (as my mind fails to compute Vivio at anything less then AAA rank at that age) but as it stands, she won't rise much higher then AAA+, though that is of course subject to change.

and yes, her Barrier Jacket is cute. Much to Syn's mortification. She can't even get rid of the wings, as the two designed them to help stabilize her flight magic.

Originally Posted by Aaron008R

Hayate had a crush on CHRONO before giving up on him in favor of Keroko (and eventually Amy), then had some attraction to Kha before giving up for Fate, been rumored to have a relationship with Aurion (which happens to be NOT the case), and then eventually settles down with Grandis.



Aaron: Broken Heart much, Hayate...?

Hayate: Don't remind me...

Aurion: There's a fine line between reasonable selflessness and plain gratuitous martyrism...

Grandis: Well, that turned out to be interesting...

Hayate. Most dramatic past of the Aces, and still going that way.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Ah forget it. I have to go to work and won't be back until late. The pitfalls of being the noob at work.

Can't really complain; my manager's working from 9.30 am to 1.00am tomorrow. I'm only going in at 2 pm.

Also, I roll eyes at Comartemis and Kha and their inclusion of church. They're probably going to get it all mostly wrong, seeing as how neither of them have had the level of exposure to churches that I have had.

Well, to be fair, does your religion have its own militairy force consisting of armed knights?

The Saint Church doesn't function like any religion we have here today, so to say they will get it 'wrong' is debatable to say the least, as we don't have a 'right' to bein with.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Ironic, innit, that the guy with the most immersion in religious life makes no reference to organised religion in his work, but two guys who know zilch beyond stereotypes and supposed coolness are intent on turning the saint church into a mockery of christianity.

If you choose to precieve it as such. I highly doubt Kha intends to mock any religion with this, he's writing this for fun after all.

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

RE: Soldiers of the Wasteland: I'm kicking myself for not thinking of the idea of a crack assault team (in the military context, unlike here, "crack" means AAA to S-ranked) breaking up a cosplay party. SotW is a lot darker and grimmer than stuff I normally write, and is not for the faint of heart.

Nanoha is out of the picture, having been wounded in the ambush that was sprung on her as she tried to save Vivio. She was also sent a message by the kidnappers not to intervene, and was given a present from Vivio and the kidnappers.

A small, bloody cross.

Made from fusing two of Vivio's fingers together.

....

I want these guys dead.

Painfully.

And bloody.

I won't settle for anything less.

Originally Posted by Comartemis

Alright gang, my muse went and hit me over the head with something akin to a lead pipe of an idea, and I’d like some opinions on it before I give it serious consideration. I’ve been kicking this idea around in my head for a few hours and I think it has the potential to be viable if used properly.

Spoiler for Possible plans:

Comacanon as it stands now diverges from established canon several months after A’s with the Fate Incident replacing the Nanoha Incident. Well, what if I put the divergence a considerable distance farther back? As in all the way back to first contact with the TSAB and Earth?

Here’s what my muse is pushing on me: change the Earth of Nanoha canon into the Earth of Mahou Sensei Negima canon and see where things go from there. The early divergence point begins when Earth is discovered by the TSA to have a sizable population of mages living in secret amongst the mundanes. Contact with the Terran mage community occurs long before the series begins, but the mages of Earth express a desire to maintain the status quo and keep the public in the dark about magic, something the TSA agrees with. The end result is that Earth becomes a “work-in-progress” Non-Administered World where the local mages are left to their own devices, but are allowed to make contact with the TSAB and join up if they should wish to do so.

If I were to go with this idea, Nanoha canon would occur several years before the start of Negima canon; Negi himself would still be a newborn while Nanoha is attending Mahora Academy’s primary school with Suzuka and Arisa. In this universe, the Ala Rubra would be working for the Saint Church as agents in Earth’s magic world, which is where Asuna would be encountered and eventually turned over to the Church for safekeeping (What exactly the Ala Rubra are doing there in the first place still needs to be discerned, as I can’t seem to find any data on their activities in the manga). She retains her Void Magic abilities but also has the “older than she looks” quality to her, so she’s still only about 14 or so when StrikerS rolls around.

Anyways, Nanoha, Suzuka, and Arisa attend Mahora Academy. Yuuno comes looking for the Jewel Seeds and Nanoha joins up with him. This is where things start to get interesting, because it’s not very long before Nanoha encounters a 10-year old Alex, a young knight of the Saint Church ordered to come to Earth on Carim Gracia’s orders (Carim’s following a prophecy, as usual). Alex joins up with Nanoha and assists her with the Jewel Seed collecting, but right around the time Fate first shows up, Nanoha and Alex have the distinct misfortune of catching the attention of Miss Evangeline A.K. McDowell, who's still in a really bad mood over being caught in the Infernus Scholaticus curse for what will probably be the rest of eternity.

Evangeline doesn’t care much for the TSAB butting in on her territory, nor is she particularly sympathetic to Fate’s plight, so whenever the three of them meet on Mahora’s campus grounds, the fight turns into a three-way battle royale, usually pitting Alex against Eva (with the Infernus Scholasticus curse on her, so no uberspells yet), Fate against Nanoha, and Arf against Yuuno. Eventually the situation is resolved when the Asura shows up in orbit and the school dean all but orders Eva to stand down and let the bureau take control of the situation.

During Classic, Eva becomes intrigued with Nanoha’s extremely rapid progress as a mage and decides to take Nanoha under her wing following the end of the Jewel Seed incident. Alex stays on Earth with Nanoha and spends several months training with her family, who are still somewhat involved in the bodyguard business in this timeline, so Alex winds up learning a bit of Fuwa-style kenjutsu to match Nanoha’s experience with Evangeline. When the Wolkenritter enter stage left, Eva decides to use them to test Nanoha’s progress and sides with the Wolkenritter, just to keep the fight from getting too off-balance for the Wolks when Fate and company return.

After A’s, things more or less return to normal in Mahora. Comacanon picks up where it’s supposed to with the onset of the Fate Incident, and Eva now takes Hayate under her wing despite misgivings about her personality. The match between them is actually eerily similar, not only because Hayate’s and Eva’s specialties are both with Dark and Ice-elemental spells, but also because Eva’s attitude starts to rub off ever-so-slightly on Hayate. Devious!Hayate plays occasional pranks on her friends just for the lulz but also displays uncanny tactical abilities in magical combat, a bit like Lelouch but more focused on single combat than on commanding armies.

In the StrikerS timeskip, Suzuka and Arisa wind up becoming involved with the activities of Class 3-A (Arisa as Baka Red?) and will most likely become powerful Terran mages in their own right. While they won’t play any role in StrikerS RemiX (formerly known as Nanoha BladeS), they will almost certainly have some role to play in the post-StrikerS timeline. This will become easier to discern as I gain access to more of the post-Chao Negima manga volumes (Speaking of Chao…) and see where the story is going; it’s possible that Fate Averrnicus and his associates may have some history with the TSAB, but that will have to wait until I can get a clearer picture of the events of the Second Term.

Well, this looks like it will be interesting. I am looking forward to Devious!Hayate influenced by Eva.

And please tell me you'll do something with Chao. Seeing her leave was the biggest tearjerking moment of the manga so far. I mean, I can understand why, but still... Chaaaoooo

One thing though, Arisa as Baka Red? Does not compute! XD Arisa has top grades, and is prefectly bilangual too (so she'd be the perfect person to get along with Negi, as she can talk to him in his home language ).

Originally Posted by USB500

On related note, Keroko, is Keroko-chan available?

As always, go right ahead.

Originally Posted by Kyral

And here we have Syn... growing from a 7 year old C to a 12 year old AAA.
Pretty good profile!
Oh! And glad you got rid of the eyepatch, she looks better that way.

On a side note... may I belive that "Flakfuer" is a spelling mistake?

Did I write Flakfuer? *checks*

Huh, I did, I wonder where that second e ran off to. Yep, typo fixed, thanks for picking it out.

[Kha]

"Today, we celebrate, our Independence Day!" ~ ID4

This goes out to our US friends out there.

Originally Posted by Keroko

Hmm, well except for the orphan bit I guess.

That is more cliche than Sue actually. Besides, on the flip side there'd be little to differentiate Keroko from Nanoha, and Nanoha's status as the rare "Powerful Ace with living relatives/non-emo past" would've been reduced.

Originally Posted by Keroko

The web or romance is a complicated web indeed.

I like my candy floss tangled.

Originally Posted by Keroko

Well, looks like I set off something good.

And exposed my surprise.

Originally Posted by Keroko

Well, to be fair, does your religion have its own military force consisting of armed knights?

The Saint Church doesn't function like any religion we have here today, so to say they will get it 'wrong' is debatable to say the least, as we don't have a 'right' to begin with.

Indeed, Belka is an organized liberal religion. No Terran equivalent, which is why I ended up drawing from multiple places, and filling in the humongous gaps with loads of self-thought putty. Goose has a right to disagree, just no right to annoy others while doing so.

Originally Posted by Keroko

If you choose to perceive it as such. I highly doubt Kha intends to mock any religion with this, he's writing this for fun after all.

I gave up bothering to reply directly, considering that nobody let C.S. Lewis off the hook.

Originally Posted by Keroko

And please tell me you'll do something with Chao. Seeing her leave was the biggest tearjerking moment of the manga so far. I mean, I can understand why, but still... Chaaaoooo

There, there... *pats Keroko*

And she didn't leave. Time travellers will learn that, despite all their calculations and precautions, the mere act of travelling into the past will affect the future. Her intervention, however unsuccessful, has altered the Grand Plan in ways she can never imagine.

Be it Rebuilt, Kerokanon and I dare say even canon, she's...

*glances at "Wang Liu Meng", who's trying to look inconspicuous*

...still with us, I'm sure.

Originally Posted by Keroko

One thing though, Arisa as Baka Red? Does not compute! XD Arisa has top grades, and is prefectly bilangual too (so she'd be the perfect person to get along with Negi, as she can talk to him in his home language ).

Yeah, I mean, Arisa remembers Artei's Social Security number while he can't. She even goes as far to claim that he can't tie his shoelaces without her!

...

*runs from people who get the ref*

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Kha

Yeah, I mean, Arisa remembers Artei's Social Security number while he can't. She even goes as far to claim that he can't tie his shoelaces without her!

...

*runs from people who get the ref*

So Arisa is Artei's "Most qualified, capable person" he's ever met?

*RUNS FASTER*

[Liingo]

Originally Posted by Tormenk

Keroko: "Yuuno-kun's late.. "

Chrono: "Ah Keroko there you are. Yuuno said he couldn't make it at the last second so he asked me to replace him."

Keroko:"Oh..I suppose it can't be helped then. Work takes precedence after all."

Chrono: "Shall we ?"

*around the corner Yuuno lies gagged and Struggle Bound*

Yuuno: "Chrughh urgh urghtrd !"

Anyone want to write this up properly?

Originally Posted by Keroko

*rubs eyes tiredly* I'm tired and going to sleep, but I managed to finish this before I go.

Nicely put together profile And as usual, nothing to complain about. A touch of Archer in some of the spells as well as a hint of summoning proficiency as well. Very cool

Originally Posted by PhoenixFlare

That's fast!

What can I say, reading is a strong point

See replies to some of the issues below.

Spoiler for Reply:

Prologue, Scene II

Your explanation makes sense, but I was referring to the dates that you've got down. In Scene 1, it's Jan 16, 0081 but in Scene 2 it's suddenly Jan 16 0076.

Chapter Two, Scene V

• I'm sorry, Liingo, but I can't find the reference about the Enforcers that you're talking about. Mind to point me to it?
• Yep, time-stretch is definitely weird. Thanks for the look-up, changing them.

I'm not exactly sure where it is myself anymore It was pretty much a discussion on what the 'enforcers' do, how they're pretty much lone wolves, not tied to specific units, leading to the start of a dramatic overhaul for myself in particular with my OC's. Don't worry too much about it, it's not going to have a large role in your fic.

Chapter Three, Scene III

• The angst/despair wasn't deep to begin with, and it was sidelined by the fact that they could not confirm the issues at hand. When they started to formulate plans, the atmosphere supposedly lifted somewhat. Moreover, Nanoha and Verossa didn't know what they were discussing about, so they came in looking cheerful. Fate and Hayate quickly warmed up to their friends. It's not helped by Verossa's joke (perhaps it's too dry, I can't really write jokes if it cost me my life ).

Noted.

Chapter Four, Scene V

• They are picked up from various departments who have manpower to spare. Most of them (around 60%) comprise of Ground Forces (since Chrono made it his priority to have less friction with the Ground Forces' leader), a handful from Air Force, Navy, and Enforcers. Part of them were also drafted from reserves that were approved by their respective chiefs. von Khrull doesn't have much problem with the Ground Forces' units, but he paid extra attention to those that Chrono wanted to bring in from other departments.
• As it is, the thousand-strong members also include housekeepers, cooks, general staff, pages, and maintenance crews. I made it a point for them to be present as well, since it's their inaugural inception, and despite them being not as detailed as the frontline, they would be used. I already have their representatives worked out.

I guess it's a reasonable explanation. Good to see you had one I had brought it up since it just seemed a little extraordinary that Chrono was able to put together a group of 1k members together in such little time. Not to mention that he didn't have to fight tooth and nail for suddenly stripping units of members out of the blue. That and the fact that paper work was pushed through the chain so quickly. In a lot of places it'd probably be good to have such a turn around time for small requests, let alone what he wanted (and got..)

Thanks, Liingo, this helps a lot.

By the way, if you do have questions about the plot, I don't mind you asking. If it's a major one, I'll probably say so, though minor ones are perfectly all right.

No worries. Give us a yell if you need someone to read over anything.

I'll leave the plot questions rest. No point in rushing anything.

