Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[itanshi1]

HaremYuuno! begs to differ.

PC for this

[Nanya01]

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Shine 48

Shine 49 A, B, C

Shine 49 D

Shine 49 E

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 50:

Leti shook her head as she looked at the destroyed field. "Well, I hope the crews don't mind the extra work in the morning." She shook her head and looked at Mizetto.

"Yes, I'm sure that they won't mind..." She shook her head and wandered off to make the correct calls. "Though, I'm sure that that ground-keepers are going to have a conniption fit."

Leti sighed and made a mental note to tell her son it wasn't worth getting super powerful if all you did was make messes for others to clean up.

(---)

Later...

Hayate sat on the bed, bandages on her arms and forehead and fidgeted from the looks she was getting from Reinforce, who was on her own bed, Signum, Shamal and Zafira, the latter of which were fine. She had the feeling if Rein wasn't clinging tightly to Vita and glaring at Yuuno, she would probably be giving her the same look. "Um..." She looked at Nanoha and nearly giggled as the girl was in the same boat with Yuuno and Miyuki. She tapped her fingers together before rubbing the back of her head. "Well, um, can I say that I wanted to see just how good Nanoha-chan was in a fight?"

"Well, you found out." Reinforce sighed and shook her head before rubbing her eyes.

"Hayate..." Zafira spoke up, causing her to look at him. "We all know that you want to prove that you're worthy of having your power and that fighting Nanoha is a good way to prove that, we don't want you to push yourself too hard or get hurt doing so. So, please, take it easy for the rest of us at least."

Hayate ducked her head in embarrassment, but nodded. "Alright..."

Zafira shook his head. "Even if you push yourself on a mission and try your hardest, we would rather you not try so hard against a friend and ally. None of us want to see you back in your wheelchair."

Hayate looked at her bedsheets and gripped them tightly. "I... I..." She trembled softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to prove that I was worthy of the power I got, I wanted to prove that I was worthy of having you as my family and..." Her eyes widened as she felt arms wrap around her and pull her into a hug. "Shamal..?"

"You have always been worthy of being our master, Hayate. You gave us warm beds, warm food, nice baths and clothes and never once asked for us to do anything for you. You're just being silly if you think you aren't worthy of us."

Hayate sighed softly and hugged Shamal back. "I guess I was... I just got so excited to have a sparring match with Nanoha-chan that I wanted to prove something to myself."

Reinforce shook her head. "Hayate, just don't go and do something that crazy again, okay?" The girl nodded and the large device flopped onto the bed. "Now, I'm tired, so, please keep it down."

Even if Reinforce seemed upset about everything, there was a small smile on her face as she went to sleep. It was good seeing Hayate try so hard at something, even if the results landed the two of them in the infirmary.

(---)

Elsewhere...

Mary stood in front of the Bureau's council as they looked over the data that she had presented them. "As you can see, while it didn't do everything that I had hoped, the Blaster Metal more than lived up to any reasonable expectations that anyone could place on it. If not for the Blast Mode that had been installed into their devices that they had used, both Knights would have been utterly killed by what injured them."

"It seems fairly costly." One of the council members spoke up, getting a nod from Mary.

"Yes, depending on the amount of body that needs to be covered with the person, it could be very expensive to outfit entire platoons with this armor mode." Mary bit her lip, she was sure that the council would approve of it, but she needed them to get behind it fully.

"Is there anyway to off-set the price of this?"

Mary shook her head. "At the moment, no. But, as you can see, my plan calls for only the strongest of Knights and mages to have this outfitted onto them by the year 0080. Having run calculations, anyone with less power than a AA rank would get no benefit from this armor." Hearing the murmurs through the council, Mary held up a hand. "Please, ladies and gentlemen, this is just one project that I have been working on." She clapped her hands twice and some orderlies wheeled in a cart with several sword hilts on them. "Recently, I managed to get my hands on a weapon of immense power and studying it led me to be able to make replicas of it."

"Replicas of what, exactly?"

"A legendary weapon, known for being able to block, counter, reflect and dispell magic, as well as amplify the magic the user has with it." Mary didn't understand it herself, but she was told that was the nature of the weapon. "These replicas, or as I'm calling them, Shine Swords, aren't quite as powerful as the original Sword of Light, however, they're able to do everything the original can do."

"How? If they're not as powerful..."

"I'm glad you asked." Mary nodded and snapped her fingers as several mages walked into the room. "These four are all going to shoot at me with their strongest spells and I will demonstrate the power of one of these Shine Swords for you." Walking into the open as the four lined up in front of her, Mary held her weapon in front of her. "Light Come Forth!" As the sword lit up, the four fired at her at the same time and Mary held the weapon in front of her as the blasts converged on her.

The council watched, with interest as none of the attacks managed to get past the sword. When they abated, the mages bowed and turned to leave as the sword itself shut off and Mary turned back to them as they looked on in interest.

"I can tell you, that was a lot harder than it appeared." Mary nodded as the weapon shut itself off. "As for these weapons, the Shine Swords, seeing as they're not the original Sword of Light, they have a limit to how long they can remain active, the stronger the spell they block, the less time they can remain active, however, I have managed to make it so that the power supply that they use can and will recharge on its own."

"How strong of a spell can these weapons block?" One of the council members asked, getting a shrug from Mary. "You don't know?!"

"While I based this one the original Sword of Light, I haven't tested the upper limits of the swords yet. The original Sword of Light was said to be able to block even SS rank destructive bombardment spells, so, since everything about the Shine Sword is the same as the Sword of Light, it would have to be tested against a SS rank bombardment spell to know the maximum limit, and I don't need to tell you that if it failed, the user would likely be destroyed as well."

"What is the upper limits you have tested?" One of the council members asked her.

"I have tested it against a spell that was ranked, at full power, AAA+, so I'm certain that it would suit members of the Bureau at all levels."

"How fast can you make these?"

