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

[LoweGear]

Just dropping random artwork for a may-work-on/ may-not-work-on OC in the future:

Koenig Schneider
Belkan Non-Cartridge System Equipped Armed Device

Save Form (aka storage)


Kaiser Form (aka deployed)


*warps out*

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by MeisterBabylon

One can't happen without the other. If people insist on using Kha on IRC, I can't help it. Also why all the nonsense of old is there, and I'm a lot more serious here.

So you say, and yet everyone called you out on it.

@Lowe: *raised eyebrow* A Zankantou Belkan Armed Device? Will we be seeing blades that cleave heaven and earth in a tornado of steel?

[Saint X]

@ Lowe:

That reminds me to render my own device sets in vector...

we'll talk later :3

[MeisterBabylon]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

So you say, and yet everyone called you out on it.

And that eggs you so much that you have to keep harping on it? Last I checked you're the only one being bothered by it. And while doing so, you are bothering this thread which has been peaceful thus far thanks to your absence.



As I said in IRC, Standard Template Construction rules. I wonder if its meant for IXA.

[Wild Goose]

You give me far too much credit.

[Comartemis]

Alas, that blasted force known as Real Life intervenes the moment I start to get somewhere on the next chapter of ReduX!

My folks have finally pulled the plug on my computer access at home until I get myself a job, so I'm going to vamoose from Cadia and IRC for a couple of weeks, maybe even until or beyond the end of summer. I know you're all going to miss the constant stream of infodumps and vaporware...

*Dodges a hail of rotten fruit, sniper rounds, artillery bombardments, bombing runs, and an Ion Cannon for good measure*

...but I'll try not to let ReduX stagnate too much, even if I have to use *shock and horror!* a pen and paper to keep making progress. In the meantime...

@Lowe: *raised eyebrow* A Zankantou Belkan Armed Device? Will we be seeing blades that cleave heaven and earth in a tornado of steel?

Oh blast it Goose, now I'm going to feel like a copycat for giving Alex a buster sword and black armor, even if the sword designs don't look anything alike.

[Wild Goose]

It's due to FFVII. That was the game that made black and buster swords fashionable.

I prefer to shoot something from afar. Franz's katana is just for whimsy.

"True, it doesn't have the same combat efficiency as my rifle, and there are better blade designs. But this device... I wanted something that I could admire. Something beautiful. Something that was created to be deadly and beautiful, instead of deadly and utilitarian.

"Something to remind me that this isn't a crapsack world."

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

It's due to FFVII. That was the game that made black and buster swords fashionable.

Black Armor + Big Sword combo will ALWAYS look better on Gruff Buff Manly Men. On Nomura-style metrosexuals? Not so much.

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[ghazghkull]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Black Armor + Big Sword combo will ALWAYS look better on Gruff Buff Manly Men. On Nomura-style metrosexuals? Not so much.

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lol You realize that Tempest is going to have fun with that image right? XD

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

lol You realize that Tempest is going to have fun with that image right? XD

Don't worry, he read Berserk like I do. It's likely we are on the same wavelenght in that field.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Black Armor + Big Sword combo will ALWAYS look better on Gruff Buff Manly Men. On Nomura-style metrosexuals? Not so much.

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Agreed. Why else do Marine Dress Blues consist of a black coat and a sword? (Okay, granted, it's a badass coat and sword, not armor....)

[Reiji Tabibito]

Originally Posted by Tempest Dynasty

That's Kha. Or used to be him. Supposedly he wants to separate himself from the stigma that comes from Kha der Kler--I don't know how he spells it. But suffice to say, it's supposed to be a fresh start for him.

I see...right. Moving on.

Now, for the first series of shorts...

Spoiler for Introducing the 82nd...:

Introducing the 82nd…

Somewhere in Known Space…

Location: Aboard RAF Patrol Ship Delphinus
Year: Mid-0075
Time: 1350 MST

Mel and Arcas were on the bridge, keeping watch, waiting for the next call to come in; they were casually chatting about whatever topic struck them, as was their custom – the topic this time were their acquaintances within the Bureau.

“…so there I was, helping Hayate out with one of her cosplay things, right? Well, the character she was having me do wore a rather tight pair of leather pants. Needless to say, I was having some difficulty getting them on, so Hayate tried to help me pull the pants up. We’d finally gotten the pants over my legs, and were busy working the fly when the Wolkenritter walk in. Now picture this – me half naked, wearing tight pants, Hayate on her knees, with our hands working…THAT area.”

Mel giggled. “They must’ve been mad…”

“Mad doesn’t even begin to describe it – I didn’t think I’d walk out of that room alive – fortunately for me, Hayate and Rein-chan managed to explain the situation before I got the Hammer and Sword treatment. Alright, your turn now.”

“Well…” Mel started, but was cut off by the familiar chirp of incoming message traffic from Diplomacy Corps HQ.

Arcas brought the comm screen up and attempted to access the message – but ACCESS DENIED: PROVIDE PASSWORD flashed on the screen. Arcas frowned, and entered his password into the field. The screen responded instantaneously, but rather than acknowledge Arcas’ password, it spit out ACCESS DENIED: INVALID PASSWORD.

Arcas snarled out an oath, and Mel turned in her chair to face him. “What is it?”

“I can’t get access to this message – must require the Major’s passcode.”

Arcas slapped the comm button and spoke. “Major, I’ve got a message from RAF Command up here that needs your passcode.”

The voice of Major Sevasti Secastan came back a few seconds later. “Be right there.”

A minute or two later, Sevasti stepped onto the bridge and headed towards the captain’s chair. Arcas surrendered his spot and took up a position standing behind Mel in the pilot’s chair.

Sevasti entered his password, and the comm screen popped open. Sevasti read over the order, and his brow arched in puzzlement. “Well, I’ll be…”

“What is it, Shosa?” Mel asked.

“Seems we’re needed back on Mid-Childia.”

“Now?” Arcas said. “But we’ve barely been out here for half our regular TOD.”

“Well, it appears that our friends at Ground Forces and the Navy have run into too many problems at the same time – so they asked for support.”

“Which means the RAF,” stated ‘Boomer’ MacFarn as he stepped onto the bridge.
“Okay, but why us?” Sevasti replied. “Arcas is right – we’ve only been out here for half our tour, and I believe that the Big Red Ones are due back on Mid-Childia in two weeks.”

Silence hung over the bridge as the Phantasms racked their brains for a possible explanation. Finally, someone spoke, their voice heavy and grave.

“I know why.”

“Care to share it with us, Arcas?”

“It’s the Church.”

“The Saint Church?” Mel responded. “The guys that Kha and the 21st work for?”

“The same,” Arcas affirmed.

“What does the Church have to do with this?” Boomer queried.

“If things got bad, the Church’d call back their Trinities to help out the TSAB. But if things got really bad, Carim – the current leader – would put pressure on RAF Command to assist.”

“I fail to see where this is going,” Sevasti ordered. “Spit it out.”

“Carim would ask her Trinity leaders who in RAF they could trust to do a bang-up job, and the first she’d ask would be-”

“-Kha,” Mel boldly stated. “Who would give her your name.”

“Which would mean Command would call us,” Sevasti mused. “Very well. Himeya.”

The Delphinus’ AI appeared on the control console. “Yes, Major?”

“Set a course for Mid-Childia with all due haste, and inform Command that we have received their orders.”

“Right away, sir.” The AI disappeared a moment later.

“All, right people, you know where you have to be – let’s get to it.”

The Phastasms dispersed – Sevasti and Mel remained in their chairs on the bridge, while Boomer headed back to the engine room, and Arcas left for the infirmary.

The Delphinus reversed course, lit the massive engine attached to its back, and rocketed off into the Black, headed for Mid-Childia.

Spoiler for No Place Like Home:

No Place Like Home

Location: Mobile Division 6 HQ, Mid-Childia
Time: 2100 MST

Arcas stalked along the corridors of the building that housed the newly-formed Mobile Division 6, Mel on his heels. The XO (Executive Officer) was not happy, and he was making his displeasure well-known…or at least well-heard.

“…entire day’s been a bust. We land at Yzak, and here I am, expecting some of my friends and comrades to at least make a token effort at saying hello, and what do we get? NOTHING! So then you, Boomer, and I all fly out to Honor’s Hold to see Keroko and the Rogues, and we’re told that they’re off training for a major op. The Silvana and the 21st are nowhere to be seen, the 216th is off on an investigation, Aurion and the Phantoms are testing new equipment, and so on, and so on.”


“Not everybody’s schedule is as flexible as ours, Arcas. Surely you know that. And I’m sure everyone you mentioned DOES care; they’re just busy.”

“One or two, yes, but ALL of them?” Arcas sighed. “It’s not as bad as I thought…it’s WORSE. Well, hopefully the Aces and Wolkenritter are here, so I can at least say hello and introduce you.”

“It’s a shame Shosa and Boomer couldn’t come along,” Mel said.

“They’re busy getting updated and prepping the Delphinus,” Arcas replied. “It’s important that we be at the top of our game.”

“Haii~.”

The pair stopped walking and looked around.

“Mel, where are we?”

“How am I supposed to know?! YOU’RE the one who’s seen the layout!”

“YOU’VE got the sense of direction!”

“Uguu~!”

“Uguu~ yourself!”

The two stood there in the corridor like that, arguing. Their argument was so loud that they didn’t hear the footsteps of someone running along the corridor just around the corner. Likewise, the someone running was in such a rush that they didn’t hear the two Phantasms exchanging verbal fire. And when they came around the corner…

“Look out!”

“Oof!”

The three landed in a heap in the corridor, in what could be interpreted as a highly compromising position. Mel was on her back, with Arcas on top of her, his face wedged in between her rather... healthy assets. The runner had fallen, with her assets crushed against the small of Arcas’ back.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t see you the – ARCAS?!”

The Phantasm stirred at hearing a familiar, feminine voice. He tried to reply, but his voice was muffled by Mel’s chest. Mel had finally gotten the shock of the fall out of her system when she realized the position she and Arcas were in.

“KYAA!” she screamed, lashing out with her foot, striking something… sensitive.

Arcas rolled off of her, curling up in the fetal position, groaning in pain. Mel’s eyes widened at the realization of what she’d done.

“Arcas-kun! Are you OK? I am so sorry.”

“Perhaps I can help,” the woman replied.

“And you are?”

“My name is Shamal.”

“Shamal of the Wolkenritter?!”

“The same,” the owner of Klarwind replied with a smile. “Now, if you will permit me…”

A few seconds later, the women were helping a bruised, but no longer in pain, Arcas to his feet.

“Holy Arcana, Mel, that’s some kick you’ve got.”

“I am so sorry! I just –”

“- overreacted. It’s okay. I’d probably do the same thing as you. Anyway, allow me to introduce you to-”

“She already introduced herself, Arcas,” Mel replied with a wave of her hand.

“Oh. Well then, onto other stuff.” Arcas turned and embraced the blond support-mage. “How’ve you been, sister?”

“Well enough, but we’ve been rather busy as of late.”

“So I’ve heard. This Relic case sounds huge.”

“It is! But enough about us. What are you doing here?”

“The 82nd’s been recalled by DC to help you with all the chaos that’s been going on around here as of recent. Speaking of people, are the rest of division around?”

“Let me check…” Shamal replied, bringing up a screen in front of her. She scrolled down, looking for the relevant information.

“Nanoha and the forwards should be getting off training right about now – do you want me to call everyone and get them together?”

“That’d be great – tell them that they’ve got visitors waiting for them in the lounge.” Arcas turned to leave with Mel, then stopped. “By the way, which direction IS the lounge in?”

After giving the pair directions, Shamal contacted Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, and the rest of the Wolkenritter, giving them Arcas’ message.



The forwards were dead tired.

All they wanted to do was go back to their rooms, fall into bed, and sleep until they had to get up tomorrow… and do today all over again.

But NO, Nanoha had told them that there was one last thing to do before she let them go for the day. Which was why they were making their way to MD 6’s lounge.

“Ma’am,” Tiana groaned. “Do we really have to do this? We’ve been in training almost all day, and I don’t think any of us are up to anything much.”

Nanoha smiled. “This isn’t something much, just a chance to meet some new friends from another part of the service. Plus, they aren’t around all that often.”

Outside the lounge, Nanoha and the forwards ran into Fate, Hayate, and the Wolkenritter.

“Everybody’s here,” Hayate said. “Let’s go on in.”

The doors slid open, and when the assembled group saw their two visitors, silence reigned over the room…for about ten seconds. Then it exploded in a barrage of squeals, shouted questions, and general chaos.

But it all could be summed up in one word.

“ARCAS?!”

The 82nd XO smiled and waved hello to the stunned assembly. For a moment, none moved, until Caro Ru Lushe broke formation and practically threw herself at Arcas.

“Arcas-nii-san!”

“Hey kid,” Arcas replied, scooping the summoner up, “how’s life been for you and Fried?”

The rest of the group slowly made their way over to the couches, settling themselves in.

Caro and Arcas talked for a couple of minutes, and then she jumped off his lap and scooted over to take a spot next to Erio.

Hayate was the first to speak. “Shamal, why didn’t you TELL me that our visitors were the 82nd?”

“Because we asked her to,” Mel replied. “Forgive us.”

“It’s okay,” Fate replied. “It’s just that we didn’t know who to expect.”

“Well, now you know,” Arcas replied, an amused grin crossing his features.

“Um, excuse me,” Subaru spoke up. “But who exactly are you?”

Another glance passed between Phantasms, then they stood and announced themselves.

“I am Arcasaviel Emira, XO of the 82nd Rim Advance Force, the ‘Noble Phantasms.’ Call me Arcas.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you; my name is Melinia Yoshitaka, also of the 82nd.”

“The Rim Advance Force? Of Diplomacy Corps?” Tia asked.

Both nodded in the affirmative.

“Shouldn’t you be out patrolling Known Space?” Erio questioned.

“We would, except we’ve been recalled to help out here.” Arcas stated.

“Why?”

Mel shrugged. “At this point, we know as much as you – that we’re back. WHY we’re back is still a mystery to us.”

“So,” Signum stated slowly, “this is the partner you’ve been talking about?”

“Yes,” Arcas replied. “This is Mel.”

As the adults talked, Subaru elbowed Tiana.

“Ne, Tia, what’s the Rim Advance Force?”

Tiana rolled her eyes and explained. “The Force, or RAF, is part of the Diplomacy Corps, and the exploration arm of the Bureau. It’s their job to keep law and order out on the frontier.”

“So they’re like Enforcers?”

“Sort of – except they’ve a few more responsibilities than normal Enforcers; they’re expected to recruit new mages and help make treaties with Non-Administrated Worlds.”

“So you guys are back to help out in general?” Hayate asked of Arcas.

The XO nodded. “We’ll probably end up working with you guys at one time or another.”

“Well, it’ll be interesting times again,” Vita stated.

“That it will,” Signum concurred.

Nanoha stood and said, “Okay, time for the kids to go off to bed.”

The forwards, eager at the chance to get out of a conversation that could probably go on for hours, followed Nanoha. Mel also rose, hot on their heels.

“Mel, where’re you going?”

“I’m just going to see them off to sleep, silly. I’ll be back, don’t worry.”

“Alright,” Arcas sighed. “But hurry.”

Once they had left, Arcas turned to talk with those who remained, only to notice a rather dangerous glint in the eyes of Fate and Hayate. “What?”

“She’s cute – I like her.”

“Hayate, you stay away from Mel – I know what’d you do to her if you got the chance.”

“But all I said was-“

“That’s all you HAVE to say. Need I remind you of the last female partner I had? You said she was cute, and the next thing I know, you’ve got her trotting around in a maid’s uniform! It took weeks to undo the damage! No, I will not permit you to do that to Mel!”

“Aw, that’s so cute,” Fate cooed.

“What is?” Arcas asked, puzzled.

“You’re jealous!”

Arcas blushed at the implication. “I AM NOT!” he growled.

“Now, now, no reason to deny it,” Shamal said, an evil grin on her face. “We all like her very much, and want you to know that we approve.”

“There’s nothing to approve,” Arcas shot back. “Mel and I aren’t like that – we’re just friends; good friends.”

Now Vita joined in. “All I can say is that it’s about time; you’ve been eyeing Hayate WAY too long for my liking.”

“How many different ways do I have to say it?! MEL AND I ARE PARTNERS, BUNKMATES!” he shouted. Silence hung over the room, and noticing the grins and smirks on all the faces of the others, Arcas knew he had misstepped. “Okay, that didn’t come out right.”

“Hai~ desu,” Rein-chan replied, sarcasm evident in her voice.



While Arcas was desperately trying to dig himself out of his hole, Mel was having a grand time talking to Nanoha and the forwards.

“…so you’re the one Gianna picked to succeed her?!” Subaru squealed, quite obviously in fan-girl mode.

“Yup,” Mel replied. “And I have the Device to prove it.”

“Ne, ne, can I see it?”

“How about this – tomorrow Arcas and I are scheduled to work at the virtual battle simulator you guys have to brush up – show up and not only will you get to see what I can do, but also what Arcas can do.”

“COOL!” Subaru pumped her fist in triumph.

The group walked in silence for a few moments before Tiana asked Mel another question.

“What’s it like, being in the RAF?”

Mel considered her answer for a moment before speaking.

“It’s… not easy. Being in the RAF isn’t something I would recommend for a great deal of people.”

“Who would you recommend it for?” Caro asked.

“Someone… with friends, and family. Somebody connected.”

“Wouldn’t that just make it harder for everyone, since you’re usually only around for three months out of the year?”

“It does,” Mel replied, “but it also gives you a reason to look forward to coming back from the Black.”

“I don’t understand,” Nanoha said, though both she and Mel knew that she was saying it for the benefit of the forwards.

“Look at it like this. You’re out there three-fourths of the year, unable to see them. So when the time rolls around, you want to go back and see them all.”

“Whereas if you’re not…” Tiana said, having deduced Mel’s conclusion.

“Then there’s no reason, and you could potentially stay out there forever until you burn out from working too hard.”

“Don’t the people who run the RAF realize this?” Erio asked.

Mel nodded. “They do, and that’s why the RAF has something of an unwritten rule – always have two or three family people in each unit.”

“So there’s a reason to bring them back,” Subaru concluded.

“Precisely.”

The group had finally arrived at the dorms, Nanoha and Mel said goodnight, and they reversed course, heading back to the lounge.

“Ne, Melinia-san?”

“Call me Mel – everyone does.”

“You and Arcas…”

“W-what about us?” Mel replied, feeling her heart race at the sudden mention of the Phantasm’s XO.

“You’re partners, right?”

“Y-yes. Yes we are.”

“Partners and NOTHING ELSE?” Nanoha questioned, a knowing glint in her eye.

“Nothing else,” Mel stated, mustering courage into her answer.

“You don’t like it that that way, do you?”

How?! How can she know? Not even Boomer and Shosa know!

“I don’t under- how do you- what did I-”

“I’m a girl too, if you haven’t noticed. And I saw the looks that you gave him in the lounge – you like him, don’t you?”

Too shocked to speak, Mel dumbly nodded her agreement.

“And he doesn’t know.”

Mel shook her head sadly, tears coming to her eyes.

Nanoha held out her arms to the knight, and Mel threw herself into them, sobbing out her pain.

“Shush… there, there, it’ll be all right. Don’t you worry, we’ll help you get him. I promise.”



Back at the lounge, things were not going well for Arcas. Despite three well-crafted and excellently delivered arguments, he was still having trouble shaking Fate, Hayate, Shamal, and Rein of the notion that Mel was more than a partner to him.

“Look, what do you want me to say?!”

“Just say that you like her, and we’ll leave it at that.”

“I like –”

“And not just as a friend,” Fate interjected. “Or a partner.”

Arcas groaned. “We’ve been over this a thousand times, and we’re getting nowhere.” The knight rose to leave. He took three steps towards the door, only to hear the familiar chime of Bardiche Assault, and for Fate to appear in front of him, at the ready. Arcas cocked an eyebrow.

“You’re really gonna fight me here?” Arcas asked, holding Ascalon’s Inactive Form in front of him.

“If I have to…” Fate warned.

Arcas heard more familiar chimes, and swiveled his head to see Hayate and the Wolkenritter battle-ready. He shook his head.

“This is insane.”


“What’s insane is you not admitting your own feelings.”

“Now talk, or Eisen and I will beat the confession out of you!”

Arcas sighed. Against one or two of them, I’d have a chance, but all six of them?! No way… looks like I’m coming out of the non-gay closet.

Arcas lowered Ascalon, turned his head away, and spoke.

“So what of it?”

The sextet’s eyes widened in response. “So you actually DO like her?” Hayate said, shocked.

“Of course! Wait, you didn’t know?”

Everyone nodded in the negative. Arcas groaned. Great. My life is over…

“Well, well, what are we going to do with the information, Hayate?” Fate grinned.