Originally Posted by TheShinySword

Good lordy your head's gonna fall off from all the nodding Aaron.

You should have seen some of the posts back in the original OCT.

Originally Posted by Keroko

....

I want these guys dead.

Painfully.

And bloody.

I won't settle for anything less.

I second this motion.

[Kyral]

*sigh* And there goes my intention of writhing shorter chapters...

It again turned out longer than planned...

Ah well... anyway. Chapter 5 of my main story is ready!

And as promised... a bigger titel so it won't be overseen.

Memories of Blood and Sorrow
Part 5: Ghost Hunt

Spoiler:

[Midchilda central, TSAB GAS HQ, canteen] [August, MC 076]

The clanking sound made Elric look up as a tablet was put down on the table he was sitting at. While the owner of the tablet sat down opposite Elric’s own seat, Elric scanned the content of the tablet.
Cutlery, a glass of juice, a small salad and some kind of pudding, the main dish was composed of meat and other ingredients in some orange/brown sauce and rice.

“Curry…” Elric confirmed and looked up to Rinya, the tablets owner.

“You don’t like curry?” Rinya asked while putting a spoonful of curry into her mouth.

“I don’t dislike it. I was just thinking aloud.”

“Hm.” Rinya made before swallowing down and pointing her spoon at Elric’s tablet. “And you are the type of mage who’s always eating noodles right? And lot’s of them too.”

“Can’t help it, I need the Mana.” Elric said while spiking some rigatoni on his fork.

They ate a little while in silence until Rinya spoke again. “So we have to board the Auriga at 1430?”

It has been a week now since Rinya was discharged from hospital. And even though she didn’t live in Central like Elric did, she very often came to the canteen to have lunch with him.
Elric had no problems anymore to talk to her, but they never talked much about private things. They still were just good colleagues and not friends.

“Yes.” Elric answered while still chewing and continued after he swallowed. “I still got some stuff to pack.”

Rinya nodded. “Yeah, me two. I must admit it is my first time on a cruiser.”

Elric didn’t look up as he was eating. “Don’t worry; the cabins are a little smaller as your normal dorm room but you normally don’t feel any different from being on planet.”

“Well, I don’t really expect to become dimensional sick or something like that.”

“And even if, there is pretty good medication should that happen.” Elric joked and put his fork on the empty plate.

“That was fast!” Rinya commented as she saw that Elric had finished his much bigger portion.

Elric smiled slightly as he grabbed his tablet and stood up. “Well… I see you later Shuri-san.”

“Sure thing, Thorn-san.” Rinya said goodbye, returning the smile.

She didn’t watch Elric leave the canteen, but hurried to eat the rest of her curry instead, as she also had to finish packing.

It was then that she heard the voices behind her.

“You saw that? The Freak just went out.”

“What Freak?”

“Yeah I saw it. That was the Blood Mage right?” a third voice.

“Yup, the Mage of Carnage himself. Damn psycho killer! I wonder why they didn’t put him against the wall!”

“But didn’t the chief librarian of the infinity library proved his innocence?” The second voice objected. “Wasn’t he mind controlled or something?”

“Fuck the chief librarian! I don’t think one of [I]his[/] buddies was killed in action! Mind control my ass!” the first voice answered angry.

“I agree. They should just lock him away or give him suicide missions. Better than letting him run around freely, right?” the third voice again.

“Calm down guys, it’s not like we can do something about it.” The second voice.

“Well I know what I could do…” first voice started but fell silent after that.

Rinya stared at the plate in front of her.
It was not the first time she heard something like that and it was not like she couldn’t comprehend the feelings of the people sitting behind her. She also lost friends and comrades and that’s why... Her gaze fell on the clock at the wall. "Ah damn! I don’t have time for this!"
She wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.


==========

[Midchilda Southfort, 5th Airport]

Elric felt out of place as he looked around. Flocks of blue uniformed navy personnel surrounded him, making him a little uneasy in his brown uniform.

They all belonged to the crew of the Auriga, a TSAB patrol cruiser he and Rinya would board. He didn’t know how the crew felt for suddenly having two non navies on board, but he was used to be an outsider so he didn’t really care. And as no one giving him strange looks, he guessed it was alright. Come to think of it, navy was the only branch he had not really a bad reputation.

Someone touched his shoulder so he turned around. He knew both newcomers well, so he was touched a little that they would see him off.

“Inspector Acous, Lieutenant Colonel Yagami.” He saluted them.

Hayate returned the salute and Verossa even reached him his hand. Elric shook it.

“How are you feeling?” Hayate ask.

“Not bad, Ma’am. It’s been a while since I was off planet, so I’m a little excided.” He answered honestly.

Hayate smiled. “I know what you mean; I will board the Claudia in an hour. And even it is like a second home I still feeling a little excited about it.”

“That’s because traveling is always fun!” The miniature version of a person suddenly landed on Hayate’s shoulder.

Elric blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know you were here, Sergeant Major.”

Sergeant Major Reinforce Zwei looked at him with her big blue eyes, slightly confused. “Well, Hayate is going on a mission, so I am with her. Is that strange?”

Reinforce Zwei was Hayate Yagami’s personal Unison Device, so it was only natural that she followed her around. How strange; Elric really met Hayate more often without Reinforce. But she was right of course.

Elric bowed a little to the small figure. “You are right Sergeant Major, forgive me my thoughtlessness.”

Reinforce’s look expression shifted a little towards panic as she was surprised by the sudden formal apology. She even waved her hands about. “No you didn’t Elric-san, don’t worry! You never offended me!”

Elric straitened up and smiled. “That makes me I feel relieved.”

Reinforce rewarded him with a brilliant smile which made Hayate and Verossa chuckle.
They all knew that Elric didn’t made fun of Reinforce even if it may looked like it. Everything he said to her was meant honest, as he was someone who had to learn the hard way that a Device is more than just a tool. Sadly it was out of the same reason that Elric kept some distance even towards Reinforce.

“Oi, Hayate!” a voice rang through the hall, causing more than just one person to turn around and stare at the redheaded girl that was waving with her hand. “We’re going to be late!”

Well, girl was not the right word, as Elric knew that this ‘girl’ was a lot older than him. Vita of the Wolkenritter ignored the stares and kept waving. Signum was standing behind her, the arms crossed and the eyes closed. Her serious looks was somewhat foiled by Agito, her Unison Device, who was sitting cross-legged on her head. Besides Signum was Shamal, visibly embarrassed of the attention Vita was causing. Guardian beast Zafira on the contrary, who was sitting in his beast form at Shamal’s feet, looked glad that he was not the one who was stared at.

“Mou, Vita-chan!” Hayate mumbled and even Elric was unable not to grin at the situation. She turned back to Verossa and Elric. “I’m sorry, but it seems I have to go now. Inspector Acous, Operative Thorn.” She saluted them. “Let’s go, Rein.”

“Yes!” the Device answered cheerfully, waved the two men goodbye and followed the Mistress of the Night Sky.

“She likes you…” Verossa stated after Hayate disappeared.

“Sir?” Elric looked at him curious from the corner of his eye, not sure if he was teased again.

“A girl without family, whose life was heavily influenced by a Lost Logia artifact. I and Hayate both know that your life was a lot rougher then hers, but she is seeing that you two share many similarities in your background. This is why she is taking a liking in you.”

Elric relaxed a little, so that was the “like” he was talking about.

Verossa smiled as he continued: “She even mentioned that she wants to introduce you to Carim.”

“Carim, Sir?” Elric was unable to recall which ‘Carim’ Verossa meant, maybe another investigator.

“You will see.” Verossa answered smiling, but then he faced Elric with a serious expression. “I know you’re a nice person Elric Thorn, and Hayate is like a sister to me, so I am asking you directly: Would you become friends with her?”

Elric managed pretty well to hide his surprise. After a second of silence he asked in a neutral tone: “Is that an order, Sir?”

Verossa looked like he had bitten into some very sour fruit, but only for a moment. Then he chuckled. “I see you’re practicing your humor.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Elric replied in his neutral tone again, but this time with a small smile. “But I can’t answer your question. I don’t dislike Lieutenant Colonel Yagami, you could even say that I grew to respect her a lot, but I don’t know if that is enough to become friends.”

“I see.” Verossa nodded.

Both men stood there a little while in silence which was interrupted by Verossa again as he looked down the hall. “It seems you partner has finally arrived.”

Elric followed his gaze to see Rinya arrive. In her blue uniform she didn’t stuck out in the crowd of navy personnel. The brunette woman she was talking to was attracting much more attention in her white instructor uniform. For one moment the painful memory of a pink light flashed into Elrics mind.

After Rinya said goodbye to Nanoha Takamachi, who then headed to the same direction Hayate and the Wolkenritter went, probably to see them off, she noticed Elric and Verossa and headed their why, pulling a small trolley behind her.

“Good day. Inspector Acous, Hello Thorn-san!” she greeted them.

“Good day, Lieutenant.” Verossa said smiling.

“You know Instructor Takamachi?” Elric asked bluntly.

Rinya smiled. “She was one of my instructors back in flight training but I only had her in Air Tactics and Squadron Combat. I was mostly instructed by someone else. Why are you asking? Do you know her?”

“Slightly.” Elric said nothing more.

And as if there was some kind of signal, the conversations between the fleet personnel silenced.
The cause was the arrival of a blond, young man, his bright blue eyes surveying the hall.

“It looks like the captain is here.” Verossa said and started to head in his direction, while the crew of the Auriga started to muster. Elric and Rinya didn’t quit know where to go, so they stood in attention a little aside.

After the Captain exchanged a few words with Verossa he turned and addressed his crew.

“Gentlemen, it is an honor to see you again after this two weeks of shore leave.” He smiled. “You all know that normally, I would not address you this formal before our departure, but this time we have special circumstances.”
His one hand painted at Verossa. “Inspector Verossa Acous, from the TSAB Intelligence Department, proposed a joint operation between this ship and two handpicked combatants of other TSAB branches, I ensured him our full cooperation for operation ‘Ghost Hunt’.” He now pointed at Elric and Rinya. “This is Special Combat Operative Elric Thorn and 2nd Lieutenant Rinya Shuri A’Kalash, both from the temporary formed ‘Mantis Stalker Investigation Unit’, they will accompany us on our patrol, which allows them to react faster to the emergencies that will require their full attention. There will be no changes in our patrol mission besides this. I thank you for attention, Gentlemen. Dismissed.”

Every single person in the hall returned his salute precisely before they started to leave to the teleport field from which they would teleported to the Auriga which was waiting in orbit, some in groups some alone. Acous again exchanged some final words with the captain.

“He is younger than I expected.” Rinya suddenly said.

“Admiral Jorin Fafnir.” Elric started to explain. “He graduated training school together with Admiral Chrono Harlaown and worked as an Enfocer until he was promoted two years ago. Since then he commanded the Auriga on its missions. He was promoted thanks to hard work, so I think we will have no problems working together with him.”

Rinya gave Elric an amazed look. “I didn’t know you where this good informed.”

“He is my supervisor for this operation, so I thought it may be a good idea to know about him.”

“Supervisor?” Rinya asked.

“I will tell you another time about this.” Erlic shouldered his rucksack.”We should go on board too.”

Rinya nodded smiling. “Of course you are right. Shall we?”

Elric nodded only as answer and followed her towards the teleport field.

Puuh... next chapter is already in the works...

[Liingo]

Originally Posted by Kyral

*sigh* And there goes my intention of writhing shorter chapters...

It again turned out longer than planned...

Ah well... anyway. Chapter 5 of my main story is ready!

And as promised... a bigger titel so it won't be overseen.

Memories of Blood and Sorrow
Part 5: Ghost Hunt

Spoiler:

[Midchilda central, TSAB GAS HQ, canteen] [May, MC 076]

The clanking sound made Elric look up as a tablet was put down on the table he was sitting at. While the owner of the tablet sat down opposite Elric’s own seat, Elric scanned the content of the tablet.
Cutlery, a glass of juice, a small salad and some kind of pudding, the main dish was composed of meat and other ingredients in some orange/brown sauce and rice.

“Curry…” Elric confirmed and looked up to Rinya, the tablets owner.

“You don’t like curry?” Rinya asked while putting a spoonful of curry into her mouth.

“I don’t dislike it. I was just thinking aloud.”

“Hm.” Rinya made before swallowing down and pointing her spoon at Elric’s tablet. “And you are the type of mage who’s always eating noodles right? And lot’s of them too.”

“Can’t help it, I need the Mana.” Elric said while spiking some rigatoni on his fork.

They ate a little while in silence until Rinya spoke again. “So we have to board the Auriga at 1430?”

It has been a week now since Rinya was discharged from hospital. And even though she didn’t live in Central like Elric did, she very often came to the canteen to have lunch with him.
Elric had no problems anymore to talk to her, but they never talked much about private things. They still were just good colleagues and not friends.

“Yes.” Elric answered while still chewing and continued after he swallowed. “I still got some stuff to pack.”

Rinya nodded. “Yeah, me two. I must admit it is my first time on a cruiser.”

Elric didn’t look up as he was eating. “Don’t worry; the cabins are a little smaller as your normal dorm room but you normally don’t feel any different from being on planet.”

“Well, I don’t really expect to become dimensional sick or something like that.”

“And even if, there is pretty good medication should that happen.” Elric joked and put his fork on the empty plate.

“That was fast!” Rinya commented as she saw that Elric had finished his much bigger portion.

Elric smiled slightly as he grabbed his tablet and stood up. “Well… I see you later Shuri-san.”

“Sure thing, Thorn-san.” Rinya said goodbye, returning the smile.

She didn’t watch Elric leave the canteen, but hurried to eat the rest of her curry instead, as she also had to finish packing.