Mary smirked softly. "With enough time and funding, I can have the entire Bureau, both active and in-active members with these Shine Swords in less than ten years, and the Blaster Metal, if I limit it to only the strongest Belkan Knights, can be done in even less time."

"I suggest, for now, make sure to equip our B and C rank members with these weapons as soon as possible before moving up to A rank magic users for these Shine Swords." Mary nodded, that was her plan. "As for this Blaster Metal enhancement, as per your recommendation, we shall give you funding so that AAA and higher Belkan Knights will receive this upgrade. As for A and AA rank members of the Bureau, there is no need to hurry with equipping the entire Bureau, just make sure to have enough within the ten year timetable that you have set up for yourself." Mary nodded to the member as the others on the council were nodding their heads in agreement. "If you find yourself with other legendary weapons and can reverse engineer them for the Bureau, please let us know and we shall make sure that you get the funding you need."

Mary nodded, quite happy with the ruling she was given. Internally, a small, chibified version of herself had her glasses gleaming white as she tossed her head back and laughed. 'Ohohohohohohohohohoho!'

Mary made a mental note to laugh like that when she was back in her lab.

Spoiler for Comments:

I'll still post the story, but that's about it, I doubt I'll be contributing much to AS from here on out.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

There's nothing stopping you from going back to you're first chapter post and editing it.

Haha, but then my fun little identity crisis in Chapter 1 wouldn't be as good!

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Hm, I'd say a "wet plop" sounds sort of like somebody dropped a wad of sodden-dripping-wet paper towels onto a linoleum floor. It makes me think of body parts flopping around where all the bones have been ground into powder. Or in this case, like somebody just turned a jello mold upside down and dumped it out.

To, er, not squick anyone out....but that's kinda what I had actually imagined Alicia's body doing ....it's been preserved in a jar for decades now............

Spoiler for Spoilery comments!:

Oooh, cruelty. Mind you, when Alicia's pod was Divine Buster-ed at the end of Chapter 3 the whole This Will Not End Well thing was pretty much inevitable.

I think some of the biggest part of the impact here was some of what was not said. Clone!Fate never really knew how Precia had been manipulating her; Precia went from "fake kindness" to "suicide" so fast after Alicia's pod was destroyed that it'll never be clear whether this was "the veneer is off" or "hysterical grief stacked on top of the fact that said grief was already her major driving motivation for decades." She didn't even get to learn that Linith had been erased by Precia.

I do think that the emotional impact on Vivio is somewhat exaggerated here, again by the shocking, short-term nature of things. Her "connection" with C!F is basically built on the fact that C!F is a copy of Vivio's mother, and by the way the encounters paralleled to a certain degree the initial Nanoha-Fate meetings. However, this was blunted by Chapter 3 and C!F's decision to remain behind and die with her mother. (I must say, the whole concept of a 9-year-old killing herself because her mother had died is probably the most disturbing part of the entire fic.) When you add in the question of canon continuity, the feeling I'm left with is like an episode of a TV series or a book series with a long-running character, where the protagonist's emotions will be engaged as they interact with a "closed system" of characters and plot but at the end will emerge not substantially changed. Too, Vivio was in many ways a passive protagonist (hm, that's a difference between herself and Nanoha where most of the events happened to her and around her but not because of her. For example, Ch. 4 was pretty much all C!F: the decision to protect Vivio from Precia (which probably led to Precia killing herself...I'm not sure that would have come out the same way if C!F had joined Precia in going all grief-stricken-homicidal-rage on Vivio), the decision to send Vivio home, the decision to remain behind and die. Basically, Vivio just sat there and watched it happen.

That said, it's still an angsty, tragedy-filled ending based on what happened to Precia and C!F; it's just like it felt more that Vivio watched the tragedy happen as opposed to having it happen to her. You even seem to recognize/highlight that point at the end of the chapter with Vivio's thoughts--she's depressed that she failed to be a hero who could intervene and prevent tragedy more than she's depressed over the tragedy itself.

(Incidentally, that "All mothers love their daughters" bit brushes up against something that deeply annoys me--the way that so many stories use that kind of "the inevitable bond between parent and child that can never be broken" as a plot point in a world where even a slight glance at child abuse statistics tells us that that simply isn't the case. Mind you, I think you were going with "bitter irony" here--C!F was trying to convince herself of that in the face of Precia's dying rant and the things Vivio had said about Original!Fate--but..yeah.)

Spoiler for spoiler to Dezo:

Yeah, even if I wasn't such a fan of bittersweet/just plain bitter endings , it would feel cheap if things ended happily-ever-after after Alicia was just decisively, no-hope-left killed....

Spoiler for Author's opinion, not worth much, so read only if you've already made up your mind about BCTB:

In my opinion, I don't think that Vivio really had made that much of a connection with Clone!Fate or Precia...but part of her motivation was due to her conscious or subconscious comparisons between herself and Nanoha (and Fate too, to an extent). So if I was being cruel about Vivio's character, the bulk of her anguish is at the failed idea of rescuing Clone!Fate, and not as much about the girl herself. Kind of like how sometimes, it's more about the idealism/heroism concept than about rescuing the individual people...

Not to say that Vivio didn't care about Clone!Fate, but that just as Clone!Fate either never knew or never found out about Precia's true feelings towards her, most of the feelings here are coming from an ego-centric point of view .

But less cynically and cold-speculation-ly, you're right, Vivio is a passive player in the whole tragedy, while she wants to be an active player like the people she admires. So I was successful in getting that part across , but I didn't realize that I'd lose out on tying it to Vivio on a personal level =O......

I was going for the cruel irony as you said ^^, but you're right--it is depressing to not have "All mothers love their children" be true in real life. I for one, while recognizing that it isn't true everywhere, still believe in it whole-heartedly myself.

Originally Posted by Moczo

... ... ...

... ... ...

*sob*

That is all.

