Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[Old_Iron]

That was an excellent chapter Kaijo. The way everything seemed to be going right for our heroes, only to come around against them in the end was superb writing. And more combat would be delicious.

Otto and Arf really stole the spotlight for me. And nice job with the bomb, I wasn't expecting that little twist and it worked out really well.

And I can't wait to see more of the baddies' motives. =3

Well done comrade. I'm looking forward to the continuation.

[Nanya01]

Warning, next part is kind of dark.

ViVid

Revolution Start

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Revolution 2:

Arashi's eyes widened when he heard Nove call that word out. His mother and sister had drilled him for years about Mazoku. Most weren't very nice beings to humans, since they needed to draw upon negative emotions to survive.

He may have been wrong, since he sometimes fell asleep during the lectures that he was given about them.

Ixpellia stepped in front of Arashi and narrowed her eyes at the oncoming creatures. "I take it that these things are unpleasant?"

"You could call them demons." Arashi muttered as a red sphere with golden flecks formed in his hand. "I think mom said something about them being immune to normal magic and weapons."

"Gyhahahahahaha!" A creature that looked like an unholy cross of spider and monkey leapt at them. "Your mother's smart, kid, too bad you're not as smart!" It blinked as Ixpellia threw a knife right at its face. "Ha ha! Fool!" Opening its mouth, it swallowed the knife whole. "See how useless it is, and now I... I..." It blinked and looked down as where its stomach area would be started to sizzle. "What the?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ixpellia grinned as she flicked her wrist and many more knives appeared in her hand, "I thought to use some Holy-imbued weapons against you. I hope you don't mind."

"You... You little..." The monkey spider hissed as it forced the weapon out of its stomach and onto the ground. "How dare..?" It groaned and twitched as it looked at Ixpellia and Arashi. "Well, this sucks."

Ixpellia grinned at it. "Yep."

"Well then..." The monkey-spider grinned and Ixpellia and Arashi both stared as several copies of it seemed to form out of thin air. "Can you handle eight of me?!" They all said at the same time and rushed forward.

Ixpellia narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Arashi, use your magic to cover me." She ignored Arashi's protest and sent out several blades in front of her and grimaced as the demonic creatures seemed to disappear and reappear, causing the blades to miss them.

"I'm not that good with magic!" Arashi protested, but still threw a gold-flecked fireball at one that almost grabbed Ixpellia.

"Ha!" The Mazoku laughed as the flames washed over its body. "You think that you can hurt me with..." It trembled and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. "THAT... IMPOSSIBLE! URRGH!" Growling, it glanced up and glared at Arashi. "KILL THEM! DON'T LET ANY SURVIVE!"

Ixpellia tensed as the Mazoku started to circle them. This wasn't going to be good.

(---)

Corona let out a yelp as a gout of flame erupted from the fingertip of the Mazoku that had chosen her as an attack target. "Brunzel," she whimpered to her device, which looked more like a dagger than a rose in its activated form, "call it up."

"I have to admit," the Mazoku that she was facing seemed to purr at her, "that outfit is so cute on you. Though, I think you'd look better with blue than black and white like you've got." The Mazoku nodded as it looked over Corona's outfit, which had a black top, sleeves and fingerless gloves, but somehow left the shoulders bare, and a white, flowing dress around her legs. "Though, if you're going to..." The Mazoku trailed off as a giant stone creature formed behind Corona. "Oooh! You can summon Golems, huh?"

Corona gulped as the Mazoku grinned at her. Why did she not like that grin?

"Well then, let's PLAY!" The Mazoku smirked and extended its arm to grab the Golem's head. "I mean, really, a normal stone golem? You'd have better luck putting out a volcano by spitting into it."

Corona's eyes widened as the Mazoku crushed the head of her Golem easily. "No way..."

The Mazoku grinned and turned to face her. "See? So easy. Now then, how about we see if your head is tougher than the Golem's head, hmm?" It slowly slinked up towards Corona, ignoring how the young girl was raising that weird dagger in her hand.

Corona pointed her device at the Mazoku. "Rocket Punch!"

The Mazoku blinked a few times before turning and gaping as a spinning, flying fist slammed into its body and sent it flying away from Corona.

"Thanks Goliath." Corona let out a sigh of relief as she reformed her Golem's head.

"My, my, my..." Corona's eyes widened as she felt the Mazoku's hand on her chin. "Such an attack from someone like you. Impressive, but..." Corona started to gag as that hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, squeezing tightly and slowly crushing the young girl's windpipe, "futility, thy name is humans." Laughing as Corona grabbed at the hand slowly killing her, the Mazoku started swinging her back and forth. "You're so cute though, maybe I'll keep your body as a keepsake. Yes, a little doll for me to play with."

Corona couldn't answer as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and black spots formed around her vision.

"Oh, dying so soon?" The Mazoku chuckled and narrowed its eyes. "Well then, you were a fun little," the Mazoku jumped back, still holding onto Corona as the Golem punched at her. "Oh, you," pointing a finger at the Golem, the Mazoku smirked as the thing vibrated and then shattered into a multitude of pieces. "Nice try with your cute toy, but now, you need to die."

Corona could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She was going to die? Like this? It wasn't fair!

The Mazoku chuckled again and held Corona's body away from its body. "Well then, time to..." Several yellow shots ripped through the air, blasting through the Mazoku's arm until it was detached from the main body. "What the?!" The Mazoku turned, only to see a red and blue blur suddenly race through and grab Corona, who was on the ground, coughing hard. "Who the hell?"

"Nove Nakajima." The blur said as it stopped, revealing that redheaded girl from before.

Corona continued to cough as air was forced through her abused throat. "N..ove?"

"Hang on," Nove said as she activated her Airliner and took off, "we're not in any sort of position to fight back right now."

Corona could only nod. "Where..."

"We'll get to them!" Nove yelled, then cursed as she saw Vivio and Einhart fighting against three Mazoku. "Hang on, we're going to give them some support."

(---)

Gram watched, slightly bored as those humans fought back against his scouting team. It wasn't too impressive, though he found those redheads to have some interesting tricks at least. "That's it, I think it's time to step in." Smirking, he bent space and took one step forward, appearing just in front of the dark haired girl with a ribbon on the top of her head. "You, what is your name?"

"Rio Westley," the girl said as she jumped back and grabbed a chunk of the ground and lifted it up, tearing out a giant rock in the process.

"Not bad." Gram nodded to her, held up one hand and snapped his fingers, causing the rock to shatter into pebbles. "But, I'm afraid, I just wanted to know who it was that I'm going to kill."

Rio's eyes widened and the next thing she knew, Gram was in front of her, picking her up by her outfit and smirking. "What? Going to use me as a hostage?"

"Rio!" Gram turned to see that blonde with two colored eyes look at them in fear.

"Stop!" Gram ordered his minions. "That's enough of that." He smirked as they stepped back and the kids were able to gather together. "Now then, about my master's toys..." He sent a mental command to the Mazoku around him to keep those humans from getting anywhere near him.

"I wouldn't tell you anything about Amitie and Kyrie!" Nove growled at him. "Now let Rio go!"

Gram gave her an amused look, before sighing dramatically. "Fine." He let go of Rio, who fell to the ground. Her eyes widened in shock and delight, as did that blonde haired girl's eyes. Gram grinned evilly as Rio's feet were mere centimeters from touching the ground and pointed an open palm at Rio.

"What?" Rio's eyes widened as she felt a tremendous energy build-up. A second later she let out a cry as something hot and painful tore through her stomach area.

"Oh dear." Gram grinned as Rio stumbled backwards, clutching at her upper stomach. "That had to hurt."

"RIO!" The humans all cried out at once and Gram just pointed at the injured girl, blasting her with a purple blast that sent her flying backwards, parallel to the ground.

"Oh dear, that must hurt." Gram smirked, "especially since there's that cliff I just knocked her over. Oh well." He snapped his fingers and a spell array formed in mid air. It was just a simple circle with some runes etched around the edges of it. The fear he felt from the girl as the spell fired several dozen bolts of magical death down on her was just delicious.

When he heard a splash from below and the array, Gram turned to face the humans and grinned at them while holding up one hand and flexing his fingers. "Now then, perhaps you'll be more willing to talk? Or should I kill another one of your friends?"

Nove stared at the Mazoku as he grinned at her, she couldn't find her breath, she could barely feel anything other than the cold block of ice her blood had turned into. "R...Rio..."

"Oh," Gram's eyes were full of amusement, "is that the first time a friend of yours has died? So, just tell me what I wish to know and no one else has to die." He pointed a finger at them lazily, "or should I kill another of your friends first?"

The ice in her veins cleared instantly and Nove pressed something on her arm gauntlet. "Everyone, get ready to run." She said calmly as she narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what good it would do to run away, but they couldn't win, not like this. None of them had any weapons or spells that could deal with a Mazoku like this.

"And where are we going to run?" Arashi growled at her, wishing he could do different types of magic at that moment. Or at least be able to use his Chaos magic properly, since all he seemed to be able to do with it was generate random effects, allow him to teleport if he knew where he was going, and that was about it.

"I don't know, we're just going to run." Nove narrowed her eyes at the smirking Mazoku and pointed her Gun Knuckle at him. "I don't know if this will be any good, but..." A thick green gas was blasted out in front of Nove, quickly covering the Mazoku. Turning around, she grabbed Corona, who had gone into a state of shock, Arashi and Ixpellia before activating her Airliner and rushing off. "Vivio! Einhart! Let's go!"

"Right!" They nodded, rushing after her. They had fought these things, and none of them had the magic needed to fight back. Vivio knew Black magic, but, the spells she knew wasn't that good. After all, Blast Ash and Disfang didn't seem to do anything against these creatures and she couldn't call up the Nemesis Breaker for some reason.

Gram frowned as he looked at the green gas. "What is this?" For some reason, even his ability to see the mystical wasn't penetrating it. As it got closer to him, he touched it and his frown turned into a scowl.

The Mazoku around him started to scream in pain and Gram found his own hand starting to, amazingly enough, blister as if he was human and had a harsh chemical poured over his hand. "Impossible." Snapping his fingers, a gust of wind blew the gas away and he got his first look at his minions.

Twitching, Gram growled for a moment before calming down. While his minions were hurting badly, none of them were dead, not yet. "Interesting." He would need to think on these matters. "Pull yourselves back together. We're heading back to base."

As he faded, Gram wondered just who this Nove Nakajima was, and how she developed a weapon that could hurt Mazoku so badly. 'Well,' he corrected himself a moment later, 'low level Mazoku.' He suspected that even mid-level Mazoku would be in pain from that gas. But something like him? A General? It was only enough to make his metaphysical skin blister.

"Master..." He turned to one of the Mazoku and sighed, wishing that they had at least taken on genders, it would be much easier to remember them if they were male or female. "Are we heading back to that human kingdom?"

"Yes... Ruvinagald." Gram smirked, glad that he and his minions could use it as a base for their stay on this world.

[Filraen]

Originally Posted by Nanya01: Blood That Flows - Revolution 2

Warning, next part is kind of dark.

Ixpelia and Arashi: It was kind of funny, not expecting the chaos magic. EDIT: The mazoku, not me.

Also I guess Lina has to travel to that mazoku's staff, as she doesn't have a reputation there.

Now to see if Rio can survive.

This green gas or the place itself, kind of omnious... makes one wonder wha could be on that place, a piece of Chaotic Blue or the Azure Dragon's soul, perhaps?

On a random note, I disegree with your choice of name for this arc, as Revolution is also one of Slayers arc's name.

[Sunder the Gold]

Belated response to the latest chapter of Swords and Shields!

(Leave me alone. Between my parents moving in with me, and this new job, I really don't have the same kind of free time or energy anymore.)

Originally Posted by Old_Iron

"A... school?"