It was then that she heard the voices behind her.

“You saw that? The Freak just went out.”

“What Freak?”

“Yeah I saw it. That was the Blood Mage right?” a third voice.

“Yup, the Mage of Carnage himself. Damn psycho killer! I wonder why they didn’t put him against the wall!”

“But didn’t the chief librarian of the infinity library proved his innocence?” The second voice objected. “Wasn’t he mind controlled or something?”

“Fuck the chief librarian! I don’t think one of [I]his[/] buddies was killed in action! Mind control my ass!” the first voice answered angry.

“I agree. They should just lock him away or give him suicide missions. Better than letting him run around freely, right?” the third voice again.

“Calm down guys, it’s not like we can do something about it.” The second voice.

“Well I know what I could do…” first voice started but fell silent after that.

Rinya stared at the plate in front of her.
It was not the first time she heard something like that and it was not like she couldn’t comprehend the feelings of the people sitting behind her. She also lost friends and comrades and that’s why... Her gaze fell on the clock at the wall. "Ah damn! I don’t have time for this!"
She wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.


==========

[Midchilda Southfort, 5th Airport]

Elric felt out of place as he looked around. Flocks of blue uniformed navy personnel surrounded him, making him a little uneasy in his brown uniform.

They all belonged to the crew of the Auriga, a TSAB patrol cruiser he and Rinya would board. He didn’t know how the crew felt for suddenly having two non navies on board, but he was used to be an outsider so he didn’t really care. And as no one giving him strange looks, he guessed it was alright. Come to think of it, navy was the only branch he had not really a bad reputation.

Someone touched his shoulder so he turned around. He knew both newcomers well, so he was touched a little that they would see him off.

“Inspector Acous, Lieutenant Colonel Yagami.” He saluted them.

Hayate returned the salute and Verossa even reached him his hand. Elric shook it.

“How are you feeling?” Hayate ask.

“Not bad, Ma’am. It’s been a while since I was off planet, so I’m a little excided.” He answered honestly.

Hayate smiled. “I know what you mean; I will board the Claudia in an hour. And even it is like a second home I still feeling a little excited about it.”

“That’s because traveling is always fun!” The miniature version of a person suddenly landed on Hayate’s shoulder.

Elric blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know you were here, Sergeant Major.”

Sergeant Major Reinforce Zwei looked at him with her big blue eyes, slightly confused. “Well, Hayate is going on a mission, so I am with her. Is that strange?”

Reinforce Zwei was Hayate Yagami’s personal Unison Device, so it was only natural that she followed her around. How strange; Elric really met Hayate more often without Reinforce. But she was right of course.

Elric bowed a little to the small figure. “You are right Sergeant Major, forgive me my thoughtlessness.”

Reinforce’s look expression shifted a little towards panic as she was surprised by the sudden formal apology. She even waved her hands about. “No you didn’t Elric-san, don’t worry! You never offended me!”

Elric straitened up and smiled. “That makes me I feel relieved.”

Reinforce rewarded him with a brilliant smile which made Hayate and Verossa chuckle.
They all knew that Elric didn’t made fun of Reinforce even if it may looked like it. Everything he said to her was meant honest, as he was someone who had to learn the hard way that a Device is more than just a tool. Sadly it was out of the same reason that Elric kept some distance even towards Reinforce.

“Oi, Hayate!” a voice rang through the hall, causing more than just one person to turn around and stare at the redheaded girl that was waving with her hand. “We’re going to be late!”

Well, girl was not the right word, as Elric knew that this ‘girl’ was a lot older than him. Vita of the Wolkenritter ignored the stares and kept waving. Signum was standing behind her, the arms crossed and the eyes closed. Her serious looks was somewhat foiled by Agito, her Unison Device, who was sitting cross-legged on her head. Besides Signum was Shamal, visibly embarrassed of the attention Vita was causing. Guardian beast Zafira on the contrary, who was sitting in his beast form at Shamal’s feet, looked glad that he was not the one who was stared at.

“Mou, Vita-chan!” Hayate mumbled and even Elric was unable not to grin at the situation. She turned back to Verossa and Elric. “I’m sorry, but it seems I have to go now. Inspector Acous, Operative Thorn.” She saluted them. “Let’s go, Rein.”

“Yes!” the Device answered cheerfully, waved the two men goodbye and followed the Mistress of the Night Sky.

“She likes you…” Verossa stated after Hayate disappeared.

“Sir?” Elric looked at him curious from the corner of his eye, not sure if he was teased again.

“A girl without family, whose life was heavily influenced by a Lost Logia artifact. I and Hayate both know that your life was a lot rougher then hers, but she is seeing that you two share many similarities in your background. This is why she is taking a liking in you.”

Elric relaxed a little, so that was the “like” he was talking about.

Verossa smiled as he continued: “She even mentioned that she wants to introduce you to Carim.”

“Carim, Sir?” Elric was unable to recall which ‘Carim’ Verossa meant, maybe another investigator.

“You will see.” Verossa answered smiling, but then he faced Elric with a serious expression. “I know you’re a nice person Elric Thorn, and Hayate is like a sister to me, so I am asking you directly: Would you become friends with her?”

Elric managed pretty well to hide his surprise. After a second of silence he asked in a neutral tone: “Is that an order, Sir?”

Verossa looked like he had bitten into some very sour fruit, but only for a moment. Then he chuckled. “I see you’re practicing your humor.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Elric replied in his neutral tone again, but this time with a small smile. “But I can’t answer your question. I don’t dislike Lieutenant Colonel Yagami, you could even say that I grew to respect her a lot, but I don’t know if that is enough to become friends.”

“I see.” Verossa nodded.

Both men stood there a little while in silence which was interrupted by Verossa again as he looked down the hall. “It seems you partner has finally arrived.”

Elric followed his gaze to see Rinya arrive. In her blue uniform she didn’t stuck out in the crowd of navy personnel. The brunette woman she was talking to was attracting much more attention in her white instructor uniform. For one moment the painful memory of a pink light flashed into Elrics mind.

After Rinya said goodbye to Nanoha Takamachi, who then headed to the same direction Hayate and the Wolkenritter went, probably to see them off, she noticed Elric and Verossa and headed their why, pulling a small trolley behind her.

“Good day. Inspector Acous, Hello Thorn-san!” she greeted them.

“Good day, Lieutenant.” Verossa said smiling.

“You know Instructor Takamachi?” Elric asked bluntly.

Rinya smiled. “She was one of my instructors back in flight training but I only had her in Air Tactics and Squadron Combat. I was mostly instructed by someone else. Why are you asking? Do you know her?”

“Slightly.” Elric said nothing more.

And as if there was some kind of signal, the conversations between the fleet personnel silenced.
The cause was the arrival of a blond, young man, his bright blue eyes surveying the hall.

“It looks like the captain is here.” Verossa said and started to head in his direction, while the crew of the Auriga started to muster. Elric and Rinya didn’t quit know where to go, so they stood in attention a little aside.

After the Captain exchanged a few words with Verossa he turned and addressed his crew.

“Gentlemen, it is an honor to see you again after this two weeks of shore leave.” He smiled. “You all know that normally, I would not address you this formal before our departure, but this time we have special circumstances.”
His one hand painted at Verossa. “Inspector Verossa Acous, from the TSAB Intelligence Department, proposed a joint operation between this ship and two handpicked combatants of other TSAB branches, I ensured him our full cooperation for operation ‘Ghost Hunt’.” He now pointed at Elric and Rinya. “This is Special Combat Operative Elric Thorn and 2nd Lieutenant Rinya Shuri A’Kalash, both from the temporary formed ‘Mantis Stalker Investigation Unit’, they will accompany us on our patrol, which allows them to react faster to the emergencies that will require their full attention. There will be no changes in our patrol mission besides this. I thank you for attention, Gentlemen. Dismissed.”

Every single person in the hall returned his salute precisely before they started to leave to the teleport field from which they would teleported to the Auriga which was waiting in orbit, some in groups some alone. Acous again exchanged some final words with the captain.

“He is younger than I expected.” Rinya suddenly said.

“Admiral Jorin Fafnir.” Elric started to explain. “He graduated training school together with Admiral Chrono Harlaown and worked as an Enfocer until he was promoted two years ago. Since then he commanded the Auriga on its missions. He was promoted thanks to hard work, so I think we will have no problems working together with him.”

Rinya gave Elric an amazed look. “I didn’t know you where this good informed.”

“He is my supervisor for this operation, so I thought it may be a good idea to know about him.”

“Supervisor?” Rinya asked.

“I will tell you another time about this.” Erlic shouldered his rucksack.”We should go on board too.”

Rinya nodded smiling. “Of course you are right. Shall we?”

Elric nodded only as answer and followed her towards the teleport field.

Puuh... next chapter is already in the works...

I think you might need a bigger title

There were a few typos that i spotted, but other than that the chpater flowed well. The paragraph with the Knights was good. It was in character for them.

Will be looking forward to the next chapter! And like with PF, I'm happy to read over things if you want me to

[PhoenixFlare]

Originally Posted by Liingo

See replies to some of the issues below.

Spoiler for Reply:

Your explanation makes sense, but I was referring to the dates that you've got down. In Scene 1, it's Jan 16, 0081 but in Scene 2 it's suddenly Jan 16 0076.

Speak of obvious time-jump! My apologies, it's a purely typographical error!

Originally Posted by Liingo

Spoiler for Reply:

I'm not exactly sure where it is myself anymore It was pretty much a discussion on what the 'enforcers' do, how they're pretty much lone wolves, not tied to specific units, leading to the start of a dramatic overhaul for myself in particular with my OC's. Don't worry too much about it, it's not going to have a large role in your fic.

I hardly think Enforcers are lone wolves from the start, seeing as Fate has been tagging along for quite some time, but yeah, the line blurred so much that I wasn't particularly sure myself as well.

Originally Posted by Liingo

Spoiler for Reply:

I guess it's a reasonable explanation. Good to see you had one I had brought it up since it just seemed a little extraordinary that Chrono was able to put together a group of 1k members together in such little time. Not to mention that he didn't have to fight tooth and nail for suddenly stripping units of members out of the blue. That and the fact that paper work was pushed through the chain so quickly. In a lot of places it'd probably be good to have such a turn around time for small requests, let alone what he wanted (and got..)

Thank you . Since he pretty much helped Hayate established her RF6 previously, so he knew what was involved in the unit creation, and by chalking up help from those who helped them before (I don't know who, and I don't intend to create any ), the order passed up the chain quite easily. The only real battle he had to fight was with von Khrull, and he made ample preparation for that. Everything worked out, I guess.

Originally Posted by Liingo

No worries. Give us a yell if you need someone to read over anything.

I'll leave the plot questions rest. No point in rushing anything.

Noted. And don't worry, I will. As it is, the questions have helped me form my thoughts in a better way, and not leaving any yawning plotholes while I plod along.

[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by Keroko

*rubs eyes tiredly* I'm tired and going to sleep, but I managed to finish this before I go.

Spoiler for Syn Virage:

Name: Syn Virage
Mage rank: AAA
Military Rank:
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Magic type: Belkan
Magic colour: Blue
Hair color: Blue
Eye color: heterochromia, her right eye is red, while her left eye is blue.
Hair style: Syn’s hairstyle varies often, as both her mother and Vivio love to play with her hair.
Favourite quote: "Boredom, mostly."

Apearance:

Spoiler for Syn in casual clothing:

Spoiler for Syn with her mother, Elena Virage:

Personality:
Blunt, sharp with the tongue and a smartass to boot. The terror of teachers, you could say. Syn can be extremely annoying at times, driving people up the walls with smart remarks. Smartass she may be, though, she is not stupid. Most of the times when she is in one of her moods, she will drive to the edge, but never over it. If she is not in one of her moods –which must be said, is more often the case-, you will find that while she may poke fun at other people’s expense, she doesn’t mean it in a harmful way. When encountering Syn on one of her more calm moods, she is easy to get along with, albeit a bit stubborn.

Despite her tough-girl attitude, Syn can actually be a very shy girl, as she is very uncomfortable when it comes to physical contact. She won’t blush and faint, but you will clearly note that she gets very uncomfortable when people start getting intimate with her. A hand on her shoulder can make her slightly nervous, but not much, while a friendly hug makes her very nervous.

Syn if often willing to help if you ask it, and she finds it enjoyable to simply have a nice conversation to pass the time. She can get very defensive on subjects and locking horns with her in an argument means spending time getting through her stubbornness, as she tries to keep an open mind, but at times fails completely. She also has a habit of losing focus if a task at hand doesn’t hold her interest, which result in her usually finishing everything frantically at the last time. Miraculously, Syn rarely misses deadlines.

Background:
Syn is a Mid-Childan born girl, her parents being high-ranking officers in the navy, the talent for magic was quickly discovered and a career in the TSAB seems almost assured. However, when it came to picking a school, Syn was more interested in going to the far calmer school run by the Saint Church. Her parents agreed easily, possibly because they realized schools run, or otherwise funded by the TSAB may show favoritism.

When in the class, Syn felt isolated. With her mother being an Admiral in the navy, and her father a captain, she was treated with a certain amount of respect, awe, and unfortunately distance from her fellow classmates. This is probably why she quickly made friends with Vivio, whose mother was the even more famous Takamachi Nanoha. The two felt a shared connection between each other, and quickly they would work, eat and hang out together. It was during one of these hangout sessions that Vivio began to play with Syn’s hair, and developed a liking for it, much to Syn’s embarrassment.

Vivio quickly met Syn’s mother, Elena Virage, who had settled down for a desk job after becoming pregnant with Syn in order to raise their child. The two hit of perfectly, as Elena’s openness quickly accepted Vivio, and the two shared a liking for making sure the ‘plain’ Syn looked attractive.