*hands you a tissue*

Originally Posted by Justin_Brett

...

Well what was the point of that?

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

To be depressing. And to appease RB, methinks, the girl thrives off of angst.

Originally Posted by Justin_Brett

Speaking more specifically, I kinda felt like it came out of nowhere. Usually tragedy is foreshadowed, but here it was very abrupt.

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

As difficult as it may be to believe, I had absolutely nothing to do with the ending DC gave her fic. Both endings she showed me were going to be depressing either way. She did it all on her own.

The point? Just because I wanted to write it, is all More specifically, because I was interested in seeing how Fate might have turned out if Precia had been honest and relatively caring with her, and also because I was interested in seeing how Vivio might compare herself to Nanoha, since she admires her.

It......came out of nowhere? =O I was laying on the season 1 comparisons pretty thickly , and there Fate barely chose to side with Nanoha at the end, and only because Precia was so openly nasty to her did Fate fail to help Precia when the TSAB had invaded the Garden. But you're right, I probably could have done a better job in building the story up, but I wanted a shorter story instead of an epic multi-chapter tale, so I did skimp out on narrative buildup that I shouldn't have left out.

And LOL, yes, I do depressing all on my own . I blame English Literature since all the books I read for school end depressingly--a requirement to be considered "literature", I believe!

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

dc's an angst junkie even without RB's influence anyways

Really want to challenge either of you to do an aforementioned super happy fun time story.

Hard mode: Doesn't take place in the Shadowverse

I think I do the tragedy part, and RB does the angst . I actually kill my characters off, hehehe....

Super....happy...fun....FLUFF?!?! *implodes*

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

This sounds to me like a job for a new Logs chapter!

Hmmmmmmmm..........

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

From the few times I've peeked at the Logs, isn't there quite a bit of drama in there? No drama allowed during super happy fun time!

Something has to keep my interest while writing sugary happy fun time!

[Akiyoshi]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Shine 48

Shine 49 A, B, C

Shine 49 D

Shine 49 E

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 50:

Leti shook her head as she looked at the destroyed field. "Well, I hope the crews don't mind the extra work in the morning." She shook her head and looked at Mizetto.

"Yes, I'm sure that they won't mind..." She shook her head and wandered off to make the correct calls. "Though, I'm sure that that ground-keepers are going to have a conniption fit."

Leti sighed and made a mental note to tell her son it wasn't worth getting super powerful if all you did was make messes for others to clean up.

(---)

Later...

Hayate sat on the bed, bandages on her arms and forehead and fidgeted from the looks she was getting from Reinforce, who was on her own bed, Signum, Shamal and Zafira, the latter of which were fine. She had the feeling if Rein wasn't clinging tightly to Vita and glaring at Yuuno, she would probably be giving her the same look. "Um..." She looked at Nanoha and nearly giggled as the girl was in the same boat with Yuuno and Miyuki. She tapped her fingers together before rubbing the back of her head. "Well, um, can I say that I wanted to see just how good Nanoha-chan was in a fight?"

"Well, you found out." Reinforce sighed and shook her head before rubbing her eyes.

"Hayate..." Zafira spoke up, causing her to look at him. "We all know that you want to prove that you're worthy of having your power and that fighting Nanoha is a good way to prove that, we don't want you to push yourself too hard or get hurt doing so. So, please, take it easy for the rest of us at least."

Hayate ducked her head in embarrassment, but nodded. "Alright..."

Zafira shook his head. "Even if you push yourself on a mission and try your hardest, we would rather you not try so hard against a friend and ally. None of us want to see you back in your wheelchair."

Hayate looked at her bedsheets and gripped them tightly. "I... I..." She trembled softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to prove that I was worthy of the power I got, I wanted to prove that I was worthy of having you as my family and..." Her eyes widened as she felt arms wrap around her and pull her into a hug. "Shamal..?"

"You have always been worthy of being our master, Hayate. You gave us warm beds, warm food, nice baths and clothes and never once asked for us to do anything for you. You're just being silly if you think you aren't worthy of us."

Hayate sighed softly and hugged Shamal back. "I guess I was... I just got so excited to have a sparring match with Nanoha-chan that I wanted to prove something to myself."

Reinforce shook her head. "Hayate, just don't go and do something that crazy again, okay?" The girl nodded and the large device flopped onto the bed. "Now, I'm tired, so, please keep it down."

Even if Reinforce seemed upset about everything, there was a small smile on her face as she went to sleep. It was good seeing Hayate try so hard at something, even if the results landed the two of them in the infirmary.

(---)

Elsewhere...

Mary stood in front of the Bureau's council as they looked over the data that she had presented them. "As you can see, while it didn't do everything that I had hoped, the Blaster Metal more than lived up to any reasonable expectations that anyone could place on it. If not for the Blast Mode that had been installed into their devices that they had used, both Knights would have been utterly killed by what injured them."

"It seems fairly costly." One of the council members spoke up, getting a nod from Mary.

"Yes, depending on the amount of body that needs to be covered with the person, it could be very expensive to outfit entire platoons with this armor mode." Mary bit her lip, she was sure that the council would approve of it, but she needed them to get behind it fully.

"Is there anyway to off-set the price of this?"

Mary shook her head. "At the moment, no. But, as you can see, my plan calls for only the strongest of Knights and mages to have this outfitted onto them by the year 0080. Having run calculations, anyone with less power than a AA rank would get no benefit from this armor." Hearing the murmurs through the council, Mary held up a hand. "Please, ladies and gentlemen, this is just one project that I have been working on." She clapped her hands twice and some orderlies wheeled in a cart with several sword hilts on them. "Recently, I managed to get my hands on a weapon of immense power and studying it led me to be able to make replicas of it."

"Replicas of what, exactly?"

"A legendary weapon, known for being able to block, counter, reflect and dispell magic, as well as amplify the magic the user has with it." Mary didn't understand it herself, but she was told that was the nature of the weapon. "These replicas, or as I'm calling them, Shine Swords, aren't quite as powerful as the original Sword of Light, however, they're able to do everything the original can do."