Kudos for this very interesting, original idea for an archaeological discovery. It's almost as good as a library, and in some ways better.

I imagine you can learn a lot from a civilization based on how they educated their children.

Signum merely stood by the fallen bookcase and soaked in Yuuno's words. She'd underestimated him. Again. It was no mere academic interest or hobby which drove him in his pursuits of the past. It was a passion the likes of which she knew all too well. An overpowering and greedy desire to know and experience all there was about a subject until there was nothing left.

And yet, for all that we see from the official materials, this passion is only fanon.

Seriously, Yuuno never displays anything resembling enthusiasm or joy in regards to anything one might consider a passion or hobby or calling. We never see his eyes light up for anything, not even the Library -- which gets a "isn't that nice?" response at most.

It's one of various reasons why his detractors accuse him of being bland and boring.

Yet as she followed the blonde man's instructions for examining the insides of the numerous shelved cabinets, she could not help but wonder about Takamchi's relationship with Yuuno. Just how well did the Ace of Aces know the man she claimed to care for so deeply?

Biblically, apparently.

Yuuno doesn't once seem to think about his previous romantic (sexual?) relationship with Nanoha as a possible reason for Nanoha to get jealous.

Yuuno nodded and gave her a reassuring look. "It might seem boring, and it probably will be at first, but it’s a good first step. Plus, your fluency in Ancient Belkan puts mine to shame, honestly."

Wouldn't it be more like,"obviously" than "honestly"? Considering it was her native tongue, rather than something learned for professional/scholarly interest?

She'd learned far more about Ancient Belka in the past few hours than she'd ever have thought possible, and she'd only touched on a few of the subjects covered in the textbooks in front of her.

Come to think of it, the desire to know more about her own forgotten origins WOULD be the most appropriate bridge for Signum to appreciate archaeology.


On that note, ANY attempt to look into what the Belkan Empire was like, and give ANY thought to its pre-instellar (and even pre-global!) eras, is really admirable.

The Cradle was even written about in the texts. The massive and immensely powerful ship was one of many, a single vessel in an armada of ships-of-the-line.

The Cradle was presented as a unique, class-of-its-own vessel. Especially since it was the personal flagship of the Sankt Kaiser.

Even if there were other classes to rival it, they would not be Cradles, because they would not be the flagships of surplus Kaisers.

It was late in the afternoon at the mostly empty Takamachi-Harlaown household. Caro and Vivio had gone out earlier in the day and wouldn't be back until after dinner. They were planning on having some fun as sisters with their friends. Something the two had been planning to do for some time now.

Yay, sisterhood!

"But he's not the boy you fell in love with anymore. He's also not the young man you broke up with either."

Ho, this took me by surprise.

Is this true of your Leave of Absence story's background, as well? It would cast in a new light Nanoha's amused reaction about the pregnancy rumor regarding Yuuno and Hayate.

Yet, even with all their closeness, the spark had still gone out. They had reached some barrier, some line, they were unable to cross.

Something easy to imagine, given Yuuno's apparent blandness, based on official materials.

If Yuuno had been capable of the kind of passion he's showing Signum, would he and Nanoha have fallen out of love? Wouldn't there have been SOME bridge between their different areas of enthusiasm?

This whole thing started because Yuuno was willing to give Signum the challenge she desired. Yuuno and Nanoha have sparred in the past, and Nanoha's fights with Signum can get damn messy.

Would Yuuno have never tried to give Nanoha the same "Zenryoku Zenkai" attitude in their own fights? Not so much trying to dominate her as to challenge her to new heights of "giving your all"?

The exuberant Nakajima had somehow modified the spell into a banner proclaiming her love for Teana.

pffffffffthahaha!

"How else am I going to tease him about it? Nyahahaha~!"

Ah, friendship.



Oh, and...

Originally Posted by Sunder the Gold

Old Iron, I sent you a PM (and another PM with a correction), but my Sent Folder doesn't seem to acknowledge this.

Please tell me if you have recieved nothing.

Turns out there's some ridiculous forum-feature where you have to go into your settings and CHOOSE for the forum to save the PMs you send. Otherwise it deletes them.

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Warning, next part is kind of dark.

ViVid

Revolution Start

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Revolution 2:

Arashi's eyes widened when he heard Nove call that word out. His mother and sister had drilled him for years about Mazoku. Most weren't very nice beings to humans, since they needed to draw upon negative emotions to survive.

He may have been wrong, since he sometimes fell asleep during the lectures that he was given about them.

Ixpellia stepped in front of Arashi and narrowed her eyes at the oncoming creatures. "I take it that these things are unpleasant?"

"You could call them demons." Arashi muttered as a red sphere with golden flecks formed in his hand. "I think mom said something about them being immune to normal magic and weapons."

"Gyhahahahahaha!" A creature that looked like an unholy cross of spider and monkey leapt at them. "Your mother's smart, kid, too bad you're not as smart!" It blinked as Ixpellia threw a knife right at its face. "Ha ha! Fool!" Opening its mouth, it swallowed the knife whole. "See how useless it is, and now I... I..." It blinked and looked down as where its stomach area would be started to sizzle. "What the?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ixpellia grinned as she flicked her wrist and many more knives appeared in her hand, "I thought to use some Holy-imbued weapons against you. I hope you don't mind."

"You... You little..." The monkey spider hissed as it forced the weapon out of its stomach and onto the ground. "How dare..?" It groaned and twitched as it looked at Ixpellia and Arashi. "Well, this sucks."

Ixpellia grinned at it. "Yep."

"Well then..." The monkey-spider grinned and Ixpellia and Arashi both stared as several copies of it seemed to form out of thin air. "Can you handle eight of me?!" They all said at the same time and rushed forward.

Ixpellia narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Arashi, use your magic to cover me." She ignored Arashi's protest and sent out several blades in front of her and grimaced as the demonic creatures seemed to disappear and reappear, causing the blades to miss them.

"I'm not that good with magic!" Arashi protested, but still threw a gold-flecked fireball at one that almost grabbed Ixpellia.

"Ha!" The Mazoku laughed as the flames washed over its body. "You think that you can hurt me with..." It trembled and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. "THAT... IMPOSSIBLE! URRGH!" Growling, it glanced up and glared at Arashi. "KILL THEM! DON'T LET ANY SURVIVE!"

Ixpellia tensed as the Mazoku started to circle them. This wasn't going to be good.

(---)

Corona let out a yelp as a gout of flame erupted from the fingertip of the Mazoku that had chosen her as an attack target. "Brunzel," she whimpered to her device, which looked more like a dagger than a rose in its activated form, "call it up."

"I have to admit," the Mazoku that she was facing seemed to purr at her, "that outfit is so cute on you. Though, I think you'd look better with blue than black and white like you've got." The Mazoku nodded as it looked over Corona's outfit, which had a black top, sleeves and fingerless gloves, but somehow left the shoulders bare, and a white, flowing dress around her legs. "Though, if you're going to..." The Mazoku trailed off as a giant stone creature formed behind Corona. "Oooh! You can summon Golems, huh?"

Corona gulped as the Mazoku grinned at her. Why did she not like that grin?

"Well then, let's PLAY!" The Mazoku smirked and extended its arm to grab the Golem's head. "I mean, really, a normal stone golem? You'd have better luck putting out a volcano by spitting into it."

Corona's eyes widened as the Mazoku crushed the head of her Golem easily. "No way..."

The Mazoku grinned and turned to face her. "See? So easy. Now then, how about we see if your head is tougher than the Golem's head, hmm?" It slowly slinked up towards Corona, ignoring how the young girl was raising that weird dagger in her hand.

Corona pointed her device at the Mazoku. "Rocket Punch!"

The Mazoku blinked a few times before turning and gaping as a spinning, flying fist slammed into its body and sent it flying away from Corona.

"Thanks Goliath." Corona let out a sigh of relief as she reformed her Golem's head.

"My, my, my..." Corona's eyes widened as she felt the Mazoku's hand on her chin. "Such an attack from someone like you. Impressive, but..." Corona started to gag as that hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up, squeezing tightly and slowly crushing the young girl's windpipe, "futility, thy name is humans." Laughing as Corona grabbed at the hand slowly killing her, the Mazoku started swinging her back and forth. "You're so cute though, maybe I'll keep your body as a keepsake. Yes, a little doll for me to play with."

Corona couldn't answer as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and black spots formed around her vision.

"Oh, dying so soon?" The Mazoku chuckled and narrowed its eyes. "Well then, you were a fun little," the Mazoku jumped back, still holding onto Corona as the Golem punched at her. "Oh, you," pointing a finger at the Golem, the Mazoku smirked as the thing vibrated and then shattered into a multitude of pieces. "Nice try with your cute toy, but now, you need to die."

Corona could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She was going to die? Like this? It wasn't fair!

The Mazoku chuckled again and held Corona's body away from its body. "Well then, time to..." Several yellow shots ripped through the air, blasting through the Mazoku's arm until it was detached from the main body. "What the?!" The Mazoku turned, only to see a red and blue blur suddenly race through and grab Corona, who was on the ground, coughing hard. "Who the hell?"

"Nove Nakajima." The blur said as it stopped, revealing that redheaded girl from before.

Corona continued to cough as air was forced through her abused throat. "N..ove?"

"Hang on," Nove said as she activated her Airliner and took off, "we're not in any sort of position to fight back right now."

Corona could only nod. "Where..."

"We'll get to them!" Nove yelled, then cursed as she saw Vivio and Einhart fighting against three Mazoku. "Hang on, we're going to give them some support."

(---)

Gram watched, slightly bored as those humans fought back against his scouting team. It wasn't too impressive, though he found those redheads to have some interesting tricks at least. "That's it, I think it's time to step in." Smirking, he bent space and took one step forward, appearing just in front of the dark haired girl with a ribbon on the top of her head. "You, what is your name?"

"Rio Westley," the girl said as she jumped back and grabbed a chunk of the ground and lifted it up, tearing out a giant rock in the process.

"Not bad." Gram nodded to her, held up one hand and snapped his fingers, causing the rock to shatter into pebbles. "But, I'm afraid, I just wanted to know who it was that I'm going to kill."

Rio's eyes widened and the next thing she knew, Gram was in front of her, picking her up by her outfit and smirking. "What? Going to use me as a hostage?"

"Rio!" Gram turned to see that blonde with two colored eyes look at them in fear.

"Stop!" Gram ordered his minions. "That's enough of that." He smirked as they stepped back and the kids were able to gather together. "Now then, about my master's toys..." He sent a mental command to the Mazoku around him to keep those humans from getting anywhere near him.

"I wouldn't tell you anything about Amitie and Kyrie!" Nove growled at him. "Now let Rio go!"

Gram gave her an amused look, before sighing dramatically. "Fine." He let go of Rio, who fell to the ground. Her eyes widened in shock and delight, as did that blonde haired girl's eyes. Gram grinned evilly as Rio's feet were mere centimeters from touching the ground and pointed an open palm at Rio.

"What?" Rio's eyes widened as she felt a tremendous energy build-up. A second later she let out a cry as something hot and painful tore through her stomach area.

"Oh dear." Gram grinned as Rio stumbled backwards, clutching at her upper stomach. "That had to hurt."

"RIO!" The humans all cried out at once and Gram just pointed at the injured girl, blasting her with a purple blast that sent her flying backwards, parallel to the ground.

"Oh dear, that must hurt." Gram smirked, "especially since there's that cliff I just knocked her over. Oh well." He snapped his fingers and a spell array formed in mid air. It was just a simple circle with some runes etched around the edges of it. The fear he felt from the girl as the spell fired several dozen bolts of magical death down on her was just delicious.

When he heard a splash from below and the array, Gram turned to face the humans and grinned at them while holding up one hand and flexing his fingers. "Now then, perhaps you'll be more willing to talk? Or should I kill another one of your friends?"