To this day Syn still isn’t sure whether to bless or curse the fact that these two get along so fine.

A few years later, after successfully graduating, Syn applied to the TSAB along with Vivio. Their talent and heritage allowed them to bypass the lengthy Ground Force Training and the two were given the crash-course of several months. After successfully passing the AAA-rank test, the two quickly applied for the Armed Corps in the Main Branch.

Barrier Jacket:
Syn’s Barrier Jacket was designed by her mother and Vivio. Her initial idea was to simply use the standard Barrier Jacket the Armed Forces used, but the two would have none of that, and set of to design Syn her very own and personal Barrier Jacket.

The result was this:

Spoiler for Barrier Jacket:

Needless to say Syn was downright mortified, in fact at first she flatly refused to believe this was true, and frantically kept telling herself it was a dream and she would wake up soon. Syn’s Barrier Jacket is focused on high-defense, with as much maneuverability as possible, but only as a secondary concern. The wings floating just off her jacket help stabilize her flight magic.

Device:

Spoiler:

Hellskor is Syn’s Bow-type Device, its stored mode materializes as a bracelet worn on Syn’s right wrist. Hellskor is an Armed Device, and as such is not equipped with an AI as advanced as the types of Raising Heart and the like. Hellskor’s AI is more on the level of Levantine or Graff Eisen. Hellskor is made to specialize long-ranged bombardment magic, as well as physical shots. It allows Syn better control over her guided shots, and increases the accuracy of unguided high-speed and long-range projectiles.

Being in a Belkan school, and having a friend very important to Belkan history, Syn grew up favoring the Belkan school of magic. However, from her nature Syn had always been more of an archer then a swordfighter, so she decided to take a rare step for a Belkan mage: Become a ranged Belkan fighter.

Due to the nature of Belkan Reinforcement magic, this meant that her choice of weaponry was limited. Most gun-based Devices were build to support the Mid-style magic, and lacked any form of physical shots. Rescue came in the form of Signum, whom Vivio had told lots of stories about, and the Bow-form of her Device.

A bow allowed for the use of as many physical projectiles as the user could generate, and arrows were the perfect weapons to Reinforce, as they could take on any shape the mage desired with few restrictions.

Syn has virtually no melee skills, nor spells to support them, so she is completely dependant on getting her enemies from a far range.

Spells:
Offensive spells
Sperrfeuer -- Curtain Fire: A bombardment-type magic, while only one arrow is strung on the bow; many more arrows materialize around Syn, which can be fired simultaneously. These projectiles strike with high speed and strength, but cannot be controlled.

Flakfeuer – Aerial Barrage: A controlled fire spell, while only one arrow is strung on the bow, multiple arrows, ranging from 3 to seven, materialize around Syn, which can be fired simultaneously. These shots have the lowest speed among Syn’s spells, but are controllable.

Caladbolg: A single-shot bombardment spell. It uses a single projectile, shaped like a strangely twisted sword-like arrow with a drill-like pattern, which is shot at high speed at the target. Its danger lies in that fact that it is a fast projectile, making it tricky to dodge. This is Syn’s most commonly used spell due to its low mana cost.

Hrunting: With little argue the most powerful of Syn’s offensive spells, with the longest of ranges in Syn’s arsenal. Despite firing only a single projectile, this spell can cause massive damage. Instead of spreading the damage over a large radius, as most bombardment spells do, this spell focuses all that damage in that single projectile, increasing its destructive qualities while lessening the damage radius. Hrunting is known for its high penetration, and few defences of its level can stand up against it.

Defensive/Movement
Movement Magic: Because Syn focuses on defence rather then mobility, she is not extremely fast. Using movement magic she is able to teleport away and reposition for another shot. The advantage of this is that it may throw an enemy of guard, the downside is that casting and coordinating the spell takes a short time.

Panzer Schild: A Belkan shield spell, this is arguably the most used defensive spell in Syn’s arsenal, using it to block her enemies attacks and counterattack afterwards. Syn is very talented in defensive spells, so her shield can take a pounding before going down.

Panzer Hindernis: A Belkan Barrier Spell, while less used then Panzer Schild, it often sees use to block attacks coming from the sides or attacks made while Syn’s hands are otherwise occupied.

Panzer Geist: A Belkan field spell, most often used to block attacks coming from all around her. Syn also uses it for its intimidating effect, because there is nothing more intimidating then someone simply standing there and taking your attacks without even flinching.

Enkidu: A binding spell, capable of being cast both at short and long ranges. Enkidu has no magic sealing or magic repelling, abilities but as a trade-off it is a very tough bind to break. It manifests as steel chains rather then magical ribbons, as the steel chains can be reinforced with Belkan magic.

Rho Aius: The second claim for the most powerful spell in Syn’s arsenal, Rho Aius would best be described as a multi-layered Barrier Spell. When casting, it appears in the form seven petals, each of which is as powerful as a concentrated Barrier. Rho Aius is a purely defensive spell created to block high-level spells. Because of its immense power required, Rho Aius is not a spell cast on a whim, and has a casting time, limiting its use to blocking high-level bombardment spells, or other spells that require a casting time before being fired.

Nice
The previous Syn was good, but this one is quite promising

Looking forward to seeing her in action :3

...also...right eye red and the left blue?
Just like Wyen in his awakened form...

*warps away*

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Okay, the happy go lucky trials of our crazed test pilots... full chapter...
Comes out to 76 kb of text for this chapter, longer than I had anticipated.... but hey.

MGLN Test Dummies Chapter Five

EDIT: -WARNING-
Huge amount of Text Ahead

Spoiler for Chapter Five - A:

"I really thought I was toast for a while there," Crash told Cooper as they made their way to the DIFAC. "I mean the attack pretty much shreded everything around me, but that defense setup was just insane. That Wedge Shield was a nice touch, where'd you get that idea?"

"It was actually Don's idea," Cooper shrugged. "He was the one who worked on practical engineering aspects and said that altering the designs of the magical defenses away from the traditional round and triform shield designs would probably yield results similar physical material structures."

"You're kidding," Crash gaped. "Double Spanners helped design the stuff he KNEW I'd be messing with?"

"He doesn't hate you as much as he'd like everyone to think," Cooper smirked. "You just piss him off with your brand of luck, and he lacks a good outlet."

"Coulda' fooled me," Crash responded with a shrug. "I think today's session was a record for me... I'd never seen him that red before."

"Meh," Cooper rolled his eyes. "Speaking of records..."

Cooper dropped back a few paces to the Ladies that were following close behind, giving Fate, a sudden, overly friendly slap on the shoulders. "Nice job breaking that airspeed record!"

Fate ressisted a stumble from the surprise hand to her back. Cooper may be an overwieght engineer unfit for combat, but large men can still throw weight around.

"It's not really anything special," she denied. "I burned through all my cartridges to achieve that velocity for only a few seconds."

"You maintained velocity though," Cooper grinned back. "The Bardiche-"

[ 'BARDICHE'... NOT 'THE BARDICHE'... SIR.]

"Sorry," Cooper appologized to the triangular core on the necklace. "Bardiche managed to get the barrier shape down and increase your flight efficiency before the cartridge ran out. You were actually flying on your own power before you used your barrier as a brake."

"I'm not sure I fully understand," Fate replied. Well, actually, she did... To an extent. Aerodanmics Barriers kept the wind off a mage in flight like a windshield on a car. What she wasn't getting was why exactly the shape made her faster.

"Well, most airborne mages can only achieve mach one at their best level sprints or steep dives," Cooper continued. "They just don't have the power resserves to break the sound barrier and maintain it, so barrier shaping was never given much consideration, unlike aircraft frames. However, you have more energy resserves which gives you a better..." Cooper paused to look for a word.
"A better thrust to weight ratio!" In front, Crash rolled his eyes a little. Here we go.

"So with the extra power, you have the brute force required, but you're still using a sub-sonic barrier shape, which produces a high drag coefficient and makes you waste a significant amount of energy flying."

Fate opened her mouth to speak. Cooper didn't let her.

"But then here's the fun part. A magical barrier is the perfect aerodynamic frame, it's as strong as it needs to be, can flex, never experiences stress fatigue over time, and can take any shape that can be visualized, or calculated by a computer... instantly. Now as you appraoch the mach four barrier, air pressure build up from conventional barrier designs means the drag rises significantly with every square inch of forward surface area. But if you take hypersonic forms and apply them to barrier shapes, you can create an areodanamic surface that cuts through the air better and reduces the drag by a significant portion, it's the same concept Crash's system uses, but EDI managed to calculate your barrier functions and review them with Cherry and Bardiche..."

Fate tried to speak again, but Cooper was on a roll.

"Now, combine your superior thrust to weight ratio, and this barrier, and you are essentially cutting through the fluid... because at hypersonic the air is so dense it's more like going through water, well... PLASMA really, but that's not the point... What it means is that you get more speed for less energy. Now, since a barrier also has a perfect surface that is not suceptable to frictional forces, you also don't have to worry about surface heating in high speed flight, so the laminar flow around the barrier-"

"You're going to bore the poor girl to death at this rate!" Key suddenly snapped from under Cooper's shirt. "Do us all a favor and cut the Fluid Dynamics lecture."

"I... don't mind," Fate responded to the small device, Cooper tried to form a response but Key was determined to shut him up and keep it that way.

"Oh please girl," Key responded. "You give him even a little incentive and he'll talk your ear off all night and into the next day... a week from now. Cooper loves the sound of his own voice. If it's anything he loves more it's robots. Combine the two and he'd probably bring the TSAB down just like Al Hazred!"

"I'd listen to the device," Crash broadcasted from the lead position in the group. "I don't think I've managed to stay awake through a single one of his lectures."

"You'd rather be getting your ass blown up," Cooper responded with a smirk.

"You'd be the one pressing the button," Crash rolled his eyes.
"Airheads," Fox muttered from slightly ahead of Nanoha.
"Agreed," Vita muttered back.

"Speaking of Air," Cooper brushed the remarks off... Rolling right from Fate to Nanoha without so much as stopping.

"Here we go again," Key seemed to almost mutter herself from under his shirt.

"Sixty Thousand Feet up!" He smirked. "Mage Combat at extreme altitude, nothing quite like it!"

"It's nothing as good as what Fate did," Nanoha tried here own attempt to shrug off the extra attention. "It's not like I broke any high altitude flight records. Those were set at a hundred thousand feet years ago."

"Maybe," Cooper shrugged. "But you were still up there, flying toe to toe with EDI. You don't find mages that can do something like that all too often."

"And for good reason," Shamal interjected. "She suffered acute Hypoxia from the low oxygen level at that altitude and nearly passed out. That's a long nasty drop."
Shamal had been doting over Nanoha and Fate almost since they had finished Don's dressing down of Crash, double checking their hearing and ensuring Nanoha wasn't suffering any adverse effects, especially after witnessing nanoha caught in several moderate explosions.

"That's something else I wanted to look into," Cooper stated. "If I could get a full system Log from Raising Heart before you leave, I want to see if I can do something about the barrier jacket system maintaining a functional oxygen envolope at high altitude.


At the back of the group, Roland was having a semi-private chat with Hayate.
"-performed well above my expectations," the General finished. Hayate nodded.
"The vehicle certainly performed excelently for the armaments it had. But I liked the level of coordination and adherence to teamwork it had. One of the biggest issues those at HQ will have, will be if they can TRUST the machine AI enough to give it a real assignment."

"Indeed," Roland nodded. "If the pilots the aircraft will be assisting don't trust it to keep their well being in mind along side the mission, a certain level of combat coherency will be lost. The MADCAP displayed quite a level of both mission priority, as well as an aspect of keeping its own wingman out of hot water. I normaly only expect that of well integrated units, not from an AI the first time on the job."

"I personally liked how it showed restraint," Hayate shrugged. "When Nanoha was barely conscious after the high altitude fight, EDI made no attempts to finish her off, despite how ensuring she was unconcious would pretty much assure them a successful mission. It may be assigned a task as drone hunter for now. But should it go into regular use, it could see security operations or hostility suppression actions on some of the remote worlds. A very firm control on the escalation of the use of force "

"You really think that'll buy them a little more?" Roland asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We try to catch the troublemakers in one piece," she smiled. "They'll be more than happy if their new toy can wear white gloves to a fight."

"So what's your word on the subject?" the General finally asked. Hayate smiled big.
"I like it, keeps my friends safer. I'll ask Nanoha and Fate about their personal oppinions after we've seen the performance logs themselves and if they agree, you've got yourself an Endorsement from us."

Anything else the General might have said was cut off at this Point. Crash made his way up to the double doors of the Difac and gave them a push inwards. The pilot only made it about two steps into the cafeteria before he was nearly blown off his feet by an earth shaking cheer.

Nanoha and Fate came to a dead stop as Crash litterally jumped in surprise. Something they hadn't seen him do. Only a few seconds later, they were swarmed with a number of support staffers and engineers.

"That was totally awesome!" one of them managed to say.
"You went like this, she went like that, and then you were just GONE!" another interrupted.

"And then you brought out that huge sword!" must have been directed at Fate.
"The top of the sky with that jet!" yet another of the many engineers, directed at Nanoha.

Nanoha and Fate were used to a little fame from their work. But they'd never gotten swarmed like this before. Crash seemed nearly freaked out however. He always seemed more imfamous than famous, even among people he knew so well like all the Engineers here. But now they were up in his face like they'd never been, talking faster than he could catch, and asking questions he couldn't answer.

"How fast were you going?"
"How did you escape those binds?"
"What went through your mind when you were trying that long range shot?"
"Which one are you going to sleep with tonight?"

If Crash could figure out who asked the last question, he'd have someone to punch in the nose and make himself an opening. Judging by the way hairs started standing up on the back of his neck, he absentmindely guessed the girls heard it too. They were only a foot away after all.