"How? If they're not as powerful..."

"I'm glad you asked." Mary nodded and snapped her fingers as several mages walked into the room. "These four are all going to shoot at me with their strongest spells and I will demonstrate the power of one of these Shine Swords for you." Walking into the open as the four lined up in front of her, Mary held her weapon in front of her. "Light Come Forth!" As the sword lit up, the four fired at her at the same time and Mary held the weapon in front of her as the blasts converged on her.

The council watched, with interest as none of the attacks managed to get past the sword. When they abated, the mages bowed and turned to leave as the sword itself shut off and Mary turned back to them as they looked on in interest.

"I can tell you, that was a lot harder than it appeared." Mary nodded as the weapon shut itself off. "As for these weapons, the Shine Swords, seeing as they're not the original Sword of Light, they have a limit to how long they can remain active, the stronger the spell they block, the less time they can remain active, however, I have managed to make it so that the power supply that they use can and will recharge on its own."

"How strong of a spell can these weapons block?" One of the council members asked, getting a shrug from Mary. "You don't know?!"

"While I based this one the original Sword of Light, I haven't tested the upper limits of the swords yet. The original Sword of Light was said to be able to block even SS rank destructive bombardment spells, so, since everything about the Shine Sword is the same as the Sword of Light, it would have to be tested against a SS rank bombardment spell to know the maximum limit, and I don't need to tell you that if it failed, the user would likely be destroyed as well."

"What is the upper limits you have tested?" One of the council members asked her.

"I have tested it against a spell that was ranked, at full power, AAA+, so I'm certain that it would suit members of the Bureau at all levels."

"How fast can you make these?"

Mary smirked softly. "With enough time and funding, I can have the entire Bureau, both active and in-active members with these Shine Swords in less than ten years, and the Blaster Metal, if I limit it to only the strongest Belkan Knights, can be done in even less time."

"I suggest, for now, make sure to equip our B and C rank members with these weapons as soon as possible before moving up to A rank magic users for these Shine Swords." Mary nodded, that was her plan. "As for this Blaster Metal enhancement, as per your recommendation, we shall give you funding so that AAA and higher Belkan Knights will receive this upgrade. As for A and AA rank members of the Bureau, there is no need to hurry with equipping the entire Bureau, just make sure to have enough within the ten year timetable that you have set up for yourself." Mary nodded to the member as the others on the council were nodding their heads in agreement. "If you find yourself with other legendary weapons and can reverse engineer them for the Bureau, please let us know and we shall make sure that you get the funding you need."

Mary nodded, quite happy with the ruling she was given. Internally, a small, chibified version of herself had her glasses gleaming white as she tossed her head back and laughed. 'Ohohohohohohohohohoho!'

Mary made a mental note to laugh like that when she was back in her lab.

Spoiler for Comments:

I'll still post the story, but that's about it, I doubt I'll be contributing much to AS from here on out.

Looks like the TSAB now has nothing to fear from the Huckebein xD!

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Shine 48

Shine 49 A, B, C

Shine 49 D

Shine 49 E

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 50:

Leti shook her head as she looked at the destroyed field. "Well, I hope the crews don't mind the extra work in the morning." She shook her head and looked at Mizetto.

"Yes, I'm sure that they won't mind..." She shook her head and wandered off to make the correct calls. "Though, I'm sure that that ground-keepers are going to have a conniption fit."

Leti sighed and made a mental note to tell her son it wasn't worth getting super powerful if all you did was make messes for others to clean up.

(---)

Later...

Hayate sat on the bed, bandages on her arms and forehead and fidgeted from the looks she was getting from Reinforce, who was on her own bed, Signum, Shamal and Zafira, the latter of which were fine. She had the feeling if Rein wasn't clinging tightly to Vita and glaring at Yuuno, she would probably be giving her the same look. "Um..." She looked at Nanoha and nearly giggled as the girl was in the same boat with Yuuno and Miyuki. She tapped her fingers together before rubbing the back of her head. "Well, um, can I say that I wanted to see just how good Nanoha-chan was in a fight?"

"Well, you found out." Reinforce sighed and shook her head before rubbing her eyes.

"Hayate..." Zafira spoke up, causing her to look at him. "We all know that you want to prove that you're worthy of having your power and that fighting Nanoha is a good way to prove that, we don't want you to push yourself too hard or get hurt doing so. So, please, take it easy for the rest of us at least."

Hayate ducked her head in embarrassment, but nodded. "Alright..."

Zafira shook his head. "Even if you push yourself on a mission and try your hardest, we would rather you not try so hard against a friend and ally. None of us want to see you back in your wheelchair."

Hayate looked at her bedsheets and gripped them tightly. "I... I..." She trembled softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to prove that I was worthy of the power I got, I wanted to prove that I was worthy of having you as my family and..." Her eyes widened as she felt arms wrap around her and pull her into a hug. "Shamal..?"

"You have always been worthy of being our master, Hayate. You gave us warm beds, warm food, nice baths and clothes and never once asked for us to do anything for you. You're just being silly if you think you aren't worthy of us."

Hayate sighed softly and hugged Shamal back. "I guess I was... I just got so excited to have a sparring match with Nanoha-chan that I wanted to prove something to myself."

Reinforce shook her head. "Hayate, just don't go and do something that crazy again, okay?" The girl nodded and the large device flopped onto the bed. "Now, I'm tired, so, please keep it down."

Even if Reinforce seemed upset about everything, there was a small smile on her face as she went to sleep. It was good seeing Hayate try so hard at something, even if the results landed the two of them in the infirmary.

(---)

Elsewhere...