“Wai~ desu! Matchmaking!”

“NO! Please don’t!”

“But you just said-”

“I know what I just said, but think about it. The chances of it happening are one in a million! First, she’s got to return my feelings. And even if she does, there’s a chance that it may not work out between us. Can you imagine how awkward that you be, having to work side-by-side every day, with a broken relationship? Trust me, we’re happy with our relationship the way it is.”

“Don’t you think that she at least has the right to know about how you feel?”

“I – I don’t know. I mean, yeah, I could tell her, but then that’d put pressure on her to respond in a way that’s positive to me. And the last thing I’d want to do is to force what I want on her. That’s unfair and selfish.”

Silence stood over the group for a few moments before everyone realized that they were still in battle-mode. Disengaging their Device, Jackets, and Armor, everyone was ready to resume conversation when the door slid open behind them, revealing Mel and Nanoha.

Nanoha cocked her head in surprise. “What’s everyone doing?”

“We- we were just coming to find the two of you. Mel and I need to get back to the Delphinus for the night.”

“Ah.”

“Well, it’s been real, all.” Arcas said.

“It’s great that I got to meet you all,” Mel smiled. “Hopefully we can do it again another time.”

With that, the two Phantasms took leave, and made their way back to the car that would return them to the Delphinus’ hangar at Yzak Base.

“Hey, you all right?”

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s a tough crowd you had to deal with.”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Like slicing up a pirate.”

“I hear that.”

After that, the pair remained silent until they bid each other good night on the Delphinus.



Back at MD6 HQ, however, the conversation was not over. While the Wolkenritter had departed for the night, the three Aces and Rein were still talking.

“He said that?” Nanoha gasped.

“I know,” Rein-chan cooed. “Isn’t it so romantic?”

“It’s no wonder so many girls like him, he’s such a sweetheart…” Fate sighed.

“Well,” Hayate said, her command personality taking over. “With this new information, our course of action is clear!”

“Matchmaking? But what he said about it not working out-” Nanoha queried.

“-Is true,” Hayate replied. “But think about it, they’re here for an indefinite period of time. If it doesn’t work for them, then either can easily transfer elsewhere.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Fate affirmed.

And with that, the Aces headed off to bed, and Operation: Phantasm Love had begun…

[ghazghkull]

*wanders in and drops his package*

Spoiler for length:

Flopping back onto his bed, Hayato let out a tired sigh. What originally had been an afternoon hangout with Asagi had evolved into a full day spent with the redhead. Although the plan had changed, he could not say that he had a bad day or that his plans we ruined. He could even say that it was a welcome change of pace and plans. He ended up spending more time with the red head, giving him a better idea of what he thought about her, and he felt that he had put more thought about it as the day had went by. And slowly but surely, he began to slowly see sides of her that only people who spent a lot of time with her would see. One thing was for sure though; he got to see her smile throughout the day.

After lunch, they had ended up idly milling around the city. They talked pretty much about anything, whether it would be about their day, their work, what they had been doing lately, what Asagi did in a regular day in the office, what his deployment to other units had been like, and other sorts. The two had eventually end up walking in one of the many parks in the city. All they really did was sit by one of the few fountains scattered throughout and watched it, and the children around playing while parents watched them. That moment had been spent in comfortable silence which had given him more time to think about the questions that had been brought up to him.

One of the said questions was the age difference. It was true that it wasn’t unheard of that some women preferred to date older men, since the older the men were, the more distinguished they became, so it was somewhat natural females preferred someone who had a distinguished appearance. But for the other way around where the woman was older between the two, although not unheard of, it wasn’t something that was done often. But what he believed to have been Himeko’s point was the public backlash for the two of them in particular dating. He was not sure how the public would take him dating a public figure like Asagi. While he wasn’t sure how well known she was, considering the fact that she was the head of a very prominent company, he wondered what kind of rumours could possibly start when it got out and they were dating. That thought brought rise to the fact he could very well be bombarded by the media and have paparazzi suddenly trying to get on base to get pictures of him and anyone associated with him. Although not often seen, it was a known fact that the media could be a very dangerous animal.

Although he was sure that they both could resist it, the question was how long they could endure it when the time came. Did he have the necessary mental fortitude to really withstand the full might of paparazzi and media? Could he be strong enough to stand by her and support her through it? Was she strong enough to stand by him and support him? That alone was already a big thing that could probably weigh big on his mind if he couldn’t come up with a really good answer. Was he prepared to really step up and face this problem head-on? This and many other questions related to this particular topic weighed heavily on his mind.

One thing he could say for sure that he was actually enjoying her company. Even with all her eccentricities that made her who she was, he found that as a whole he really enjoyed everything about her. But what he liked was how she could be passionate about something. If she honestly enjoyed doing whatever it was, she’d pursue it with vigour, which often evolved to developing a really strong passion for it. Although it was true that Super Sentai was her primary passion, he smiled remembering when he asked her if he could hear her playing the violin again. It had led to Asagi leading him to her house where they whiled away the afternoon by sitting on her couch while she played a few songs of her choice that she particularly enjoyed.

Watching and listening to her play, he could tell that she truly enjoyed playing the violin, when she wanted to. He could see how relaxed she was as she let her bow slide back and forth across the strings of her instrument while her fingers expertly danced along the neck, producing tunes expressing an aspect of her that could only be found in music. A myriad of emotions were expressed as she played, varying from song to song. One minute it felt happy, while during another it was sad and melancholy. One movement could be upbeat and bright, while another could be slow and mellow. She has said she disliked the fact she had been forced to learn something like the violin, but he was glad that she did. He honestly thought that it suited her very nicely, the violin: small and deceptive. With her small height, many would probably be deceived that she wasn’t as smart or intelligent as she appeared. He found that it was the same with the instrument. It was fairly small and lightweight, but in the hands of a master, it could produce tones and notes that could fire the imagination.

The way she expressed the notes, the way her body moved steadily with the music, the way her eyes closed and that faint smile was worn on her lips, he could see that she enjoyed herself. If anything, it was just something that could help relax her mind after a long day. It was something he could appreciate, and found that he could probably enjoy as well. He honestly felt he could sit there and listen to her music all day. There was something about a live display that couldn’t just compare to a recording, or a video. There was a certain depth, passion, and soul that couldn’t be found in recordings. To be honest, he was glad he actually got a chance to listen to her play some more. Although he toyed with the idea of possibly learning to play an instrument, he didn’t think he’d have the hands for it.

A smile formed on his face when he remembered the expression on Asagi’s face when he told her that he really liked her music, and would like to hear more of it. If he didn’t know better, he had taken her by surprise with that statement, especially since she had blushed a bit at the compliment, and promised to have some more music ready to play for the next time he came over to listen.

He didn’t know if he could stand by her side yet, but he felt something towards Asagi. Putting his feelings aside, there was something comforting about Asagi’s presence. It was as if being assured of something gave him the confidence to do whatever he needed to do. He had no idea what it was, but he would figure it out soon enough.

-------------------------------------------

A week later, Blitz team stood assembled on the training field, with Captain Farukon standing before his team with an amused expression on his face. “Alright guys let’s get started. We’ll start off with the usual warm-ups, and then a couple rounds sparring. It’s been a while and I’d like to see how much you’ve improved.”

“Hai,” they responded.

Morning warm-up was quietly conducted leaving everyone to their thoughts. For Farukon, he simply watched his team as they did their usual run around the training field. He couldn’t help but smile in amusement. September already, and his team was progressively getting stronger. Hayato was up for his Mage-Rank evaluations soon, so he would have to start his training for that. Vivio and Syn were progressing just fine though. The two did work incredibly well together, especially with their close-range combat capabilities. Although it had hurt his team’s performance slightly that their rear-guard was gone, he had managed to work around it. The only real difference was that all the command decisions had to be made by him instead of a combination of him and Rue now, so he couldn’t be too focused on the frontlines. Hayato’s role on the team was slowly transitioning to frontline combat as he continually perfect his combat style.

Surprisingly, it had gotten to the point that Syn had begun to be a little concerned whenever she fought him, more so annoyed than concerned, however, as he had yet to win a spar against her. Having learned to brawl from a young age, Syn knew what to expect from people when they fought hand-to-hand. Of course thankfully her hand-to-hand had been refined drastically since he had asked Keroko to assist with Syn’s training. Hayato’s combat style though had grown by leaps and bounds. Although relying on his tracers for alignment, with the fact his new device Gundober was now performing all of the targeting, it left Hayato a lot of room to actually work on and master his actual hand-to-hand capabilities, and be able to use his weapons at extreme close ranges. He hadn’t much idea of what the full capabilities of the device were since he had yet to ask, but he had heard that it had been developed by Asagi herself, and that she had forwarded all of the technical details and specifications to Shari already. At least he knew whom to talk to later if he ever wanted to know what exactly Gundober was capable of.

The incident with the Orphnocs, however, left a very bad taste in his mouth. He had already been briefed on the deployment his team was going to be taking part of at the end of the month, and he didn’t like it one bit. Along with Rue, team Blitz would be stationed aboard the Tantra, attached to a unit that had been temporarily set up to deal with Orphnoc research labs that were scattered throughout a region of space. From the logistics, Ryoutaro would be the unit commander with Masami attached as his second. Someone from Rouge Squadron was also assigned to the unit, along with a number of other high ranked mages who would assist with this mission. He didn’t really know what to make of the situation, but he felt that during the 3 months they’d be on deployment would have a lot of interesting results. But the fact that they would have to encounter Orphnocs again bothered him. It wasn’t a research he was too fond of. It was that research that had effectively wiped out an entire planet, and Project Smart Brain. Or so they had thought.

Then there were the standing orders of what to do if they encountered Faiz: destroy it. He frowned somewhat. Why in the world did the TSAB suddenly order the destruction of the technology? He had read up whatever wasn’t classified about the system, and he felt that it was a bad idea to destroy an effective barrier jacket system. He had seen the results of the other Riders, Kabuto, SaSword, Den-O, Kiva, and IXA, so he thought that ordering for it to be destroyed seemed a bit odd. Why not attempt to retrieve the system? Was there something about the Faiz system that the TSAB didn’t want replicated? He didn’t know exactly, but he knew that digging around too much would probably get him in trouble. At present, he had a team to worry about. He would deal with the Faiz issue when the time came.

Watching his team assemble in front of him, slightly winded from their warm-up exercise and run, he took a moment to smirk at his team. They were coming along well. “Alright, let’s start,” Farukon declared. “Syn, Hayato, you guys are up.” Said two nodded and stood up the combat components of their barrier jackets, while Farukon and Vivio backed off to give them room.

“I’m going to get my revenge now,” Syn happily snarled, cracking her knuckles in excitement. Hayato on the other hand gulped. He was in trouble. That much he knew. That was pretty much his only warning before he suddenly found Syn in his face. Reacting on instinct, Hayato parried a strike to his head and brought his other hand to bear and fired a shot only to have his hand violently shoved away before he pulled the trigger.

Farukon and Vivio watched as the two broke into a swirl of melee. Although Syn had the element of surprise, the results of Hayato’s training were staring to show, especially in this spar. The way he reacted, dodged, parried, it was clear that he was slowly honing his combat style. His movements were far less sloppy and wasted than before, and he had begun to develop the required flexibility to perform a lot of the movements he wanted to do that were incorporated into the style. His speed had also improved since the last spar. It was clear that all the training that he had put into it, with the addition of all the help Farukon and Keroko had provided, was starting to drastically show, both in his combat style, and on his body.

“Hold still!” Syn cried out, throwing a few additional punches and kicks at Hayato, who narrowly dodged or defended against them, trying not to reel back from the force of the impacts.

“Hell no!” he called back. Syn was still venting, and there was no way he was going to allow himself to get hit by one of those punches of hers. Enhanced and supported by her magic, he knew that an impact from her would rock him horribly. As for how badly, it could range anywhere from a minor bruise to a concussion, depending on how well he could defend himself. Sidestepping another punch, he immediately spun around and kicked her away from him and raised his weapons and fired. He watched as she back flipped several times in an attempt to dodge him, with most of his shots narrowly grazing her sides. While none came in direct contact, he took pride that he was starting to make her sweat; even knowing that he would have to pay for it eventually.

“You son of a,” she swore, and prepared a charge slamming it into the ground, watching the shockwave rip the very ground they stood on.

“Oh crap!” he cried out, backpedalling as fast as he could to stay away from the collapsing ground. Discharging a cartridge from both units, magical spheres formed around him and immediately flew towards Syn, forcing her to back off and fend off against his sudden attack. Clearing himself of the shockwave, he quickly ran around the crater and closed in the distance between them, engaging her in hand-to-hand combat. Blows were exchanged as they tried to force an upper hand against the other. Punches, kicks, lined-up shots to the head, head butts, knees, elbows, both used whatever dirty means they had to try to force the other to submit. And despite their best efforts, neither could force their hand upon the other, which was a major surprise for Syn who was taken aback by the amount of skill Hayato had defending himself, while being aggressive as he could.

Farukon watched as Hayato struggled to press some sort of advantage against Syn. Although his combat style still needed much work, the fact that over the span of roughly 4 months he had improved this far was a credit to his tenacity, and his desire to improve himself and the style he and his siblings created. Every time they trained, Hayato would always spend a fair amount of it working on his form. And whatever he couldn’t work out, he had asked for help to ensure that his style would work. Although it wasn’t able to hold a candle against other hand-to-hand fighters such as Keroko or the Wolkenritter, the fact that all of them had actually commented of the eventual feasibility of using Gun-Kata as an actual method of combat in the future had been a real boost on Hayato’s morale. He ended up only working harder to refine the style, and perfect whatever he had while continually expand upon it as best he could. Farukon had no idea what Hayato’s other siblings were doing with the style, but he wondered if they were all trading notes to see what they could come up with to improve the style.

“Syn’s getting careless,” Vivio sighed as she watched Hayato get a shot off that narrowly missed her face. Unfortunately the barrel was so close to her head that the discharge stunned Syn long enough that Hayato managed to slam the butt of his pistol into Syn’s face, causing her to instinctively reel back and grab her face. It was her undoing as Hayato jumped and kicked Syn across the back of the head knocking her down onto her face, giving him enough time to retract the pistol in his left hand back onto its mount, grab Syn’s left arm, and pin her down with his body while his legs held her other arm down, and aimed his other pistol at the back of her head.

“Stop,” Farukon called out, declaring the end of the spar.

Immediately, Hayato scrambled off and fell back on his rump. Trying to slow down his breath, it took him a few moments to realize what had just happened. He had won. He had actually beaten Syn in a spar. It was a lucky shot that gave him the opening, but ultimately he had won the spar. He won.

“I actually beat her,” he breathed in amazement, suddenly falling onto his back. “I actually beat her!”

“It was a lucky shot,” Syn grumbled, rubbing the back of her head. “Don’t let it get to your head…”

“NOW THAT WAS SOME SERIOUS BAN-STYLE ASS-KICKING!”

“Oh dear god no,” Syn groaned to her utter horror. “Not her…not HER!” Vivio could only laugh weakly and pat her friend at her distress.

“Morning,” Farukon greeted, nodding towards their guest. Despite her antics, she was someone he respected.

“Good morning indeed!” Asagi happily declared, approaching Blitz team with a wide grin on her face. Turning towards Hayato, fire burned in her eyes as she said, “Hayato that was some serious ass kicking! You would’ve made Ban proud!”

“Uh…thank you?” he replied questioningly, not sure he should feel about being compared to a TV show character.

“C’mon, let’s see more!” she asked, like a child in a candy store. Despite liking Asagi, he found that particular gleam in her eyes quite scary.

“Why is she here,” Syn growled, feeling her eye twitching from the fact that Asagi was here.

“Just wanted to see what you guys were doing that’s all,” she answered as-a-matter-of-factly, shrugging off the fact that Syn was now openly scowling at her. “Of course I was treated with the sight of Hayato-kun kicking some ass!”

“It was a lucky shot,” Syn muttered, feeling that Asagi was simply just rubbing it into her face.

“Hey I call it the way I see it,” Asagi replied back. “And that was ass kicking.”

“Captain…” Vivio called out worriedly, seeing how Syn was about ready to blow her top.

“Now, now,” Farukon sighed, stepping in before his student and subordinate did something reckless and stupid. The last thing he needed was an angry Syn with a bruised pride to deal with. He wasn’t sure Hayato would be able to deal with that sort of torture. “Was there anything else you needed?”

“Hayato-kun, when are you off duty for the day?” Asagi asked, turning her attention back to the ebony-haired gunslinger.

“Uh…1600 hours tonight,” he replied.

“Then meet me at the front of your barracks by 1700 hours,” she declared, and then glanced down at the time display on her wrist. “Well, I need to get going. Got a few meetings I’m going to have to deal with before the end of the day. Ciao.” Waving everyone goodbye, Asagi turned and walked back towards the bridge that connected to the mainland.

“Well then, back to training,” Farukon stated.

“Oh and wear something nice!” Asagi called out from the middle of the field. “Maybe semi-formal would be a good idea!”

“Uh…okay…”

“Okay, okay, back to work everyone,” Farukon called out, drawing everyone’s attention back on him.

-------------------------------------------

“Yo,” Asagi greeted Hayato, coming up to the male barracks. “You’re looking sharp.” Said person blushed somewhat as Asagi gave his state of dress an onceover. Khaki pants, a blue collared polo shirt, and a blazer, she nodding approvingly. “So what do you think of mine?”

Dressed in a red skirt, a white short-sleeved form fitting shirt with a deep v-neck revealing a fair amount of cleavage, and a white jacket, Hayato couldn’t help but dumbly nod at her state of dress. If her goal had been to stun him in awe and appreciation for such an outfit, she successfully accomplished her goal. His mind was barely able to process anything, especially the way the skirt perfectly hugged her hips and waist, showing him how perfect and flawless her hourglass figure was. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it also sparked him the curiosity of what she looked like underneath the clothes. Shaking his head clear of the thought, at least for now, he focused on the here and now. Especially if he didn’t want to either offend Asagi, make a fool of himself, or both.

“Uh…so where to?” he asked, wondering what Asagi had in mind exactly.

“Something for me to know,” she began answering, taking hold of his arm as she did, “and for you to find out.” Giggling a bit at his confusion and the slight he pout from being put off like that, she pulled him along and started lead him off the base grounds.

Hayato on the other hand was sort of reeling from the sudden fact that this indeed could be considered a third date. They weren’t a couple or anything, but the fact that they had spent a lot of time alone lately had given him a bit of insight as to who Asagi was, and also allowed him a better chance to assess his feelings towards her. Not having contact her for the past week had left him a great deal of time to think and talk about his feelings towards the redhead. He mentally shuddered when he remembered how Himeko and Chikane had teased him on his feelings for Asagi. What he had hoped for a one-on-one talk with Himeko had turned into some sort of sisterly attack on him from both chaplains. But in the end their input and advice helped him a lot.

They asked him a lot of hard questions, forcing him to face the possible realities of certain aspect of Asagi’s life that would affect him. One of them, which he had already dealt with, was the possibility of dealing with news reporters and paparazzi if they were to really hook up. Already rumours were circulating that Asagi had been seen with some black-haired man around town. Thankfully he had been wearing civvies, but eventually it would lead back to him, and ultimately RF6. He had expressed his concern over that, but the matter was brushed aside and was told that Hayate would deal with the situation appropriately if it came down to that. He, however, was left feeling uneasy about it, but didn’t say anything more since he would trust the General’s decision on the matter when it happened. In terms of dealing with it, he eventually came to the conclusion that it would be an unavoidable part of Asagi’s life, and that he would stand by her and support her through it.

The one question that surprised him was the possibility that he may have to quit the military and possibly become an employee of Asagi, or if worse comes to worse, take over the company if he married her and something happened to her. The thought had never crossed his mind, especially since that was something he thought he wouldn’t have to deal with for years. But clearly the two had a lot of forethought, and were bringing as much of it as they could to the front, explaining that it would make it a bit easier on him if he ended up having to face with that problem. He had mulled over the question, ever after their session, but he didn’t have an answer for it then, nor did he have it now. It just wasn’t something he wanted to think about it. If something were to happen to her now, it would be a problem of Asagi’s company, not him, since he wasn’t involved with the company in any way. If he and Asagi had children in the future, something that had elicited a blush and made him choke on his food on a previous occasion, then it would be a decision he and Asagi would have to make. But even with that on his mind, he couldn’t really come up with a good answer. It just wasn’t something he was ready to answer.

He related more of his experiences to Himeko and Chikane, and continued receiving their input. It had really surprised him how well versed they were in the art of dating. But as he listened, he did notice the two occasionally share glances at one another. He wasn’t exactly sure of the relationship the two officers had, but he had the feeling it was a very strong friendship, or something more, possibly something akin to what a part of him wanted with Asagi. The way they looked at each other, the way they occasionally patted and squeezed the other’s shoulder, how close they sat, they were indicators that they were either extremely close friends, or they were actually a couple. But he couldn’t be sure, since they were really private concerning their private lives, despite Chikane’s status as the Himemiya princess on Rue’s home world.