The rest of the group managed to make their way into the door and could hardly belive how the three were the center of one big, as Roland called it, 'gaggle.' The word was actually a composite, but the General thought the extra explicative that went on the end wasn't needed in the company of ladies.

"What the hell is going on?" he squinted in confusion. Hayate glanced around, trying to see over people's shoulders, then pointed discreetly at the far wall.
The large screen that sat in the center showed a rather high quality detail replay of the fight. It showed Crash and Nanoha in a steep dive... obviously in the last few minutes of the replay.

"Lime." the General nodded in understanding.

A short man with a clipboard managed to squeeze his way through the crowd and pushed his way clear to the exit. Roland bit down on his urge to let his old U.S. military training take over and chew him out over his rather impolite nature. Instead, he'd just slow him down a little.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry Logan?"

"It's too noisy in here," the short man stated. "I can't work in noise..."

Roland shrugged. "We might have a party in here before long, any excuse for a party as they say."

"I've got to head over to D complex and take an inventory," Logan continued. "I want to ensure before next inspection comes along that the VA-111 Shkvals are all accounted for, and that nobody's been tampering with them."

"Very well then," Roland nodded. Not one to keep from very important duties such as Disposal Site management. "Carry on then."

And Logan was gone.

"Who was that?" Hayate asked.

"Disposal Logistics manager," the General stated, noting Vita and Fox had vanished from sight. "He's not the sociable type. Preffers books and keeps to himself. Makes him very good at managing inventory, but doesn't deal with crowds too well."

As he finished the sentence, he spotted the two smaller girls, having used the opertunity when everyone rushed Crash to jump to the front of the food line, where Marylin was serving them with a pleasant smile.

"What's a Shkval?" Hayate continued. Roland shrugged and answered.
"Russian made nuclear torpedo."

After a long silent (reletively speaking) pause, he finally turned to Hayate. She'd lost some coloration. It took a few seconds before the General realized why and quickly waved it asside..
"Oh don't worry about that, the nuclear materials were removed and shipped offworld for disposal as soon as they got here. I oversaw that myself."

Hayate seemed to relax, a little. Roland continued.

"Your position probably doesn't appreciate the amount of stuff that gets transfered to this base on a constant basis," he stated. "Otherwise, the Disposal site would have shut down fifty years ago when the last if the orignial mid-childan munitions were finished off. Despite the hush hush that's been kept, it's a well known fact Earth 'exports' more munitions a month than it's Non-Administered status would have people believe. Russia especially. Their security on materials was never the best, but magic using dimensional arms dealers have a field day with it. Then the TSAB catch them, and all the junk has to go to disposal facilities. I think we've got a stash of AK-47s over on D-Complex big enough to supply a brigade sized unit. If the Russians only know how interdimensionally popular the Kalashnikov was..."

He sighed, shaking his head.

"Still, occaisionally someone gets a nuke through, and that has to be dealt with. The shkvals have a puny ten kiloton warhead, but that's enough to rip a city apart. The torpedos and their detonation mechanisms are scheduled for a recorded detonation disposal two weeks from now. That'll be sent straight to command. But inspection's in a week, so they need to be documented and easy to find."

Roland noted Vita and Fox already sitting in a corner, eating and talking while pointing out items on the screen, now starting another replay. At this rate, they'd be done before anyone else even got to the line. Judging from the way Crash's face looked, and the huge blushes on Nanoha and Fate's faces, the situation was coming close to getting out of hand.

It didn't seem possible, but the ear splitting whistle the General emitted when he stuck his fingers in his mouth managed to halt any and all conversation in the room almost instantly. After several seconds of absolute silence, which Roland passed a long and calculated glare around the group, he spoke.

"This is a dining facility, not a circus sideshow," he began. "Though if you so desire attractions, I'm sure I could come up with a little entertainment while I prepare some smoked meat for Marilyn's grill."
He waited a calculated three seconds to let the meaning permiate.
"So if that's what you want, keep up the gaggle... otherwise. Dissappear."

The girls had never seen a room clear so fast outside of combat excersizes. The General's punishment routine, known only as a 'smoking' was one of the most imfamous and unpleasant experiences on the entire island. Crash's bulging biceps could attest to many a time where he'd crossed the General, much as he'd done earlier that morning. What had only moments before been a near screaming crowd of people, had thinned out into those who were still eating their lunch, a few engineers, and kitchen staff.

"Works every time," Roland smirked, brushing his way past Crash and over to the serving line where Marilyn was already starting a tray.

"The usual General?" she asked.
"Go light today," he shrugged. "I'm probably going to be on my feet for the rest of the day."

Marilyn smiled as she handed the base commander a place consisting of a high protien meal. Roland wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he was sure it was Mid-childa's local version of chicken. Cooper was up next, having only enough patience to let what was essentially his 'boss' get food first. Marilyn glared at him a few seconds as she triple loaded his plate with the heaviest food on the line.

"You really should cut back sweety," she tried. It was the same speach every day.

"You don't cultivate THIS kind of pressence by cutting back," he smirked, patting his bulging belly.

"What you're cultivating is cholesterol, sugar," Marilyn responded evenly. "If you don't start cutting it back, I'll start cutting you back. Here in the middle of nowhere, I control the flow of food."

"You can try," Cooper grinned. "But I have ways of getting around your food blockades."

Marilyn shook her head as Cooper wandered away to sit down and watch the replay. Then she turned to the pint sized one who was staring through the seperation glass, slavering away. Reinforce Zwei had zipped sharply in front of Crash at the last second when she realized just how diverse the selection was.

"See anything you like sweety?" she asked.

"Heh, probably everything on display," Crash laughed, looming up behind the Unison. "You're not HUNGRY are you?"

Rein turned quickly and smiled in the cutest fashon possible, her eyes twinkling like tiny stars. Crash stood up and laughed.

"Careful now," he stated. "Watch that appetite or you'll end up looking like Cooper."

"NOT POSSIBLE!" Cooper piped up across the room. "It takes dedicated practice to achieve this level of perfection."

"Yeah, perfection... Whatever." It was Key, barely audible under his shirt. Crash rolled his eyes and turned back to Rein, reaching down to poke her in the belly.

"Just watch out, or your stomach could swell up and go B-"

-BOOM!!!-


Nanoha and Fate, who were bringing up the Rear, jumped backwards as the spot immediately surrounding Crash erupted in sparks and smoke. Everyone else in the Room, turned around in their spots to see what had happened.

Crash stumbled back a step, his hair standing straight up. Rein was in similar shape, about ten feet away, caught by a condiment packet tower at the end of the food line and cushioned by packets of various sauces Roland hadn't quite figured out whether to call Ketchup, or cocktail sauce.
After a few seconds of total silence, the shattered light socket above Crash sparked, and the florescent bulb dropped to the ground and shattered. Those inspecting the spectacle turned back to their food as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"What just happened?!" Hayate asked in a near panic as she rushed over to check on Rein.

"I think..." Crash began, coughing a little. "I think that was a failed Unison-In attempt."

Nanoha visibly screwed her face up as she twisted her head to the side.
"Eh?"

Hayate reached down and pulled Rein from the Cushon of packet sauces, cradling her like a newborn kitten.
"Are you okay?"

"No mama, that meatball was plenty spicy, can I have another?"

Hayate sighed. Even blasted silly, all this little one could think about at times was food.

"What makes you think that was a Unision failure?" Fate asked.

"It was definately a rejection," Signum stated. Up until now, she'd been completely silent ever since they'd left TICTOCC. Shamal was there right beside her. "There's no mistaking that feeling of incompatable forces conflicting with each other like that."

Nanoha looked from Signum to Crash, her face still a mask of confusion.

"But he didn't DO anything," Fate stated the obvious.

"Yes he did," Signum stated stoicly. "He touched her."

Fate ressisted the urge to match Nanoha's blank look. Signum, never the less, saw it and crossed her arms, leaning her head down as she often did when she was revealing what should have been simple common fact.

"Are you forgetting she's still a DEVICE?"

Ding! Signum litterally could count the two seconds it took for Nanoha and Fate to mutually achieve the same revelation, just from the looks on their faces. As one, the two aces turned and looked directly at Crash, who was busy patting his clothes down, trying to shake any glass bits and florescent powder off of himself.

"Maybe you two missed it all this time," Signum continued. "But he's been very careful about what he touches. You can read it if you watch his body language and posture. He doesn't touch anything, period. He doesn't brush walls, he doesn't randomly kick things like small rocks, not a random tap or motion out of place."

Of course, SIGNUM would notice something like that. Crash put up the manner of a laid back fighter jock, but the Knight had spent more time watching and learning than the rest of the group. It was habbit. She'd picked up on it early on, his seemingly random warnings, even the offhand comment from SkyEye when they'd arrived. The comm tower incident and now this only served to reinforce her conclusion.

"I have a cronic case of never ending Murphy's Law," Crash stated into her internal monologue. "Nearly everything I touch finds a way to break. Why do you think I'm good at my job? What can go wrong, has a bad habbit of doing so around me. And it's almost ALWAYS related to anything I touch... like a Unison device."

Crash tried again to flatten his hair a little, failing to do so. After a short moment he turned and held his index finger out to the metal rail of the food line.

"What would you say?" he asked. "Twelve Volts?" And touched his finger to the metal.

'POP!'

"You just ask yourself, 'What could POSSIBLY go wrong'," he continued. "And then when you have your answer, apply that as the most likely thing to happen the moment I touch it."

"It must be terrible living like that." Nanoha had gone right into Pity Mode from Confused Mode.

"Naaaaaah," Crash waved her pity away. "If anything, quiet girl over here-"

Signum silently objected to the nickname...

"-called it a minute ago. I simply don't touch anything. Plus, all these years, I've kinda' learned to spot what I could break before I break it."

He sighed as Hayate walked over to them, Rein in her arms.

"Of course, it's real easy to forget a Unison is TECHNICALLY equipment... My bad."

Crash resisted the urge to follow it all up by patting Rein on the head, out of fear of another... Reaction. Instead, he opted to turn to the food line where Marilyn had a rather smug look, her ladle down by her side as she rested her hands on her hips.

"I'm sure Marilyn can tell you all about it."

"Certainly can sugar," she nodded. "You just stay out of my kitchen and everyone stays happy..."

Nanoha laughed unevenly at what was hidden behind the words before the head cook looked at Crash with a warm smile.

"Good work with the simulated battle honey. You threw everything you had into it, even if I wanted to dump a vat of hot cooking oil on your for that wet sand stunt you pulled."

"Oh come on Ma!" Crash sighed. "I was in a mock BATTLE! I'm SUPPOSED to do mean stuff like that."

"Indeed you were," Marilyn nodded. "That along with how everything balanced out is why I'm letting you off. But if I EVER, catch wind that you did that to a nice young lady EVER AGAIN... I'll tan your hide so badly you'd WISH you were in the middle of LIVE COMBAT."

And then she flipped right back over to friendly as if the previous exchange never happened.

"Here's your food sweety, go eat up, you earned it."

Crash took a double large plate, covered in a high carb meal the likes of which even Cooper would be slightly jelous, and wandered quickly away with an obligatory 'Thanks Ma!'. He quickly found a spot across from Fox and Vita near the monitor, and started watching the replay around the time they began the fight in earnest.

Nanoha and Fate recieved similarly large plates of food, active mages burned a hell of a lot more energy than the typical staffer, and Marilyn knew the metabolism of an active mage quite well. After recieving their food, they both tried to thank her, but faltered... unable to decided how to address her.

"Call me Ma," she stated. "Everyone around here does."

That resolved, they moved on and allowed Hayate to get her plate. Almost the moment she did so, Rein, rather predictably, sat bolt upright and took in the welcoming aroma of what the General assumed was the TSAB match for Spaghetti.

"You took quite a zap sweety," Marilyn cooed. "Here, this will make it all better."

Rein recieved her own plate... well, actually, it was a tiny one-eigth size jello desert plate, but it was her own plate none-the-less. And it was piled high, comparatively to Rein, with 'spaghetti', and only slightly unweildy in the hands of the Unison. The improvised utensils were interesting as well. It looked as if Marilyn had improvised them rather handily from a child's doll set. When and where would remain a mystery however.

After Hayate and Rein, came the remainder, Shamal and Signum, who had only moderate portions, having done virtually nothing up to this point asside from looking sharp. Vice managed to show up with a mechanic earlier and was already finished, sitting in a corner watching the replay.

Having found their own spot, Nanoha and Fate immediately began eating their meals rather quickly, pausing only to watch the respective moments of the fight they were not pressent for, or to watch the opponent's perspective.

Nanoha seemed particularly interested when Crash tried to use the Hyperlance Extension shot to take Fate out at extreme range. When the shot was fired, extra statistics displayed from anylized data put the shot above nine-hundred meters a second. She imagined a dozen ways to have Raising Heart duplicate the simplistic mechanical principle that fired the Hyperlance Extension. Having a beam that could hit farther away, all that much faster would allow her to pluck targets off all the quicker. Or perhaps make a homing version of the shot... That's it, a nine-hundred meter a second homing shot. Dodge THIS! It made her grin, and almost start chuckling out loud.

Fate noticed after a few seconds Nanoha was laughing to herself, and quickly began to sweat... Oh god, she didn't want that toy for herself did she? Nanoha held the record for longest range direct shots in the TSAB, all she needed now was a way to make them hit even farther away and faster. However, she found the window in the corner of the replay showing a Crash's Visor HUD Point of View quite fascinating. Even as Crash was busy getting his ass handed to him in their hand to hand duel, she watched as the bracket that identified her changed color to indicate threat level, and took stock of the small indicators next to it displaying relevant data.