Nove stared at the Mazoku as he grinned at her, she couldn't find her breath, she could barely feel anything other than the cold block of ice her blood had turned into. "R...Rio..."

"Oh," Gram's eyes were full of amusement, "is that the first time a friend of yours has died? So, just tell me what I wish to know and no one else has to die." He pointed a finger at them lazily, "or should I kill another of your friends first?"

The ice in her veins cleared instantly and Nove pressed something on her arm gauntlet. "Everyone, get ready to run." She said calmly as she narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what good it would do to run away, but they couldn't win, not like this. None of them had any weapons or spells that could deal with a Mazoku like this.

"And where are we going to run?" Arashi growled at her, wishing he could do different types of magic at that moment. Or at least be able to use his Chaos magic properly, since all he seemed to be able to do with it was generate random effects, allow him to teleport if he knew where he was going, and that was about it.

"I don't know, we're just going to run." Nove narrowed her eyes at the smirking Mazoku and pointed her Gun Knuckle at him. "I don't know if this will be any good, but..." A thick green gas was blasted out in front of Nove, quickly covering the Mazoku. Turning around, she grabbed Corona, who had gone into a state of shock, Arashi and Ixpellia before activating her Airliner and rushing off. "Vivio! Einhart! Let's go!"

"Right!" They nodded, rushing after her. They had fought these things, and none of them had the magic needed to fight back. Vivio knew Black magic, but, the spells she knew wasn't that good. After all, Blast Ash and Disfang didn't seem to do anything against these creatures and she couldn't call up the Nemesis Breaker for some reason.

Gram frowned as he looked at the green gas. "What is this?" For some reason, even his ability to see the mystical wasn't penetrating it. As it got closer to him, he touched it and his frown turned into a scowl.

The Mazoku around him started to scream in pain and Gram found his own hand starting to, amazingly enough, blister as if he was human and had a harsh chemical poured over his hand. "Impossible." Snapping his fingers, a gust of wind blew the gas away and he got his first look at his minions.

Twitching, Gram growled for a moment before calming down. While his minions were hurting badly, none of them were dead, not yet. "Interesting." He would need to think on these matters. "Pull yourselves back together. We're heading back to base."

As he faded, Gram wondered just who this Nove Nakajima was, and how she developed a weapon that could hurt Mazoku so badly. 'Well,' he corrected himself a moment later, 'low level Mazoku.' He suspected that even mid-level Mazoku would be in pain from that gas. But something like him? A General? It was only enough to make his metaphysical skin blister.

"Master..." He turned to one of the Mazoku and sighed, wishing that they had at least taken on genders, it would be much easier to remember them if they were male or female. "Are we heading back to that human kingdom?"

"Yes... Ruvinagald." Gram smirked, glad that he and his minions could use it as a base for their stay on this world.

Spoiler for MST3K review:

Me: Why you really gave Rio some bad luck... as bad as Cu Chulinn, Ciel and Shinji of the Nasu-verse?

Odin: The Guy need a butt monkey? *Shrugs*

Val: It's either the twin will save Rio or she'll get save by someone else.... most preferred those who knew Lina.

Reia: Giving a Mazoku an indigestion... hm.... *Brought out some of Kusuha's health drink.* Will this works?

*Cue nearly everyone except for Odin have fled the room.*

Reia: Eh?

Odin: Reia... Those dumb-asses might even like that one....

[crazyidiot78]

Hello all. I am new here to the forum but I have read many of your stories over the years. I even have one of my own that I think some of you might have read. MGLN origins that is going into the back story of Hayate and her knights more. Its more of an AU with Vivid and Force now out.

Had a little plot bunny stuck in my head for a while.

No, no, no........ This can't be. Shamal stared at the screen horrified by what she saw. She had given the young girl the forwards picked up along with a relic while enjoying a day off a clean bill of health when she decided to search the database for the child's mother. Mid-Childa being the advanced society that it was had a secure data base for storing DNA identification for health and law enforcement purposes and Shamal was certain the young girl had a relative out there somewhere. What she found struck much closer to home than she ever thought possible.

"Klare wind run the scans again," Shamal said as she triple checked her results with a growing sense of dread. The results still hadn't changed as a partial match for the girls mother flashed on the screen. Dam it ......

"Mistress are still in the office," Shamal said telepathically.
"Hayate frowned as the short message floated through her mind. She had slowly weened her family away from calling her mistress over the years, but they still called her that when it was serious.
"Yes Shamal what is it," Hayate replied.
"Where are Fate and Nanoha," Shamal asked.
"They went home for the evening why," Hayate replied.
"Good," Shamal replied as she headed towards Hayate's office.
"Shamal what is going on, is Nanoha relapsing," Hayate asked worriedly over their link only to receive silence.

"Shamal what is going on," Hayate asked as a distraught Shamal hurried into her office sealing the door behind her with a soft green glow.
"Mistress Hayate," Shamal said in full knights armor layering more barriers around the office effectively sealing it in a temporary pocket dimension. "I have discovered who that girl's parents are."

"Shamal that's great, so what is with all the barriers," Hayate said with a smile. "Shamal what's wrong, is she the daughter of some one higher up in the bureau." Hayate asked as a diverse mixture of emotions were displayed on Shamal's face from disgust, horror, confusion, and fear.
"Do you remember how long Nanoha was in the hospital after her injury," Shamal asked.
Hayate fell back into her chair as if struck by Vita's hammer. "Almost a year, no, no, no, no. Shamal please tell me this is one of Vice's jokes." Hayate pleaded.
"I'm afraid not, Mistress. The girl currently sleeping in the infirmary is the daughter of the Aces, but there is more." Shamal said.

"Vita, Signum, Zafira, I don't care what you are doing now, go to the infirmary and stand guard over the child immediately. No one goes in or out except Shamal and myself am I clear." Hayate ordered over her mental link with her knights.
"Yes, Hayate, was the resolute if confused reply.

"Tell me everything," Hayate ordered.
"She is a clone mistress, she has a partial match for the DNA of Fate tesstarossa, Yuuno Scyra, and her mitochondrial DNA is a perfect match for Nanoha." Shamal replied.
"English, Shamal," Hayate asked struggling to keep her anger in check.
"Do you remember that movie Jurassic park we saw back on earth with the cloned dinosaurs." Shamal asked.
"Yes vaguely, didn't they have to fill in the empty spots with some other animals DNA," Hayate replied.
"Yes, and that is why the girl has some of Fate and Yuuno's DNA, and the egg the DNA was placed in was Nanoha's" Shamal replied.
"Why Nanoha, why Shamal," Hayate said slumping forward.
"She is one of the most powerful mages seen in modern times and the perfect vessel for the ultimate magical warrior." Shamal replied.
"Fuck," Hayate replied. "They couldn't have."
"Couldn't have what mistress," Shamal asked.
"The saint's shroud case. It was stolen shortly before Nanoha's injury. Some one is trying to recreate the Saint Kaiser." What am I going to tell them. How am I going to tell them....... Hayate thought as the sun set over Cragan.

"Nanoha, Fate" Yuuno called out as spotted his long time friends entering the headquarters of riot force 6.
"Yuuno," Nanoha exclaimed. "What are you doing here."
"A meeting with Hayate," Yuuno said. "You wouldn't happen to know why.
"Nope and I've got a meeting with her to," Nanoha replied as the moved through the building.
"I wonder what she wants us for," Fate added.

"Hayate what's going on," Nanoha asked surprised by the serious look on her friends face.
"Shamal seal the room," Hayate said encasing the room in layers of barriers and shields.
"Hayate," Fate said as the room was enveloped in a green glow.
Letting out a heavy sigh Hayate began. "I don't know any other way to say this but we have discovered the parents of the girl you rescued yesterday."
"That's great," Nanoha exclaimed.
"Hayate what's going on who are the girls parents," Fate asked.
The walking lost logia clammed up as she looked over at her closest friends. "I'm sorry.... I didn't know.... I should have let Vita guard you like she wanted.... I'm sorry....." Hayate broke down sobbing.

"Hayate, it's no big deal I'm completely recovered from that and I didn't even get a scratch yesterday." Nanoha said rushing to Hayate's side as Fate looked on confused.
Yuuno went rigid as his famed intelligence quickly pieced the facts together while another section of his mind began reviewing every spell he knew and how to apply it in battle. "Hayate.... who ordered it," Yuuno spoke his voice hard.
"Ordered what," Fate asked.
"I don't know," Hayate choked out.
"Yuuno, what's going on...." Fate asked shocked by the dark aura radiating off Yuuno.
"Nanoha's special treatment during recovery," Yuuno replied.
"Um... what does that have to do with anything.... I was just glad to get out of there when I did seriously 10 months was way to long especially after that relapse I had a month in......." Nanoha said pausing mid sentence.
"Hayate... it's not true is it.... please tell me it's not...." Nanoha said tears starting to leak from her eyes.
"It is.. the girl you rescued yesterday is your daughter, Nanoha....." Shamal said.
"Who is the father.. who is the bastard...." Fate and Yuuno said together.
"We don't know, but she is your's as well," Hayate said slowly regaining her composure.

Fate and Yuuno did a double take before asking how.
"We think she is a clone of the saint kaiser with parts of Fate's and Yuuno's DNA to replace the missing pieces while Nanoha's eggs and body were used to bring her to term.
"Fate and Yuuno were soon engulfed by Nanoha in a giant three way hug as tears of sadness continued to flow.
"Hayate who else knows," Fate asked.
"Shamal and myself for now," Hayate replied.
"Good keep it that way," Yuuno said.
"When can we see her," Nanoha asked.

"I'll have Signum and Vita bring her here," Hayate said sending a mental command to her two strongest knights.
"Thank you," Nanoha said.

"Nee Signum why do you think this little tyke is so important," Vita asked as they headed towards their masters office.
"She apparently was carrying a relic and took out several drones before you found her yesterday." Signum replied as the child stirred in her arms.
"Well lets hope she doesn't get any lessons from Nanoha. I don't know if Mid could survive.
"There will only ever be one of that thing," Signum replied.
"Yeah but what if she has kids. I bet they'll be blowing stuff up before they can walk." Vita laughed while Signum stopped dead in her tracks.
"Signum whats wrong..." Vita asked as the newly awakened child looked up into Signum's eyes.
"Who are you, and you gonna hurt me like the scary man," the child asked staring up at Signum with one red and one green eye that looked strangely familar.
"No, I'm taking you to see some friends of mine who want to help you," Signum replied.
"Really," the girl asked.
"Yes," Signum replied as they continued onward.
"Vita, I pray that I am wrong but if she is who I think she is we will carve a path of destruction the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of ancient belka." Signum replied.
"Ok," Vita replied still confused.

"Shamal drop the barrier." Signum called out.
"I still don't get it why all of this trouble for one little brat."
"Vivio's not a brat," the aforementioned girl said smacking Vita with a bright pink hand as they entered the room.

The headed girl forgotten Vivio starred into the watery eyes of a blond haired woman with red eyes, a man with green eyes, and a brown haired woman who felt familiar. "You're not gonna hurt me like the scary man are you," Vivio asked holding on to Signum's leg.
"No we would never do anything like that," Nanoha replied struggling to hold back her tears.
"Um, ok.... can you do magic like me," Vivio said holding up a glowing pink hand.
"Yes," Nahoha cried sending a floating pink orb over to the girl.
"Wow, it feels like mine," Vivio said touching the glowing orb. "Can you teach me how to do that," Vivio said smiling as the orb flew around the room.

"Vivio do you know who your parents are," Hayate asked as Nanoha picked the small girl up.
"The scary doctor said vivio didn't have any parents because she was a bad experiment," Vivio said sadly as Fate moved next to Nanoha and gently stroked the girls hair. "But Vivio wasn't a bad experiment because she blew up the big meanie robots that came to take Vivio back inside, all I wanted to do was play a little more but my sisters had to go on a mission. Does this mean Vivio is a bad girl for blowing up the doctors toys." Vivio explained to the stunned occupants of the room.