In the end, he had walked away from that session feeling a lot more confident about his feelings towards Asagi, but decided against telling her anything yet.

“So how have you been?” Asagi asked, nodding towards the guards at the entrance.

“Not bad I suppose,” he answered. Despite being more comfortable around Asagi as he spent more and more time around her, he found he still had problems trying to talk to her, unless prompted by something.

“Is that all you have to say?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you didn’t do anything during the week.”

“Well…I did spend more time talking with my psychiatrist,” he meekly answered.

“Oh?” Now she was interested, again, “What about?”

“Uh…”

“Aw c’mon, you’re still not going to tell me?” Asagi pouted, giving Hayato a glare that promised him a lot of pain if he didn’t answer. However, he only continued to stare at her worriedly, occasionally darting his eyes in other directions to avoid her gaze, but he refused to answer. Unfortunately, the blush that slowly formed on his face only furthered Asagi’s suspicion, and curiosity. But seeing how he wasn’t going to give up any time soon, she had no choice but to resign to waiting until another chance presented itself.

“Fine…you win,” she grumpily stated, turning her attention back towards the front.

“Thanks,” Hayato sighed thankfully, suddenly feeling the ability to breath properly return to her.

“But I will find out one of these days,” she declared, giving him a pointed glare.

“Yeah…sure…”

“You’re no fun,” she whined.

“Not when it’s something personal,” he muttered, turning to look the other way.

“C’mon, you can tell me anything,” she insisted. “I wouldn’t tell a soul.”

‘I would if it didn’t concern you,’ he thought, while he struggled to outright come out and say that he liked her. He felt that now was not the time, while the priestesses had told him that he would do fine if he told her now. From his retelling, they felt that he was both mature enough to try and get into a serious relationship with Asagi, and that his feelings were quite genuine, and quite strong. While they had not said that he had fallen in love with her, they felt that in the end things would either work out, or not, and that he was ready to take the plunge. But for him, he didn’t feel ready to take that plunge yet.

“Are you that uncomfortable that you wouldn’t even tell me?” Asagi suddenly asked, much to Hayato’s horror. Of all the questions she had to ask, she just had to ask him that question. Now he was at a conflict. Either he kept his mouth closed and risk hurting Asagi’s feelings, or he told her outright, and then run with the half and half chance of saying yes or no. And unfortunately for him, he wasn’t ready for the latter, but at the same time he didn’t really want to risk the former. And at present, both were at a stalemate. However, the longer he kept quiet, the worse it would become because then the situation would fall to the former by default, and he had no idea if he could repair that friendship between them.

Add on to the fact that he didn’t have that many female friends only made it harder since he didn’t know how to deal with the situation he was presently in now. And now would be a good time to have some sort of female whisper in his ear the best solution of how to deal with this.

[Incoming priority 1 message from Captain Farukon] Gundober suddenly called out.

“Sorry…” he weakly replied, and pulled Gundober out and established a communication line.

“Hayato, get your ass back here,” the captain ordered.

“What?”

“Our shore leave has been cancelled. We’re mobilizing tonight.”

“What? But I thought-”

“An Orphnoc attack force is en route to Outpost Epsilon,” he replied, cutting Hayato off. “Now get your ass back here, pack, and meet at the helipad. Hustle, hustle damn it!” He immediately cut the connection, leaving Hayato standing there.

“Wait…outpost Epsilon?” Hayato whispered in horror.

“Hayato-kun?”

“My parents are deployed there…” he barely whispered, shock settling in. He had been privy to some of the results of the Orphnoc research they had busted a while ago, but it was mostly visually, from that massive group they saw when they left the cave. He had been horrified to see the final results, and the amount of power they could possess. The fact that the research was still active shook him to the very core. But what made it worse was the fact that there was an invasion force that was inbound to attack the outpost his parents were in command of. He felt his mind and body freeze from the sudden news.

“What the hell are you doing then?” Asagi suddenly shouted, punching Hayato hard across the face, sending him down to the ground. Not even giving him a chance to recover, she bent down and grabbed him by the collars of his blazer. “Why the hell are you standing there? You should’ve taken off by now! If there’s one thing that you should be jumping headlong into, would be a mission that involved saving your parents ass! Don’t let the time and effort they had put into raising you go to waste! Get off your ass and get going!” Forcibly pulling him onto his feet, she started pushing him towards the base.

“What…but…”

“No buts about this,” she shouted angrily out at him. “This is no time to get cold feet. I may not know anything about Orphnoc or whatever, but I know for a fact that if my folks were in danger, I’d be halfway there by now. So get MOVING!”

“Uh-hai!” he replied, suddenly realising that he was being stupid. Regaining his footing, he immediately sprinted off towards the gates with Asagi hot on his tail.

“Why you following me?”

“And miss a chance to help you save your parents? Not a chance buddy,” she hollered back.

“But what about your company, and the others?”

“My executives can work without me for a few days,” she waved off dismissively. “It’s nothing new to them. I go on adventures all the time. And Julie and Mayura will follow if they want.”

“If you say so,” he panted as they passed through the gates. Reaching the fork that split off to the male and female barracks, Hayato watched her split off and headed to the female barracks. Not deciding to think much on it, he ran into his building and headed straight up to his room. Barrelling in, he quickly threw off his jacket and started undressing, and grabbed the first uniform he saw, which turned out to be his combat fatigues. Throwing on the navy-blue shirt, pants, did up his belt and boots, he grabbed his tunic, and a standard issued rucksack pre-packed for cases such as these where he needed to get ready to go fast. Strapping any webbing on as required, he threw on his rucksack, closed and locked the door behind him, and headed straight for the helipad.

-------------------------------------------

“About time,” Syn huffed.

“Well I wasn’t expecting to run all the way back to base,” Hayato responded, taking a moment to regain his breath. Looking up, Hayato raised an eyebrow as he realized that all of the teams that were on shore leave were ready to go: Hammer, Sword, Sun, Moon, Stars, Lightning, and Blitz, and to his surprise even NERV’s Rider team, with Rue standing in formation with them. Even Kaon and the new Kaiser Knights were there, although it was clear they were extremely nervous about this. This would be their first sortie, save for Hitomi. Hopefully that they wouldn’t be asked to get to deep into the fighting. He, along with everyone else, was unsure of how well they would cope with combat.

“Is it that bad?”

“It’s that bad Corporal,” a voice stated from behind, to see Hayate and Tesla approach the group, with Asagi in tow with her own gear packed. “Nogami-san, thank you for your support on this mission.”

“It’s no problem,” he humbly answered.

Hayate smiled lightly towards Ryoutaro before turning her attention towards the group. “Your mission is simple: destroy the Orphnoc invasion force before it hits the outpost. If you are unable to, you are to hold it off long enough to evacuate the base, and then retreat. Are there any questions?” Asagi looked like she wanted to ask a question, but refrained from it. Other from that, no one else seemed to ask anything.

“I have one,” Kaon calmly stated, raising a hand.

“Then please ask.”

“I understand that there are standing orders to…permanently incapacitate them. Is it possible to detain them instead?”

“If you are able to devise a means to contain them,” Tesla answered in Hayate’s stead. “However, all of our information has indicated that most of our present spells and capabilities would prove to be ineffective in containing them.”

“May I request access to the information?”

“Access to that information is restricted to-”

“Tesla-chan, let her,” the general stated, cutting off the Glaive Knight.

“Un…understood, mistress,” she replied, before turning to Kaon. “I will see to it that you possess clearance to obtain the information.”

“Considering the circumstances, we’re going to need help,” Hayate began, before indicating to Asagi. “Colwell-san has volunteered herself, and whatever members of the SGS who can lend her a hand.”

“Pleased to be working with ya,” she confidently stated, flashing everyone a grin, much to Syn’s chagrin.

“Any other questions?” the general asked. Taking a moment to confirm that there were no other questions, she finalized the briefing. “All team leaders have been given a copy of the operation orders. All information is restricted, and only those with clearance may access the information. The officer of primary interest for this combat unit will be Major Takamachi. The Tantra is presently in orbit ready to bring you up.” Taking a few steps back along with Tesla, while Asagi stepped forward, Hayate gave them a warm smile and said, “Good luck, and come home safe.” And on cue, the Tantra immediately brought everyone up aboard, and immediately took off. “Please make it on time…please come back home alive.”

*wanders out, his mission accomplished*

[Tempy]

Hmm.

Previous chapters.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Gospel of Judas

Book Two: The Terror of Death

Spoiler for Chapter 2: Act 1:

“What worth is loyalty? How far are you willing to go to prove your fealty, your devotion? What will you do when your meaning of existence, your raison d’être, betrays you?"

"What worth are you then?”

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Behold, Belka.

Once, this world was a paradise, a gem of blue and green upon the black sea of space. But, ah, see how Belka has fallen, now a brownish mass of hive cities, polluted seas and smog-filled skies. The world was a darker place now, a twisted land of the corrupt, the downtrodden, and the weak. Yet, in little places here and there, pockets of peace and beauty still clung tenuously to existence. The inhabitants of Belka had not been kind to their home, but still the planet survived. And amidst the hordes of the discontent and the wicked were souls still kind, working dutifully and tirelessly to live their lives as best they could.

The Sankt Kaiser, god and emperor, was both revered and cursed. Blame and praise was heaped upon the Belkan ruler, as people both suffered and prospered under the Kaiser’s rule. Yet these times were not of peace – war and conflict raged across the Belkan homeworld as much as it did in colonies and other Belkan territories. Disparities amongst the population was wide, the gap between the rich and the poor as wide as the seas. However ruined their lives are, unfortunate and needy, they still survived. Hard work and will to live carried generation after generation through hardship and stagnation. Even here, on this dank, dying world, love could bloom, and happiness, if for a fleeting moment, could be found.

This was no utopia, but people would make do.

The royal capital was the center of the world, around it a smattering of cities and towns of people hoping to be closer to their king. From there, the rest of the land seemed… uninviting. To the east were wild seas and unforgiving storms. The south was thick with life, dense forests blanketing much of the land, but in that same place were dangerous beasts and heartless men. Scorching deserts and lifeless wastes dominated the west, rich with resources but perilous for even the most prepared man.

And in the north, an unforgiving tundra. Few dared to even think of traversing this place, with barely surviving settlements few and far in between. If the cold did not kill you, the more apt beasts would. Yet it is often here that people would escape to, as it was believed that only madmen and the desperate would ever willingly travel through this eternal blizzard.

Madmen, indeed.

Like banshee howls, the wind screeched in his ears, whipping his tattered cloak all around him. The blustery snow nigh well blinded him, cutting his vision down to a few bare feet in front of him. Not that it mattered much, as the frozen wastes were all around him, hills of ice and snow in every direction. Here, in the north, Noland Reiniger struggled through the frozen plains.

North. He had to keep going north.

Away from his hunters, away from those that sought his blood. How long had he been running? It had been too long to count. Months, probably. But that was fine. Anywhere was fine. He could go anywhere, so long as it took him away.

This hill… why was it so hard to climb? Dozens he had already conquered, yet each new meters high snowdrift felt progressively steeper and harder to climb. And even though he eventually reached to top after a struggle, the down slope seemed even more daunting. Alas, it would be here that Noland fell; the knight’s knees failed him as he stumbled down a snow bank, causing him to roll bodily down the rest of the way. When at last he came to a stop, he found that even the smallest movement was impossible.

Dammit… his body… his body could no longer go on. Ice clung heavily to his tattered clothes, the fabric no longer holding back the chill. His feet were completely numb, as were his hands. It felt like a thousand razor blades sliced into any flesh exposed to the bitter cold, sapping his strength with every gust. How quickly his consciousness seemed to slip away in this unforgiving blizzard.

Yet, in the distance, he could make out a single dark shape slithering through the howling winds. Closer and closer it came, almost leisurely, having a distinctly humanoid shape. Was he hallucinating? Had the madness finally breached his mind? Or perhaps death was giving him one last respite before spiriting him away. Whatever it was, it had finally come close enough for Noland to make out some features. Long hair, tall, lithe and graceful. This had to be an illusion, for it seemed the figure was not even remotely affected by the storm.

Who…?

“Still you live, Sir Knight? How it does make my heart soar to see you still amongst the living. Though in this hell, not even you may last much longer,” the figure spoke, standing over him at last.

What? No…! What was she doing here?!

“Do you know how hard it is to track you, Reiniger? All this time, you’ve eluded capture and fooled your hunters. I’ve always admired that tenacity and will.”

Noland could not form any words. Were his lips frozen? Or was he just not able to speak? Not only his lips, but his entire body felt paralyzed. Only his dimming vision and shaky hearing was left. Yet she stood there, glorious and completely unaffected by the storm. She, the Azure Witch, the Right Hand of the Sankt Kaiser.

“Selvaria… Bles…” Noland finally managed to wheeze out, his breath freezing immediately in the air.

“Ahh, how cruel your fall was,” as if acknowledging him, her tone and vernacular morphed, like a chimera, discarding the frank, coarse language of commoners for the sweet poison of the Nobility. “Your life, torn apart in an instant, and innocent blood spilt. That child really was cruel…”

What… what do you want?

“Poor, lost, lonely soul. Your quest will be a long one, and your soul will be tested. You will know fury, hatred, and bitterness. You will suffer defeat, fear, and loneliness. All this, you will witness. But…”

What? What the hell was she talking about?

“You are not alone, Knight Reiniger.”

A warm palm pressed against his snow-covered forehead, a strange but soothing heat spreading from his head downwards into the rest of his body.

“I will ensure that…”

Darkness came to claim what last of his consciousness remained, a bright light suddenly encompassing the entire figure of Selvaria. It would be the last thing he saw, even as the light revealed itself to be the headlamp of a haphazardly maintained snowtruck. A heavily clothed and portly figure hopped out of the vehicle, coming to a stop before the prone knight.

“Izzee still ‘live?” came a tinny voice on the truck’s external speakers.

“Oy, I caunt baleeve dis bloke still be breathin’! Mus’ be a strong one!” a puff of warmed air escaped the crude respirator mask, its eyes dimly glowing a baleful yellow.

“Eh, we’s low on quota this time. Toss ‘em innda cage wi’ da resta them, Biggs!” the figure’s partner spat. “And ‘urry up! It’s colder thanna hag’s tit out there!”

“Roight, Wedge!”

Who was right?

Was he right?

What was right?

Isn’t that right?

Right?

“Right, Reiniger?”

The question worked to snap Noland back to attention, turning his head towards his companion. “I’m sorry, my liege, what was that?”

Alone in this long hallway, he and a much shorter person walked side-by-side. Dim lights upon the walls illuminated their path, casting dark shadows along their path. The time was late, and the time to rest was upon them. But first, a king must be escorted to his room, and his eccentricities---entertained. He was, perhaps, the only king whoever enjoyed speaking the ordinary tongue of the peasantry, though an indulgence he made sure only to partake in amongst close friends.

“We had asked if there was anything else that would require Our attention in the morning. Really, Reiniger, what is the matter today? You’ve been out of it for a while now.”

“I’m afraid I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a while. Current events have had me rather stressed.”

“Hmm, you and Us both,” the shorter one nodded. “However Our question still remains. Are there any pressing matters to attend to in the morning?”

“No, sire. None that the Chancellor hasn’t gone over already. However the thirteenth Knight of the Round must still be determined.”

“We’ll worry about that in the morning, then,” he gave another nod.

“As you wish, my Kaiser.”

The hall soon gave way to an elaborate set of doors, a pair of heavily armored guards standing at attention nearby. At their approach, the guards raised their arms across their chest salute, a gesture returned by Noland and acknowledged by the Kaiser. Here was the private quarters of the Saint King, a lavishly decorated room with a grand velvet and silk covered bed and exquisitely crafted wood. Gold and azure furniture dotted the dim room, the lights brightening only when the two of them entered. It was not until the door closed in grand fashion of deep, resounding tremor that a sudden change in the Belkan Sankt Kaiser was witnessed.

“Whew! Finally, a moment of respite!” the Kaiser huffed, unceremoniously collapsing on to the giant bed. In a shimmer of light, the Belkan king’s ceremonial armor dissipated to reveal the cobalt blue dress underneath. “He” rolled about on the luxurious surface, rumpling fabric and mussing up “his” hair, arms and legs outstretched like a cat lazing about. Finally sitting back up, the Emperor of Belka shrugged off the topmost layer of the dress, revealing a subtle, but most definitely feminine figure.

“My lady, that isn’t very becoming of one of your position…”

“Come now, Noland. We are in private quarters now. Have you forgotten your promise already?” she gave Noland a look as she loosened the braid in her hair, letting her blond locks fall around her shoulders.

The knight turned away, unable to keep his eyes on his lord. Old lessons in etiquette made him automatically fall back on the timeless defense of formality, “Err… no, but I am quite aware of my status as a male, and you female…”

“Oh, fine! I’ll just be a minute then…” she huffed, the rustle of clothing the only sounds the large room, until finally, “Alright, I’m decent…”

With a quiet sigh of relief, Noland turned around. With the Sankt Kaiser lounging upon her bed, the knight took a seat nearby, inciting a small smile from the young woman.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been able to talk like this. Tell me, how is your family?”

The mention of family was enough to bring a similar smile to Noland’s face, “They are well, thank you. Mother and father continue to experience success with their business, and my sisters are doing well in class. Remilia is soon to graduate, and Cecilia has become quite popular with her classmates.”

“Ahh, little Remilia is far too adorable, and it is good to hear Cecilia is getting along with her classmates!” a low giggle came from the Kaiser, as she slipped back into the courtly manner as well unconsciously. When another speaks as such, it is only natural to acquiesce even at the risk of overcompensation. “Ah! That reminds me: is she to have an extended break soon?”

Noland looked thoughtful for a moment, racking his brain for dates. “I believe she is to have a break in the next two weeks. Shall I invite her to the capital?”

“There’s no need – I know of ways of visiting without your assistance,” she smiled evilly, promising great frustration in the future.

That incited a low groan from the Belkan knight. “Oh no, not that again…”

They talked like this, casual and frank, into the night. Now, they were not knight and emperor, but friends meeting again after a long absence. Alas, like all good moments, an end must come.

“The bell has rung; time to rest, my lady,” Noland murmured, doing his best to hide a yawn.

A sigh, “I wish we could be like this a little longer. Only with you, only like this, can we speak like this. I’ve no other confidants like you, not even the Chancellor or…” she trailed off, unable to speak more of the matter. Recognizing the sensitivity of the topic, Noland was quick to interject.

“I’ll not die the morrow or the next, my Kaiser. Have faith in my loyalty; so long as there is breath in my lungs and strength in my body, I shall always return to you.

The Sankt Kaiser said nothing for a moment, only digging deeper into the folds of her bedsheets. Then, quietly, barely audible to the knight despite his proximity, she spoke. “Thank you, Noland. You… I… … good night.”

“Rest well, my lady.”

Noland’s exit was as quiet as a whisper, though the warmth of the room lingered still.

…

"She was cold and lonely that night... a pity she cannot give voice to such feelings of weakness."

…

It was warm. No, it was bloody hot. The throne room felt oppressively scorching this day, the fault of horrid, unpredictable weather and his heavy uniform. Despite that, Noland Reiniger did his best to hid his discomfort before the seat of the Sankt Kaiser.

“You summoned me, my liege?”

“Knight Reiniger, We are alone here. What We discuss now must not be revealed to anyone else, not even your fellow Knights of the Round. Do you understand?”

What could be so important…?

“I do, Kaiser.”

“Before We continue, We must ask you: what of your life? How far are you willing to go in my service Knight, even if death is almost certain? The possibility of failure is incredible, and the chance of victory is miniscule. Can you survive, Reiniger?”

Noland blinked, confused at the question. Was the Kaiser doubting his loyalty, his ability? It was almost insulting, had it come from anyone else.

“My oath is sacred. My life, yours. Death will not stop me.”

“I see…” the Kaiser murmured, so faintly that Noland thought it an illusion.

His liege would never do such a gross breach of propriety in such a public space as the Throne Room, where the walls are filled with many eyes and ears! And so occupied was his thoughts that the knight never his liege lord, bringing a hand to rest upon the hilt of his armed device. Slowly, the blade was drawn, its platina luster gleaming in the light. The holy sword of the Sankt Kaiser, a sacred treasure and a symbol of a nation; how beautiful it was… and deadly. “Clench your teeth.”