"Oh god, I think I pissed her off..."

Nanoha burried her face in her arm to keep from laughing outright, causing Fate to simply turn red in embarrassment. Those in the room had caught on to the spectacle in Crash's HUD and were also barely containing their own laughter. Fate decided after a moment, that despite not really feeling it, she DID look rather pissed off as she hoisted Bardiche up in its Zanber Form.

'THUMP!'

Suddenly, all laughter in the room ceased. The girls took a second to realize the deathly silence that had come over the room, yet the strange feeling of a dark aura finally drew their attention to the entrance.

Don stood, hard hat still on, right at the entrance. He seemed preocupied with something in front of him... Actually, it was the glass and shattered light bulb on the floor in front of the food line. After a long, almost scary pause, many in the room dreading a repeat of earlier, Don took a slow, deep breath and walked over the damage, and quickly exchanged quiet words with Marilyn. A quick dart of his head in Crash's direction gave them a good idea of the conversation before he scowled. Before he could say anything though, Marilyn suddenly shook her ladel at him, speaking quietly with a look on her face that was most certainly not offering him a five star dinner. The head mechanic seemed to bite lip to prevent whatever he wanted to say from coming out, but he relaxed and tipped his hat a little, then accepted a plate of food from her. Appearant dissaster averted, attention returned to the replay, now matching Nanoha's high altitude dogfight with the Madcap.

"Clunk!"

Nanoha and Fate jumped as a tray came down right in front of them. Don joined it a second later.
"I hope you don't mind an old angry man like myself joining you," he stated, almost apologetticly.

They both shook their heads quickly, and he smirked in what seemed to be the antithesis of the personality they'd seen him display, then sat down.

"I don't like to be mean," he stated, grabbing up his fork and taking a bite. "It's just that I work very hard around here. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who knows what he's doing."

"I bet that can be really hard sometimes," Nanoha nodded. Don instantly recognized that she was 'keeping her distance' in the conversation, and simply attacked a piece of meat.

"Look ladies," he stated after a few more bites. "I'm an engineer, and that means I solve problems."
He took a fork and stabbed some of his food rather agressively.
"Not problems like, 'what is romance', no. That would fall under the perfue of your cunundrums of philosophy."
As he said that, his eyes drifted to a small fly that was attracted to the aroma of their meals, then snapped back up to them.
"I solve practical problems," he continued. "For example... how do you keep some nasty little piece of filth from ruining hours of hard work?"

For a few seconds, the senior mechanic's eyes went back and forth between Nanoha and Fate.

"The answer," he began.

WHOOSH-WHAM!!

Both aces jumped as his arm came up fast, and then slammed hard on the table, holding a large fly swatter he'd somehow managed to produce from seemingly thin air. The rest of the room had frozen again at the loud report, only to go back to eating after spotting the reason.

"Use the right tool."

Don lifted the fly swatter up, inspecting its matted surface to note the rather flat remains of the little pest that had been attempting to enjoy what would now be its last meal. With an idle swish, he shoved the fly swatter out of sight and reached up, pushing his hard hat up and pulling a tiny little spray bottle out while fishing a small white cloth towel out of a pocket.

"And if that don't work," he continued, spraying the spot he'd struck a few times. "Invent a better tool."

Don quickly wiped the spot he was spraying and stuck the stuff he'd used back where they came from. One couldn't tell at first glance how much he really had on him.

"But Crash is different," he stated, shaking his head as he returned to eating. "No matter what tools I use, what I make, how much I plan, he foils any attempt to stay ahead of the game."

Starting to understand how the engineer felt, the aces began to relax a little and resume eating, feeling just a slight sympathy now that they had witnessed enough to make sense of it.

"I don't hate the boy," Don continued. "But I hate wasted effort, and that boy invariably leads to more hours of wasted effort than I thought physically possible in one day. Do you know how many times I have had to change the card readers in the test facilities before we simply switched over to using personelle to watch the entrances?"

Nanoha expected him to give them the answer, but instead he skipped onto another train of thought.

"It's extremely frustrating waking up each day and wondering what you'll have to clean up after this time, and how much it's going to cost in time, effort, and money, to deal with. If I wanted to be a janator, I needn't have worked so hard to get this position."

After another bite he looked Nanoha square in the eyes.

"And that leaves me a bit grouchy," he stated evenly. "I'd like you to understand, that even if I look ready to kill somebody, I can't really say it's anyone's fault, not even the Boy's. And I don't mean anyone any ill will. I'm just good at yelling, it's generally the only way I've ever been able to get anyone to listen and perform as I need them to. As I've said... the right tool."

More silence, dominated by the engineer quickly going through a portion of meat. The one-sided conversation, seemingly over, the girls resumed their focus on the replay again. At this point, it seemed to be around when EDI and Crash had retreated. They listened to the Dialogue as the pair went over their combat options, having only just missed Crash realizing they weren't fighting top level. A muted screech announced when EDI began jamming.

"Simple but effective," the girls heard Don state. Turning, they noted he was watching the events unfold with an anylitical eye. "The more complicated a countermeasure, the more intricate a plan, the more complex the design, the more things you have that can go wrong."

Nanoha nodded. "Simple plans are the best ones. too many pieces and it becomes impossible to manage it all."

"But they should have waited," the Engineer continued. "That stunt would have been more effective if they waited until they reengaged."

"It didn't serve them any good asside from give us a headache," Nanoha shrugged.

"It stopped you colder than dry ice in a tank of liquid Nitrogen," Don responded.

"He's right," Fate cut in. "If they waited and struck with their sensory deprivation attacks AND used that jamming at the same time, the combined effect of being deaf, blinded, and having a screaming fog in our own minds would be enough to give them the time to mop the floor with us even with the slopiest moves."

"Exactly," Don nodded. "But Crash lacks experience in combat, he knows how to watch his own bacon and pick out holes in things, but he lacks effective planning skills. I can't say I blame him. A planbook would probably burst into flames after he managed a rough sketch... just to spite him."

And with that, he stood up rather suddenly, taking a now empty tray with him. Don had eaten rather fast, but from the looks of his gate as he walked away, he had plenty left to do. After depositing his tray on the conveyer that took it into the kitchen, he quickly made his way over to General Roland, where he muttered something to the base commander. Roland looked up for a second, then nodded solemnly.


Crash looked up from his half eaten plate as Don made a B-line for the spot he was sitting in across from Vita and Fox. Great, just what he needed, chewout number two for the day. However, instead of coming to yell at him, the mechanic stopped next to Fox.

"I'd like you in the test hanger at thirteen thirty," he stated curtly, sparing only a twitch-like glance at Crash.

Fox nodded as she tried to finish swallowing the last of her own food. Don quickly turned away, fishing a notepad seemingly out of nowhere and marking something down as he walked past the glass pile on the floor, then vanished as quickly as he'd come.

After a few seconds silence, Crash finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I survive one more day! Phew, I thought he was going to blow a fuse when he came in, I've always managed not to bust something after he's lost it once."

"Don't be dumb," Fox rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows Marilyn has him on a tight leash anywhere NEAR the DIFAC. If he blew a fuse in here, she'd starve the temper right out of him."

"Good way to do it too," Vita suppressed a chuckle. "I remember once about seven years ago, I made the mistake of pissing Hayate off, and she sent me to bed without dinner, never made the same mistake again."

For a few seconds Crash nodded with a sly smile, then suddenly he paused and his face went blank. Seven years didn't compute right.

"How old are you again?" he asked.

"I'm," Vita began, then she furrowed her brow, pausing for several seconds. "I can't remember, older than you at least."

Crash scratched his head as he gave her a solid onceover.
"You say that, but my brain can't seem to add it up at all."

"I get that a lot," Vita shrugged. "Hey, who's the Twerp? Where's your momma kid? Hey shrimp!"
Vita smirked.
"But then I simply tell them who I am, and if they don't want to believe that well..."
She leaned forward, reaching up and grabbing the collar of her shirt as she did so. Crash instantly put both hands on the table and was about to catapult himself backwards when Vita pulled a necklace up into view. A tiny hammer shaped object glinted back at him.

"...I let them argue with Graf Eisen instead."
With a deft flick, she brought Graf Eisen out of storage mode, and displayed the magical warhammer proudly to the test pilot. Deep in the back of his mind, Crash noted the piston styled cartridge loader the hammer had, and recalled just how much punishment in the tests it took to cause it to fail so many months before. The answer was 'A-FUCKING-LOT' , at which he involuntarily gulped at the prospects of what that meant in the hands of the deceptively young body before him.

"There was this one time some moron tried to kidnap me," she continued, lowering Graf Eisen. "Probably some pedophile or other sick maniac thinking I was just 'some kid'. We'll probably never know, he ended up in the psychiatric ward of a hospital after I taught him a lesson."
True to the word of course, the man had been admitted with two broken ribs, a concussion, all his limbs shattered, and was screaming non-stop about killer bunny rabbits in red dresses with sledgehammers coming to finish him off, and had been that way for at least four years. Crash's mental image of the situation wasn't too different, though he was having trouble identifying with just how much brutality could reduce someone to a gibbering paranoid shell that once claimed to be human. Either way, the prospects of the answer only reinforced his previous conclusion.

Fox noted the smug look on Vita's face as Crash's own face went through a series of easily visable emotional responses as he mulled over what he'd seen and heard. Deciding he wasn't paying attention for once, she nudged Vita slightly and spoke quickly under her breath.
"Don't overdo the big stick routine, he's an idiot and he'll stick to it."
Vita nodded, but continued to bask in the aura of someone who'd just been humbled. It seemed the two girls had quickly started to get along after Fox's little display on Cooper earlier that day. Probably because they connected better than their abraisive personalities would seem. In the middle of this, Vita managed a double take.
"What routine?"

Fox nearly spat out her drink as she downed it.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Spoiler for Chapter Five - B:

General Roland's office, as best as Hayate could put it, was something of a museum display of his past achievements. This was almost completely controversial to the rather bland knobbed door he had for it. In fact, his office seemed to be one of the less advanced in the building, where as most other offices had the fancy high-tech TSAB doors. Roland simply thought the old style door had a more friendly look to it.
However, almost immediately when she came through the rather plain looking door, she was struck by the amazing amount of... knick-knacks he had strewn about. She was greated first by the large poster sized picture right behind his desk. It dipicted a large yellow shield with a diagonal black stripe going from the top left, towards the bottom right. In the upper right hand yellow space, a black, horse-head shaped sihloett was placed. It seemed somehow familliar. Along side it on each side, various other emblems could be seen. One arched ribbon read, in plain English lettering, "AIRBORNE" and had below it, another shield, but with a full color image of an eagle with a white head. Another was a solid black background with the gold outline of another arched ribbon, this one had the lettering for "RANGER" on it. Based on the way they were mounted on each side of the large wall scroll, they seemed to be very important for the General.

Below these, were something she more readily recognized, pictures. Seemed to be class pictures similar to the TSAB's basic training schools for mages, but they weren't of mages, but camoflauged soldiers. The first image had a rather youngish looking group, with a commander in a rather, interesting looking brown hat off to one side. Another was a similar image, but with a more weather-beaten looking group that somehow seemed to be extremely proud of themselves. On the opposite side, an image of a younger version of Roland sitting atop a large tan vehicle she recognized as a Tank. What kind, she couldn't identify, and wherever he was in that image, it seemed to be a dessert. The final picture of the group of four on the wall showed him, many years younger, wearing a dress uniform and decorated moderately well.

The wall to her right held a different museum of items. She recognized some kind of Earth firearm in a glass case mounted to the wall almost immediately, but it seemed unloaded. Next to it was another case holding a large helmet and the camoflauged uniform he'd been wearing in the pictures. It was neatly pressed, decorated, and displayed immaculately for any wandering eyes.

The desk, was another story... despite the low amount of paperwork, it became clear why the general hated it in the first place.

He sucked at it.

A large number of papers lay unsorted in a seemingly random stack, mixed with manilla folders that covered nearly every square inch of work space in a haphazzard manner she was glad Rein didn't have to see, save for a small spot where he would be working on whatever paper was most important. She noted several numbered pages of a document laying 'lost' to different corners of the desk and realized they belong to a seventy-two page report that he seemed to only have six pages of. The only other empty space on his desk seemed to one other display piece, a miniature model of the tank he was riding in the picture. It's 'gun' pointed towards the door, and whomever would be coming through it, as if guarding the dissaster.

To her left, Hayate noted the chaos continued, somewhat. Roland had a bookshelf, some shelves containing books she couldn't identify, and others fill with various knick-knacks she could only believe went with his 'set', ranging from odd pins to an assortment of TSAB, and non TSAB rank pins. This was immaculate in contrast to the filing cabinet along side it, the middle drawer half open and a disarray with one manilla folder sitting open on top, a paper about ready to drop to the floor. The top drawer was cracked open, and seemed to have it's own folder that looked like it hadn't gone in all the way and the general got fed up and tried to shut the drawer on it anyway.

All in all, it was as if Roland had been right in the middle of paperwork and simply dropped what he was doing to perform some other, 'more important' task on the base.

This, she had all taken in during the few minutes it took for the General to apologize for forgetting something, step out, and return with a data disk to place in the holographic computer console that seemed to rise up from the paperwork mess like a zombie from a grave.

"Comprehensive Performance Anallysis from the Maidens and Devices," he explained as he sat down in his chair (which squeaked awkwardly as he did so). Then he noted her apprehensive look at the sheets of white before him.
"Oh, sorry about the mess, paperwork's not my thing."

Obviously. Hayate had been around her knights so long, she could HEAR Vita making that comment offhandedly.

Roland continued unperterbed at her constant uncomfortable glances at the mess on the desk, bringing up the holographic screen of his console and fishing for the compiled summary the AI's had done of the test.