"Signum, I'm going to ......." Vita said telepathically to her fellow knight her rage slowly growing.
"Get in line, they will rue the day they angered the walking lost logia. Ragnarok is not the most powerful spell I have, but that is for another time." Hayate said.
"Yes mistress," they replied silently

"No, Vivio is a good girl, and she has parents to," Fate said taking the child from Nanoha
"Do you know who my mom is because you have hair and eyes like me," Vivio asked.
"Yes Fate cried.
"Mama Vivio said looking up at Fate.
"Yes, Nanoha and Fate replied as Vivio's eyes brighten.
"Mama," Vivio cried out doing her best to hug both of them. "Um, Mamas does Vivio have a papa since she has two mamas." Vivio asked breaking the silence.
"Yes, Vivio has a papa," Yuuno said picking the small girl up.
"Papa, Vivio cried wrapping her small arms around Yuuno's neck.

While Yuuno and Vivio enjoyed some father daughter time Fate and Nanoha approached Signum and Vita. "Will you help...." They began.
"You needn't ask our sword is yours. Who ever is involved will feel the wrath of the wolkenwritter."
"That's if I don't leave them as a pile of ash at the bottom of a smoking crater," Hayate said. "I will find who is responsible and they will pay, even if I have to tear the TSAB apart."

Well what do you guys think. I know it's not the greatest but I thought it could be an interesting idea.

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by crazyidiot78

Hello all. I am new here to the forum but I have read many of your stories over the years.

Welcome to AS, MGLN fanfic thread, Crazy.

And When will you update the MGLN Origin and your gunslinger girls(your so-called sequel) fanfic?

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by Old_Iron

That was an excellent chapter Kaijo. The way everything seemed to be going right for our heroes, only to come around against them in the end was superb writing. And more combat would be delicious.

Otto and Arf really stole the spotlight for me. And nice job with the bomb, I wasn't expecting that little twist and it worked out really well.

And I can't wait to see more of the baddies' motives. =3

Well done comrade. I'm looking forward to the continuation.

Thanks! I'm glad everything worked out well here. Whenever I think I'm doing something somewhat clever, I always think that I missed an angle. But I'm glad at least everything came through this time.

[crazyidiot78]

Mega1987- I got a little side tracked by my stargate story between semesters but with the second to last semester of grad school going right now I'm pretty busy. I think I will try to get out some chapters on my MGLN origins fic first (right now I'm stuck on where to begin the next chapter) and then get something out for my gunslinger girl fic. What did you think of my little plot idea..... It's actually something I would like to use as part of a sequel to origins or a later part to it if I continue it through strikers

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by crazyidiot78

Mega1987- I got a little side tracked by my stargate story between semesters but with the second to last semester of grad school going right now I'm pretty busy. I think I will try to get out some chapters on my MGLN origins fic first (right now I'm stuck on where to begin the next chapter) and then get something out for my gunslinger girl fic. What did you think of my little plot idea..... It's actually something I would like to use as part of a sequel to origins or a later part to it if I continue it through strikers

You should have used the spoiler function of the cms of the forum... to save space...

And That's one way of getting a OT3....

Odin: We should run for the farthest Anti-SLB bunker, NEET. The white devil going Mama Baer is something we don't want to be near...

Me: Right. *Fled the area...*

[crazyidiot78]

Um.... oops sorry about that..... ah whats an OT3.....

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by crazyidiot78

Um.... oops sorry about that..... ah whats an OT3.....

One True Threesome.... XD

From Tvtropes...

[deathcurse]

*dropping in*

For those who may still be reading...

Crime Never Sleeps
Part 15

“The worst things we do always are by our own choice.”

New Part 1-4A
New Part 4B
New Part 5: Trial Day 1A
New Part 5: Trial Day 1B
New Part 5: Trial Day 1C and New Part 6
New Part 7
Part 8 and Part 9: Trial Day 2
Part 10: Trial Day 2
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Side Story: Raven

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, Part 15:

“Do you think that we can conclude all of our preparations for the last trial day tonight?” Hayate asked as they got seated at her desk. She held up a coffee pot in silent offering, putting it aside when Auris shook her head. “I don’t want to rush anything, but I have a meeting with the Mayor tomorrow morning, then final budget doctoring with the Ground Forces over the next few days.”

“We can try,” Auris said as casually as she could, “but I think that we may need to tweak our game plan with the newest information that my agents are bringing in to me over the next few days.”

“You do know,” commented Hayate, “that if Officer Jettal or Officer Favager request any details of the case from you, the NSIS Director, that you are obligated to hand it over?”

“Not if the details have to do with ongoing missions,” Auris replied smugly. Of course she was aware, and had checked up on the exact regulations herself. “Or if the information contains names of any NSIS agents, who are all permitted anonymity except under dimensional crisis conditions.”

“They can still request documents with censored names and locations.”

“Ah,” Auris said, a smile on her lips, “Except when the documents involve Shadow agents personally—then all those documents are classified Level 4s, making them out of reach for mere court cases. And considering how Gallant is on trial for Touring’s murder, his involvement in the case is no longer purely military but also part of his personal life.”

Hayate laughed, sitting back in her chair. “I see you’ve looked into this in detail! Has the defence tried to ask you for anything yet?”

“Of course they did,” Auris rolled her eyes. “And being inexperienced, Jettal tried to ask me for the entire file on the Gallant case—which I simply denied him outright. If he had asked me for components, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Auris had to wonder, that if Hayate wanted to double-cross Auris, if she would go drop that tidbit in Jettal’s ear…but what would be the point? She could just tell Jettal about all the recent discoveries about the Gallants herself—no, that would be too risky. Even if Hayate took precautions, the scandal would make itself known somehow. All these thoughts were leading Auris back to her original question, back at the beginning of the whole case—what was Hayate up to?

She couldn’t possibly want Auris to win? Of course, not losing the case reflected on Hayate herself, but wide-eyed idealists like the Aces didn’t worry about reputation when it came to “doing the right thing.” So Auris was still stuck in the uncomfortable state of not knowing just what Hayate wanted to get out of all this intrigue.

Did she want Auris to owe her a favour? Auris watched Hayate, keeping her expression mild as she scrutinized the brunette rearranging the holoscreens around her desk to give them space to work.

Or…does Hayate have her eye on bigger fish?

“Something wrong?” Hayate asked after noticing Auris’ attention.

A smile answered her. “No, nothing wrong,” Auris said. “It’s lucky for us that Admiral Lindy Harlaown had refused to testify for the defence in Trial Day 3—arguments about rehabilitation would be in favour of Gallant, as Admiral Harlaown has quite the record for finding young mages and getting them light sentences, to the benefit of the TSAB.”

“Lindy-san didn’t want to be involved,” Hayate said lightly. “She’s retired, after all.”

“She didn’t want to be against you,” Auris bluntly pointed out.

“Well,” Hayate said in a cheerful tone, “that’s lucky for us, isn’t it?”

Auris couldn’t help smirking slightly—this kind of arrogant and sly remark hinted at the best weaknesses for Auris to take advantage of against a rival, and while she wasn’t foolish enough to imagine that Hayate was like that at all, the fact that the younger woman was trying to give off that kind of aura told Auris loads about the woman.

That kind of clumsy, over-reaching act indicated that Hayate wanted Auris off-guard, meaning that she was trying to hide her real feelings. And not just on this matter of witnesses, but on other things—her whole outlook on the case, her feelings about the betrayal to her ethics… Auris and Raven Gallant had seriously shaken Hayate’s comfortable cage, and Auris wanted to see how many hooks she could sink to the Ace of the Ground Forces during these brief defenceless moments.

It could come in handy in politics later on. Or it could give her insight into the woman who would likely become an enemy down the road. Auris had no illusions—Hayate would work with Auris as long as their ethics agreed. The moment things went dark Hayate would turn on Auris in an instant.

Ironic how people consider Auris cold.

“Yes,” Auris replied lazily. “Very lucky.”

Hayate wagged her eyebrows teasingly, then tapped an official memo on her desk. “Now, we have to confirm the order of the expert witnesses by tomorrow with the defence and submit that to Judge Grangaitz. I suggested that we have it go by Ginga, Chrono then Raven, but I wanted your thoughts on it before I send it off to Jettal and Favager. Sound fine?”

Auris stared at the sheet, contemplating different scenarios and finally the pieces fell together in an epiphany. “We should have Admiral Chrono Harlaown testify first.”

“Why?” Hayate blinked. “He’s our expert witness—the defence will rip our argument apart and then give what appears to be a better solution with Ginga’s testimony right afterwards. Wouldn’t it be better for us if we had Chrono go after Ginga?”

“No.” Auris narrowed her eyes slightly, calculating different scenarios of her new idea. How much should she reveal to Hayate? As her partner, she needed to make sure that they were both on the same page…

Hayate hummed, shuffling the papers on her desk in clear make-shift work while she waited for Auris to come up with what to say to her.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Auris jerked her head at the door, rising from her seat and straightening her tie.

“A walk?”

“Even walls like yours have ears,” Auris replied, well aware of the irony of that statement. Besides, if Auris could manage to slip a bug into Hayate’s office, someone else could have as well. It was unlikely—not because of the technology since the bug that Auris was using was a generic Enforcer bug, so it couldn’t be easily traced back to Auris, but it was the skill required to get one into the right place to pick up meaningful information instead of background noise that made it doubtful. This was a conversation that Auris didn’t want to have while smack in the middle of the TSAB Mid-Childan Main Office. The city councillors had too many allies inside the tower for Auris’ comfort.

“Alright then,” Hayate said agreeably, standing and stretching. The pops of her spine and shoulders made the younger woman wince, giving her head a shake. “It’ll be good to get out of the chair for once, eh?”

The elevator ride was oddly tense.

Hayate had to know something. Even if she was a master liar, that kind of tension only came from someone with a guilty conscience.

Of course, Auris didn’t have that aura. She could do things without guilt that would make a tender-hearted woman like Hayate cringe.

Which made the mystery of why the Shadow Overseers were visiting Hayate often much more puzzling. Someone as smart as Hayate had to know that the Overseers were involved in illicit activity, just using common sense. And what about Mayor Magnus? Did Hayate know about the payoffs and the rehabilitated Shadow recruits?

They could have been visiting Hayate because she’s in on their conspiracy.

No, it’s not in Hayate’s nature to be part of a plot like that…

…But then again, Auris would have sworn that it wasn’t in Hayate’s nature to convict a young girl to hard prison either.

No point in mentioning the overseers, then. If Hayate was part of the conspiracy, then she’d be misled as to how much Auris actually knew. The Lieutenant-General wouldn’t be able to do anything against her fellow overseers anyways. Auris could use Hayate’s help to bring down the Mayor and find her own solutions for her over-reaching superiors.

It probably was best not to gamble all her luck in one front.

“One of my Shadows brought me something that changes things on the case.”

“Oh?” Hayate raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

“How much do you know about the Cranagan Corrections Program and Mayor Magnus?”

“I remember that the program was one of his major platform projects,” Hayate replied, frowning as her active mind started to think and make connections. “He didn’t found the program with Ginga Nakajima, but he’s always been a big supporter.”

Auris lifted a hand and called up a screen, transferring a temporary set of files to Hayate’s Device with a flick of her fingers. She waited while Hayate opened them and read them on her own screen as they walked, their boots tapping a clipped rhythm on the concrete. Even though the darkening sky made it hard to watch the younger woman, Auris kept her gaze on Hayate’s face as she read. Hiding her scrutiny would have made no difference—if Hayate was hiding something, she would have concealed her emotions anyway. No, Auris was more interested in seeing how Hayate was going to play her realization.