Faster than he could see, the Holy Emperor of Belka had a spell charged and ready, the glowing blade of his sword cutting a cross-shape in the muggy air. In an instant, the roaring flames of the Holocaust came bearing down upon Noland with unstoppable fury. He had not even a chance to defend himself. No, even if he could, shock and surprise froze his limbs and mind, bewilderment jumbling his thoughts. All he could witness was the blinding fires of the Sankt Kaiser’s perfect Holocaust as it came crashing upon him. Searing his flesh and scorching his clothes, the very air he sought to breath was lit ablaze. The might of a titan crushed his chest, his head and his torso, threatening to rip his limbs away as Noland was blown off his feet and sent sliding across the once flawless floor.

The world… it spun all around him, hot as the sun. By luck or by reflex, a Protection spell had managed to spring up around him just as the Holocaust struck. Yet, it did little more than soften the blow, like a sheet of cotton before a warhammer’s strike. Dimly, Noland registered a pair of strong hands grabbing him by the arms and hauling him up. Despite this confusion, however, the Kaiser’s voice rang clear in his mind.

“The Knight of Two has attempted to assassinate the Throne. For this blatant act of treason, We hereby strip you of title and position! Nevermore will you know peace, Noland Reiniger, for the lot of traitors is only damnation.”

Wait. What? WHAT?

“What—what are you talking about?! What’s going on—UGH!”

An ironclad backhand rattled his brain, quieting his tongue for now.

“Be silent, filth! You no longer have the right to speak to me!” the Kaiser hissed acidly and turned away, unable to gaze upon the fallen form of the Knight of Two any longer. “Take him away. He is to be executed at the third bell the morrow.”

The shock had finally faded away, the reality of the moment settling in. Despair and confusion lost their hold on the knight’s tongue, soon replaced by boiling rage. Fury sprang forth anew as Noland was dragged away, giving vigor and fire to his voice at last.

“What madness has taken your mind now?! To what goal do you hope to find by doing this, Kaiser?! First you throw away Kaon like she was some unwanted dog, and now you brand me a traitor when I bear no crime?! What of our bonds, Holy Kaiser?! What of the trust we were supposed to have?! Answer me!”

Struggle as he did, he could not gain any leverage against his captors. All he could do was stare at the Kaiser’s back.

“Lord Kaiser! Holy Emperor! Do not ignore me! Do not forsake me! Kaiser! KAISER!”

The doors closed with grim finality, heavy and loud, before he could receive an answer. Abruptly, the hands that held his arms yanked him upwards.

“On your feet, trash! We’ll not waste the energy dragging your pathetic hide through these halls!”

Silently he obliged, awkwardly placing one foot in front of the other, as if in a daze. Barely did he realize that he had stumbled all the way to the prison halls, the final resting place for thousands, but for some, the first step into hell.

“Surrender your device immediately, traitor!” a large, burly man screamed at him.

Do not scream at me.

“Are you hard of hearing, wretch?!” a meaty hand slapped him across the face. “Obey my orders!”

Do not touch me. You have no right.

“You worthless dog! I should kill you here myself!” spittle splattered on Noland’s face, just as a great pair of hands wrapped around his neck and lifted him a foot off the ground.

Release me. Let Me Go. GET OFF ME.

“Get your filthy hands…” Noland growled, his wits finally at its end. “Off of me!”

The bonds that held Noland’s hands (he had bonds?) shattered as the fallen knight roared his defiance, his fists coming together to crush the arms that dare held him up. He dropped to the floor as the giant guard screamed and recoiled, Noland reaching up and grabbing him by the lapels. Once. Twice. Thrice. Noland’s forehead smashed into the guard’s face three times, each blow a great meaty crunch. He spun around, hefting the obese guard as if he were a mere sack of flour, and threw the pig into a crowd of approaching guards.

Alas, the prison guards faced a knight scorned and furious, whose strength was supplemented with rage and an undying will to survive. A thunderclap announced the arrival of the knight’s chosen weapon, a spear masterfully crafted and artfully wielded. These sad guards, with nothing more than swords and rifles, could not hope to stand against a berserk Knight.

Their last moments were of a sorrowful, rage-filled roar:

“AND TEAR THEIR SOULS ASUNDER! HOLOCAUST: EXIST!”

Noland Reiniger escaped. His actions would not be so easily forgotten.

…

"She cried a thousand and one tears that day... Such a pitiful existence."
…

“It seems our dear Knight of Two has broken free of his bonds. Unsurprising…” a tall man in a white physician’s coat murmured, one hand idly petting a young woman similarly dressed. The Knight of Eight, actually two people, did not seem all that worried.

“His flight only proves his guilt! Had he been innocent, he would have stayed to face his charges,” the Knight of Ten, a blond man in blue and indigo robes. Unlike the former, this knight blazed with anger, his vitriolic words mirroring his stance.

“What charges? He doesn’t even have the opportunity to defend himself! The accusation of treason… that is immediate execution!” A young woman in white knight’s garb cut in, her wide eyes betraying her confusion.

“Sympathizing with the enemy, Knight of Seven?”

“No! I’ve nothing to do with this. It’s just… I can’t believe that the Knight of Two…” she trailed off.

“Believe it or not, it’s the truth,” the gruff voice of the Knight of One at last spoke up, his expression decidedly neutral. Rather, he looked to the room’s entrance, immediately jumping into a bowed salute. “Behold, our king arrives.”

The other knights followed suit in an instant, dropping to their knees in respect. Before them stood the Sankt Kaiser, resplendent in full armor and sword by his side. Heterochromatic eyes gazed over the collected knights, twelve in all; the Knights of the Round, the Kaiser’s elite. Without preamble, the Kaiser addressed them.

“We are shocked and supremely disappointed. To discover that one of Our precious knights turn traitor during these trying times, We cannot even begin to understand what his motives were. However surprised We are, the facts cannot be changed: Noland Reiniger is a traitor to the throne and to the country, and as such, he must be brought to justice by any means!” The Saint Kaiser thrust a hand out dramatically, red and green eyes ablaze with anger. “Capture him at all costs! Bring this traitor to Us and to justice!”

The Knights saluted and called out in harmony, “Yes, Your Majesty!”

…

"The selfish and the selfless, pure and corrupt. What strange bedfellows you had..."
…

“You cannot run anymore, traitor! By the order of his majesty the Holy Kaiser, you are under arrest for highest treason against Our Lord!”

What misfortune, to be cornered at this dead end so quickly. Behind Noland stood ready a battalion of mages and infantry, lead by two Knights of the Round. Before him was a fall several stories high, jagged rocks below, and clear sight for some distance away. A brilliant idea it was to come here, oh yes. Right into this damn ambush…

“I had expected you, Knight of Ten, Algus Sadalfas,” Noland spoke without turning around, his eyes glued to the faraway horizon.

“You’ve no right to speak my name, trash!” Sadalfas does not even notice his poor slip into common in his righteous rage. Heh, what a hypocrite; he was always quick to correct the impropriety of others but never noticing his own failings. “Surrender immediately and I may show mercy on your pathetic soul!”

“That’s real promising, Sadalfas. You, showing me mercy? Don’t joke around – you are absolutely relishing this, aren’t you? This is an opportunity of a lifetime, isn’t it? But that’s rather pathetic that one of noble blood would hold such a grudge against a commoner such as me. Am I not below you? So why so serious?” Noland slowly turned around, giving the gathered soldiers a mocking grin as he did so.

“Wretched filth! How dare you speak to me like that!” the noble glared with all his might at the fallen knight, gripping his sword tighter. Oh how he wished he could just cut him down like the peasant mongrel that Reiniger was and be rid of this garbage forever! It was so easy! He was right there!

“Enough, Algus. You fail at diplomacy! It’s my turn, now!” a woman’s voice cut in, young and girlish in quality. From behind a line of infantry riflemen stepped out a short girl, almost child-like, but enrobed in the honorable cloth of the Knights of the Round.

The Knight of Ten crossed his arms childishly in a huff, turning his head away. “Hmph. Very well then, Knight of Six! See if you can get this fool to see reason for once.”

Noland only raised an eyebrow at the newcomer. She was not expected, but her presence was not surprising. How strange it was to see her in this state, without her Seibzehn knightmare. “You as well, Maria? Did Jack put you up to this?”

The young woman shook her head, her curls swishing with the movement. “I’m only here to take you back, Knight of Two. I care not what events brought us to this, but I have been ordered to bring you back to the Throne. Please, Noland, come with me peacefully.”

“And back to my death? The executioner’s axe awaits me at the capital, not justice! Already the people spit upon my name. There is no hope for me!”

“You cannot believe that already! There still has to be a chance for you…”

“Can you really promise me that? The Kaiser has already ordered my execution, an irrevocable command. Can you, Maria, really grant me the chance to defend myself and clear my name?”

The girl’s silence was all he needed.

“I will not go with you, Maria. Not while this noose tightens still around my neck. I have no future, no hope with you. I’ll not find my death yet.”

“Are you daft as well as stupid?!” Algus sputtered, unable to see just why this fool kept resisting. “You’ve no chance beyond here, Reiniger! This is your final opportunity! Are you a coward as well?!”

“…I’d rather live a fugitive, than die in false infamy,” Noland muttered, his eyes downcast. He then looked behind him, out into the dying lands. “At least then, I have a chance to clear my name.”

“You would refuse my mercy?” Algus scoffed and raised an arm as a signal. “Very well then! All units, ready arms!”

Before a single weapon could be brought to bear, the former Knight of Two had already made his move.

“Wait! Noland!”

He leapt.

…

"Poor lonely soul, where do you have to go? Upon this road of broken dreams, I shall walk as your shadow..."
…

The earth below him rumbled, jumped and shook. No… It was not the earth. Whatever the hell he was on was shaking. It rattled his bones and shook his drowsy mind, serving only to further ruin what tenuous grasp he had on reality.

Why the hell was it so noisy?

It did not help that his head felt like a blacksmith’s anvil, nor did the fact that his body felt like it was made of lead and sand. A heavy fog seemed to permeate his mind, dulling his senses and blurring his vision. Still, as seconds ticked by, he could feel his sanity returning.

Where the hell was he? A cage? A prison of rusty, stained metal. So he was captured… how pathetic. With the cage covered by a large blanket, he could not immediately ascertain his location. All he knew that it was cold.

A rustle behind him caused him to whirl around. Another was here with him? Was it a beast? A monster? No, it was too small. Covered in a ratty blanket, a tuft of grimy red hair peeked out from the top.

A boy? Perhaps another like him, trapped in this cage for who knows for how long. The knight’s movements must have awakened the child, as a pair of icy blue eyes came to bear upon him. Noland was almost taken back by the emotion he could read from the glare the child gave him.

Those eyes… so full of rage. A familiar, almost kindred, sight.

Licking his dried lips, Noland willed his voice to return, a tired and dry rasp that was a far cry from his normal tone. “Where… where are we?”

No answer. Just that glare.

“What’s your name?” he tried something else.

Still no answer.

Grunting in annoyance , Noland settled in a corner opposite of the child, drawing his ragged clothing closer to him in an attempt to stay warm. Bothersome, mute brat! As if glaring at him would solve things. No, there was nothing to do for now, not while this caravan rolled on. With no idea of his location, escape now would just be a blind leap into the wilderness. If he was lucky, whatever wretched city the caravan arrived at would be thick enough for him to escape, lay low, and recover.

Until then, he would wait. He would share this cage with this hate-filled child, waiting for the opportune time to strike.

[Reiji Tabibito]

More shorts!

Spoiler for At Dawn We Trained:

At Dawn We Trained

Location: Aboard the RAF Patrol Ship Delphinus
Time: 0600 MST

Mel padded along the deck of the Delphinus as she left her cabin to head down to the showers to clean up and prepare for the day ahead – the Phantasms was set to spend most of the next three days training with the forwards of MD6. As she moved through the kitchen, she passed Boomer, who was in the middle of making breakfast for the foursome.

“Morning!”

“And a good morning to you too, missy. Ready for an Earth-style breakfast?”

“You bet! I can’t wait for food from Earth.”

“Well, you’ll know soon enough.”

Mel glanced around. “Where’s Shosa?”

“The major got called down to HQ again – looks like he’ll be there for the next few days, while we train MD6’s people.”

“So, if Shosa’s gone, then that means-”

“Yep, Arcas’ll be in charge of the training.”

“Is that such a wise thing? I’ve seen him train personally, and he can be fairly hard on himself.”

“Don’t worry, missy.” Boomer reassured the concerned knight. “Arcas was an Instructor for a few months at the beginning of his career. I’m sure he’ll be cautious enough. Speaking of Arcas, where is our fearless leader?”

“Still in bed,” Mel stated. “I’ve decided to give him until I’m ready for breakfast for him to drag his lazy self out of bed.”

“Generous of you,” Boomer stated with unmasked sarcasm.

Mel glared at Boomer and promptly headed off for the shower. She came back a few minutes later, cleaned up and wearing her usual attire: a one-piece azure dress that came down to her ankles. Boomer looked at the girl and shook his head.

“What?” Mel huffed.

“Nothing – it’s just that you’ve got a closet crammed with clothes, and yet you still choose to wear that almost every other day.”

“It’s comfortable, and has good mobility,” she replied, twirling around slowly. “It feels right.”

“Whatever. Off to wake Arcas?”

“Uh-huh.” And with that, she left the kitchen.

Down in Arcas’ cabin, the Phantasm XO was currently buried under a pile of pillows and blankets, sleeping. But that all changed when Mel came in and yanked the blankets off the bed, exposing a half-naked Arcas.

“Come on, Arcas,” she spoke sweetly, tugging on the shirt he was wearing, “time to get up.”

Arcas batted her hand away and mumbled something into the pillow he was currently holding.

“What was that?”

“I said, just five more minutes.”

Mel sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

“None of that now, Arcas. We’ve got a big day ahead of us, and we’re supposed to be leaving for MD6’s training field in-” she glanced at the clock “-half an hour.”

“So I’ve still got time.” He countered.

“You know, if you didn’t stay up until one or two in the morning every night, you wouldn’t be having these problems.”

“The Aces can do it.”

“No one’s asking you to be like the Aces!”

“No one except me.”

Mel groaned. “Fine. But don’t expect me to feel sorry for you when you’ve gotta do your usual Morning Rush.” With that, she turned to leave the cabin, and returned to the kitchen, where food was waiting for her on the table.

“Serve yourself.”

“Thanks, Boomer.”

She took some food from the plates, and sat down at the table. The sniper and swordswoman sat like that for a few minutes, eating in silence.

“So, it didn’t work, huh?”

“Of course not,” Mel frowned, eating a forkful of scrambled eggs. “I swear, he’s so stubborn about his sleep; yet, this whole problem of his would just go away if he decided to get a proper amount of rest.”

Boomer shrugged. “People are people – and it takes something huge to change a person’s habits.”

“Stop defending him! You wouldn’t say that if YOU were the one who had to deal with him every morning!”

“Whatever.”


In his cabin, Arcas turned over in his bed, trying to go back to sleep.

Why does Mel have to do this to me EVERY SINGLE DAY?! I’m perfectly happy asleep, and then she comes in and wakes me up, and now I can’t get back to sleep. And the worst part is that it does nothing for me; I can’t get back to sleep, but it doesn’t inspire me to get out of bed either! The Phantasm XO groaned and rolled over, his eye opening just a hair to look at the clock.


“How soon is it?”

“Just another minute or so.”




Arcas’ mind registered the time on the clock: 0623 MST. Mel came in at about 0610, and said that we had to leave for the training field in about half an hour.



“Three…”



That means I have… about 17 minutes to get ready! Crap, not again!



“Two…”



WHY does this happen EVERY MORNING?!



“One.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I’M LATE!”

With that, Arcas came through the doorway of the kitchen as blazing speed, towel flapping in the air behind him.

“AAAND HE’S OFF!” Boomer dramatically announced. Mel rolled her eyes and got up from the table.

“I’ll get his clothes…”

“…and I’ll fix him a plate. Heaven knows he’ll need it.”

While Boomer got Arcas’ food ready, Mel returned to his cabin and pulled out a fresh set of clothes for him. She then proceeded down to the lower deck, where the infirmary and showers were located.

Doing this every morning, waking him up, bringing him his clothes… it almost feels like I’m Arcas’… wife… Mel blushed a deep red as the thought passed through her head, along with the familiar warm fuzzies that she got WHENEVER she thought about herself and Arcas. She shook the thought from her head, and returned to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Arcas emerged from the shower, and saw the clothes lying out from him. Mel again, he thought as he toweled dry, why’s she keep doing this for me? Most of the other girls I knew did this for a week and when they realized that I wasn’t going to be changing anytime soon, dropped it like a hot potato. But she’s been doing it EVERY DAY for almost two years. Arcas sighed. I shouldn’t be complaining, though…

With that, he proceeded to the kitchen, where breakfast was waiting. Arcas cocked his head at seeing the plate of food sitting out for him.

“What’s with this? Usually you guys make me fix my own food.”

Boomer answered. “We’re going to be training for most of the day – so you’ll need a proper breakfast if you’re to keep going – but don’t expect it to happen TOO often.”

“Right.”

Arcas cleaned the food off his plate, and then the three Phantasms left for training.



Location: Mobile Division 6 Virtual Training Field
Time: 0655 MST

The Stars and Lightning forwards were all lined up, ready for morning training with the RAF. Subaru was especially pumped – she would finally get to see Esperacchius, the legendary Device, in action.

“This is going to be SO COOL!”

“Geez, Subaru, don’t get so hyper,” Teana growled. “It’s not like they’re Gods or anything.”

“But we get to train with an ACTUAL UNIT! One with plenty of experience!”

As the pair spoke back and forth, Nanoha, Vita, and Fate came up to the forwards. The trio looked around, and not seeing the 82nd, asked Caro and Erio if either of them had seen the RAF mages.

“No, we’ve not…” Erio began.

“And we’ve been here for almost half and hour,” Caro continued. “Are they really coming?”

“If they know what’s good for them…” Vita growled.

Not long after, the Phantasms came running out to the field.

“Sorry we’re late…” Mel began.

“We were unavoidably delayed,” Arcas explained.

That earned the XO nasty looks from both Boomer and Mel.

“Anyway, let’s get started!”



The Phantasms took the field, speaking to Nanoha over the comm line.

“Nanoha, can you put us in an urban setting? And generate twenty AA ranked mages for us.”

Nanoha’s hand swept over the controls, making the adjustments. “Any particular way you want them set up?”

Boomer spoke. “Just spread them out over the area – don’t bunch them up.”

Nanoha made the changes, and paused. “All ready – just say the word.”

Arcas looked at his comrades. “All right – let’s go.”

Boomer was the first to speak. “Elsior, set up!” The bullet on the end of the chain glowed, and began to move down the chain to Boomer’s body, which was engulfed by the bright light. When it faded, Boomer stood there in urban camouflage fatigues, the staff in his right hand.

Next came Mel. “Give hope to the people! Esperacchius, set up!” The Velkan rune for “Hope” gave off a chime, and Mel was surrounded a multitude of swirling “Hope” runes. When it stopped, Mel was clad in her green armor, with Esperacchius held in her right hand.

Finally, Arcas. “For Honor and Courage! Ascalon, set up!” Arcas disappeared in a column of fire – when it disappeared, Arcas was wearing his Knight Armor, a black turtleneck and pants, along with a long red coat. Ascalon was in his left hand.

Now prepared, Arcas spoke the word. “GO!”

With that, combat began.

Five mages opened fire from the rooftops, attacking the Phantasms. The three took off into the air immediately, evading the blasts.

Mel shouted to Arcas. “We need to find some cover so we can get set!”

“Agreed! Boomer! See any cover?”

“Just a moment! Elsior!”

[Eagle Eye.], the device spoke.

“Arcas, there’s available cover at your two o’clock – a skyscraper.”

“Copy that, Boomer. Mel! You get that?”

“Loud and clear.”

The three streaked towards the building, and rocketed to the top, still evading fire from the mages. Once at the roof, the three touched down, using the building’s height for cover.

“Okay, everyone here?” Arcas counted heads. “Three. We’re all here. Okay, people, time for a plan. Any ideas?”

“Way I see it, we’ve got two options.” Boomer began, “One: I stay here and snipe as many as I can, move when they get here, and the two of you clean up the rest. Two: One of you stays here to beat off any would-be interruptors, and the other goes out for clean-up.”

“Sound solid. Mel, what do you think?”

“I think… we should go with plan #1.”

“That’s what your gut is telling you?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then, that’s what we’ll do. Boomer, once you’re off the building, I want you to keep firing. Understood?”

“Yeah.”

“Mel?”

“Ready when you are.”

“Boomer, if you’d do us the honors of taking the first shot,” Arcas stated.

Boomer moved to the edge of the building, and hefted Elsior. The elliptical head opened, ready to fire.

“All right, pal. Let’s give ‘em something to be scared of, yes?”

[Yes, Boss.]

“Elsior! Shooting Star!”