Mary stood in front of the Bureau's council as they looked over the data that she had presented them. "As you can see, while it didn't do everything that I had hoped, the Blaster Metal more than lived up to any reasonable expectations that anyone could place on it. If not for the Blast Mode that had been installed into their devices that they had used, both Knights would have been utterly killed by what injured them."

"It seems fairly costly." One of the council members spoke up, getting a nod from Mary.

"Yes, depending on the amount of body that needs to be covered with the person, it could be very expensive to outfit entire platoons with this armor mode." Mary bit her lip, she was sure that the council would approve of it, but she needed them to get behind it fully.

"Is there anyway to off-set the price of this?"

Mary shook her head. "At the moment, no. But, as you can see, my plan calls for only the strongest of Knights and mages to have this outfitted onto them by the year 0080. Having run calculations, anyone with less power than a AA rank would get no benefit from this armor." Hearing the murmurs through the council, Mary held up a hand. "Please, ladies and gentlemen, this is just one project that I have been working on." She clapped her hands twice and some orderlies wheeled in a cart with several sword hilts on them. "Recently, I managed to get my hands on a weapon of immense power and studying it led me to be able to make replicas of it."

"Replicas of what, exactly?"

"A legendary weapon, known for being able to block, counter, reflect and dispell magic, as well as amplify the magic the user has with it." Mary didn't understand it herself, but she was told that was the nature of the weapon. "These replicas, or as I'm calling them, Shine Swords, aren't quite as powerful as the original Sword of Light, however, they're able to do everything the original can do."

"How? If they're not as powerful..."

"I'm glad you asked." Mary nodded and snapped her fingers as several mages walked into the room. "These four are all going to shoot at me with their strongest spells and I will demonstrate the power of one of these Shine Swords for you." Walking into the open as the four lined up in front of her, Mary held her weapon in front of her. "Light Come Forth!" As the sword lit up, the four fired at her at the same time and Mary held the weapon in front of her as the blasts converged on her.

The council watched, with interest as none of the attacks managed to get past the sword. When they abated, the mages bowed and turned to leave as the sword itself shut off and Mary turned back to them as they looked on in interest.

"I can tell you, that was a lot harder than it appeared." Mary nodded as the weapon shut itself off. "As for these weapons, the Shine Swords, seeing as they're not the original Sword of Light, they have a limit to how long they can remain active, the stronger the spell they block, the less time they can remain active, however, I have managed to make it so that the power supply that they use can and will recharge on its own."

"How strong of a spell can these weapons block?" One of the council members asked, getting a shrug from Mary. "You don't know?!"

"While I based this one the original Sword of Light, I haven't tested the upper limits of the swords yet. The original Sword of Light was said to be able to block even SS rank destructive bombardment spells, so, since everything about the Shine Sword is the same as the Sword of Light, it would have to be tested against a SS rank bombardment spell to know the maximum limit, and I don't need to tell you that if it failed, the user would likely be destroyed as well."

"What is the upper limits you have tested?" One of the council members asked her.

"I have tested it against a spell that was ranked, at full power, AAA+, so I'm certain that it would suit members of the Bureau at all levels."

"How fast can you make these?"

Mary smirked softly. "With enough time and funding, I can have the entire Bureau, both active and in-active members with these Shine Swords in less than ten years, and the Blaster Metal, if I limit it to only the strongest Belkan Knights, can be done in even less time."

"I suggest, for now, make sure to equip our B and C rank members with these weapons as soon as possible before moving up to A rank magic users for these Shine Swords." Mary nodded, that was her plan. "As for this Blaster Metal enhancement, as per your recommendation, we shall give you funding so that AAA and higher Belkan Knights will receive this upgrade. As for A and AA rank members of the Bureau, there is no need to hurry with equipping the entire Bureau, just make sure to have enough within the ten year timetable that you have set up for yourself." Mary nodded to the member as the others on the council were nodding their heads in agreement. "If you find yourself with other legendary weapons and can reverse engineer them for the Bureau, please let us know and we shall make sure that you get the funding you need."

Mary nodded, quite happy with the ruling she was given. Internally, a small, chibified version of herself had her glasses gleaming white as she tossed her head back and laughed. 'Ohohohohohohohohohoho!'

Mary made a mental note to laugh like that when she was back in her lab.

Spoiler for Comments:

I'll still post the story, but that's about it, I doubt I'll be contributing much to AS from here on out.

I wonder what will Lina will say if Naga and Mary laugh their Noble woman's laugh....

And looks like things are evening out.... The cyborys getting offensive upgrade while TSAB getting mostly defensive upgrades...

[Justin_Brett]

I think adding an epilogue after chapter four might help, just to give the audience (not to mention Vivio) some closure. But that's just me.

[RadiantBeam]

Eh. I'm personally of the opinion that an epilogue would ruin the emotional impact of what happened, but hey... I rather liked the ending, myself.

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Eh. I'm personally of the opinion that an epilogue would ruin the emotional impact of what happened, but hey... I rather liked the ending, myself.

Depends on the epilogue, but I'm not thinking of any closure that doesn't sort of ruin the point.

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Justin_Brett

I think adding an epilogue after chapter four might help, just to give the audience (not to mention Vivio) some closure. But that's just me.

Spoiler for Hmm?:

Something like where an epilogue that described how the whole affair scarred Vivio forever? How she sometimes relived that event in her dreams, and how she could vividly remember Fate-chan's tragic final moments?

Ah, but don't worry Vivio, it's all just a dream! Why? the real Linith had the appearance of a housecat, not a cougar!

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Eh. I'm personally of the opinion that an epilogue would ruin the emotional impact of what happened, but hey... I rather liked the ending, myself.

It would depend on what happened in it, but I could sort of see the value of an epilogue showing, say... what Vivid learned from this, her determination to move on and grow stronger so it never happens again, her family's love helping her cope, etc.

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Moczo

Do not question the Beam's angst-feeding! If she doesn't get enough angst her dark side will awaken and eat the forum!