Would she act shocked? Be shocked? Or did Hayate have an inkling of what was going on already?

No matter if it was because Hayate was involved, or because she was faster on the uptake than Auris on gathering information, it meant that Auris needed to set some of her own plans in motion. She couldn’t have the Commander of the CDC and a Shadow Overseer be so close to Auris’ operations.

“Hm,” Hayate mumbled as she closed the document, watching it vanish from her screen and delete itself. “So, Mayor Magnus sends promising kids from the Cranagan Corrections Program to criminal foster parents, who then get the kids to enlist in the NSIS as they graduate the program.”

“It’s not the Mayor on his own,” Auris said carefully. “Someone is paying him a large sum for this.”

“Someone in the TSAB,” Hayate sighed, rubbing between her eyes to drive out a headache.

“Why would you say that?” Auris asked, hiding her alarm at Hayate’s astuteness.

“It’s easy—who stands to gain in this situation?” Hayate gestured, a little senselessly because the charts were no longer on her screen. “If you look at the bank accounts, that’s a lot of money being passed around. I can’t think of anyone who would be willing to pay that kind of money other than TSAB officers looking at their unit stats or those who want to line the TSAB with moles.”

“I have some Shadows chasing down the sponsors.” Auris glanced up at the setting sun, then blew out a breath. “But considering the red tape involved, I doubt that alone will be enough for a conviction. This is going to drag out longer than the Gallant Case.”

“I had other intelligence warning me that the Mayor wasn’t up to any good,” Hayate said, generous with her information now that she and Auris seemed to be of the same mind. “It’s nearly impossible for me to investigate him, given my position,” she blushed, and shrugged as if dismissing her influence and rank. “I tried to keep an eye on him, but there’s only so much I can do without alerting him about my suspicions.”

That would explain why Hayate had Lutecia Alphine nosing around in the Mayor’s files. Auris grunted acknowledgement and jerked a hand. “We’ll take care of it,” she said, meaning the Shadows. “But the relevant question now is, how does this affect the Gallant Case? Revealing the conspiracy would be a huge blow against the defence’s argument for clemency.”

“Would it?” Hayate countered, looking like she was only half in agreement. “With the right spin, it could look like Raven Gallant is just a victim of these Black Hat conspirators.”

“What did you call them?” Auris raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you read one of the memos they sent to each other?” Hayate cracked a small smile. “They called one of the foster transfers a “meeting at a Black Hat affair.” It seems fitting—only seemingly rich and respectable folk will do something like this just to line their pockets and boost their status.”

All Auris could do was roll her eyes in response. “Fine. Then we need to get personal with Gallant, and reveal the Black Hat conspiracy during the trial in a way that would cause a splash. First it would turn sympathy away from Gallant, and second it would dominate the papers for days after the trial, letting us cover up the end of the trial quickly and neatly.”

“And how are we going to shake Raven? We’ve revealed that her parents are criminals, but she only looked a little rocked by that news.”

Which was strange, now that Auris thought about it. Hadn’t Tagus told her that Raven Gallant had fragged Hellhound buildings before? Wouldn’t that mean that Gallant knew that her parents weren’t exactly on the good side of the law? “She’s a sociopath. It won’t be easy to get her off balance.”

“Sociopath is a bit harsh,” Hayate said disapprovingly.

Auris snorted, adjusting her sharp-framed glasses. “Have you really spoken with her? I’ll concede that she seems to really care about her foster parents. There must be something there that we can use.”

“Painting Raven in a bad light will only do so much,” Hayate pointed out, coming to a halt. They had looped most of the building, and were in the shadows between the main office and an outbuilding, still on the stone path winding through the green. “Getting her to incriminate herself would close the case in our favour, but if we go at this too heavy-handedly, it won’t work.”

Was Hayate trying to steer them away from the idea, or was she being even more cold-blooded than Auris was in pointing out the weaknesses of their plan? Auris observed her. “Why don’t you start working on the CCP angle, and work out how we’re going to tackle Ginga Nakajima’s testimony. I’ll dig and see what else I can figure out from Raven Gallant’s—or whatever her real name is—past that could be useful.”

Hayate nodded absently, staring at the Cranagan main office building with a distant eye. “Keep an eye out around you.”

“I’m not scared of what a few schemers may try on me,” Auris said sharply.

“Not on you. Not directly.” Hayate rubbed her arms, ducking her head against the cold wind. “We won’t be the only ones thinking to win this case by discrediting our opponents. If the people in the shadows want to destroy our credibility…right now would be the perfect time.”

“The higher you are, the harder you fall, huh?” Auris laughed, her tone cold.

She had a point.

It was something Auris would do, after all. And anyone who could stomach being an NSIS Overseer would probably have the same thoughts too.

Auris almost looked forward to seeing if the Overseers would try something. There was nothing she would like better than to keep collecting evidence against them as she built her secret case to bring them down. All she had to do was keep giving them enough rope to hang themselves while accomplishing her own goals in the meantime.

And Auris intended to watch them swing.

Spoiler for Author's Note:

Mostly a recenter-ing chapter, recapping old ideas and foreshadowing coming ones.

RadiantBeam has stopped writing Shadowverse, so it feels a little weird to be continuing this story, but I don't want to abandon it when I'm so close to finishing, so I think I'll push to the end and post as soon as I can ^^;;.

Next chapter will have Lutecia! And blood! And action!

[Old_Iron]

Greetings everyone!

September 28th was a rather special day. For those who don't know, it was the one year anniversary of Swords and Shields. To mark this occasion, I crafted a special gift for you all. The continuation of the bedroom scene from chapter 7. A special something for your reading delight and something to sate the curiosity you may have had so far as 'Did They or Didn't They?'

Give a hand to Kuroi Hadou as well, who helped me along and kept it from turning into something awful. He demands mention of his evilness and his Dark Beta Powers as well. He is a bad, bad man...

I hope you enjoy it and I'd appreciate any comments or criticisms you may have. Though given the mature nature of the content, PMs would be best if you don't feel like posting a review on Mediaminer.

If you wish to read it, send me a PM and I will send you the link.

[ZeroXSEED]

I humbly request to be sent that P.M.

[Tempy]

What am I doing?

LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED:

Spoiler for To the late night...:

Wedding bells~ Wedding bells~

The sound of wedding bells always meant good tidings and good things, and today a lovely
Subaru Nakajima was resplendent in her white and blue wedding dress. Her groom, an
impeccable Teana Lanster, sheepishly smiled as a great number of pictures (as well as parts of
her soul) were taken. Well-wishers and wedding guests cheered as the couple came out of the
church, though soon enough the groom and bride split to greet their guests.

“Teana! Congratulations!” A young man with blond hair, glasses, and a green suit, greeted.

“Thank you, Yuuno! Still got that suit I see. But yeah, I guess I really did it, huh?”

“I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” the Librarian nodded. What was wrong with his suit?
“You and Subaru have been inseparable since boot camp and the Scaglietti Incident.”

“I wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for her…”

Over by Subaru, a gaggle of girls giggled, “Okay, everyone! You all ready?”

“Looks like Subaru’s going to throw her bouquet,” Teana murmured, watching the women step
back and brace themselves.

“There!” Indeed, Subaru threw the bouquet behind her with all her might… meaning anyone with
any hope of getting it had to fly at supersonic speeds as the bouquet broke the sound barrier and
scattered any on-lookers from air pressure alone. They got a bouquet of steel flowers for this
reason, and they lasted forever, too. Someone had better grab it too, lest the bouquet hit
something with the power of an artillery shell.

It would be a solid five minutes before the lucky woman came back victorious, bouquet of steel
in her hands.

“I got it! I got it!” young Nanoha Takamachi cheered, pink wings still attached to her ankles.

“Hmm… maybe it could be your turn next, eh?” Teana grinned.

Yuuno smiled back with a shrug, “Who knows?”

Teana’s response was cut short by Subaru glomping her from behind and greeting Yuuno at the
same time. It was time to go.

“Well, so long. See you, Yuuno,” Teana winked and jumped on to a prepared motorcycle,
Subaru joining up behind her. With the guttural roar of the engine, the happily married couple
sped off at breakneck speeds. To the honeymoon!

Yuuno and Nanoha were left to wave goodbye to the departing dynamic duo. As the dust
settled, Nanoha turned to her childhood friend.

“Oh, Yuuno, wasn’t it wonderful? Didn’t Subaru look radiantly beautiful? Oh, I can’t believe
that a while ago I was blasting her husband in the face with her own spell, and now… she’s her
own Ace,” Nanoha brushed a proud tear out of her eye.

“Yeah. They’re strong girls. I think your legacy is set.”

“Yes!”

“After all, Teana’s got a great position in the Enforcers.”

“Yes!”

“And Subaru’s achieved her dream to be part of the special rescue squad…”

Speaking of dreams…

Yuuno turned to Nanoha.

“Hey, Nanoha.”

“Yes, Yuuno?”

“I’ve got… something to say. I really loved the…” Yuuno struggled to find the right words to
say to an anxiously waiting Nanoha, “Skillful way you beat the other girls to the bride’s
bouquet…”

A crescendo of violins! A beat of drums! A—

[This musical number is interrupted by the fact that Tempy don’t write songs, and for good
reason. We will now fast forward through the silly singing and oh look they’re kissing]

“I~ love~ you~!” the two lovebird crooned as they went in for a smooch.

-----

In a dark study, surrounded by dusty tomes and ancient grimoires, a young man in an ugly suit
lifts his head out of a particularly old book.

“I would like—if I may—to take you on a strange journey.”

Suddenly, Amy. “Who are you talking to, Chrono-kun?”

Oh crap. “Uhh… no one, Amy! Just recording a file, that’s all!”

“Why are you dressed like that?” Amy peered at the strange clothing her husband was wearing.
It was gaudy as anything, and the ascot looked like some diabolical chicken ate his neck then
shat all over it.

Chrono, for his part, merely looked sheepish. “Err, I’m a Criminologist?”

“Ehh? Is that some special job for Enforcers?”

“Yes, Amy. A super secret job for Enforcers,” Chrono agreed far too quickly, nodding as he
gently pushed his curious wife out the study. “I still need to record the rest of the case, so
please excuse me.”

“Okay, Chrono-kun! Dinner will be ready soon, though!”

Chrono gave his wife a kiss just as he closed the door, sighing as he returned to his seat. He
loved that woman, really, but there were times her inquisitive nature got the best of her.

Oh balls the video was still recording.

“Err. An-anyways… It was a fairly ordinary night, when Yuuno Scrya and his fiancée Nanoha
Takamachi, two young, ordinary, healthy kids, left Cranagan that late November evening—or
was it August—to visit a Dr. Jail Scagiletti, ex-mad scientist, and now a (forced) friend to both
of them. It’s true, there were dark storm clouds, heavy, black, and pendulous, toward which
they were driving. It’s true also, that the spare tire they were carrying was badly in need of some
air. But, they being normal kids and on a night out, well, they weren’t going to let a storm spoil
the events of their evening.”

Chrono leaned forward as the camera zoomed in for dramatic effect.

“It was a night out… they would going to remember for a very. Long. Time.

Kraka-THOOM! Dramatic lightning!

“Chrono-kun! Dinner~!”

“Dad! Dad! It’s dinner!” The cry of his children was hard to ignore, as was their incessant
beating on the door.

“Yeah! Let’s go eat! Mom also says change before coming down!”

Chrono sighed. This seemed a good enough place to stop for now. He stopped the recording,
pulling off the heavy jacket and ascot as he double-checked his work—Dammit, he forgot the
title!

Welcome to the Late Night (Early Morning) Double Feature (Rocky Horror) Picture Show!

Or

Why Tempy Should Not Be Allowed To Have Fey Moods

There we go.