Elsior ejected the cartridge from its ten-round magazine and fired the cobalt blue beam of energy. It screamed out of the device and struck a mage about halfway across the city, derezzing the virtual target.

“Go!”

With that, Mel and Arcas took off, flying west across the city. Four mages spotted the pair of knights and took to the air, trailing them. As they closed in, they began hurl spells at the pair.

“Mel, keep going! I’ve got these ones!”

“Understood.”

With that, Arcas whipped around, facing his pursuers. Seeing a target present itself, the quartet focused their attacks on Arcas, unleashing three beams of light. “Ascalon!”

[Fortress,] the Armed Device intoned, setting up a shield in front of him, which intercepted one beam while the other two blew by him, missing completely. As the mages positioned themselves for another round of fire, Arcas decided to surprise them.

“Burn with the fire of a thousand hells!” [Dragon’s Fire!] The Velkan triangle appeared before him, and out of it came a stream of fire which incinerated one target, and grazed another, wounding it. The mages pulled back, realizing their opponent could attack at mid-range. Arcas chased after them. He closed with the two untouched mages, hoping to take them out before their injured comrade could rejoin the fight. He swung Ascalon in both hands, from right to left; one mage, however, had the presence of mind to put up a shield. Arcas gritted his teeth.

“Pierce through, Ascalon! Dual Load!”

[Dragon’s Fang.] Ascalon ejected one cartridge, then another, and the attack sliced through the shield and the target behind it, derezzing them both. As Arcas turned to deal with the two remaining targets, he saw that another mage had joined the fight. Arcas mentally groaned. Three to one. I hope Mel’s doing better than I am…



Across the field, Mel had problems of her own. She had run into an ambush of seven mages, and though she’d managed to take out four of them, the remaining three were putting up a hell of a fight, and reinforcements weren’t but a minute away. Come on, Mel, THINK! Come up with a plan so you can beat these guys before they trap you between them and the guys on their way. Wait a minute… TRAP! PINCER! THAT’S IT! Mel moved quickly from her cover to a fairly large room in the building that she was in. Then, she simply waited until the attackers came. The three surviving ambushers attacked from one direction, while four mages came from the opposite. Mel immediately set her plan into action. “Esperacchius!”

[Ace Guard.] The Armed Device ejected two cartridges and an omnidirectional shield surrounded Mel. The seven mages rained attacks upon it, but it refused to go down. Deciding it was safe to get closer, the mages came within staff’s reach of the shield, and prepared to attack as one. But Mel acted first. “Cross of the God-Empress! Be my sword, and strike now!” [Grand Cross.] Esperacchius ejected two MORE cartridges, and Ace Guard disappeared, only for an enormous glowing cross to appear under the feet of all in the room. The cross shone with a brilliant light, derezzing three of the seven mages, and providing Mel with enough time to use Saint Saber to dispatch the other four.

All in a day’s work, she giggled. Now to go see who needs help…



On top of the skyscraper, Boomer had seen the three mages headed towards Arcas, and decided to give the young knight some help, and had taken out two of the three with Arc Sniper. Just as he was about to snipe number three however, Elsior spoke.

[Force Shield.] Elsior’s auto-guard magic deployed as three rapid attack shots slammed against the barrier generated by the Intelligent Device. Boomer whipped his head around to see the attack had come from his seven o’clock. “Elsior! Give me some cover!” [Sniper Cover,] the Device intoned, and both Boomer and Elsior disappeared from the mage’s sight.

Puzzled, the mage flew to the skyscraper and looked around for the missing Boomer, only to find that he had fallen into a trap. Boomer and several Arc Shooter projectiles materialized out of thin air, surrounding the hapless mage. As the mage drew in a breath to speak, Boomer directed the five shots through the mages’ torso, derezzing him.

Boomer grinned. Nothing to it… now to get back to helping Arcas.



Arcas was having significant trouble dealing with the last three targets. They had set up in a triangle formation around him, and were raining constant attacks on his own Ace Guard, which was holding comfortably, but it meant Arcas’ wouldn’t be attacking anytime soon. Gotta find an opening… I can’t rely on Mel or Boomer to solve my problems for me. Watching the pattern of attacks, Arcas spotted a break. He waited until the pattern cycled back around, and when the break came, he dropped Ace Guard and unleashed his spell. “Back off!” [Riot Edge.] Ejecting a cartridge, Ascalon’s blade shone with a silvery light, and Arcas made a full circle, sending a wave of energy against the attackers. The spell derezzed the injured mage, as well as one who’d strayed too close to Arcas. The one left however, was stunned only for a moment. But in that moment, Arcas acted.

“I am the enemy of the dragon!” [Dragon’s Bane.] Ascalon ejected two cartridges, and Arcas shouted a war cry, slashing the last target twice, right to left, and then left to right. The attack derezzed the mage, and ended the scenario.

The trio flew back to where Nanoha and the others were waiting. As they landed, the assembled Division 6 mages could hear the banter being exchanged between the three.

“…were in real trouble there, Arcas-kun…”

“Yeah, I thought that I might have to use Hyper Cannon to save you!”

“You wish, Boomer! I didn’t get to be S ranked for nothing, you know!”

The trio then faced Nanoha. “So,” Boomer asked, “how’d we do?”

“See for yourself,” Nanoha replied, and brought up the post-scenario statistics.

“00:18:47 to take out twenty AA rank mages – about one a minute – that’s pretty good, even for us.”

“Yeah, but you took out over half the targets, Mel.” Arcas sighed. “Just HOW do you do that?”

“Luck and skill, Arcas, luck and skill.”

“Oi, Arcas, you used up almost an entire cartridge load – need to watch how you use those – they don’t grow on trees, you know.”

“I only used as many cartridges as I needed to – no more, no less.”

“Oh, is that like your ‘never late, never early, exactly when needed’ statement you made?” Boomer replied sarcastically.

“Shut up, Boomer,” Arcas retorted.

“Anything else before you start training with the forwards?” Fate asked.

“Just one. Nanoha, could you set up the Force Test?” Arcas asked, swapping his almost-empty cartridge tube for a new one. [Reload.]

“Sure, just give me a moment.”

With that, Arcas headed out to the field alone. Fate looked at the other Phantasms. “Do either of you wish to join him?”

“Nah,” Boomer replied, “I’m not worried about my Hyper Cannon. How about you, Mel?”

Mel shook her head. “My spell has sufficient strength for now.”

Subaru was confused. “What’s going on?”

“You’re about to see the true strength of Ascalon,” Vita said. “Watch carefully.”

Arcas stood alone on the field, when before him appeared a sea of Round Shields.

“Whenever you’re ready, Arcas.”

He nodded, and then raised his Device. “Ascalon, slay the dragon.” [Dragon Slayer Mode.] With that, Ascalon ejected two cartridges and assumed its Full Drive Form. The obsidian blade glowed and stretched out two feet; a hand guard extended out at the base of the blade, where two small parts of the main blade attached themselves, and slid back, forming an acute angle with Ascalon’s hilt.

“Ascalon, give me the power of that which I hunt.” [Dragon’s Fury.] A red aura surrounded Arcas as Ascalon ejected two more cartridges. Arcas wasted no time in giving the incantation for Ascalon’s most feared spell.

“Across the worlds, across the galaxy, I hunt and kill the dragons of Injustice and Tyranny. It is a war I fight, an endless war. But, it is my mission, my CRUSADE!”

[CRUSADE.] Ascalon ejected the rest of its cartridge load, its blade blazed with brilliant light, and Arcas repeated the moves he had made with Dragon’s Bane, only this time, waves of energy came off Ascalon’s horizontal swings. And finally, Arcas swung his Device in an overhead attack, and brought it slamming down onto the ground, where a cone of energy expanded upon impact, decimating all the shields in its path.

Vents opened in Ascalon, expelling enormous amounts of steam as it transformed back into it Standard Mode. The forwards stood awestruck at the destructive power they had witnessed. Arcas came back to them and stood next to Nanoha, and asked her if he could see the statistics. The White Devil promptly brought them up on a screen, and the MD6 personnel crowded around to look.

“Good job, Arcas! You managed to knock down seven more AA rank shields than last time!”

“Thanks, Fate. But I honestly thought it’d be more than that – I’ve spent a lot of time focusing and learning how to control my attacks rather than just blast the enemy with raw firepower.”

“Don’t worry, Arcas. It took me awhile learn how to properly control Starlight Breaker, but I got the hang of it.”

The four forwards, however, had their eyes practically riveted to the part of the screen which was labeled ATTACK STRENGTH. It said:

DEVICE: ASCALON / SPELL: CRUSADE / ATTACK STRENGTH: >SSS+.

Of course, each forward had their own thoughts about it.

An attack stronger than SSS+?! Is that even possible?! (Tea)

Arcas-san is REALLY strong! He might even be stronger than Nanoha-san! (Subaru)

Wow… I knew Arcas was strong, but I had no idea… (Erio)

Arcas-nii-san is as strong as I remember him! (Caro)

“Well, that’s all for me. How about we get to training, eh?” Arcas asked. With that, the assembled mages headed off to train for the day.

Spoiler for Situation Report:

Situation Report

Location: Diplomacy Corps HQ
Time: 2030 MST

Major Sevasti Secastan walked along the halls of Diplomacy Corps, seeking the private chambers of his – and the 82nd’s – immediate superior: Colonel Lise Johns.

It’ll be good to see Lise again, Sevasti mused. Even though there’s not much for us to catch up on… the 82nd had only been halfway into the tour when we received the recall order.

Approaching a now familiar intersection, Sevasti turned left, heading along the old corridors of wood and tile. Anyone with sense knew that the hall’s appearance was merely an illusion: the modern materials used to craft Parliament had only been given the appearance of a time long past.

Sevasti proceeded halfway down the hall, then turned right, facing a set of old-style doors that bore Lise John’s nameplate. The Phantasm grasped the handles, and pushed inwards, moving into the outer office.

At the desk to the left of the doors sat Johns’ secretary, Natsuki. She looked up from her work and smiled at the Major, waving him through.

“She’s been expecting you. Go on, don’t keep her waiting.”

Sevasti then proceeded on and into the inner office. Johns was sitting in the chair behind her desk. Another similar chair had been pulled up in front of it from a corner of the room.

“It’s good to see you again, Sevasti. Please sit down.”

The Phantasm made himself comfortable, and then Lise continued.

“So, how have things been out in the Black?”

The Black. The term all RAFers used for the wide galaxy that they claimed as their home. Johns had been part of the RAF once – she spent the better portion of a decade out there, serving first as part of the 33rd Squadron, and then as the XO of the famous “Fighting 17th” Squadron. From there, she went on to become part of Corps brass, where she had spent eight years of her life, and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Sevasti shrugged. “About as normal as could be expected, Colo-”

Lise stopped him with an upraised hand. “Sevasti, we’re friends. How many times must I insist that you call me Lise and not Colonel Johns?”

“Do you insist, milady?” Sevasti asked, a smirk briefly playing over his features.

Lise returned the smirk. “I do.”

“Very well, then. It appears I have no choice. As I was saying earlier, everything is about as normal as could be expected, Lise.”

“I see? And how is the rest of your unit?”

“Everyone’s about the same as always – Boomer playing peacemaker and big brother, Mel keeping everyone’s spirits up, Arcas being the voice of conscience. Honestly, things haven’t changed much for us since the last time we talked.”

“That was right before you left for your current tour of duty, right? It was – correct me if I’m wrong – about five months ago, right?”

“That’s correct. If I may, may I ask why the 82nd’s been brought back?”

“As opposed to, say, the 1st, who are due back here in two weeks?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Sevasti, I won’t lie to you. The reasons that the 82nd has been recalled out of all the squadrons are very convoluted, and have political complexities that you and I can spend all night discussing and STILL wouldn’t be half done, but the simple, short answer is this: the 82nd has the necessary skills, firepower, and contacts within the Bureau to accomplish the tasks ahead.”

“And that’s all I need to know about that?”

“For now. If more comes up, then I’ll call the whole 82nd in here to talk about it.”

“Lise, you know Arcas isn’t going to be happy about that if it happens – him and his whole ‘why didn’t you tell us before?’ routine.”

“If that happens, then I’LL deal with Arcas. Besides, that boy needs to learn that there’re times when you have to trust the judgment of those above you. Speaking of which, how’s he doing on that with regards to you?”

Sevasti sighed. “Kid’s still fighting me a great deal of the time – saying the I’m only thinking of completing the mission, and not about what our actions could mean for the other people involved.”

“And that bothers you?”

“A lot. The kid needs to understand that you can’t always end up in a win-win situation for everyone. Sooner or later, someone has to lose.”

“But you know that he is right, and that’s what really irks you about him; that there usually is a better way,” Lise responded.

“A better way is not necessarily a more practical one – the best ways are only the best because they are hard.”

Lise nodded and sighed. “True. So I gather that Boomer’s peacemaking skills have been getting use?”

“Almost as much as his sniping skills – I think one thing the entire squad can agree on is that without him, we might fall apart.”

“It seems to me, Sevasti, that the entire 82nd is that way. The four of you work together very well, and that is because of the unique combination of personalities that constitutes your unit. Take one away, and the 82nd is lesser for it.”

“Sorry to break your train of thought, but we need to get back to the topic at hand?”

“Which is?”

“Why US?”

“Yes, of course. Well, I did give you the short answer, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to go into a little detail. First, the 82nd was recalled based upon the recommendation of DC’s RAF Board. That recommendation, however, was influenced by the input of Lady Carim of the Saint Church, who has friends in all three portions of the TSAB. The Ground Forces and Navy are in trouble, so it’s up to Diplomacy Corps to take up the cases they’re missing. Now, when Carim came to us, she had a list of names compiled from the Church’s Trinity leaders. And while your name was not on that list, the name of your XO was.”

“Hm. So he was right.”

Lise looked puzzled. “Who was?”

“Arcas. He thought that this might be the reason we were called back.”

“Yes, but there’s more to it than that. You know of the Rabbi Policy?”

The Rabbi Policy. Instituted not long after the creation of the RAF, the Policy appointed a flag-rank officer as the superior and Corps contact for each RAF Squadron. It was meant as a way for squadrons to be protected against the political changes in the Bureau, as well as a general source of information for both sides.

“Yes, what of it?”

“Well, all the Rabbis of the squadrons out in the Black were hollering for a shot at this. And as you know –”

“My squadron has fewer people and less experience than most of the others out there.”

“That’s correct. But what you do have is: two legendary Devices, a renowned tactician, a highly competent sniper, and an XO who is friends with a great many people in both the Bureau and the GDI.”

Sevasti frowned. “So you’re telling me that we only got this because of Arcas?”

“No, but he is a rather large part of it.”

“Can’t be helped, I suppose.”

“I suppose.”

A long pause ensued; Sevasti finally broke the silence.

“Anything else you might have for me?”

“Well, the 82nd isn’t set to be on active duty for another two or three days, so I’d suggest getting caught up on anything before things start moving.”

“Understood, we’ll get on that right away.” With that, Sevasti left the chair and headed for the door. Just about as he was to turn the handle, Lise called from behind him.

“Sevasti.” The Phantasm looked at her over his shoulder.

“Yes?”

“About Arcas – does he have any idea about what he is? I mean, has he shown any interest in – you know?”

“He has no idea, Lise. Absolutely none.”

“You’re sure.”

“Yes.”

And with that, the Phantasm slipped out the door and headed to his motorcycle.

A Dunamist… who’d have ever thought that they survived the war?

With that, the Major mounted his bike and sped off into the Mid-Childian night.

Spoiler for Messages in the Night:

Messages in the Night

Location: TSAB Technology Division
Time: 0200 MST

Aurion Dauer sighed and stretched back in his chair, then slumped forward to return his gaze to the screen in front of him.

Looks like it’s gonna be another all-nighter… better get something to drink so I can stay awake.

As he got up to go grab some coffee, a ping resounded back at his workstation, letting him know that there was a call waiting for him.

Who could possibly be awake at THIS hour? He wondered, as he settled back into his chair and opened the call screen.

“Well… I never thought that I’d see you up this late ever again…”

“Can we skip the ribbing and get the point?”

Aurion raised an eyebrow. “You okay? Usually you just sit there and take whatever I hand out.”

The caller sighed. “I’ve got a great deal on my mind right now, and I’m not in the mood for chit-chat.”

“Okay, if you say so. So, what exactly do you need?”

“I’d like to have another Device.”

“What you have is pretty good, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but it’s not compatible with multiple magic styles.”

“You’re planning on learning another style of magic?” Dauer asked.

“Yeah. Recent developments have made me realize that I need to take more of an active role in combat – and that means increasing my versatility.”

“Alright – so what’re you looking for?”

The figure held up a hand and ticked off criteria.

“First, I need a fairly large cartridge clip – ten cartridges per load at the minimum. Second, I need a Device with a fairly fast processing speed – I need to be able to switch Devices at a moment’s notice.”

“How many spells do you plan on learning?”

The figure paused. “Only five or six at the most – and they’ll mostly be offensive spells, since I’ll keep my primary Device engaged in order to make use of its defensive and movement spells.”

“Anything else?”

“I need the Device within four days.”

Aurion sat up. “FOUR DAYS?! Do you have ANY idea how long it takes to create a Device?”

“Then take one that already exists and tweak the hell out of it! The 82nd has only four days before we’re placed back on the active duty roster – and after that, we could be called to go anywhere at any time.”

“So you plan on learning a new style of magic in four days?” Dauer retorted.

The figure glared at him through the screen. “I’m going to be spending a great deal of time training in those four days – and I’ll have the chance to work with users of my secondary style. Plus, there’re people within the 82nd that I can learn from – so don’t worry about me, just have that Device ready to go in four days.”

The former Enforcer sighed. “I’ll see what I can do. Good night.”

“Good night.”

With that, the screen closed and Aurion turned to one of his screens. He typed in the criteria given to him, and a list of already existing Devices that fit the criteria appeared.

He went through about a third of the list before he found one that would require little modification.

Looks like the only mods this Device would require is a cartridge clip – otherwise, it’s golden.

The name of the Device flashed on the screen – APALIS.

Spoiler for A Visitor from Afar:

A Visitor from Afar

Location: The Home of Adm. Lindy Hallaoun, Uminari City, Japan, The 97th Non-Administrated World, Earth
Time: 1900 MST (Local Equivalent)

Lindy Hallaoun had just settled in for the evening – she had curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and was ready to begin her weekend movie marathon when she heard a knock at the door. Figuring that it was probably just Mr. Harada looking for his dog – AGAIN – she ignored it.

The knock came again, more insistent this time. Again, Lindy ignored it.

This pattern continued until Lindy realized that whoever was at the door was pounding so hard that they might very well bust down the door the next time they tried. She sprinted to the door, shouting that she was coming. Lindy steeled herself for the oncoming verbal barrage, and opened the door…

It never came. The visitor was NOT Mr. Harada, but another familiar figure.

“Hello, Lindy. Mind if I come in?”

Lindy was stunned beyond words. She merely gestured inside, and the visitor proceeded inwards, removing his boots and coat.

The two proceeded back into the living room, and sat opposite each other on the couch. The visitor gestured towards the screen.

“I see that you’re still into Earth movies.”

“Yes,” Lindy replied. “It’s a wonderful way to spend time – either alone or together. Speaking of which, I’ve heard from Fate-chan that you have some prospects…”

The visitor sighed. “That girl needs to learn to keep her nose out of other people’s love lives – her AND her three Ace friends.”

Lindy smiled. “Now, now, Arcas, you know that she’s just trying to help a nice boy like you find a nice girl to settle down with.”

Arcasaviel Emira, the Dragonslayer, nodded heavily. “I know, but she could at least be a little more… indirect in her efforts.”

“True enough,” Lindy laughed. “So, what can I help you with?”

“I want you to teach me Mid-magic.”

Lindy’s lighthearted demeanor disappeared instantly. “Whatever for?”

“I’ve been having trouble pulling my own weight in combat without Full Drive Mode, and I figured that increased versatility would help out.”

“Okay, I can see that… how long do you have here on Earth?”

“Just until we’re placed back on the active duty roster.”

Lindy was puzzled. “Shouldn’t that have happened a few days after you got back?”

Arcas nodded. “It was SUPPOSED to, but then this whole mess came up, and all available units were to respond, and bureaucracy, and mucho paperwork, and…”

“I get the idea. So, when?”

“One week, give or take a few days.”

Lindy’s eyes widened. “A WEEK?! Even Nanoha couldn’t teach you Mid-magic in one week! What makes you think I can?”

“Lindy, I don’t care what sort of training from Hell you have to put me through to learn Mid-magic in a week. Besides, I’m just looking for the basics – nothing fancy at all. I’ve got the general idea for the spells I want, too.”

“What about a Device?”

“Right here,” Arcas answered, producing from a pocket a silver playing card with the outline of a red diamond on it. Arcas spun the card in midair, and it glowed, changing into its active form.