Originally Posted by Moczo

It would depend on what happened in it, but I could sort of see the value of an epilogue showing, say... what Vivid learned from this, her determination to move on and grow stronger so it never happens again, her family's love helping her cope, etc.

Ah, but wouldn't such an optimistic ending ruin a certain someone's appetite?

[Moczo]

Originally Posted by Tiresias

Ah, but wouldn't such an optimistic ending ruin a certain someone's appetite?

She already got her fill. Feed her too much angst and she'll lose the motivation to write her own!

[spawnofthejudge]

Balance! THERE MUST BE BALANCE! *cough*

[yuiseppe]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

To, er, not squick anyone out....but that's kinda what I had actually imagined Alicia's body doing ....it's been preserved in a jar for decades now............

*roars with laughter* Akin to a splatter then, but less wet

Originally Posted by Tiresias

Ah, but wouldn't such an optimistic ending ruin a certain someone's appetite?

Spoiler for Well in that case...:

Vivio dwells on her failure to be a hero, perceives every little thing to be another step in heroism-failure until it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. e.g. One day she comes across a dying victim of some crime and simply watches the person dying because she believes she cannot be a hero who saves the person.

or we can have Evil-Brooding Vivio who takes to anti-heroism instead

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Moczo

She already got her fill. Feed her too much angst and she'll lose the motivation to write her own!

Nonsense! It will drive her to up the ante instead!

Originally Posted by yuiseppe

Spoiler for Well in that case...:

or we can have Evil-Brooding Vivio who takes to anti-heroism instead

A child that dreamed of becoming a hero, only to snapped and be disillusioned after actually doing the job?

"You can't save everyone! To save the many, you must sacrifice the few!"
- Counter Guardian VIVIO (the name TAKAMACHI is already associated with a certain infamous Heroic Spirit)

[shiroi mahotsukai]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Shine 1 -45

Shine 46

Shine 47

Shine 48

Shine 49 A, B, C

Shine 49 D

Shine 49 E

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Shine 50:

Leti shook her head as she looked at the destroyed field. "Well, I hope the crews don't mind the extra work in the morning." She shook her head and looked at Mizetto.

"Yes, I'm sure that they won't mind..." She shook her head and wandered off to make the correct calls. "Though, I'm sure that that ground-keepers are going to have a conniption fit."

Leti sighed and made a mental note to tell her son it wasn't worth getting super powerful if all you did was make messes for others to clean up.

(---)

Later...

Hayate sat on the bed, bandages on her arms and forehead and fidgeted from the looks she was getting from Reinforce, who was on her own bed, Signum, Shamal and Zafira, the latter of which were fine. She had the feeling if Rein wasn't clinging tightly to Vita and glaring at Yuuno, she would probably be giving her the same look. "Um..." She looked at Nanoha and nearly giggled as the girl was in the same boat with Yuuno and Miyuki. She tapped her fingers together before rubbing the back of her head. "Well, um, can I say that I wanted to see just how good Nanoha-chan was in a fight?"

"Well, you found out." Reinforce sighed and shook her head before rubbing her eyes.

"Hayate..." Zafira spoke up, causing her to look at him. "We all know that you want to prove that you're worthy of having your power and that fighting Nanoha is a good way to prove that, we don't want you to push yourself too hard or get hurt doing so. So, please, take it easy for the rest of us at least."

Hayate ducked her head in embarrassment, but nodded. "Alright..."

Zafira shook his head. "Even if you push yourself on a mission and try your hardest, we would rather you not try so hard against a friend and ally. None of us want to see you back in your wheelchair."

Hayate looked at her bedsheets and gripped them tightly. "I... I..." She trembled softly. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to prove that I was worthy of the power I got, I wanted to prove that I was worthy of having you as my family and..." Her eyes widened as she felt arms wrap around her and pull her into a hug. "Shamal..?"

"You have always been worthy of being our master, Hayate. You gave us warm beds, warm food, nice baths and clothes and never once asked for us to do anything for you. You're just being silly if you think you aren't worthy of us."

Hayate sighed softly and hugged Shamal back. "I guess I was... I just got so excited to have a sparring match with Nanoha-chan that I wanted to prove something to myself."

Reinforce shook her head. "Hayate, just don't go and do something that crazy again, okay?" The girl nodded and the large device flopped onto the bed. "Now, I'm tired, so, please keep it down."

Even if Reinforce seemed upset about everything, there was a small smile on her face as she went to sleep. It was good seeing Hayate try so hard at something, even if the results landed the two of them in the infirmary.

(---)

Elsewhere...

Mary stood in front of the Bureau's council as they looked over the data that she had presented them. "As you can see, while it didn't do everything that I had hoped, the Blaster Metal more than lived up to any reasonable expectations that anyone could place on it. If not for the Blast Mode that had been installed into their devices that they had used, both Knights would have been utterly killed by what injured them."

"It seems fairly costly." One of the council members spoke up, getting a nod from Mary.

"Yes, depending on the amount of body that needs to be covered with the person, it could be very expensive to outfit entire platoons with this armor mode." Mary bit her lip, she was sure that the council would approve of it, but she needed them to get behind it fully.

"Is there anyway to off-set the price of this?"

Mary shook her head. "At the moment, no. But, as you can see, my plan calls for only the strongest of Knights and mages to have this outfitted onto them by the year 0080. Having run calculations, anyone with less power than a AA rank would get no benefit from this armor." Hearing the murmurs through the council, Mary held up a hand. "Please, ladies and gentlemen, this is just one project that I have been working on." She clapped her hands twice and some orderlies wheeled in a cart with several sword hilts on them. "Recently, I managed to get my hands on a weapon of immense power and studying it led me to be able to make replicas of it."

"Replicas of what, exactly?"

"A legendary weapon, known for being able to block, counter, reflect and dispell magic, as well as amplify the magic the user has with it." Mary didn't understand it herself, but she was told that was the nature of the weapon. "These replicas, or as I'm calling them, Shine Swords, aren't quite as powerful as the original Sword of Light, however, they're able to do everything the original can do."