"According to Bloodberry's strategic compilation, the MADCAP performed well above the statistical break-even point of the combat trial by an order of magnitude. The statistical break-even point was that it would be able to handle large numbers of unintelligent or vastly inferior foes handily with a secondary precident of being able to evaid and survive higher level enemy units."

Hayate nodded, waiting for the General to continue.

"After affirmation of results with Cherry, and performance cross refferencing with Raising Heart and Bardiche on the manner, Bloodberry has concluded that EDI's performance in all tactical and strategic sectors to be of an ace level value. The combined summary quite clearly puts him on par with a well balanced Double S combat mage."

Roland waited for that to soak in, then continued his mini-brief.

"Strategic Planning, Tactical Evaluation, Reflexive Response, Preemptive measures," Roland Continued. "All vastly superior to any mage performance. Not surprising since EDI is a computer that can calculate thousands of combat scenerios in a second."

Hayate nodded, no argument there.

"Judgement, excelent. Compassion, I'm surprised this was ranked... but still. EDI temporarily suspended its mission to compete with Fate and then assisted her and Bardiche in breaking the speed record. Excelent level."

Roland flipped through a statistics point graph.

"Speed, more than any mage can handle save for what Fate displayed. Manueverability and Agility. Not as good as a combat mage, but there's a tradeoff for being an airframe. Brute Power, well, unlike linker cores, the MADCAP has a defined magical power system and has a set amount of magic it can burn through at any given time."

"So he's lacking in offensive power?" Hayate asked.


"Oh he's got plenty of power," Roland waved her response back. "Thing is, while the overall output and in general, the stamina of the system would outlast any mage, EDI lacks the burst power a top level artillery mage such as yourself can put out. Whatever he can do is limited to the power of his generator over the course of time. What that translates into is what we saw."

Roland hit a button and displayed EDI's assault on Fate.

"EDI could theoretically engage with mid level buster shots almost non-stop," Roland stated. "However, unlike say, the stunts Nanoha can pull with that experimental Blaster System, the MADCAP cannot gain a significant short term increase in raw power to deal with significant threats. Not without a core overhaul, and it's rather difficult to increase core output without increasing it's size."

"That makes his limits more or less well defined," Hayate nodded. "That makes his threat predictable, but at the same time..." she looked up, smiling. "A reliable and consistant platform."

"Yes," Roland nodded. "And Reliability is something mage forces can find rather difficult to maintain, seeing as our puny organic bodies constantly change."

"I remember when I was shooting down Jail's drones while Quatro was masking them with high level illusions," Hayate thought alloud. "I didn't have a problem taking them down, by the hundreds at some points, but the constant effort to stay on top of the numbers was taking its toll. Having some kind of assistance that would never get tired of dealing with them would have been a strong card to play, even more so later on."

Then Hayate looked up.
"But Jail in particular was learning from every move either of us made, and he proved it with his next offensive. What about Versatility."

Roland paged through the onscreen report.
"EDI is equipped with a basic combat package based off the most popular Mid-Childa combat mechanisms. He's got basic 'guns', so to speak, a pair of low power magical gatlings really. And he's equipped with two deployable combat systems that simplisticly duplicate the buster shot, and the multi sphere homing bullet system. However, he's got a rotary rack with eight slots for installation of mission specific elements. So there's six slots that can be used to hold anything from specialized sensor elements, to exotic or mission specific arms."

"What kind of arms?" Hayate asked. Roland's eyes darted to the screen.
"Anything."

"Anything?"

"Well," Roland sighed. "Anything that FITS. The rotary rack is designed to accept a wide range of both standard and non-standard equipment on it's locking clamps. So long as EDI knows the hookup and operational mechanisms of the installed equipment, if you can make the clamps hold it, EDI could use it."

"Does that include mass based weaponry?"

Roland did a double take, but understood the genuine concern underlying the rather loaded question.

"Yes, strap a bomb in that slot and EDI would be no different from a supersonic fighter bomber," the General nodded. "We did a test of that with the rack system. The rack can hold up to four thousand lbs of ordinance and still function effectively. Magical equipment generally doesn't get that heavy, so you can fill every slot. Real bombs though, the MADCAP could potentially carry two to four JDAMs."

"That brings me to another question," Hayate stated. Roland had a pretty good idea where this was going. "Why is it, out of all the TSAB, this facility has the authorization to for all intents and purposes, to play with banned mass weaponry, in what amounts to their own backyard?"

"Guts, Determination, and lots of WAAAGH!" Roland responded, looking off to the side.

"I'm serious!" Hayate crossed her arms.

"Okay," Roland shook his head. "I'll be fair about it. The short version is that I convinced the brass that the most effective use for the confiscated material destined for destruction at this facility was best put to use in a constructive manner. That the TSAB should not fall behind in the ways of mass weaponry, or risk falling victim to a situation in which they would be utterly unprepared to account for them in a large scale picture."

"Mid-Childa almost got destroyed by war one-hundred and fifty years ago," Hayate countered. "I don't see you convincing anyone, especially Regius who supervised you, that it would be a 'good idea' to let the weapons that nearly annihilated them become toys to some guy on a remote island... No offense of course."

"None taken," Roland nodded as if to say. 'Fair Enough.'
"But that's the abridged version, I never said it was easy. I had to pull facts, I had to pull experience, I had to pull favors and make trust calls. I had to compile a-three-hundred-page-report documenting what I wanted to do, why I wanted to do it, and the costs and benifits to the TSAB at large on almost every level. I had to do PAPERWORK."

Somehow, Hayate could see that as being a kind walk through Hell Itself for Roland.

"Not only that, but I had to provide a feasable scenario in which the TSAB's magical superiority could go from an advantage to a Liability. And as hard as that sounded, somehow, I got lucky."

Roland stood up, walked over to his bookshelf, and pulled one carefully placed binder from its spot. Opening it up, he pulled out six sheets of paper, obviously a summary of the details in the stacks of papers kept in the binder's rings, and handed them to Hayate.

The girl scanned them for several minutes. The General watched as her face went from scrutiny, to the apex of utter disbelief over the course of seven minutes and thirty seconds.

"This... THIS," Hayate began at last, her mouth partially open in a shocked gape as she tried to find the words to fit what she was thinking.

"Is utter, and complete, bullshit of the highest magnitude possible, yet still completely TRUE." Roland smirked. "I took the United States' overview of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, and constructed a scenerio where in the Soviets got access to the most base of magical support just by capturing one Bureau mage, and snowballed the worst case scenario in details too well written to be made up. I played upon every strength the Soviets had at the time. Numbers, industry, ruthlessness. Yet in classic journalism style, I neglected to mention their abismal maintanance, failing economy, and poor morale amongst the people."

"And they BELIEVED this?" Hayate looked at the General shocked.

"Believed it?" Roland shook his head. "I could litterally identify the very moment Gais hit the number of thermonuclear warheads in the Russian stockpile. The guy went white as a sheet before asking me if that number was real."

"What did you tell him."


"The truth," Roland crossed his arms. "I cut the number in half in the report."

Hayate turned as white as Roland had remembered Regius.

"Not only that, but once Gias realized just how easily even a basic transport magic could put a nuke on an unprepared cruiser, or even in HQ itself, he started asking for countermeasure options to the transport magic and/or the actual weapon. I didn't have permission to do anything, but he wanted countermeasues, for the navy. Regius HATED the navy. I think it scared the guy shitless for a week."

"But the Soviet Union fell nearly twenty years ago," Hayate countered after a few seconds. Roland leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head.

"You know that, I know that..." then he leaned forward and smirked. "They don't know that. Not to harp on the wonder that is the TSAB and what it's trying to do for mankind, but I'm a soldier, and those armchair commanders who run things are at best, rookies playing at politics when they've never actually been in a full scale war."


"But, Mid-chil-" Hayate began.

"Mid-childa nearly MADed itself to death a hundred and fifty years ago... and it scared them so much they threw their weapons down and shoved anything war-like away from themselves as hard as they could trying to forget. Trouble is, they've actually succeded to some extent, and it's DANGEROUS."

"And having weapons so easy a child could use them isn't?" Hayate asked.

"And a nine-year old with a built beam cannon isn't?" Roland counteracted. Hayate knew exactly who that stab was aimed at.

"I know it's flawed logic to say it," he continued before she could object. "But fluke or not, Nanoha was a child capable of demolishing buildings should she had wished it, and nothing short of full military action would have stopped her otherwise. With magic weapons, yes, no person is simply going to pick up a weapon and destroy worlds, but where do you draw the line at what is acceptable? A child abused by her biological mother sent around to be the violent but unwitting errend runner for a mad scheme that could potentially shatter realities? Or maybe the girl who accidently discovers an ancient artifact that runs out of control and nearly destroys a city as a side effect?"

Hayate went deathly quiet, glaring silently with every fiber of her being, suppressing that hostile feeling of having her own personal history used as ammo in an argument. Roland laced his fingers under his chin and learned on it, suddenly looking far older than he previously had.

"Happy endings these tails," he nodded solemnly. "Happy endings thanks, not to some bureaucratic bullshit about how Weapon X is Greater than five hundred weapon Ys and should be smushed the moment its seen, but because someone put their ass on the line to get the job done, for better, or for worse."

He paused, allowing Hayate time to respond, she remained cold silent, but the look in her eyes softened.

"All I know is this," he stated. "It doesn't matter if it's mass based, or magic based, easy or hard, young or old, weapon or no. If it's dangerous, it will kill. One in a hundred, or one in a thousand. It's simply a matter of when, and where... all it takes is One. One failure to adhere to safety policy, one madman with a scheme to play, one dissenter who thinks he's more important than everyone else.... and BAM. You kill one, you kill a hundred, you kill a hundred million. What are acceptable losses? Would you rather have to guess because policy makers decided it's too dangerous for the stuff you have to deal with to even exist? Or would you rather know exactly what that stuff can do, so you can know half the battle before it even starts, and defeat the enemy so quickly and thoroughly that it's not even worth calling a fight?"

Roland looked up, seeming to regain his composure.

"I'm not going to force you to change your mind, but I will ask you to think for yourself, just as I stated when you showed up. You are from the same planet I am. You know for a fact that while the very thing the TSAB fears can unleash horror... Just because it can, doesn't mean it has to. Even if it's a kid pushing a button... it still takes a kid to push the button. I would rather the people know the button could destroy the world, so someone knows to keep the child away from it. The alternative is a DeeDee... 'Oooo what does THIS button do?' and such."


Hayate looked down for a while as roland continued to stare, absentmindedly noting he had fallen into a meloncholy looking version of the Gendo Position. After about two minutes of complete silence, Hayate looked up again, seemingly almost sad.

"If only it were that easy to convince people..." she began.

"There would be no wars," the General looked solemly over his hands. "And the universe would be a far happier place for everyone." And then his uncharacteristicly soft gaze stiffended into the steel he had once before. "Until then... I have work to do."

And with a quick and purposeful motion, rose from his desk, sliding around the side somehow managing not to disturb the paperwork, and opened the door.

"Lt. Col Yagami, if you would please follow me..."



Crash felt like shooting himself. Ever since lunch, he'd had to play tour guide yet again for the Aces and their team. Only now he had no 'attractions' to distract them, and it felt like he was currently under a microscope. Nanoha and fate were talking quietly between themselves, chittering from time to time at some random comment, usually after pointing at him. Crash had also noticed, every few seconds, Nanoha would take a quick glance at him with a strange look in her eyes. For most guys, a pretty girl who can't stop looking at you would probably be the thing they practically begged for. But somehow, Crash knew this wasn't the case... He had a sixth sense for trouble. Being a walking murphy's law tends to do that to you.

Signum knew the look. It was the same kind of look instructors gave new recruits who showed massive promise. Said new recruits usually got the star treatment. And in combat training... that meant hell itself for the rookie. She watched him twitch involuntarily after spotting one of Nanoha's glances. He may not know what the look really meant, but his instincts knew. As far as Crash knew, Nanoha was a bloodthirsty predator eying a particularly top cut of meat. Not too far from the truth given how intensive Nanoha's training could get. Signum of course, saw the raw potential Crash had exhibited as well, and that made things even worse. She couldn't in good strategic sense, NOT back a reccomendation. And if Nanoha has her way (which she usually does, Signum learned that the hard way), Crash would be doing combat training with the forwards at RF6 in no more than two weeks. The poor guy probably doesn't even realize his doom.

And then there was Vita. Ever since lunch, Crash gave Vita an extra few feet of space. Obviously her reputation was out, and Crash was staying what he considered to be, 'outside of hammer range'. Signum knew Vita tended to be hot headed, but she also knew Vita wasn't as explosive as she let on. However between her reputation, caustic manner, and blunt threats of physical violence (reinforced with brash displays of Graf Eisen...), well... she couldn't really blame Crash for wanting to avoid the experience. After all, the kidnapping incident wasn't false, so there was SOME truth to the tails... plus Vita seemed to be so 'proud' of that one, Signum KNEW it was the first one divulged.

Then there was Fox. The girl was having a rather animated conversation with Vita... Getting along alot better than their first encounter. They were both smartaleks with big mouths, but Signum could only notice the complimentary way they managed to mesh. Vita was blunt, and had plenty of brute force to back it, but Fox had the wit and that holier than though temperment of superiority. Put them together and you have the beatdown of a lifetime, and then an equally sad gloating session.

The horror.

But then again, Fox was somewhat detatched from Vita, having only just met. Fox and Crash on the other hand. A very nice complementation. Fox had the attitude but was learning, and Crash had a reverse of the personality, but the raw grit, nack for combat (whether he liked it or not), and restraint.
It was almost like Fox was... No, not a girlfriend... She didn't quite fit the bill for surrogate little sister either. It was more like... like. Like a sidekick. They'd poke at each other with verbal jabs, but Crash was clearly the leader in terms of personality, and not just rank.