“Lindy, meet the Intelligent Device Apalis.”

“Hello, Apalis.”

[Hello, Admiral. How are you this evening?]

Lindy looked over the design. “It looks an awful lot like Chrono’s Durandal…”

“Yeah, I found out from Dauer that the team who designed it also had a hand in Durandal’s creation.”

Indeed it did appear like Durandal, but with a silver and crimson motif rather than Durandal’s white and blue. Mounted near the top of the staff was an interesting-looking mechanism.

“What’s that?”

“Like it? It’s a permanent version of Aurion Dauer’s Roulette cartridge system – holds up to a dozen cartridges at a time. So, how about it, Admiral? Will you teach me?”

Lindy looked at Apalis, then nodded slowly.

“All right, I’ll teach you what I know – on two conditions.”

“Name them.”

“First, that you not complain about how hard I’m going to push you.”

“Agreed, and the second?”

“That you sit yourself down here and enjoy the movie with me!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

And with that, the Admiral and the Dragonslayer’s time together began…

[NorthernFallout]

Here is a litte short with more info on what's going on on Cancri and what is to come...

Spoiler for Experiment:

”Doctor Alice Platora, welcome to the team.”

A big and rough hand shook hers and she smiled back. After years of studying at the University of Adaptive Synthetics she had finally managed to get a job under one of the most highly regarded men in the Southern Beskanti science collective. He had been revered as a genius and was in charge of the government’s Mokkur Project. She did not know exactly what the project was, but considering he was so famous and looked up to by many, it had to be amazing.

“I’m honored, Doctor Shavez. To be working under someone of your caliber has been a lifelong dream for me.”

Doctor Shavez chuckled heartily and smiled. His accent was much heavier than her own and it took some focus to hear him correctly.

“It is good you have ambitions, but I certainly hope you aim to go higher than working under an old man like myself. You youths have a whole life in front of you and possess far more knowledge than me on things that will be necessary in the future.”

Alice smiled back and they finished the handshake.

“But please Doctor Platora, when we are inside the lab, call me Robel. There is no need for such official titles in our work place.”

“If you insist,” Alice said and bowed her head politely.

Robel waved it off while smiling and motioned to her to follow him. The two of them, accompanied by two other scientists, left the office they had been in and entered the corridor. White, clinical walls followed them all the way down another level until they reached a pair of glass doors. Robel entered a code on a panel beside it and without a sound the doors flew open. The four of them stepped into it and the doors closed behind them. It was like a cubicle with closed solid doors on the other side of it.

“Just regular security procedure, nothing to worry about,” Robel said to Alice, who nodded in understanding.

While something behind the walls made some kind of noise, a strange device appeared out of the roof and traced a beam across each of them, one at a time. Alice guessed it checked for weapons or smuggled material. Soon enough, after it didn’t find anything, it chimed and the solid doors opened.

They stepped out onto a platform overlooking a huge laboratory complex. Alice estimated they were several meters above the ground floor and could see other scientists reading of gauges, checking fluids and moving equipment on the first floor. She was very happy over finally being there and she grinned at the thought of it.

Robel and the two others entered something looking like an elevator and waited for her to board. When she did the platform shook slightly and they began their descent.

On the way down, more industrial scenery appeared in front of Alice. Strange tubes with blue liquid stood in the corners having air pumped into them, a few pedestals in the middle stood all alone, looking really out of place, and cables were running all over the place. They went to different places around the facility, each having their own purpose.

“As you can see,” Robel said and leaned against the railing while looking around, “this facility is quite large and I am glad it is. A lot is being done down here, I’m sure you figured that out, but nothing can compare to the Mokkur Project which you are going to be helping with. Have anyone told you what it entails?”

Alice shook her head in disagreement.

“No, I haven’t been told anything, not even after I got the position. When I asked they told me I had to wait.”

Robel chuckled a little.

“It seems the loyalty of those working with me still is in effect. I was the one who told them not to tell you anything, because…you see I wanted to tell you, no, show you myself. It’s one of my biggest achievements in my life, this project.”

“It sure is showing on you, Robel. The pride I mean.”

“Oh, really? Yes, I guess it does,” he said and laughed, as if he hadn’t thought of that before.

The elevator reached the ground floor and shook as metal grapples attached it safely. The guardrail opened and the four of them traversed out onto the floor. They walked in the middle of it all, scientists working on each side.

“Right now we are in the final stages of completing the first prototype and as you can see the mood and activity are high. It’s been years since we first started on it, and since it’s nearly complete, we all feel a little like kids on Christmas Eve.”

The two other scientists that had accompanied them had disappeared into the mass of lab coats, but Robel did not give it a thought. Alice increased her speed to walk besides Robel instead of behind him. He was a short man and bulky, probably in his sixties, with a beard and age-stricken face. A heavy contrast opposed to herself who was in her twenties, taller than him and with a good physique.

“The cooperation with the government has gone better than we first hoped, and they have supplied us with what we needed. Funding, a facility, personnel and even…” He pressed a button on a strange looking machine and a cup with fluid dropped out below. He picked it up and took a sip. “Delicious hot chocolate.”

They continued down the middle lane as Robel continued to talk, with Alice listening intently by his side. They passed other machinery with wires stuck into intelligent devices that lay on tables, cut open like fishes with their innards free to show. Digital numbers scrolled down transparent panels everywhere, even on the walls there was a few big ones. Numbers with information about electricity, ampere, processor heat, power and the like was noted down by scientists working on their respective piece.

“…and here we are, Alice.”

They stopped before another door, or maybe gate was a better term. It stretched almost all the way up to the ceiling and across the half width of the facility. Similar to the glass door before it began to open without a sound when Robel entered another code. Alice was astonished at how fluid the motion was, considering the sheer size of the metal wall.

“Only I and a few of my most trusted companions have access to this room, but since you will work directly under me, I’ll make an exception.”

As the gate came to a halt, exposing a just tall enough opening for them to go under, they went inside. The gate closed behind them to avoid any other personnel to enter.

“Light please,” Robel said and clapped his hands.

One by one a spotlight came online. It flooded the complex with light and exposed several tables lined up as far as Alice could see. The complex was even larger than the lab facility on the other side of the metal gate and she wondered how it could fit beneath the surface of the capital so easily.

Robel went up to a console just a few meters to their right and punched in a sequence.

“This laboratory is mostly automatic, so don’t let your eyes fool you. It might be big, but I can handle most of it from here,” Robel said and looked at Alice with a glint in his eyes. “On these tables that you see, are the project itself. Let me turn of the cloaking apparatus.”

He punched in a few commands. In the blink of an eye all of the tables where there had not been anything previously now had something akin to bodies upon them.

“…what? What is this?” Alice stuttered, taken aback.

“This, Alice, is Project Mokkur and my children. Fear not, they aren’t human. They just look like it.”

With the flip of a switch one of the humanoids raised its hand and took support against the table it lay on. It sat up with a straight back and stared at Alice with empty eye sockets.
Alice took a few steps of uncertainty backwards.

“Most people that come in here react the same way as you do, so don’t worry. It’s only natural.”

The android, as Robel said it should be called, flipped its legs over the side of the bed with its gaze still locked on Alice. The android was androgynous in appearance and its metal surface further increased the difference to an ordinary human. Alice noticed it was missing an arm and a foot.

“This android is still in the building stage. I just wanted to show you how they once looked before the final stage.”

He switched a few more buttons and the android lay down again. It released its empty stare it had had on Alice and she relaxed.

“Now, this is what I really wanted to show you,” he said and whistled. A mechanic sound began to increase in volume and a crane attached to one of the walls heaved out its solid arm into the air with something suspended to it. It levered it down and released it softly on the floor.

Alice realized it looked like a lifepod one had in a spacecraft, although this one was more elongated.

“This is nearly complete,” Robel said and approached the pod. A panel lit up on the side of it and he punched in a code. The pod made a few noises as locks inside it opened and cold air floated out of it. The hatch opened itself and revealed its contents.
A hand grabbed the side of the pod. It was slender and had human skin. After that, a human body heaved itself out of the pod and stood up. Except for the few metal plates in some areas, it could have at a distance been mistaken for a human. Its face was amazingly well detailed, but when Alice looked close enough she saw that the eyes were blank and purely decoration. There were most likely cameras and sensors just behind them. The rest of the android’s body was androgynous, in similarity to the previous android.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Robel asked while rubbing his hands together.

“It truly is, but what is the government going to use them for?”

“Military operations, of course,” Robel said. “You see, another reason I didn’t tell you is because this project is highly controversial, we can’t let anyone tell the public what we really do in here. Just think; imagine wars with these beautiful pieces of art. They have no feelings, completely void of emotion. They can kill anyone they perceive as a threat without a hint of remorse or regret. It can think for itself, after the guidelines of its programming of course; it’s faster and stronger than a normal human and…it’s flexible.”

He had a datapad in his hand which he clicked on once. The android shuddered for a second and its right arm suddenly splintered into smaller pieces and was withdrawn into its shoulder. From the same hole came instead a solid pole. It extended itself further than the arm, expanded joints so it could move better and finally reached the floor. A claw appeared at the end of it with to complete the transformation.

“This claw can crush diamond and bend solid steel. It’s extremely powerful and flexible.”

Alice nodded but felt a hint of disgust in her stomach. The android looked like a freak with that long metal arm hanging out of it and that pointy claw at the end. Being killed by one of those would be worse than dying by the hands of a soldier.

“That’s not all. Look.”

The android’s lower left arm disappeared into the upper part and was replaced by a metal blade. The spotlights shining from the roof reflected in the plain surface and cast a foreboding glare over the android. Now it truly looked like a pure killing machine.

“This blade is made out of the same material as the claw. It has the same strength but is more inclined on cutting,” Robel said and finally turned to Alice. He was grinning widely and was completely different from the nice old man from before. Alice was scared but also fascinated.

“It truly is amazing,” she said with a weak voice. “To be able to work on something like this…I understand how you feel.”

Robel shone up more and waved to the android to approach them. Its feet, or metal pads, made a clunking noise against the floor as it walked, rocking back and forth. It was a bit unsteady and clunky still.

“Shake hands.”

It brought up the claw from the floor and held it out towards Alice. It clenched and opened it a few times, indicating for her to shake it. She was unwilling to do just that, but the curiosity made her bring forth a shaking hand. She rested it above the claw for a few seconds, uncertainty coming at her again. She shrugged it off and let her hand fall into the claw. Cold metal met her touch and the claw closed around her hand with surprising tender.

“This is a strange feeling,” she said and giggled. “I’ve never shook hands with an android before.”

“It’s a wonderful feeling isn’t it? This unique life that one has created, that it’s able to shake hands with its creators. It feels like…I don’t know what to feel, but it makes me feel wonderful inside.”

The grip from the android suddenly tightened slightly and Alice got nervous from the sudden action.

“Uhm, you can stop shaking now,” she said and glanced at Robel.

“Yes, of course. Release!”

The android who was supposed to execute the order didn’t respond and tightened its grip further. Alice felt the bones in her hand being clamped together.

“Robel, can you stop this thing?”

“It doesn’t want to respond…maybe it’s a glitch,” he said and worked on the console.

“It better be a glitch that can be fixable because my hand is not feeling too well right now.”

She tried to open the claw with her other hand but she couldn’t move it. Blood began to make the claw a tint of red as it pierced her skin. She yelped at the pain.

“Robel! Make it release!”

“I’m trying but I don’t know what’s wrong!”

A scream pierced his ears and he turned towards the two. The view made him turn back with a blank expression and tried to work faster than he had ever done before. The claw had finally pierced her skin entirely and began to grind the surface of her bones. The pain was immense and she was down on her knees with clenched teeth.

“You…fix it…now,” she uttered.

The claw grew deeper and crushed the bones on the outer rim of her hand. It made a crunching noise as she screamed and blood spurted out as the pressure in some of the veins grew too high. The metal continued to grind into the bone.

“I’m almost done! I know what the fault is!” Robel yelled from the console without looking at her.

Finally the claw had crushed the hand to such a big degree that Alice managed to get loose with only a slab of meat hanging from her arm. Crushed bone could be heard inside it as it moved around. She got on her feet and backed away from the android as fast as she could, but the metal gate behind her stopped her.

The android took a step forward and didn’t stop.

“Robel! Help me!”

She wrapped her destroyed hand in her coat, soaking it with blood and pieces of meat. She realized that there was no way past the android and she only had Robel to depend on.

“Just a few seconds left!” he yelled.

The android continued walking forward until it stopped two meters in front of her. As if it was considering what to do it eyed her with those lifeless eyes and tilted its head. Alice was shaking and pleading for it to stop, but she knew it didn’t listen. The blood dripping from her crushed hand hit the floor with a soft sound that blended in with Robel frantically pressing buttons on the console.

The woman and the android looked at each other until the latter changed its head back to normal and aimed it’s left arm, the one with the blade.

“No…please no…”

It thrust forward, threw the blade from under Alice’s arm and above her head. It stopped there with its blade still elevated until a long, drawn-out, squishy sound was heard in the room. Alice’s right arm had fallen to the floor and blood flooded out from her shoulder. She had a stunned expression on her face and slowly turned her head to look. She brought up her remaining hand and touched her shoulder that now didn’t have her arm attached to it. She felt moist on her hands and looked at it. Dark blood smeared across her fingers and her brain started working again. The only thing she did was to scream straight in the face of the android. Not of anger or pain, but of fear. She was so terrified of what had just happened that she didn’t even think of her lost arm, or her crushed hand. Everything her brain allowed her to do was to scream.

The android returned its blade to a horizontal position in line with her head and then swung it with its full power against her.

“I got it Alice! I fixed the gli-“

Robel turned around smiling but froze in mid-sentence.

The android was supposed to be offline, but when the command had been given its blade was already a mere centimeter from Alice’s head. When it went offline the blade diverged slightly, but only in a vertical manner. The momentum it had propelled it into Alice’s ear, cut it in half, continued through her eyes and brain until it came to halt with half of the blade still stuck in her head. Brain tissue and blood sippered down the silent body that now hang onto the blade with its upper scalp cut in two, only held together by a thin slice of skin. Alice’s eyes that had been cut in half hang from small bloody threads out of her sockets and stared at the floor with a lifeless gaze.

The scene was so gruesome Robel fell to his knees and just stared at it.

“My child…what have you done? Oh my god, what have I done? Alice, I tried to stop it, I swear to you. I would never…this is unreal. Did I really create this monster? Why didn’t I stop and realize what I was doing…”

He cried and his tears dripped on the floor. His mind was thinking over and over on exactly what he had created. He always knew it would be used for such things, so why didn’t he stop. He could have always have stopped.

A resolution appeared in front of his eyes.

“I must…destroy it. If I let something like this fall into the hands of the military…oh what have I done?!”

He rushed to his feet and hunkered over the console. He typed as fast as he could and began to erase data from the memory cores, when a voice appeared.

“Doctor Shavez, we cannot allow such action to be taken.”

He had never heard the voice before and looked around frantically. Those who could enter he knew wasn’t in the facility, so he wondered who this was.

“Erasing the technology that you have created? Erasing the means which we will use? Unacceptable.”

A device similar to the one in the first security control appeared from the roof and Robel stared at it. He did not know there were weapons inside the complex. The government must have put them there for exactly this purpose.

“We will find a replacement for you, because humans can always be replaced.”

The device shook with the power from the slugs being launched. They hit Robel straight in the chest and he convulsed as it continued to spray into him. The slugs went straight through him and hit the console which was shot to bits. The shower of death suddenly ended and the device retracted up into the roof.

Doctor Shavez still stood up with his head hanging, but eventually his body fell over the console and piereced itself on the bits that remained. The complex fell into silence with the blood from two dead humans pouring out onto the floor.

[Wild Goose]

@Tempest: BSOD much?

Still, an interesting take on things. We've always assumed that it was Noland who started things, but it seems that it was Vivio who actually kicked things off, tossing aside Kaon and accusing Noland...

I suspsect outside forces. Perhaps Mid blackops, working to destabilise the Belkan Empire, thus allowing them an easier time in their war...

Franz: "All things end in judgement."

[Reiji Tabibito]

Commencing with the new old updates!

Spoiler for Seven Days, Part I:

Seven Days

Location: The Home of Adm. Lindy Hallaoun, Uminari City, Japan, The 97th Non-Administrated World, Earth
Time: 0730 MST (Local Equivalent)

Lindy Hallaoun’s alarm clock beeped loudly, and the TSAB Admiral reached over to turn it off. As she looked at the time, she wondered: Why am I getting up so early? She then remembered her visitor from last night. That’s right – Arcas came by, wanting to learn Mid-magic, and I agreed to teach him.

With that in mind, Lindy headed down the hall to what used to be Chrono’s old room to wake Arcas. She found the Dragonslayer sprawled out over the bed, and promptly tried to wake him, shaking him at first. Arcas batted her hand away and burrowed deeper into the blankets. Lindy stripped them off the bed and shook him again. No response. Next, she tried to take Arcas’ pillow, but found that the Phantasm simply refused to let go.

Finally, Lindy decided to use the waking tactic she had developed for use on her own daughter. She gripped the underside of the mattress, and lifted, sending Arcas to the floor in a heap.

The Dragonslayer put one arm up on the bed, and pulled himself off the floor, glaring at Lindy.

“You don’t have to be so rough, you know. I would have been out of bed soon.”

Lindy replied, her old command skills coming back to her. “While you’re in my house, and learning magic from me, you’ll live by MY rules. Understand?”

Arcas muttered a reply.

“I can’t hear you.”

“I said, yes ma’am.”

“Good. Now go get showered and dressed.”

Arcas left the room, carrying a set of clothes with him. As he did, Lindy hurried back to her own room, where she showered and dressed. She then headed down to the kitchen, and began to prepare breakfast.

Meanwhile, Arcas was still in the shower, letting the warm water run over his body in an attempt to wake himself fully. As he cleaned himself up, he wondered about his decision to learn Mid-magic. Should I have really come here? Am I learning magic to help out the squad, or just to salve my own pride? The Dragonslayer shook his head, trying to rid himself of the notion that it was inadequacy that had brought him to this decision. Well, they say that time tells all, so by the end, I should have my answer. With that, Arcas turned off the water, and stepped from the shower. After drying himself, he pulled on his clothes, and made his way to the kitchen.

After breakfast, Lindy contacted a TSAB outpost on Earth, where they could spend their days training. Once they had gathered all the necessary materials, the two transferred to the outpost.



Location: TSAB Outpost, Rangoon, Myanmar, 97th Non-Administrated World
Time: 0700 MST (Local Equivalent)

Arcas and Lindy appeared within the facility, and were promptly escorted to a training room where they could work. After they engaged their Jacket and Armor, and Arcas had prepped Apalis, Lindy turned to him.

“So, where do you want to start?”

“For now, let’s just do some basics – nothing complicated, just getting used to a different style.”

For the next five hours, Lindy and Arcas worked on basic control of Mid-magic. Arcas was relieved to learn that defensive and movement magics relied on the same skills he had acquired with Neo-Velkan magic, and therefore the only category where he would be starting from zero would be offensive spells. Then, it was time to break for lunch.

Arcas and Lindy talked as they ate their food.

“I have to tell you, Arcas, in all my years with the Bureau, I’ve never seen someone be able to pick up magic as fast as you can.”

“Thanks for the compliment, but let’s not forget that these are just the basics. Things are only going to get harder from here on in.”

“True. But remember, once you have the concepts down, it’s just a matter of practice and application to improve.”

“‘Practice and application.’ You won’t believe how many times I’ve heard that from your son.”

“Chrono-kun’s a living example of that.”

Arcas nodded, then paused. “You know, if we manage to pull this off, you could write one of those Dummies books.”

Lindy laughed. “I could, couldn’t I? Lindy Hallaoun: TSAB Admiral, housewife, and now bestselling author!”

The two broke down into laughter as they considered the absurdity of it.



After lunch, Arcas and Lindy had returned to the training room, ready to begin their afternoon session. After a quick discussion (and a little begging), it was decided that Arcas would face off against three Enforcers for actual combat experience.

The Enforcers engaged their Barrier Jackets and Storage Devices, and then the battle began.

Arcas spent the first two minutes of battle evading and blocking the mage’s spells. This is looking all too familiar… Arcas thought. I need a way break out of this entrapment. Arcas promptly analyzed the mages’ battle strategy and formation. Two mid-range attackers up front, with one long-range attacker in back. If I try and get too close, all three will be firing at me. On the other hand, I simply can’t sit back and use range to my advantage either – the mid-range mages will see the spell coming and block it with a shield. The only way for me to win, Arcas concluded, is to break up their defensive formation. But how to do that? Arcas only had a few spells currently available, and none were specialized to pierce defenses. Of those spells, one is a standard Buster-type attack – that’s out. I either need control or speed in order to break up the formation. Arcas deliberated for another ten seconds, and promptly made his choice. Arcas flew backwards, putting some range between himself and the Enforcers.