"How? If they're not as powerful..."

"I'm glad you asked." Mary nodded and snapped her fingers as several mages walked into the room. "These four are all going to shoot at me with their strongest spells and I will demonstrate the power of one of these Shine Swords for you." Walking into the open as the four lined up in front of her, Mary held her weapon in front of her. "Light Come Forth!" As the sword lit up, the four fired at her at the same time and Mary held the weapon in front of her as the blasts converged on her.

The council watched, with interest as none of the attacks managed to get past the sword. When they abated, the mages bowed and turned to leave as the sword itself shut off and Mary turned back to them as they looked on in interest.

"I can tell you, that was a lot harder than it appeared." Mary nodded as the weapon shut itself off. "As for these weapons, the Shine Swords, seeing as they're not the original Sword of Light, they have a limit to how long they can remain active, the stronger the spell they block, the less time they can remain active, however, I have managed to make it so that the power supply that they use can and will recharge on its own."

"How strong of a spell can these weapons block?" One of the council members asked, getting a shrug from Mary. "You don't know?!"

"While I based this one the original Sword of Light, I haven't tested the upper limits of the swords yet. The original Sword of Light was said to be able to block even SS rank destructive bombardment spells, so, since everything about the Shine Sword is the same as the Sword of Light, it would have to be tested against a SS rank bombardment spell to know the maximum limit, and I don't need to tell you that if it failed, the user would likely be destroyed as well."

"What is the upper limits you have tested?" One of the council members asked her.

"I have tested it against a spell that was ranked, at full power, AAA+, so I'm certain that it would suit members of the Bureau at all levels."

"How fast can you make these?"

Mary smirked softly. "With enough time and funding, I can have the entire Bureau, both active and in-active members with these Shine Swords in less than ten years, and the Blaster Metal, if I limit it to only the strongest Belkan Knights, can be done in even less time."

"I suggest, for now, make sure to equip our B and C rank members with these weapons as soon as possible before moving up to A rank magic users for these Shine Swords." Mary nodded, that was her plan. "As for this Blaster Metal enhancement, as per your recommendation, we shall give you funding so that AAA and higher Belkan Knights will receive this upgrade. As for A and AA rank members of the Bureau, there is no need to hurry with equipping the entire Bureau, just make sure to have enough within the ten year timetable that you have set up for yourself." Mary nodded to the member as the others on the council were nodding their heads in agreement. "If you find yourself with other legendary weapons and can reverse engineer them for the Bureau, please let us know and we shall make sure that you get the funding you need."

Mary nodded, quite happy with the ruling she was given. Internally, a small, chibified version of herself had her glasses gleaming white as she tossed her head back and laughed. 'Ohohohohohohohohohoho!'

Mary made a mental note to laugh like that when she was back in her lab.

Spoiler for Comments:

I'll still post the story, but that's about it, I doubt I'll be contributing much to AS from here on out.

The bonds of family are incredibly important, it doesn't matter about blood, those who stand by your side unflinchingly are truly family.

Also, upgrades! Yay, everyone's becoming more powerful, it'll make one hell of a challenge for either side.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for Another MD Ep Without Materials?!:

“Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork. I really wonder who’s the bright crayon who came up with all that red tape,” growled Agito as she hitched a ride on her partner’s right shoulder while they walked through one of the hallways of Section Six HQ. “It takes freaking forever just to try and requisition cartridges nowadays.”

“It can be tricky navigating the system but apparently, this is to make it easier for year end audits to keep track of how the Bureau is allocating resources,” replied Signum before noticing several uniformed men and women exiting out of a room at a hurried pace. She recognized them as members of Division Five, Section Two (Vita’s squadron) by the insignia on their uniforms.

A quick detour led her to that room where she saw her fellow comrade packing up some stuff while grumbling under her breath.

“Stupid squad… stupid Materials…”

“Vita, what’s wrong?” asked Signum. She didn’t appear to get any response as more grumbling from the smaller officer was heard.

“… stupid ideas…”

“Vita!”

That finally got the Crimson Iron Rider’s attention. “Oh. What’s up?”

“Good afternoon to you too. I take it your strategic meeting with your squadron wasn’t as productive as you had wanted?”

The short redhead gave a small grunt. “Nope. Instead of giving out some real serious ideas on how to handle the enemy based on the limited psych profiles that were drawn up, they end up wasting time with silly nonsense. Talking to those Materials… like that’s gonna accomplish anything! I mean, they pretty much declared their intentions on that broadcast!”

“… … for some reason, I feel that there’s a certain sense of irony in the air,” grumbled the taller woman to herself.

“What’s that?”

“Er, nothing to worry about, Agito.” Signum paused for a bit. “So we’re ruling out a diplomatic approach. What results did you obtain from the meeting?”

That annoyed look came back to Vita’s face. “Get this. For a battle strategy, they suggested using trash talk and taunts! Did they not read the psychological profiles? How is that going to be effective?”

“We have psychological profiles on the Materials?” asked Agito.

The Knight of the Iron Hammer nodded. “It’s somewhat limited based on the behaviour they exhibited during the broadcast. A copy of the report got mailed out to all essential staff a few hours ago. You two didn’t read it?”

Signum shook her head. “Actually, we had been occupied by other duties and had not yet gone through our messages for the day. But in any case, isn’t it a bit premature creating such profiles on limited information? For all we know, those Materials could be faking those personalities as a misdirection tactic.”

“Yeah but what else do we have to work with? Besides, when did having inconclusive information stop us from completing our mission?”

The General of the Raging Fire exhaled softly in exasperation. “Alright. Break it down for us. What do we have on them?”

Three holographic displays popped up between the officers showing images of the women taken from the broadcast along with some data. “The Nanoha lookalike seemed to have a cold and focused attitude. She did show some sort of concern for Yuuno. Kinda reminds me of the old you when we started living with Hayate.”