LOOK WHAT HAPPENED NOW:

Spoiler for Early Morning...:

It seemed a fairly ordinary night when Yuuno Scrya and his fiancee, Nanoha Takamichi, two young, ordinary, heathy kids, left Cranagan that late November evening to visit a Doctor Gil Graham. There were dark storm clouds, heavy, black, and pendulous, towards which they were driving.

Yuuno sat in the driver’s seat, blissfully driving along as his beautiful fiancee sat beside him. Outside, the storm raged. With the heavy rain and uneven road, Yuuno barely missed hitting a motorcycle that ripped passed them.

“Goodness, that’s the third motorcycle that’s passed us. They’re rather reckless tonight, with the weather and all.” Nanoha wondered out loud.

“Yes, they’re pretty reckless alright. Much like someone else I know...” Yuuno threw a grin over to her.

“Mou! Stop teasing me!” she lightly bopped Yuuno. “But, is everything okay? Something is bothering you, isn’t there?”

Yuuno squinted into the rainy night. “Hmm... I think I might have taken the wrong fork a few miles back.”

“Eh? But where did that motorcyclist come from?”

“We’ll probably have to turn back...” Just as he said this, there was a loud bang, as if the tire had a blow out.

“Oh! What was that bang?”

“We must have a blow out.”

Brilliant students, really. Yuuno suggested that he would valiantly brave the storm to a castle they had passed by earlier--but never mentioned--and use their telephone. Nanoha, possibly fearing the thought of a beautiful woman in the castle stealing him away, insisted that she come along. And so, as they stumbled through the rain-soaked path, they sought the sole light in the distance... and conveniently ignoring or failing to read the [Enter At Your Own Risk!] sign.

So heavy the wind was that as Nanoha passed by, branches grabbed at her as if it were a molestation tree. Undeterred, yet somewhat spooked, Nanoha softly sang to herself.

“In the velvet darkness, of the blackest night; burning bright, there’s a guiding star~” She hugged Yuuno’s arm close. “No matter what or who you are~”

Yuuno smiled at the gesture and joined it.

“There’s a light~”

They looked to the distance. An Epcot-like dome stood out against the ancient looking castle.

Too far away for them to notice, a wolf-eared man watched from a window.

---

Still clad in a large stuffy coat and ascot that seemed to have completely consumed his neck, Chrono looked up from the book.

“And so, it seemed that fortuned smiled on the ferr--I mean, Yuuno and Nanoha, and they had found the assistance that thier plight required... Or had they?”

---

Finally at the door, Nanoha tried to shake off all the extra water accumulated from the slow walk and impromptu musical piece.

“Yuuno, let’s go back! I’m cold and I’m frightened!”

Yunno smiled soothingly, “I don’t know what could scare you, but let’s just knock. They might have a phone.”

He pressed the buzzer, waiting a few moments before a dog--err--wolf-eared man in a shoddy tuxedo answered the door.

“Hello,” was all he said.

“Hi! My name is Yuuno Scrya,” he held out a hand to shake. “And this is my fiancee, Nanoha Takamachi! I wonder if you could help us: you see, our car broke down a few miles up the road... do you have a phone we might use?”

The wolf-man merely stared at the proffered hand and made a startling observation.

“You’re wet.

Nanoha blinked, “Yes. It’s raining.”

“Yes,” Yuuno agreed.

The wolf-man, who we will inexplicably call Zafira, nodded his assent. “Yes. I think perhaps you better both... come inside.”

“Oh, you’re too kind!” Nanoha smiled and stepped in, quickly followed by Yuuno. Looking around, she was unnerved by all the strange decorations. “Yuuno, I don’t like this. What kind of place is this?”

“Oh, it’s probably some hunting lodge or research site for weirdos,” Yuuno shrugged.

“Oh.”

Zafira gestured for them to follow, “This way.”

Barely ten feet into the castle did the three hear a growing noise, of music, chatter, and general roughhousing.

“Are you having a party?” Nanoha asked innocently.

“You’ve arrived on a special night,” Zafira explained. “It’s one of the master’s affairs.”

“Oh, lucky him!”

Suddenly, a blonde woman in a messy maid’s dress they had not noticed earlier spoke up, “You’re lucky, he’s lucky, I’m lucky we’re all lucky! HAHAHAH~!”

Let’s call her Shamal.

The grandfather clock rang the midnight hour, just as Zafira inexplicably cracked open the clock / coffin and jumped into a musical piece with a catchy guitar riff raff.

“It’s astounding; Time is fleeting,” A skeleton from within grinned back. “Madness... takes its toll. But listen closely!”

“Not for very much longer!” Shamal chimed in.

“I’ve got to... keep control!” Zafira gave them a toothy grin before leaping about the room like a crazed beast. “I remember~! Doing the Time Warp!”

Kick kick.

“Drinking those moments when~ The blackness would hit me~!”

Shamal jumped in, “And the void would be calling~!”

YouTube

https://youtu.be/opOsgzzDPdw

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Nanoha and Yuuno stared as strange people danced about: a red-haired boy, a pink haired girl, and twelve women dressed in blue bodysuits, among others. A young girl with red hair in pigtails, dressed in gaudy glittery gold danced about before slamming into a wall. She shall be Vita. Yes.

With a groan, the song finally ended, leaving the couple to stare incredulously at all the bodies strewn on the floor.

“Say!” Yuuno called out, gaining just about everyone’s stare. “Do any of you know how to Madison?”

All at once, he felt the collective hate and rage of a million yuri shippers for reasons that did not pertain to dancing. Unnerved by all the stares and hate, the two started to nervously walk backwards.

“Yuuno, let’s just get out of here!” Nanoha pleaded. Unnoticed by the two, a beat began. And an elevator slowly descended.

“For Kaiser’s sake, get a grip on yourself, Nanoha!”

“But... it seems so... strange here!”

“It’s just a party!”

“Well... I want to go!”

As the two argued, a figure swathed in a glittery black cloak came down the elevator, a thick heel stomping to the beat that no one seemed to hear. Just as the elevator reached the bottom and creaked open,

“Look, I’m cold, I’m wet, and I’m just plain scared!”

“I’m here, so there’s nothing to worry about!”

Except for the... THING behind them.

Hayate Yagami smiled devilishly as they turned around, Nanoha fainting with a screech.

“How do you do, I-- see you’ve met my-- faithful handy man~!” she sang, stepping around the couple with a flourish. “He’s just a little brought down, because when you knocked, he were you the candyman~”

She gave Yuuno a leer as she sauntered iinto the party room, “Don’t get strung out~! On the way I look~! Don’t judge a book by its cover~! I’m not much of a girl by the light of day, but by night I’m one hell of a lover~!”

The cloak was thrown off, revealing a shamelessly sexy body barely restrained by a corset, black panties, garters, stocking, and elbow gloves. Yuuno couldn’t help but stare as the young woman struck a sensual pose, moving all the right little bits as she grinned enticingly.

“I’m just a sweet transvestite~! From Transexual~! Transylvania~! Haha~!”

[Nanya01]

Sorry for the delay.

Between new games, some fics, etc, my muse has been distracted.

So, here's a new part to make up for it.

Though... Due to certain people...

I've been giving serious thought about not posting any more updates here.

ViVid

Revolution Start

Revolution 2

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Revolution 3:

"Did we escape?" Nove asked as she looked around, expecting to be attacked at any time now.

"Looks like it." Einhart said as Nove put down the three kids she was holding. "Nove, what was going on back there? Nothing I or Vivio-san did worked on those things. What were they?"

"Mazoku." Arashi said, his voice repeating a lesson that had been drilled into his head for years. "They're creatures of thought and energy. What you saw back there was their shadow." He sighed at the confused looks he was getting. "Mom told me that their real bodies don't exist in the world. Or rather, we can't see them because we don't have special eyesight. What we saw and fought was just their shadows. We can't really hurt them, but..."

"They can hurt us." Ixpellia finished for Arashi. "How do we hurt them then?"

"Your knife things." Arashi pointed at her hands. "They seemed to hurt that one pretty good."

"From what I recall," Vivio tapped her chin, "they can only be hurt by Astral, Black and Holy magic, or weapons with those properties, right?" Arashi nodded and she sighed. "Great, maybe my Divine Buster is Holy, but I know Chris doesn't have those properties."

"For now," Nove spoke up as she rubbed Corona's back as the girl was hunched over and dry heaving, "we're going to travel and keep going until we come across a road or something." She sighed as everyone but Ixpellia looked at her in confusion. "From what I saw, this is an older world. roads, even if it's just two dirt trails due to wheels going over a spot over and over again, would indicate that some sort of civilization is nearby. Even if we can't find signs of carts, we could probably find a dirt path where people walk on foot." Nove was never more thankful for Due, Tre and Uno drilling her and her other sisters on what to do if caught in a heavily undeveloped world without support. "We'll go in one direction, stay close to each other, Vivio, you take the front and look for anything that would indicate a village, city or even just a cottage, okay?" Corona finally stopped dry heaving and stood up, blushing hard.

Vivio nodded and started to walk while Arashi, Ixpellia and Einhart followed behind her while Nove and Corona brought up the rear.

"R...Rio..." Corona sniffled , looking more miserable than Nove had ever seen her or any of Vivio's friends look before. "W...Why?"

"Corona," Nove stopped and turned the younger girl to look at her in the eyes. "Can you keep moving right now?" She looked at Corona with an understanding sadness. "When we settle down for the night, you can let it out, okay?" Corona nodded and turned away, stumbling forward and sniffling miserably.

Nove sighed heavily, wondering how the heck they were going to get out of this one. "Jet Edge, scan for any sort of life forms for a radius of three kilometers."

"Yes."

"And don't be a smart-ass either, report as soon as you find anything." Nove grumbled, remembering some of the complaints that she had heard from her mother about some of the Intelligent Devices that were in the Bureau.

Though, Nove did wonder if her mother ever met Thoth. That would have been interesting. Still, Nove wondered just who had the bright idea of putting a perverted program into an Intelligent Device in the first place. 'Probably Mary or Shari.'

As they walked along, Nove wondered if they'd find a way back home any time soon.

(---)

Back on Carnaaji, Nanoha narrowed her eyes as she felt dark energies slowly leak out from the spot that Lutecia had brought her and the others to. "Definitely Black magic here." She looked at Yuuno, who shook his head and sighed. "Damn." Yuuno was way better at teleportation spells than she was, and if he couldn't scry just how far away the kids were, then they could be anywhere in reality.

"See?" Nanoha turned to look at Lutecia. The young girl was smiling nervously at her, fidgeting and wringing her hands together. "See? I told you. I didn't... It wasn't... I couldn't..."

"Lutecia." Nanoha said softly, causing the girl to cringe softly, "I'm not upset at you." When Lutecia sighed, Nanoha mentally cursed Levi for what she did to the poor girl. "You did a good job." She smiled at the young girl, who finally relaxed. "Go back to the house, okay?" Lutecia nodded and turned around, running off towards the house and was met part way by Erio. "So..." Nanoha turned to look at Yuuno and Fate, as the latter walked towards them, worry clearly written on their faces. "What do we know?"

"Black magic teleporation magic." Raising Heart helpfully supplied for everyone.

"Thank you," Nanoha bit her lower lip, unable to stop herself from worrying. "Fate, Yuuno, can either of you..." She wasn't surprised when they shook their heads.

"I can't say what this is, but I can say that it's unlikely it ended up anywhere in this universe."

Yuuno, Fate and Nanoha all looked at Thoth in shock. "And... Why do you say that?" Yuuno asked his device, who seemed, despite not having a face, to be rather smug.

"Because the level of complexity is way too high to be a simple spacial disruption. It's beyond what most humans could do, outside of using magic to tear the Universe apart. So it's possible that they're in one of the other three universes. Since the Dark universe is off limits to Mazoku and Shinzoku for the moment, it leaves only the Red and White universes."