“All right, Apalis. It’s time to see what we’ve learned.”

[Yes, Sir.]

“Apalis, Triple Load.”

[Load Cartridge.] Apalis promptly ejected three cartridges. [Ready.]

Arcas launched his first offensive spell of the session. “Blazing Snipe!”

With that command, a long, crimson bolt of energy flew forth from the Device, headed towards the mages. As predicted, a pair of shields was deployed to intercept the spell. But Arcas had counted on that, and sent the spell swinging wide in from the left. The mages repositioned their shields to intercept the controlled magic shot, only to fall into Arcas’ trap.

“Do it, Apalis!”

[Flare Arrow.]

The shot spiraled upward quickly, and fired itself downwards, into the middle of the defensive position. The shot exploded, scattering the mages. While they were unharmed, their defensive position was now broken. Arcas wasted no time in taking advantage of the disoriented mages.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!”

[Flame Buster.]

The long range mage managed to react the fastest – he saw the massive column of fire incoming and promptly turned tail, flying like hell. The Buster slammed into one Enforcer’s auto-guard magic full force, and clipped the other. Once the smoke cleared, one Enforcer had his staff over his head in both hands, signaling that he had been ‘eliminated.’ The other mid-range Enforcer, however, bombarded Arcas’ position with a Crossfire Shoot. Arcas responded immediately.

“Scatter all to the winds, Apalis!”

[Whirlwind,] the Device intoned. It ejected another three cartridges, and a cone of wind issued forth from Apalis’ tip, sending the shots wide once intercepted by the high speed winds. Arcas then issued another command.

“Let none escape!” With that, the wind disappeared, only to reappear around the remaining mid-range mage, binding him. Arcas then flew up and pointed Apalis at him.

“Bang. You’re dead.”

The wind died, and the mage returned to the ground with his companion. Arcas then whirled around to confront the long-range mage… only to see an incoming attack. “Apalis!” The Device ejected two cartridges, then spoke.

[Afterburner.]

Arcas rocketed at full speed out of the path, only for the shot to change direction and follow him. A controlled shot magic… only way to stop it is to distract the shooter… Arcas spotted the mage, and executed an Immelmann turn to evade the pursuing attack.
The Dragonslayer flew straight at the mage, the shot hot on his heels.

“Okay, Apalis, when I give the word, slam on the brakes.”

[Yes, Sir.]

Arcas looked over his shoulder, once, twice, three times. “Now, Apalis!”

[Full Stop.]

Arcas was jerked to a halt, and the magical attack blew right by him, headed for its user. The mage saw the incoming assault and evaded, the shot exploding against the wall. The Enforcer jerked his head up, only to be met with a crimson glow. Slowly, he raised his staff over his head, and proceeded down to the floor, followed by Arcas.

The lead Enforcer, who had used the Crossfire Shoot against the Dragonslayer, offered his hand.

“Congrats, kid. For a beginner, you sure taught the three of us a lesson.”

“Thanks, but I was very fortunate.”

“Fortune favors the bold, kid. Don’t forget that.”

Lindy ran out onto the floor and tackle-hugged Arcas.

“Stars and Spells, Arcas, you WON! Against three veteran Enforcers, no less! We may be writing that book sooner than you think!”



Location: The Home of Adm. Lindy Hallaoun, Uminari City, Japan, The 97th Non-Administrated World, Earth
Time: 2000 MST (Local Equivalent)

After a few more sparring sessions, and some pointers from Lindy, the pair returned to the Hallaoun residence for the evening. While Lindy was still in peak condition, Arcas was absolutely exhausted. After showering and changing clothes, Arcas promptly flopped down onto the couch. Lindy had just loaded another movie into the player, and was headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“Arcas, be a gentleman and help a girl make dinner, will you?”

Arcas groaned, but left the couch and proceeded into the kitchen.

“You know that I have absolutely no cooking skills whatsoever.”

“Now, now, you know that that’s not true…”

“It’s absolutely true! Lindy, when I got up the other day to have breakfast, I ate meatloaf. MEATLOAF! And not even straight meatloaf! I had a meatloaf sandwich, and used pancakes as bread! Now does THAT sound like someone with anything resembling cooking skills?!”

“Well then,” Lindy said, handing Arcas a large pot. “We’ll just have to change that. You can start by boiling water.”

“What exactly are we making?” Arcas asked as he filled the pot with water.

“Well, since you need practice, we’ll just make spaghetti – it’s simple enough, and the only way you can REALLY ruin it is by turning it into charcoal, which won’t happen.”

Under Lindy’s watchful eye, Arcas did manage to make dinner for the both of them without ruining anything. After dinner, they headed back to the living room and settled into the couch for the night’s movie.

“So, what do we have tonight?”

“You’re going to like this – it’s the sequel to what we watched last night.”

“Another ‘Alien’ movie? Just how many did they make?”

“Five, at last count.”

“And this is just number TWO? We’re not watching ALL of them, are we?”

“No – just the original three.”

With that, Lindy started the sci-fi action movie.

During the movie, despite Arcas’ interest in seeing how Earth people depicted this “Alien,” he started nodding off, a result of his intensive training session that day. Lindy noticed this, and paused the movie.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” the Dragonslayer responded. “Just tired is all.”

“Do you want to lie down?”

“Can I?”

“Sure,” Lindy replied, wondering why Arcas had asked permission. She soon discovered why – Arcas stretched out on the couch, laying his head in Lindy’s lap. Arcas looked up at the Admiral.

“This is okay, right?”

“It’s fine,” Lindy smiled. “Unexpected, but fine.” With that, she resumed the movie.



Once the movie was over, the two talked about their favorite parts.

“…can’t deny the awesomeness of that scene, Lindy. The Queen standing over Newt and Bishop, and then the doors slowly open to reveal Ripley in that power suit – the scene is just pure win right there.”

“Agreed, but I liked that scene in the Med Lab better – it showed that Ripley uses her head in a desperate situation.”

“True.”

After finishing their discussion about the movie, they sat quietly, with Arcas’ head in Lindy’s lap. Arcas then let out a sigh. Lindy picked up on it, and proceeded with that knowledge.

“Ara, ara, that was an awfully heavy sigh, Arcas? Something on your mind?”

“It’s – it’s nothing,” he replied, doing his best to face away from Lindy’s knowing smile.

“It’s the girl, isn’t it? You miss her.”

Internally, parts of Arcas’ brain waged war. Come on, one part exclaimed, this is Lindy! Ever since you joined, she’s practically been your mother! And you’re on Earth, far, far away from the prying eyes of your comrades and any would-be matchmakers. You can be honest with her!

Right, another part stated. Tell her how you feel, so that she can make your life miserable too by playing matchmaker.

She wouldn’t do that! Lindy was happily married once, she knows that love isn’t something that can be forced or rushed! If anything, she’d help by keeping Hayate and the others off your back!

This coming from the one who thought that helping Hayate by squeezing into a pair of LEATHER PANTS was a GOOD thing!

ENOUGH! Arcas mentally shouted. I’m in charge here! I decide what to say and what to keep secret! The Dragonslayer then responded to Lindy’s question, looking up into her warm, motherly expression.

“Is it obvious?”

Lindy giggled. “I was once in love too, you know.”

“It’s just that – I know she’s only a friend, but…”

“You can’t help it; you miss her.”

“Yeah,” Arcas replied shyly.

“So, tell me about her!”

“Didn’t Fate already tell you about her?”

“All I got from Fate was her name, that you like her, and that she thinks you two would make a cute couple.”

Arcas said nothing, but blushed in response.

“Is she pretty?”

Go on, you nimrod, be honest!

“Prettiest girl in the whole galaxy.”

“Is she nice?”

“Nicer than an angel,” Arcas responded. As he responded to Lindy’s questions, Arcas felt a pleasant warmth spread through his chest. This wasn’t like when Boomer or the Aces teased him about Mel – that was an embarrassed warmth. This was gentle, comforting. Then, Lindy asked THE question:

“Do you love her?”

Arcas paused a moment.

“Do you promise not to tell a soul?”

“I promise.”

“Not even Fate?”

“Not even Fate.” Arcas beckoned to her, and Lindy bent down, only to hear Arcas whisper ever so softly:

“With all my heart.”

Lindy smiled, then sat up, putting her hands together in front of her face, as if she was praying. She paused for a moment, then asked of the Dragonslayer:

“Have you ever asked her out?”

“No,” Arcas squeaked timidly, sitting upright, facing away from Lindy. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because – I just can’t. I mean – what if she says no? What if she doesn’t like me that?”

“Arcas,” she replied, trying to reassure him. “Any girl with half a brain in her head would like you! You’re kind. You’re devoted. You’re honest – what more could a girl ask for?”

“But I just – I –” Arcas stammered. “I couldn’t take it if she said no.”

Lindy scooted over next to him and wrapped an arm around him, stroking his back. “But don’t you want to know how she really feels?”

“More than anything.”


“Then you’re going to have to take some risks – nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the Earth saying goes.”

“But how would I do that?”

“Simple. You find some sort of occasion to celebrate, and then you ask her out to dinner.”

“Ask Mel on a date? I don’t know…”

“It’s not a date,” Lindy clarified. “It’s just dinner between two friends, nothing romantic about it.”

“So, it’s just two friends, having a good time.”

“Now you’ve got it! When you get nervous, or others tease you, just remind yourself: it’s just dinner.”

“It’s just dinner.”

“So, the next chance you get, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to ask Mel out to dinner.”

“Good.” Lindy looked over at the clock. “We should be getting to bed – there’s still plenty of work to be done.”

“Indeed.”

And with that, the Dragonslayer and the Admiral ended their first day…

-End Part I-

Spoiler for Seven Days, Part II:

-Part II-
Location: TSAB Outpost, Rangoon, Myanmar, 97th Non-Administrated World
Time: 1032 MST (Local equivalent)

Arcas pulled back, his right hand in front of him. “Apalis! Dual Load!”

[Round Shield Plus.]

The rapid shots of Crossfire Shoot slammed into Arcas’ shield in a deadly barrage, but the shield held. Arcas started to give a command to Apalis, only to hear it intone:

[Attack incoming at 9 o’clock, sir.]

Arcas evaded the Buster-type spell, and as he attempted to reposition himself for an advantage on the battlefield, he wondered: Why in the world did I agree to this…?


Location: TSAB Outpost
Time: 1000 MST (Local Equivalent)

Lindy and Arcas had been going over some pointers on controlling multiple and controlled shot magic when the person running the practice room announced that they had some visitors. The pair headed up to the booth to see who it was.

“Arcas, did you tell anyone you were coming here?”

“Just Boomer and the Major – and one’s on Earth, and the other won’t say unless it’s an order.”

“So, nobody really knows that you’re here?”

“No. Is that a problem?”

Lindy shook her head. “It’s not – it just gives me more people to eliminate.”

“Do you think your ‘kids’ might have come?”

“Fate-chan and the Aces are too busy with this Relic case – I doubt they’d stop by.”

Upon reaching the booth, it was discovered that the visitors were a half dozen Enforcers who’d apparently heard about Arcas’ victory the other day, and wanted to challenge him to fight. Arcas tried to dissuade them.

“I just got lucky the other day – I’m really just a beginner.”

“Then we’ll go easy on you.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, kid, it’s not like we’re out for revenge, we just want to help someone out.”

Arcas sighed, and nodded. “Alright…”


Time: 1033 MST

I should’ve never agreed to this – we’re five minutes in, and already I’m in over my head. Why in HELL did I agree on six-to-one odds!

Currently, Arcas had eliminated only one of his six opponents – through the use of a cartridge-powered Flame Buster to bombard an area to the nth degree. The remaining five had taken up positions around the room – three were flying while two remained on the ground – and were currently making it close to impossible for Arcas to even analyze the enemy’s attack formation. I didn’t want to have to pull out one of Ascalon’s trump cards… but I have no choice – if I’m to stand any chance at all, I need to focus on picking apart the enemy’s strategy. “Apalis!” The Device ejected two cartridges.

[Ace Guard.]

The shield surrounded Arcas as the current wave of attacks exploded against it. “Apalis, use as many cartridges as you need to keep the shield up until I say otherwise!”

[Yes, Sir.]

That settled, Arcas analyzed the enemy. Three and two – air and ground. Looks like their strategy is simply to keep attacking me until I tire out. While they’re spread out like this, there’s no way I can launch any sort of EFFECTIVE attack – they’ll just dodge, or bombard me to try and disrupt my concentration. If I’m to win, I need to do two things: 1 – try and concentrate them in a relatively small area. 2 – Cause confusion so that I can position myself for an attack. But how? Arcas’ mind whirled through a universe of possibilities in a few seconds. No – too slow; no – won’t take enough of them; no – uses too many cartridges. He then hit upon one possibility – it might work, it’s got the balance of speed and firepower. But if it fails, then I’m out of options and will have to give up. “Apalis, how many cartridges are left?”

[Seven, Sir, plus two full reloads.]

“Okay, then, drop the shield!” Ace Guard disappeared, and a new wave of attacks were launched against the Dragonslayer. Arcas flew to one corner of the room and put up a Round Shield. The five Enforcers cornered him, and the two on the ground took to the air as well. One spoke.

“Ready to give up, kid?”

Arcas smiled. “You wish. Apalis, Dual Load!”

[Fire Shooter.] The Device ejected two cartridges and generated a multitude of shots.

“You think that’s gonna work?”

“No, but this will. Whirlwind!”

The familiar cone of high speed winds flowed out of Apalis’ tip. It was then that the mages realized what Arcas was doing – but it was too late.

“SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOT-O!”

With that command, the fiery projectiles entered the vortex, flying every which way at impossibly high speeds. The mages immediately stood back-to-back, summoning shields to protect against the assault. “Apalis, Dual Load!”

[Blazing Snipe.] The shot flew high above the mages’ position, and Arcas issued the command. “Break!”

[Flare Arrows.] The single shot split into a half dozen arrows, raining down on the mages’ position. Seeing the incoming assault, they shifted formation to guard against both the shots from above and all around them.

Arcas slammed another disk onto Apalis. [Reload.] “Okay, Apalis, let’s do this!”

When the smoke cleared, the mages were still unharmed. Shaken, but unharmed. They looked around for the Dragonslayer. “Where’d he go?” It was then that one noticed a bright light above them. “What’s that?!”

The mages heard a familiar sounding high pitch, only to realize:

A collection-type magic…

He just used seven cartridges worth of magic…

We’re here in this corner… bunched together!

It was then that they heard Arcas give his next command.

“Apalis! Strike with the fury of the storm!”

[Storm Cannon!] the Device announced, in what could pass for a gleeful tone if it were human. The massive blast of energy lanced out at the mages, who attempted to scatter – but only two managed to dodge the enormous beam of energy, and both of them were clipped by the spell.

Four down… two to go. Let’s see if I have enough left in me to win! Arcas rocketed towards one of the two remaining mages, hoping to land a melee strike.

No such luck. The mage recovered and dodged Arcas’ swing, bringing his Device to bear. Behind him, the other mage readied his Device. Without hesitation, both mages released their Crossfire Shoots towards the Dragonslayer. “Apalis!”

[Flash Move.] The spells passed by each other, headed towards a friendly target. Both engaged shields to defend. Arcas moved to take advantage. “One last shot, Apalis! Dual Load!”

[Blazing Snipe.] The crimson beam of energy lanced out, and Arcas issued his last command. “Break!”

[Twin Flare Arrow.] The spell divided itself in two, and headed towards the mages, swinging around their shields, and impacting their auto-guard magic. The spell broke through and slammed into the Enforcer’s Barrier Jackets. Once the spell dissipated, the Enforcers raised their hands in defeat.


Later at lunch, Arcas was no longer so sure that he should’ve done that – wherever he went in the cafeteria, people looked over their shoulders, casting glances and whispering about the young Dragonslayer. And unfortunately, Lindy was no help.

“Lunch today is on me, Arcas, for your wonderful performance!”

“Lindy, please, keep your voice down. It’s not like I’m some sort of prodigy…”

“But you are! Arcas, you beat SIX Enforcers today. SIX!”

“SIX, who were going easy on me, and underestimated my abilities. Besides, I got lucky.”

“Luck nothing! Your plan was sheer brilliance!”

“Only because it worked! Lindy, I staked the ENTIRE fight on that ONE shot. If someone had realized what I was doing before I fired, I would’ve lost! If I was even HALF the genius you’re making me out to be, that gamble wouldn’t have happened!”

“Even pros gamble, Arcas! It’s part of the job.”

Arcas shook his head. “That’s not the only mistake I made.”

“Name one.”

[Flashback]

“Apalis, how many cartridges did I use?”

[Nineteen, sir.]

[Another Flashback]

Arcas walked off the floor, so exhausted that when Lindy came out to greet him, he tripped over his own feet and fell on the green-haired Admiral, lodging his face in her Valley of Paradise.

[Yet Another Flashback]

Arcas picked up the cup sitting on the table, presuming it to be water, and promptly downed the whole thing.

“What are you DOING?” Lindy shrieked. “That’s my TEA!”

Arcas’ face began to turn the same shade of green as Lindy’s hair…

[Somehow, Even Yet Another Flash-]

“I said name ONE!” Lindy shouted.

“But do you get my point?”

“Yes,” she sighed. They had gotten their food and were now sitting in a corner booth. “But, what will you do about the next group of Enforcers?”

“I won’t fight them – I’m not fighting any more Enforcers from here on in. It’ll be strictly single opponents.”

Lindy cast him a glance. “Other than myself, who do you think will fight YOU one-on-one at this base?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, sighing. “But someone will – I can feel it.”


Location: The Home of Adm. Lindy Hallaoun, Uminari City, Japan, The 97th Non-Administrated World
Time: 0700 MST (Local Equivalent)

No one, however, rose to the challenge that day. Though three more groups of Enforcers stopped by, Lindy did as Arcas asked and turned them away, saying that Arcas did not want to strain the barrier generator again.

Therefore, Lindy and Arcas spent part of the afternoon fighting each other. It was needed experience for both of them – Arcas squaring off against a single, more powerful opponent, and Lindy refreshing her memory in combat tactics and spells. They chose not to keep score, but rather when one had the other in a kill position, to simply break off and resume combat.

Once home, the pair cleaned up from their day and headed into the kitchen to cook dinner.

“So, what’s on the menu for tonight?”

“Fish sound good to you?”

“Awesome. We gonna see the next ‘Alien’ movie after that?”

“That’s currently the plan.”

They kept working until they heard the doorbell ring.

“Who could that be?”

“I don’t know,” Lindy replied. “I’ll go and see.”

Arcas kept working as Lindy headed towards the door. She opened it, saw the person standing outside, and smiled.

“It’s about time…”


As Arcas kept working, he heard the door close and the padding of feet behind him. He ignored the urge to turn around and kept working.

“So, who was at the door?”

In response, a pair of hands covered Arcas’ eyes. The Dragonslayer sighed.

“Lindy, come on, I need my eyes to work here – I don’t want to slice up my hand.”

A girlish giggle from behind him told Arcas that this probably wasn’t Lindy. Arcas shook his head back and forth, trying the remove the hands, but they stayed. The giggle again. Is it just me, or does that sound familiar?

“Fate… it’s not nice to pick on your non-blood related brother.”

The unseen person laughed this time. I have heard this voice before, but where?

“Nanoha…be nice.”

Another laugh.

“Hayate…come on.”

Still another laugh. Arcas sighed, put down the knife, and in one quick move, grabbed the arms of the person behind him and spun around, bringing them face to face.

“Now what do you-” Arcas started, only to stop suddenly as he stared into a pair of emerald green eyes. “-have… to… say…” he trailed off.

“Hello, Arcas.” Arcas felt his heart begin to hammer in chest.

“Mel… what’re you doing here?”

“I heard that you were staying on Earth, so I decided to come visit.”

Arcas looked over to Lindy, who was leaning against the doorframe.

“Lindy… did you?”

The Admiral smiled, and held up her hands. “Guilty.”

Arcas sighed, and then turned back to Mel. “Can’t be helped, I suppose.”

With that, the three went back to work preparing dinner.


“That was great.” Mel admitted. “I’ve not had a home-cooked meal in a long time.”

“What about what Boomer usually makes?”

“That is good, Arcas, but it’s all prepared from prepackaged stuff that’s months old.”

“Hey,” Lindy called from the couch, “are you two going to stop flirting and get in here?”

Upon hearing the word “flirting,” both jumped and looked away from each other, blushing. They then proceeded into the living room and sat on the couch, trying their best to ignore the awkward air between them.

“You ready?”

“Go ahead and start, Lindy.” Arcas replied.

Everything started out okay, but when the Alien first appeared on the screen, Mel screamed.