“I see.” Her gaze then focused on the image of the blue haired woman. “What of the Testarossa replica? It seems that she may be immature enough to be affected.”

“If you want to hear what I think, she’ll simply respond with her own insults and it’ll degenerate into two kids calling each other names on an elementary school playground.” Vita paused for a second. “Just like what Agito and Rein do back at home once in a while.”

“OI!”

A very tiny smirk of amusement appeared on Signum’s lips before she focused on the last portrait. “And her? The one who resembles Hayate?”

Vita growled under her breath. “That’s the one who pisses me off the most. Look at her. Doesn’t it remind you of something?”

“Yes… it does.” The posture, the arrogance in her eyes… it brought back some memories of the old masters they had served in the time where victory was life and defeat meant losing everything. It was as if someone had taken every dark memory of the crueller masters they had served in the past and put it all together into one person. And worst of all, she was shaped like the Master they found happiness with.

“Signum? You okay?” asked the Unison Device from her position.

“Sorry, Agito… just thinking of something.” The taller woman took a moment to regain focus. “While normally I would not encourage this type of behaviour on the battlefield, I believe there is some possible merit in this so-called ‘trash talk’.”

Her fellow Knight merely stared at her. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Any moment where an enemy is blinded by anger and recklessness because of a loss of emotional control can yield an advantage in our favour. It would make reading their combat movements easier and cause them to burn up more energy.”

“Will it really work?” asked Agito.

“Perhaps not for the Takamachi replica but the current psychological profiles on the others suggest that this tactic could have some value.”

“Why don’t you prove it to me?”

“Very well. Let’s take you for example, Vita.” Signum paused a moment before coming up with something appropriate to illustrate her point. “I will write something insulting on that billboard you call a chest.”

“What the hell?! That was uncalled for, Signum!” shouted the shorter girl.

The taller woman merely shrugged. “And in that moment of anger, I could have spotted an opening easily and went straight for it to finish you in one blow if we had been duelling. I rest my case.”

“HAH! Like you can pull that off, you saggy boob demon.”

“Saggy?” Being called a boob demon was one thing but… saggy? “Would you care to rephrase that?”

“Nah! I’m fine with calling you a saggy, fat-assed, boob demon!”

“I see that you still remain unconvinced of my earlier point. Perhaps we should put it to the proper test in the heat of battle,” said Signum in an eerily calm tone as she held out Laevatein in its miniature form.

Vita smirked as she readied Graf Eisen. “Fine by me!”

“Alright, knock it off you two!” shouted Agito who caught the two Knights by surprise. “If you wanna duke it out so badly, go do it at a practice field and not here where you will damage everything! Because if you blow things up here, that means Hayate gets mad at us and that means no dessert! And I’ll be damned if I miss warabimochi night because of you!”

After a moment of awkward silence, Signum was the first to recover. “Er… in that case, shall we resume this once we’ve moved to a more appropriate location?”

“Gimme ten minutes to pack away the stuff. Then I’ll pound ya into paste with Eisen,” replied Vita.

“Hmph. I would like to see you try,” said the taller woman as she left the office, leaving an annoyed Crimson Iron Rider behind.

‘Dammit, she got the last word! Again!’

Heh, I caught those Endless Frontier references You'd think that Signum would be pretty immune to trash talk herself, but I guess even she has her limits

Now I gotta read that chapter of Future Days I somehow missed before

[deathcurse]

Blood Calls To Blood

Special Epilogue for spawnofthejudge and RadiantBeam

EDIT: Whoops, and for yuiseppe and Tiresias too ^^, a little...

Spoiler for BCTB Special Epilogue for spawn and RB:

“This…is really unusual.”

“All the paperwork is not in order, sir?”

“No, but…” A sigh. “We usually don’t get new recruits without a referral or a transfer order. And considering your family background…”

“I am permitted to apply for this unit without referral or parental permission, sir.”

“Yes, I know…but why?”

“Because I can be an asset to this unit, sir. I…I’m compelled, sir, to do my best to serve, no matter what it takes. I owe it to…to people in my past.”

A pause.

Then a thunk of an approval seal echoed in the silence.

“Welcome to the NSIS, Vivio Takamachi.”

Spoiler for Author's Note:

I'm just kidding .....or am I?

It seems like lots of people want some kind of a short epilogue....I keep doing this to myself!

I have some vague ideas for an epilogue, but it'll depend on how it plays out in my head. No promises, guys .

[Akiyoshi]

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Heh, I caught those Endless Frontier references You'd think that Signum would be pretty immune to trash talk herself, but I guess even she has her limits

It's actually pretty easy, you just need to smirk maniacally and talk joyfully about murdering entire towns worth of people xD.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Blood Calls To Blood

Special Epilogue for spawnofthejudge and RadiantBeam

EDIT: Whoops, and for yuiseppe and Tiresias too ^^, a little...

Spoiler for BCTB Special Epilogue for spawn and RB:

“This…is really unusual.”

“All the paperwork is not in order, sir?”

“No, but…” A sigh. “We usually don’t get new recruits without a referral or a transfer order. And considering your family background…”

“I am permitted to apply for this unit without referral or parental permission, sir.”

“Yes, I know…but why?”

“Because I can be an asset to this unit, sir. I…I’m compelled, sir, to do my best to serve, no matter what it takes. I owe it to…to people in my past.”

A pause.

Then a thunk of an approval seal echoed in the silence.

“Welcome to the NSIS, Vivio Takamachi.”

Spoiler for Author's Note:

I'm just kidding .....or am I?

It seems like lots of people want some kind of a short epilogue....I keep doing this to myself!

I have some vague ideas for an epilogue, but it'll depend on how it plays out in my head. No promises, guys .

...

Can I say that as short as this is, it made me grin stupidly? Because it made me grin stupidly. That is all.