"And what makes you think..?" Nanoha began, only to get cut off as Thoth played a recording that she had long since forgotten.

"This universe will be absorbed by this... Big Crunch... And then be reborn. Without Mazoku or Shinzoku to influence it this time around."

Yuuno nodded and adjusted his glasses. "So, if it's unlikely they're in this universe, which of the other two would they be in?"

"It's not like we could preserve this and find a Mazoku to ask." Fate mused to herself and blinked when Yuuno and Nanoha both stared at her. "...What?"

"You do know that there's spells that keep magical energy from dissipating, right?" Yuuno pointed out as he knelt down next to the spot. "We could keep this pretty much preserved for a few months if we need to. As for finding a Mazoku..."

When Yuuno sighed, Nanoha grimaced. "Riksfalto?"

"It's not like we could ask Xellos or one of his bosses, could we?" Yuuno shot back to her. "I mean, it's not like..."

"We could go to Hong Kong back on Earth."

"Thoth... What are you..?"

"If she didn't get bored of it, I recall that Mazoku Lord Zelas is in charge of the criminal underworld in Hong Kong these days."

Yuuno frowned at his device as he set up the field. "Thoth, I'm going to feel stupid for asking, but, how is it that you have so much information on Mazoku?"

"I have over 20 files and 200 sub-files regarding Mazoku, Shinzoku and any information on the Lord of Nightmares to pull up in a hurry. This includes all information on where they are at the current moment. No data on the unknown White Staff universe, all Shinzoku of this universe are unknown, the only known Mazoku include Garoth, sealed into the Sea of Chaos, Levi, currently fate unknown, possibly alive due to footage from the outer rim areas of the Bureau," Yuuno and Nanoha both looked at Fate, who shook her head. They all knew that it was probably her, but without concrete proof they had nothing to go by, "next Mazoku that is known is Lucefer, last seen years ago talking to Lindy Harlaown at a social gathering, presumably stays on Earth most of the time. Mazoku Neph was defeated by Agent Lanster three years ago during the Mariage crisis, its former host, Runessa Magnus, is currently living a peaceful life on Cranagan. Mazoku of the Red Staff universe include Riksfalto, who travels to worlds in war, Xellos, who spends most of his time on his home world, Mazoku Lord Dynast Sherra, who was only seen once on this staff, Mazoku Lord Deep Sea Dolphin was last seen some years ago and Mazoku Lord Greater Beast Zelas Metallium took over the Hong Kong underworld before leaving behind a proxy of herself."

Nanoha bit her lower lip, dealing with Riksfalto would be bad enough, but having to deal with a Mazoku Lord... "So, do we try and find Riksfalto or take a trip to Earth?" She grimaced as both Yuuno and Fate agreed going to Earth would be faster. "Alright. We'll go then." This was going to be a pain in the ass. She didn't want to deal with Zelas if she could help it. "But, I'm going to call mom up, maybe she can figure out what happened here first."

"I hope so." Fate said, knowing that Lina's knowledge of stuff like this was beyond most people's, even if she did pass on as much as she could. Sometimes, even if you knew something, you could miss something that other people would notice.

(---)

The sun was starting to go down when Nove called it a day. Seeing the kids sigh in relief, she shook her head and cleared her throat. "Alright, listen up, we don't know what's going to happen, so, first thing's first, Arashi, you and Ixy clear an area out that we can build a campfire."

"It's Ixpellia." The redhead replied automatically as she went to do what was asked of her.

"Einhart, Vivio, find some dead branches and wood and bring it back here. Don't go too far though." They both nodded and took off. Nove was just grateful they stuck to their adult modes for now. "I'll find some rocks and other stuff. Corona..." She sighed when Corona looked at her blankly. "Just... Just help Ixy and Arashi, okay?" Corona nodded at her as Nove went to find some rocks to use to help control the campfire.

"It's Ixpellia." Ixpellia called after Nove.

(---)

It was hours later, after the sun had long gone down, that the group found itself around the campfire. Arashi, Einhart and Vivio had long since fallen asleep, followed by Corona, who was occasionally sniffling in her sleep and finally Ixpellia had finally laid down to rest her head.

Nove sighed softly as she looked at the group. Even if they were trying to be strong, she could see that what happened to Rio was affecting Vivio and Einhart just as badly as Corona. Considering the way that the two of them were twitching in their sleep and mumbling Rio's name, she wouldn't be surprised if they did something stupid to try and avenge what happened to Rio.

Rubbing her forehead, Nove tried to figure out what to do next. Other than finding a city and hopefully getting into contact with the Bureau, the most she could do was try to make sure that they all survived this adventure. "What I wouldn't give for some advice right now."

"Now, now, Nove, you really shouldn't be talking like that." A familiar voice spoke up and Nove paled as she looked around, wondering if a Mazoku was messing with her mind. "Didn't I teach you better than that?"

"Doctor?" Nove stood up and looked around. "What's going on?" She gripped her device tightly and was prepared to fight when she heard another voice that should have been impossible to hear.

"Maybe if you stopped squeezing your device, you could find out."

"Un-nee?" Nove gasped and held up her device, staring in shock as it flashed several times. "...Jet Edge, what's going on?"

"Sorry," Uno's voice spoke up and Nove gasped as miniature holograms of Uno and Jail suddenly appeared in the palm of her hand, "I hacked this device, we're the OS now." She crossed her arms under her breasts and smirked. "Not a bad device, I have to admit, but it could use some tweaks to it."

"H...H...How?" Nove was trembling as she fell to her butt in shock. "You two are dead. I didn't get this device until after you were dead, how the hell are you two in it?"

Jail grinned at Nove. "Have you forgotten? I'm a mad scientist! I can do anything! Hahahahahaha!" He threw his hands up as he laughed at the question.

"Yes, and the fact that you slipped a little program into Nove's Gun Knuckle has absolutely nothing to do with it." Uno rolled her eyes at the other hologram's antics. "Yeah, that's what happened. Shortly after the doctor created your Gun Knuckle's modifications, he made a program that would sleep until you ran across a Mazoku for real. Or at least battled one directly." She shrugged, deeming it unimportant. "But, dead? Really?" Uno raised an eyebrow at Nove. "You sure that we weren't just badly injured and people thought we were dead?"

"Bah! As if death could stop me!"

Uno snorted at Jail. "Yes, because things don't die when they're killed."

Jail coughed, which Nove found weird, considering he was a hologram. "Anyway, if you're curious, Nove, the gas weapons that I incorporated into your Gun Knuckle..." He grinned at her. "While they're mass-based weapons, they don't hurt humans too much, do they?" Nove shook her head. "Well, it's interesting, but I found a nice little side-effect to the gas mixtures I was making. While it could, at most, irritate skin and eyes, and do some other not so harmful effects, the gas was a nerve toxin to Astral based beings. I admit, the Shinzoku Sirius was a big help in that regard."

"So... You just gave me a weapon that works opposite of what most weapons and spells are supposed to work against Mazoku?" Nove stared in shock as Jail grinned at her. "...How the HELL did you pull that off?"

"I'm an evil genius." Jail laughed at her and fell over when Uno smacked him hard. "Oww!"

"Knock it off." Uno rolled her eyes. "Anyway, either Jail or myself will be around if you need to talk, Nove." She frowned as Nove looked at them weirdly. "What's wrong?"

"It's... Good to see you both." Nove rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Even if you're just a program in my Intelligent Device, I've missed you a lot."

"If I was alive, I'd probably tell you the same thing." Uno smiled at her. "...Are you sure that I'm dead? I mean, did you recover a body?"

"Due-nee told us that a Mazoku possessed Quattro and then used her to stab you in the back and the doctor in the front and then the Mazoku took your bodies to get rid of them." Nove sighed and fought back a pang of sadness as she spoke about it.

Jail frowned and looked at Uno, who shrugged. "Well, if you say so, but I really don't think we're dead."

"It's been over three years." Nove rubbed her eyes. "Going on four now. I think you two are gone."

"Fine, fine." Uno waved her off. "Anyway, we're still scanning for anyone who's human or not, but so far, it's just your group." She smirked at Nove. "So, when did you become a babysitter?"

Nove just groaned. Even if they were just a hologram, it was nice to see Jail and Uno again.

[Rising Dragon]

It's weird hearing Thoth not act like... well, Thoth.

[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Sorry for the delay.

Between new games, some fics, etc, my muse has been distracted.

So, here's a new part to make up for it.

Though... Due to certain people...

I've been giving serious thought about not posting any more updates here.

ViVid

Revolution Start

Revolution 2

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - Revolution 3:

"Did we escape?" Nove asked as she looked around, expecting to be attacked at any time now.

"Looks like it." Einhart said as Nove put down the three kids she was holding. "Nove, what was going on back there? Nothing I or Vivio-san did worked on those things. What were they?"

"Mazoku." Arashi said, his voice repeating a lesson that had been drilled into his head for years. "They're creatures of thought and energy. What you saw back there was their shadow." He sighed at the confused looks he was getting. "Mom told me that their real bodies don't exist in the world. Or rather, we can't see them because we don't have special eyesight. What we saw and fought was just their shadows. We can't really hurt them, but..."

"They can hurt us." Ixpellia finished for Arashi. "How do we hurt them then?"

"Your knife things." Arashi pointed at her hands. "They seemed to hurt that one pretty good."

"From what I recall," Vivio tapped her chin, "they can only be hurt by Astral, Black and Holy magic, or weapons with those properties, right?" Arashi nodded and she sighed. "Great, maybe my Divine Buster is Holy, but I know Chris doesn't have those properties."

"For now," Nove spoke up as she rubbed Corona's back as the girl was hunched over and dry heaving, "we're going to travel and keep going until we come across a road or something." She sighed as everyone but Ixpellia looked at her in confusion. "From what I saw, this is an older world. roads, even if it's just two dirt trails due to wheels going over a spot over and over again, would indicate that some sort of civilization is nearby. Even if we can't find signs of carts, we could probably find a dirt path where people walk on foot." Nove was never more thankful for Due, Tre and Uno drilling her and her other sisters on what to do if caught in a heavily undeveloped world without support. "We'll go in one direction, stay close to each other, Vivio, you take the front and look for anything that would indicate a village, city or even just a cottage, okay?" Corona finally stopped dry heaving and stood up, blushing hard.

Vivio nodded and started to walk while Arashi, Ixpellia and Einhart followed behind her while Nove and Corona brought up the rear.

"R...Rio..." Corona sniffled , looking more miserable than Nove had ever seen her or any of Vivio's friends look before. "W...Why?"

"Corona," Nove stopped and turned the younger girl to look at her in the eyes. "Can you keep moving right now?" She looked at Corona with an understanding sadness. "When we settle down for the night, you can let it out, okay?" Corona nodded and turned away, stumbling forward and sniffling miserably.

Nove sighed heavily, wondering how the heck they were going to get out of this one. "Jet Edge, scan for any sort of life forms for a radius of three kilometers."

"Yes."

"And don't be a smart-ass either, report as soon as you find anything." Nove grumbled, remembering some of the complaints that she had heard from her mother about some of the Intelligent Devices that were in the Bureau.

Though, Nove did wonder if her mother ever met Thoth. That would have been interesting. Still, Nove wondered just who had the bright idea of putting a perverted program into an Intelligent Device in the first place. 'Probably Mary or Shari.'

As they walked along, Nove wondered if they'd find a way back home any time soon.

(---)

Back on Carnaaji, Nanoha narrowed her eyes as she felt dark energies slowly leak out from the spot that Lutecia had brought her and the others to. "Definitely Black magic here." She looked at Yuuno, who shook his head and sighed. "Damn." Yuuno was way better at teleportation spells than she was, and if he couldn't scry just how far away the kids were, then they could be anywhere in reality.