After lunch, the General had yanked Hayate off to his office to review the data with her, leaving Crash to play the job of tour guide again... but without any place to tour, they'd simply spent about twenty or thirty minutes 'hanging out' for lack of a better term, in the Day Room. The Day Room itself was little more than a miniaturized, and under enthusiastic recreation center. A big screen Television ocupied one wall, with a few couches and chairs centered on it. Some vending machines that dispensed drinks (Including a machine with lightning and magic circle artwork labeled POWERTHIRST. Rein was eying it constantly.) were stashed in a far corner. A couple of spare tables and some board games occupied the back of the room.
The remote was off limits to Crash for obvious reasons, so they were stuck watching some saga about a hyperactive blond girl, and her partner who seemed to die every other scene. Luckly, for Signum's own sanity, the stay was reletively short and the... unique entertainment of the blond girl's dialogue kept to one episode only.

Instead, Crash had opted to follow Fox to the test hanger, which required a few security checks before they were admitted to the section. Vita of course, wondered aloud if there was any place on this island that DIDN'T require a security screening. Fox supplied the answer quickly, and effectively.

"No."

Vita was moving towards responding about needing Security Clearance to use a bathroom when Hayate and Roland came up the corridor ahead of them. Upon seeing the entire group conveniently reassembled, he smirked.

"Enjoying your stay in Paradise?" he asked.

The girls shrugged. Roland took that as a yes and continued without hesitation.

"Well, I'm glad you're all here. It saves me the trouble of paging you over the PA system."

He motioned them over to a door leading into the hanger itself.

"We've reviewed the fight data, and I'm happy to say it's quite good. Plus I got the registration with the main database, and Fate over there officially holds the highest unsupported mage air speed record of all time."

There was a small round of applause from the group before the General intterupted them and turned to Fox.

"I think you're wanted inside," he stated. "Don said he has something for you to take a look at, so you might as well go in."

Fox nodded and opened the door, passing through before the General turned back, allowing it to shut on its springs.

"Now, before the rest of you head in there, I must say what you see is considered classified. We have EDI in there, but we also ha-"


"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


Nobody knew exactly when or how Crash had transformed. But no sooner did it register that the voice on the other end of the screem was Fox's, did a heavy armored boot from the Olympian armor plow into the door, hitting with enough force to tear the hinges from the frame. The entire mess spun inwards violently before clanging into the ground somewhere in the room. Crash was right behind it, bringing the multiform rifle out and up to power before the battered door had struck the floor. In the darker expanse of the hanger, he was already cycling to nightvision and thermal imaging on his HUD before he finally took stock of the situation.

Despite the flashy entrance, Fox stood, mouth agape, staring at something in front of her. Lowering the rifle, Crash looked at it too, and fell dumbstruck. The MADCAP was one thing, but the amount of detail he was looking at... Crash felt like his every waking moment was taking a further turn for the odd. First the feeling of living a movie... now a Video Game. But there was no mistaking the mass of Triangular metal shapes in front of him.

"You're kidding me right?" he asked. "That... that's..." He knew the name, but seemed to have trouble forming the words in his own shock.

"It's an Arwing," Shamal supplied from behind him... The group had spilled in on his heals when he smashed the door in, so they were clustered around him. When she said that, all of them, including the General, looked at her as one.

"What?" she asked. "I like a game occaisionaly too you know."


"Well, is it real?" Vita asked. Fox still seemed to be stuck staring at it.

"OF COURSE it's real," Don suddenly announced, coming around one of the landing struts. "It took me a month to build."

"WHY do we have one built?" Crash asked, starting to twitch under his armor.

"Birthday gift," Roland supplied from the back of the group. Again, as one, everyone turned. He eyed them all briefly and then crossed his arms and looked at them all smugly.
"Fox's birthday was two weeks ago," he stated. "Don knew how much she liked flying the jets, and thought about building her one of her own to fly. A little flashy, but I thought it was okay. However, Cooper suggested the type of craft as a bit of a refference to her callsign and so he decided to build it as a full on starfighter. I suggested that to keep it a secret, we built it in here with the MADCAP so we could surprise her. So... well. SURPRISE."

Fox continued to gape, her head turning slowely to look at the General and then back to the aircraft, and then it began to register.

"You mean I get to fly this thing?" she asked.


Don crossed his arms and nodded. There was a brief pause as her shocked face turned into that of purest glee.

"OhmygodthankyouthisissoawesomeIcan'tbelieveI'mgoi ngtoflyanArwingYouguysarethebest!!!Thankyouthankyo urthankyouthankyouthankyousomuch!!!"

"Battery..." Crash began.

[PRIMED]

"I think we need a slow motion instant replay... Because I didn't catch any of that."


Roland laughed as Nanoha walked up to the silver and blue starfighter and ran her hand along the metal.
"How well do you think it will perform compared to its game counterpart?" she asked. Don wandered away from the fighter, noticing the remains of the door, but responded as he did so.
"Well, it's got pretty much the Mid-Childa equivilant to every system it should have based on the game. It's rolling performance can't be replicated... and that deflection roll just won't work... but it'll accellerate like a rocket compared to every other vehicle on this base, including the MADCAP, and it's actually pretty good as far as it's atmospheric aerodynamics go. It's fully pressurized too, so it can go into space and dimensional space like a true starfighter."

While Don shook his head at the wreckage of the door, Crash followed Nanoha over to the Arwing, and raised his own armored hand to mimic what she had done, but stopped short when he realized he couldn't really touch with it, and lowered it again.
"I wonder how well I can make this baby perform with those kind of parameters," he wondered aloud.

"You so much as put a fingerprint on that Arwing," Don suddenly spun around. "And I'll string you up by your toes in only your underwear and beat on your with Phobos and Deimos like one of those Earth culture dolls that spew candy! That fighter is for FOX, and you will NOT! TOUCH IT!"

"Noted," Crash took a step backwards. A moment later, he remembered he was still in his armor, and powered down.

"So can I give it a test run?" Fox asked. Like any kid getting a new toy, they wanted to start playing with it as soon as they knew it was there.

"Actually, not until Saturday," Roland stated with a solemn tone. "We have to run you through the startup procedures, control systems, emergency procedures if something goes wrong, a safety brief... Just like any aircraft. It's not just a toy... and we don't have time for all that today."

"Oh."

To a newcomer, it was as if the world had just ended for Fox. Nanoha hid a smile, even a mature child was still a child on some level.

"Consider it an advantage for your situation," a synthetic tone resonated through the hanger. They had forgotten that the MADCAP was in here too. In fact, in the arwing hype, they had completely failed to notice EDI parked directly along side the starfighter. The sleek arrowhead shaped drone was a dark color and blended well with the shadows despite the number of lights illuminating the hanger's work area.
"If you consider the weekday airspace requirements of the fighter wings, associate the burden of the AWACS flights and Abenobashi Air Traffic Control, you would have undue restrictions placed on your actions. On Saturday, you will have complete dominance of the local airspace to push the performance envolope of the Arwing to its fullest, and Air Traffic Control as well as the AWACS flights will have little trouble monitoring you and doing their jobs without hinderance."

Fox paused, then smiled.
"You're right," she stated. "Thanks."

"You are quite welcome," EDI responded.

"Not a bad piece of logical advice there," Crash aplauded. "So you can do other things besides calculate destruction probability."

"As long as my operational assignment is for the test units," EDI began. "I am part part of your squadron. As part of the squadron, it is my responsibility to take care of my wingmates, both in the air and on the ground, to the best of my abilities. As it is said, that is how a team acts."

"Bravo," Crash nodded, clapping. "Bravo and good show."

"Well, as was the good news from the test results," Roland cut in. "EDI ranked rather high on the compassion charts, so I'd say we're all in good hands... er, uh... wings."

-BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!!-

Everyone froze on the spot as a hideously loud attention noise blaired over the PA... after a second or so, the familliar voice of Martin.

"Attention, Priority one: General Roland and all visiting Riot Force Six members, report to TICTOCC Immediately. Level three situation, I say again, level three situation. General Roland, Riot Force Six, report to TICTOCC immediately. Martin out."


When everyone turned to leave, Roland was half way to the door at a quick trot.



"Sitrep!" Roland barked the moment he came through the doors to the Test Operations Command Center. The MSM showed the global map of Mid-childa, but a new overlay with a pulsating red orb was highlighting a spot on one of the southern continents.

"New tasking orders for RF6 came in from HQ," Martin responded, even as the girls and Crash filed in quickly behind the General. "Level three situation, designated an investigative situation for the Lost Property Riot Force Six's jurisdiction."

"Brief us then," the General ordered.

"Yessir," Martin nodded. "Twenty minutes ago, HQ suddenly experienced a communications blackout with the main magical power plant just outside the city of Selene. At the fifteen minute mark, when no communications came in from local forces investigating the situation, HQ turned MIDSAT C on the area. Sensor equipment encountered something unusual. An area over ten kilometers across is being covered by a blanket effect Anti-magi-link field."

There was an audible murmur from the aces at that point.

"As such, this was considered a potential after-shock of sorts from the JS incident a few months ago. With that assumption made, RF6's ace unit is being dispatched," and he rolled his eyes. "Since they are closer than other special operations units at this time."

"Pft! CLOSER?!" Crash suddenly scoffed aloud. "HQ needs to get some concept of distance in normal space then rethink that assessment! You know what they say about people and assuming."

"Quite," Martin stated. "However these orders are authenticated. Ground Command is quite serious."

"When they care enough to send the very best," Crash rolled his eyes. Roland put his hand on his chin has he skimmed the tasking orders again, his brow furrowing as he did so.

"What City was that again?" Nanoha asked. Martin pointed up at the MSM, the red dot blinking ominously.

"Selene."

Nanoha's jaw nearly hit the floor. Something Fate admitted she never had really seen.

"SELENE?!" she asked incredulously. "That's on the other side of the planet. Even at our best speed, it'll take over twelve hours to get there by helicopter, and that's the best we can do short of a transfer!"

"Without a ship in orbit, that kind of Transfer's too tiring," Shamal frowned. "They can't expect us to get there quickly and be ready for a fight."

As if he'd only just heard Nanoha's last comment, Roland looked up.

"Other side of the planet?" he asked, as if it was somehow not a concern. Everyone looked at him. "I can get you there fast."

Nanoha looked to him in surprise, but quickly hid it with scrutiny. "Like, HOW fast?"
Even Crash, at the back of the room, crossed his arms and waited for the answer. The General seemed to have something up his sleeve. It was that smug 'I know something you don't know!' voice.

"How does thirty minutes sound?" Roland asked. Fate's head snapped around, and they all looked at the General like he was crazy.

"And how do you plan to do that?" the blond asked, clearly not believing it.

"I have my ways," Roland stated, now so fully smug it was disurbing. He then hardened his gaze and turned to his second.

"Hey Martin!"

"Sir?"

"Ready the Deep Sky for takeoff," he ordered. "We're going for a ride."

Nanoha and Fate blinked.

"Yes SIR!" Martin responded with enthusiasm. In the back of the room, Signum looked at Hayate.

"Deep..." she began.

"SKY?" Hayate finished.

As they shared a look, Crash's head snapped up, and he slapped his fist in his palm. Of COURSE!

[Comartemis]

I have absolutely no idea how I'm getting a wireless connection on an undeveloped lot in the middle of Leelanau County, Michigan but I'm sure as fuck not complaining about it.

Gotta make this a real quick post, so I'll have to reply to the Negi/Nano fusion opinions later.

[Comartemis]

Originally Posted by Keroko

....

I want these guys dead.

Painfully.

And bloody.

I won't settle for anything less.

They shall burn in the fires of Unlimited Blade Works. Cinque will make certain of that; either that or she'll skin them alive, one layer of skin at a time.

Yes, Cinque + Imaging Mastery is a long-range plan of mine intended for post-StrikerS; hers is a story of redemption similar to Noland's, based on the idea that the cyborgs were constructed with a modified version of Project FATE, and therefore Cinque has repressed memories of the mage she was created from, who happens to have been a master of Tracing sorcery. As she struggles to reclaim her identity and come to grips with who and what she has become, she latches on to her young charges, Syn and Vivio, who may yet become her only chance at making peace with herself. Be afraid, evildoers. Be very afraid. Mwahahahahaha!!!!!!

Well, this looks like it will be interesting. I am looking forward to Devious!Hayate influenced by Eva.

And please tell me you'll do something with Chao. Seeing her leave was the biggest tearjerking moment of the manga so far. I mean, I can understand why, but still... Chaaaoooo

Worry not Kero, I have plans for Chao after Arisa, Suzuka, and Negi take a page out of Nanoha's book and Befriend her with extreme prejudice. Most likely she'll get pwned so hard between the three of them that she'll completely lose consciousness and awaken sometime after the World Tree has gone dormant for the next two decades.

One thing though, Arisa as Baka Red? Does not compute! XD Arisa has top grades, and is prefectly bilangual too (so she'd be the perfect person to get along with Negi, as she can talk to him in his home language ).

Yeah, I forgot about Arisa's grades until after I thought about this some more. Guess cram school has its benefits, eh?

But you know what this means? Between Suzuka and Arisa boosting the class's average and Asuna not being around to bring it down, the entire Library Island arc can be completely averted.

[krisslanza]

Originally Posted by FlameSparkZ

Nice
The previous Syn was good, but this one is quite promising

Looking forward to seeing her in action :3

...also...right eye red and the left blue?
Just like Wyen in his awakened form...

*warps away*

Heterochromnia ftw

[TheShinySword]

Originally Posted by krisslanza

Heterochromnia ftw

Heterochromia automatically makes any character cooler