"See?" Nanoha turned to look at Lutecia. The young girl was smiling nervously at her, fidgeting and wringing her hands together. "See? I told you. I didn't... It wasn't... I couldn't..."

"Lutecia." Nanoha said softly, causing the girl to cringe softly, "I'm not upset at you." When Lutecia sighed, Nanoha mentally cursed Levi for what she did to the poor girl. "You did a good job." She smiled at the young girl, who finally relaxed. "Go back to the house, okay?" Lutecia nodded and turned around, running off towards the house and was met part way by Erio. "So..." Nanoha turned to look at Yuuno and Fate, as the latter walked towards them, worry clearly written on their faces. "What do we know?"

"Black magic teleporation magic." Raising Heart helpfully supplied for everyone.

"Thank you," Nanoha bit her lower lip, unable to stop herself from worrying. "Fate, Yuuno, can either of you..." She wasn't surprised when they shook their heads.

"I can't say what this is, but I can say that it's unlikely it ended up anywhere in this universe."

Yuuno, Fate and Nanoha all looked at Thoth in shock. "And... Why do you say that?" Yuuno asked his device, who seemed, despite not having a face, to be rather smug.

"Because the level of complexity is way too high to be a simple spacial disruption. It's beyond what most humans could do, outside of using magic to tear the Universe apart. So it's possible that they're in one of the other three universes. Since the Dark universe is off limits to Mazoku and Shinzoku for the moment, it leaves only the Red and White universes."

"And what makes you think..?" Nanoha began, only to get cut off as Thoth played a recording that she had long since forgotten.

"This universe will be absorbed by this... Big Crunch... And then be reborn. Without Mazoku or Shinzoku to influence it this time around."

Yuuno nodded and adjusted his glasses. "So, if it's unlikely they're in this universe, which of the other two would they be in?"

"It's not like we could preserve this and find a Mazoku to ask." Fate mused to herself and blinked when Yuuno and Nanoha both stared at her. "...What?"

"You do know that there's spells that keep magical energy from dissipating, right?" Yuuno pointed out as he knelt down next to the spot. "We could keep this pretty much preserved for a few months if we need to. As for finding a Mazoku..."

When Yuuno sighed, Nanoha grimaced. "Riksfalto?"

"It's not like we could ask Xellos or one of his bosses, could we?" Yuuno shot back to her. "I mean, it's not like..."

"We could go to Hong Kong back on Earth."

"Thoth... What are you..?"

"If she didn't get bored of it, I recall that Mazoku Lord Zelas is in charge of the criminal underworld in Hong Kong these days."

Yuuno frowned at his device as he set up the field. "Thoth, I'm going to feel stupid for asking, but, how is it that you have so much information on Mazoku?"

"I have over 20 files and 200 sub-files regarding Mazoku, Shinzoku and any information on the Lord of Nightmares to pull up in a hurry. This includes all information on where they are at the current moment. No data on the unknown White Staff universe, all Shinzoku of this universe are unknown, the only known Mazoku include Garoth, sealed into the Sea of Chaos, Levi, currently fate unknown, possibly alive due to footage from the outer rim areas of the Bureau," Yuuno and Nanoha both looked at Fate, who shook her head. They all knew that it was probably her, but without concrete proof they had nothing to go by, "next Mazoku that is known is Lucefer, last seen years ago talking to Lindy Harlaown at a social gathering, presumably stays on Earth most of the time. Mazoku Neph was defeated by Agent Lanster three years ago during the Mariage crisis, its former host, Runessa Magnus, is currently living a peaceful life on Cranagan. Mazoku of the Red Staff universe include Riksfalto, who travels to worlds in war, Xellos, who spends most of his time on his home world, Mazoku Lord Dynast Sherra, who was only seen once on this staff, Mazoku Lord Deep Sea Dolphin was last seen some years ago and Mazoku Lord Greater Beast Zelas Metallium took over the Hong Kong underworld before leaving behind a proxy of herself."

Nanoha bit her lower lip, dealing with Riksfalto would be bad enough, but having to deal with a Mazoku Lord... "So, do we try and find Riksfalto or take a trip to Earth?" She grimaced as both Yuuno and Fate agreed going to Earth would be faster. "Alright. We'll go then." This was going to be a pain in the ass. She didn't want to deal with Zelas if she could help it. "But, I'm going to call mom up, maybe she can figure out what happened here first."

"I hope so." Fate said, knowing that Lina's knowledge of stuff like this was beyond most people's, even if she did pass on as much as she could. Sometimes, even if you knew something, you could miss something that other people would notice.

(---)

The sun was starting to go down when Nove called it a day. Seeing the kids sigh in relief, she shook her head and cleared her throat. "Alright, listen up, we don't know what's going to happen, so, first thing's first, Arashi, you and Ixy clear an area out that we can build a campfire."

"It's Ixpellia." The redhead replied automatically as she went to do what was asked of her.

"Einhart, Vivio, find some dead branches and wood and bring it back here. Don't go too far though." They both nodded and took off. Nove was just grateful they stuck to their adult modes for now. "I'll find some rocks and other stuff. Corona..." She sighed when Corona looked at her blankly. "Just... Just help Ixy and Arashi, okay?" Corona nodded at her as Nove went to find some rocks to use to help control the campfire.

"It's Ixpellia." Ixpellia called after Nove.

(---)

It was hours later, after the sun had long gone down, that the group found itself around the campfire. Arashi, Einhart and Vivio had long since fallen asleep, followed by Corona, who was occasionally sniffling in her sleep and finally Ixpellia had finally laid down to rest her head.

Nove sighed softly as she looked at the group. Even if they were trying to be strong, she could see that what happened to Rio was affecting Vivio and Einhart just as badly as Corona. Considering the way that the two of them were twitching in their sleep and mumbling Rio's name, she wouldn't be surprised if they did something stupid to try and avenge what happened to Rio.

Rubbing her forehead, Nove tried to figure out what to do next. Other than finding a city and hopefully getting into contact with the Bureau, the most she could do was try to make sure that they all survived this adventure. "What I wouldn't give for some advice right now."

"Now, now, Nove, you really shouldn't be talking like that." A familiar voice spoke up and Nove paled as she looked around, wondering if a Mazoku was messing with her mind. "Didn't I teach you better than that?"

"Doctor?" Nove stood up and looked around. "What's going on?" She gripped her device tightly and was prepared to fight when she heard another voice that should have been impossible to hear.

"Maybe if you stopped squeezing your device, you could find out."

"Un-nee?" Nove gasped and held up her device, staring in shock as it flashed several times. "...Jet Edge, what's going on?"

"Sorry," Uno's voice spoke up and Nove gasped as miniature holograms of Uno and Jail suddenly appeared in the palm of her hand, "I hacked this device, we're the OS now." She crossed her arms under her breasts and smirked. "Not a bad device, I have to admit, but it could use some tweaks to it."

"H...H...How?" Nove was trembling as she fell to her butt in shock. "You two are dead. I didn't get this device until after you were dead, how the hell are you two in it?"

Jail grinned at Nove. "Have you forgotten? I'm a mad scientist! I can do anything! Hahahahahaha!" He threw his hands up as he laughed at the question.

"Yes, and the fact that you slipped a little program into Nove's Gun Knuckle has absolutely nothing to do with it." Uno rolled her eyes at the other hologram's antics. "Yeah, that's what happened. Shortly after the doctor created your Gun Knuckle's modifications, he made a program that would sleep until you ran across a Mazoku for real. Or at least battled one directly." She shrugged, deeming it unimportant. "But, dead? Really?" Uno raised an eyebrow at Nove. "You sure that we weren't just badly injured and people thought we were dead?"

"Bah! As if death could stop me!"

Uno snorted at Jail. "Yes, because things don't die when they're killed."

Jail coughed, which Nove found weird, considering he was a hologram. "Anyway, if you're curious, Nove, the gas weapons that I incorporated into your Gun Knuckle..." He grinned at her. "While they're mass-based weapons, they don't hurt humans too much, do they?" Nove shook her head. "Well, it's interesting, but I found a nice little side-effect to the gas mixtures I was making. While it could, at most, irritate skin and eyes, and do some other not so harmful effects, the gas was a nerve toxin to Astral based beings. I admit, the Shinzoku Sirius was a big help in that regard."

"So... You just gave me a weapon that works opposite of what most weapons and spells are supposed to work against Mazoku?" Nove stared in shock as Jail grinned at her. "...How the HELL did you pull that off?"

"I'm an evil genius." Jail laughed at her and fell over when Uno smacked him hard. "Oww!"

"Knock it off." Uno rolled her eyes. "Anyway, either Jail or myself will be around if you need to talk, Nove." She frowned as Nove looked at them weirdly. "What's wrong?"

"It's... Good to see you both." Nove rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "Even if you're just a program in my Intelligent Device, I've missed you a lot."

"If I was alive, I'd probably tell you the same thing." Uno smiled at her. "...Are you sure that I'm dead? I mean, did you recover a body?"

"Due-nee told us that a Mazoku possessed Quattro and then used her to stab you in the back and the doctor in the front and then the Mazoku took your bodies to get rid of them." Nove sighed and fought back a pang of sadness as she spoke about it.

Jail frowned and looked at Uno, who shrugged. "Well, if you say so, but I really don't think we're dead."

"It's been over three years." Nove rubbed her eyes. "Going on four now. I think you two are gone."

"Fine, fine." Uno waved her off. "Anyway, we're still scanning for anyone who's human or not, but so far, it's just your group." She smirked at Nove. "So, when did you become a babysitter?"

Nove just groaned. Even if they were just a hologram, it was nice to see Jail and Uno again.

Spoiler for MST3K review:

Me: They're ba~ck!!!!

Odin: The mad scientist and his secretary is back from the death, well their minds were.

Val: This is one thing to keep Mega happy from those nutsie who passed ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175, the so-called cybercrime law of the Philippines...

Odin: They're nothing more Neanderthal, poisoned by US lobbyist in the government of that they think of a cyber bill should be.

Me: Or a certain comedian-turned-senetor's revenge over those who commented from the net that he just simply copy-pasted a quote.

Reia: Enough of that. The kid gonna be in a trial of fire, big time. And they're gonna need help.

Sarah: Someone gonna get into a lot of trouble.

Me: Poor Corona...

Val: Thoth being serious? Crouching moron, hidden badass?

Sarah: What do you expect?

Val: Nothing except for a certain Zealot of Trollzama acts again, ranting about how the story goes, tick off the author and made him to stop posting in AS.

Odin: Then we shall point to the so-called zealot of Trollzama that he's the reason of another person, stopping the publishing of a great story.

Me: Emphasizing of him being a zealot of Trollzama.

Sarah: What do you expect from him? He stalks Signum, Aschen(in DTD mode) and Lamia. And want to marry them.

Reia: Or he's an agent of those IP/CR zealot...

[Filraen]

Originally Posted by Nanya01: Blood That Flows - Revolution 3

I've been giving serious thought about not posting any more updates here.

That'd be a pity =/

On the chapter itself:

Looks like Lina and Nanoha have drilled the basics of knowledge on Mazoku to Vivio and Arashi, (even if expected) well done for them. Though there's no mention of Chaos magic, I suspect it's just a slip of Vivio.

After becoming the Pokedex Dragondex encyclopedia on UA-500's dragons it doesn't feel strange Thoth giving such big knowledge, still a bit surprising to see it though.

However... Shut up! Let that go just this time!

Uno and Jail are back? Though I'd rather have the not-cloned-(again)-flesh-and-bones version of them I can have hopes again for a meeting beetween Reinforce and Jail after both died(?) in StrikerS *nods*

The last paragraph might use a slight reword (I understand Nove groaned and being glad for Jail's "return"/gift, but as those reactions are somewhat opposite of each other the paragraph feels broken.