“UGUUUUUUUU~!” She involuntarily latched onto the nearest person, and buried her face into their shoulder. The person tried to shake her off, but she just held on tighter, refusing to let go. Eventually the person stopped trying to pry her off, and she dozed off to the sound of their heartbeat.

Two hours later, Mel was shaken awake. “Mel, the movie’s over. You can stop clinging onto me now.” She looked up, only to meet a pair of violet eyes. Arcas… She turned red, meeped, and instantly put some distance between them, facing away from her fellow Phantasm as she realized what she’d done. Arcas… I… I fell asleep on his shoulder…

“Hey, you alright?”

“I-I’m fine.”

Arcas smirked. “You are NOT – you spent the whole movie in my shoulder – are we SCARED of one little alien?”

“Uguu~! Arcas ijiwaru!”

The Dragonslayer just laughed. “You can scare the hell out of a pirate, but just one alien and you go to pieces.”

“Uguu~!” Mel pouted, picking up a pillow and chucking it at him. “Stop teasing me!”

Arcas let out a chuckle, and said, “Well, come on. It’s late, and we both need rest.”

“Yeah.”

The two proceeded upstairs, with Arcas headed to Chrono’s room, and Lindy leading Mel to Fate’s. As she padded away, Arcas made his move. It’s now or never…

“Hey, Mel.” She and Lindy turned around, hearing Arcas’ voice. From behind Mel, Lindy mentally cheered. Come on, Arcas, you can do it! Ask the girl you like out for dinner!

“The – uh – the day after tomorrow… how’d you – eh –” Arcas stammered. I can’t do it – I just can’t. He’d about given up when Lindy’s advice came back to him.

[Flashback]

“It’s not a date,” Lindy clarified. “It’s just dinner between two friends, nothing romantic about it.”

[End Flashback]

“How’d you like to go out for dinner the day after tomorrow, just us?”

“You mean… you and me?”

“That’s right.”

Mel blushed, but nodded. “Sure… sounds great.”

“Goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight,” she squeaked before she turned back to Lindy.

Lindy was ecstatic. He did it! I knew he could, and he did!

Once at Fate’s door, Lindy excused herself for the night, only to be stopped by Mel.

“Can I… talk to you for a little bit?”

Lindy smiled. “Of course.” With that, she followed Mel into her daughter’s room and sat on the bed next to her.

“So, what is this about?”

“I’m glad that you called to let me know where Arcas is… but…”

“You’re having doubts.”

The Phantasm nodded.

“Aww, come here sweetie,” Lindy cooed, wrapping her arms around the girl, stroking her back. “It’ll be okay… you’ll see.”

“I just… I… uguu~…” Mel said, allowing herself to be held by the older woman.

“Don’t you worry, sweetie, he’ll realize how you feel…”

“But... but… I don’t want him to like me just because he’d feel bad if he didn’t! I want him to like me for me!”

Lindy continued to comfort the girl. “Now, is Arcas someone like that, doing things for his own sake?” she asked.

Mel shook her head.

“Then you’ve nothing to fear. Now, go to sleep, tomorrow is another day…”

A few minutes later, Lindy headed down the hall to her room. She made a silent prayer.

Whatever good and holy powers there are in this universe, hear me now. Help me bring these two together…

-End Part II-

[NorthernFallout]

Some details on the magic systems being used on Cancri.

Spoiler for The 3 Systems:

After the split of Beskanti, various magic systems began to develop. There were a few systems before the ones below, but they were never used to a large degree.

• North System

This system puts a large focus on melee and using a soldier’s body coupled with magic to inflict injury upon an opponent. It has a weak defense but a very strong offense, making this system ideal to break through enemy forces or other defensive measures.
As it puts a greater emphasis on magic and one’s own strength, it uses mana and stamina to a higher degree and that could be a problem for those soldiers who haven’t trained to optimize those two factors. That’s why the Northern Beskanti military is divided into several divisions, each counting its members powers, both magical and strength-wise.

Before the switch to the Knight system, it was famous for the harshness of the training involved. Individual rights were removed, torture as training was normal and cutting the recruits off from the rest of civilization was common. Everything to make sure that those being trained could make optimal use of their powers, bodies and devices.

• South System

The South System is ironically enough the opposite of the North. It puts a higher emphasis on its defensive power and sacrifices its offense. It’s also more focused on ranged attacks, but that depends on a soldier’s specialization. It’s quite a flexible system and melee specialized soldiers is not rare.
What sets it more apart from the North system is that it focuses a lot more on using technology to further enhance its user, leaving magic more to power the technological systems. Powered shields, cloaking devices and the like are given to those who prove themselves in the use of them.

However, that doesn’t mean magic isn’t used for anything else. It’s still a vital part of the system, no matter what tech they throw in.

In similarity to the North, this system was also harsh concerning its training. However, it focused more on overall knowledge than pure combat ability, since the technology used required it.

• Knight System

The Himalaya spacecraft crashing on Cancri gave birth to the Knight System, which revolutionized the usage of technology and spellcasting. The two neutral nations, Western and Eastern, shared the technology and managed to reverse-engineer a few things from it, most notably intelligent devices and new spells.

From thereon, devices replaced the old weapons as they proved much more efficient for spellcasting and combat as a whole. Soldiers of both armies got their own devices to use and some were chosen into the ‘Knight of Beskanti’ program, a special education system designed to produce elite soldiers with extreme knowledge of their devices, how to use them and possessing a huge combat ability. These individuals were chosen into private squads to make the most effective use of them and to protect important assets. They are also used for special offense ops, such as recon or infiltration.

The Knight system is now the primary magic system used all over Cancri. The two other systems still exist but on a noticeable smaller scale and those who still practice it are extremely knowledgeable about it. They are sometimes even considered above the elites of the Knight system.

[ghazghkull]

*wanders in and drops the package*

Spoiler for length:

Suvia smiled in glee as she walked into the small two-floor apartment she had managed to secure. From her observations, it appeared that Riot Force 6 had diverted the majority of its manpower on some sort of mission, including the local Riders. With the fact that they had diverted a massive portion of the local elites, it was turning out that now would be the best time to make her move, and get her hands on the equipment she needed. While granted that she would alert the TSAB to Faiz’s presence, she needed the equipment that was presently hidden in Smart Brain’s storage vault.

“I’m home,” she called out, taking off the ball cap she wore and tossed it to the coat rack where it landed neatly on one of the hooks.

“Mama,” Eir excited called out, running out of her room and barrelled down the stairs, leaping straight into her mother’s arms.

“Hey there,” she happily greeted, spinning her child around a few times. “How was school?”

“It was fun,” she happily declared and started to regale her mother her experiences of her first day, explaining how she met the principle named Carim and started to make friends with her classmates. By now, Suvia had managed to move the two of them down onto the new leather couch they had bought the day before, and sat comfortably on it while Eir continued to happily talk about her adventures in school. Throughout it, she heard things along the lines of a new playground that had been recently built Lilia had to drag her away from, learning Neo-Belkan magic, and expressing interest in joining the TSAB when she got older.

This was the life that Eir deserved. She should be a child who went to school regularly, learning how to be a model citizen, learning how to improve herself, make friends, meet new people, and the like. There was no need to pull her child into the darker aspects of the life she led. If anyone was to dive into this world with her, it would only be her sister Lilia. She also hoped to never pass own the mantle that she presently wore on her shoulders. To do so would condemn her daughter into that dark world forever, and she wouldn’t dare let it happen. So long as she was alive, she would protect Eir from anything, and everything that would come to harm her. She and her sister would be the last ones to bear this mantle. Any price will be borne on their heads and their heads only. Eir would have nothing to do with this; not now, not ever.

Glancing up at the time, Suvia took note of the time, and hoped that Lilia would be home soon. Unfortunately, they had yet to stock up on food supplies and resorted to either eating out, or bring home takeout. Tonight Lilia had volunteered to do so after picking up Eir from school and brought her home, but now Suvia was starting to get slightly worried. She hadn’t the faintest of when her sister would return, and that somewhat bugged her. But regardless, she trusted her sister and hoped that she could take care of herself. But at the very least, Suvia could at least rest a bit easier knowing that Lilia had Kaixa in her possession. If anything went wrong, she could call upon her barrier jacket, or at the very least, use its blaster function to defend herself if she wanted to avoid being detected immediately.

Glancing out the balcony, she watched as the late afternoon sun slowly descended, disappearing behind the horizon beyond. Soon, she would make her move, and become one step closer to achieving her goals. She would take the steps to avenge her family, and then put everything to rest. Although the family name would carry on, the value behind the name would fade into obscurity, and be forgotten, lost in an unknown history. She felt that it was the right step. Even if it wasn’t, she wasn’t willing to take the necessary steps to rebuild her family’s power or status. All she wanted was to finally settle down with her one and only daughter, raise her, watch her grow, grow old doing so, and then slip away peacefully. That was her goal. And she was prepare to break down whatever barriers there were to ensure that she would see it to the end of her days as an old woman, and ensured Eir was none the wiser.

“I’m back,” Lilia called out, opening the door with a bag of takeout in her hand. Eir immediately leapt out of her mother’s lap and ran up to her aunt, dancing around her feet as she followed her into the kitchen.

From her spot, she watched the two with a happy expression on her face. This was definitely the best life she could give to Eir. She knew that when the girl got older, she would turn over the care of her daughter to the man who captured her heart.

--------------------------------------------

“How was today?” Lilia asked. It was late, but for the two of them, this was the only real opportune time to really talk about their day without Eir listening in. Sitting on the couch, the two both had a cup of hot chocolate in their hands as they quietly discussed their day, and reporting various things they’ve observed throughout the day. Tonight, they would plan as well.

“Riot Force 6 seems to have dispatched most of its forces on an emergency call,” Suvia calmly stated. “I do not know the specifics, but I was lucky enough to have a decent view of their helipad from where I was. While I have no doubt that it will not be long before they return, I think we can get in, obtain all the Axel and Cartridge Watches before they can dispatch any other elite units to deal with us.”

“How much time do you think we have?”

“Depending on the nature of their mission, and from what I could observe, no more than 10 days,” she calmly replied.

“Hmm…what about NERV?” she asked, curious as to the other Riot division that was in the area.

“It appears they are rendering assistance as well,” Suvia answered again. “But…we may encounter a Rider or two. I do not know how many of them there are.”

“It’s always a possibility,” Lilia agreed, taking a sip of her drink. “But…if we manage to get what we need, then it shouldn’t be a problem. We can easily strap on the watches and get out.”

“But don’t forget, it’s only a 10-second burst,” she calmly reminded her sister. “If I remember the notes correctly, it was the prototype for ZECT’s Clock-Up, which is a refined version of the Axel System. Although I have no doubts that the watches we would obtain would be a refined unit, I doubt that if we were to encounter a ZECT Rider, we could win within that time limit. But we must be careful, as it does significantly drain the user. I have no idea by how much now, but it is a sizeable amount.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lilia stated, making a mental note of its affects. “But…let’s worry about that later. How are we going to get in?”

“Muscle our way in,” she flatly answered. “In three nights, we will storm and or infiltrate the base, make our way into the facility and obtain the devices, and leave. We’ll need to make necessary arrangements for Eir. Thankfully I had managed to recover the data for the storage facility, so it should be no problem infiltrating it hopefully. Barring from that, we’ll have a map to get in, get what we came for, and then get out.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Lilia sighed, putting down her mug. “Although why not leave AutoVajin here to guard her? I mean he’s more than capable of dealing with anyone and anything that comes up here. And besides, it’s not like anyone knows we’re here. To all concerned, we’re just siblings and a little girl who’s your daughter.”

“I suppose,” Suvia sighed, staring down morosely at her mug. “I just…worry about her safety…”

“Like any other mother should,” Lilia assured, moving over and pulled Suvia into a tight hug. “You know that you remind me of mother.”

“Do I?” she quietly asked.

“In so many ways,” she sighed. “She loved all of us dearly…she always knew how to plan ahead…to make sure we were all taken care of…I think that was her greatest quality as a mother. She always made sure we were happy. We came first. Our happiness was her happiness.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Suvia sighed, relaxing into the hug. “What I do…I do it for Eir…but…if we’re going to use AutoVajin…we’ll accelerate our plans to tomorrow night then.”

“Then what’s the escape plan?” Lilia asked, backing off so that they could look eye to eye.

“Once I obtain the watches, and load the cartridges that we’ve prepared, we’ll split off in two directions, and stand down our barrier jackets. From there, simply make your way back here at your pace.”

“You make it sound like you’re only stealing enough for us,” Lilia commented.

“I am.”

“But I thought you wanted-”

“I refuse to give that monstrosity anything else,” Suvia hissed darkly, giving her sister a dark look. “Delta destroyed someone dear to us, and it nearly killed you! I refuse to give it something that will guarantee it to kill more than just you. We will only grab two sets: one for you, and me. That’s it.”

“If…if you say so,” Lilia sighed, shuddering a bit at the memory.

“See my point?” Suvia asked, noting how Lilia shivered.

“Yeah…it’s a scary thought…someone using the Delta gear with that kind of power…”

“All the more reason I will only obtain two sets,” Suvia stated. “No more, no less.”

-----------------------------------------

The night came all too soon. Wearing nondescript clothing, the two of them watched and waited in an alleyway with a good view of the front gate. Earlier, they had looked around to see if it was possible to infiltrate the base from an outside means, but they quickly found out that it was impossible with all the wards and defence systems lining the gates. Their base way was to knock out the guards, and then sneak in as far as they could before muscling their way through the rest of it all. Checking what little gear they brought, they prepared themselves and headed out.

Sticking close to the shadows, the two of them quietly made their way towards the guards. Striking them in their moment of fatigue, they quickly incapacitated them and hauled them aside. Taking a moment, they waited to see if anyone had seen them, or had tripped any wards or defence systems. Closing their eyes, they slowed their breathing in an attempt to quell down their beating hearts. Slowly clearing their minds, they continued to listen for any possibility of detection. Every precaution being taken, the needed to make sure they got in and made it down to where they need to be. Being caught was not an option. As the moment passed and they were assured that the coast was clear, Suvia dashed towards the door, with Lilia in tow. Swiping the IDs she had lifted off the guards, the door granted them immediate access. With their plan presently going on smoothly, Suvia quickly navigated through the long corridors with Lilia hot on her tail.

Several turns later, Suvia came to a dead stop. Nearly slamming into her sister, Lilia twisted around her and pressed her back against the opposite wall. Seeing her sister put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion, Lilia simply nodded and waited for her sister’s instruction. Right off the bat, Suvia told her to move up against the same wall. A simple nod and two steps was all Lilia did, pressing up against the wall and hid in the shadows as best she could.

Suvia slowly peered over the corner, spotting a pair of guards slowly walking towards their position. Frowning a bit, she backed off and quietly pulled out Faiz. Seeing Lilia do the same thing, they both hit the silent button, quelling their devices. Although useless when standing up their barrier jackets, the rest of the other functions could be silent, thankfully. Dialling 1-0-3, they flipped their devices over 45-degrees into a pistol shape. Blaster mode ready, they prepared themselves for a possible fight. Closer and closer they came. Suvia could feel the sweat on her back. She was scared. She was incredibly scared. In her mind, she hoped that she they would pass them, instead of making a turn. She prayed to whatever deities that were out there to favour throughout her endeavours. If she would have to pay it back by going to hell when she died, then so be it.

“So how’s the kid?” one of the guards asked.

“He misses me,” the other one replied, in a softer tone, indicative of a woman. “I know I shouldn’t leave him, but with my husband on deployment, I’m the only one who’s providing for the boy.”

“You know you could ask for paid leave,” the first one suggested. “I asked for it to look after my daughter for a few weeks. Well…more like just spend some quality time with my family in general, but you get the point.”

“I suppose I could,” the woman considered, passing the hall Suvia and Lilia hid in outright. “It would allow me and my son to bond…” Whatever else of the conversation was lost as the two turned a corner.

Letting out a breath, Suvia prepared to move again when she felt something on her face. Bringing her hand to her cheeks, she dabbed it a bit, only to realize that they were her tears. Somehow, that frightening thought of being caught had made her unconsciously cry. Or perhaps it was the fact that the woman that had passed her was a mother, just like her just looking out for a child in her own way. However, she couldn’t afford to get overly sentimental. Wiping the tears away, she signalled for Lilia to follow her again. She had a mission t accomplish, no matter what.

Two floors down, many hallways, and at least 5 close calls later, Suvia frowned somewhat when they finally came upon a door that would not permit them access. Taking a few breathes, she realized that it was somewhat foolish of her to think that getting in would’ve been this easy. But it would have avoided a lot of bloodshed. Unfortunately, these guards didn’t have the required clearest to access the last two floors they needed to get down. However, she opened up Faiz and looked at the map she stored within its memory. Immediately making changes to their plans, she quietly navigated throughout the floor, while keeping track of any possible guards and security systems that were defending the area. Although they had yet to trip a security ward, it was only a matter of time before something went off, and for all she knew, it was going to be a silent alarm. With that being said, she hoped that the layout of the security system wasn’t too different from what she had.

Raising her hand, Suvia and Lilia came to a complete stop. Taking a few deep breaths, she prepared herself for what she was about to commit. In a moment, she would commit crimes against the TSAB, all in the name of her family’s vengeance, and the happiness of her daughter. In mere moments, they were going to make children fatherless, motherless, orphans, take away husbands, wives, sons and daughters, and relatives. Breathing in deeply, she prepared to destroy families, for the sake that her own daughter could grow up happy. Turning around to face her sister, she steeled her soul for what would be the first of many sins she would bear upon her soul.

“What we need is down here,” she stated, pointing downwards.

“Ready?” Lilia asked, pulling Kaixa out and dialled.

[Standing By] Kaixa called out, forming its belt around Lilia’s waist.

“Yeah,” Suvia answered, activating Faiz.

[Standing By] Faiz coolly replied, forming its belt.

“May the deities above be kind upon my wicked soul,” she whispered to herself, and placed Faiz in its cradle.

“Henshin!” the sisters called out, locking their devices into the cradles.

[Complete] both units replied in sync, bathing the room in an orange light before dying out revealing Faiz and Kaixa. It was that moment alarms began to blare from detecting an unknown magic signal. For the two of them, it mattered little. Faiz totting the Faiz Edge, and Kaixa pulling its weapon from its holster, the two immediately placed their mission memory chips into the appropriate slots and tapped the start button on their devices.

[Exceed Charge, Sparkle Cut/Xeno Clash] Faiz and Kaixa called out respectively, unleashing a burst of magical energy into the blades. Raising their weapons, they slammed them into the ground as hard as they could, as energy burst out, crumbling the ground they stood on, sending them down to the next floor. Repeating the motion one more time, they landed on floor lower, and immediately went on a dead run, with Faiz in the lead. In the distance, they heard someone calling out to secure the vaults and to start locking down the base. None of this mattered to them since they were already planning for such an occurrence.

“Stop!” a mage called out, and unleashed a series of spheres.

“Keep going,” Kaixa called out, as they dodged around the mage’s attack. While Faiz simply vaulted over the mage, Kaixa quickly rushed the mage kneeing him hard in the stomach before grabbing his head and slamming it hard against the wall to the point of indenting it and continued running, not caring she had either horribly disfigured the man or killed him. She would pay for that sin later.

Ahead, Faiz watched as a team of mages attempted to form a wall in front of her and started to attack. Two actually leapt out with spear-like devices and prepared to engage her in hand-to-hand. Or so they believed before finding their arms cut off, while the wall suddenly crumbled as they all clutched their bleeding abdomens. Not even aware of what had happened, they all looked at one another confused before the onset of pain incapacitated them, forcing them to the ground in an attempt to stem the pain. Kaixa quickly ran past them, crushing someone’s foot in the process, but paid little heed to what had happened.

“St-” a mage tried to say before his face collapsed against something.

“What are you-” was all an unfortunate young girl would say before her neck was slit open.

“Stop them,” a guard commander ordered as his team erected a barrier and shield, only for the two of them easily overpower the shield, sending them all reeling back from the explosive reaction of their meagre defence. They were one of the few fortunate to live, as Faiz and Kaixa barrelled through the hallways before finally stopping in front of the vault.

[Exceed Charge, Grand Impact] the devices called out as their users smashed their fists into the door, obliterating it. Scrambling in, Faiz searched the room, ripping it apart before finding the chamber that held what she sought. Immediately opening the two cases, she tossed a watch over to Kaixa who immediately caught it and strapped it to her right wrist. Faiz picked up two thin rectangular objects, and dialled a sequence on Faiz summoning a small bag. Kaixa took guard of the door and shot down whoever came into her field of vision while Faiz quickly loaded cartridges into the clips.

“Kaixa,” Faiz called out, passing over the clip, and a second watch. “Prepare to leave!” Kaixa simply nodded and holstered her weapon and strapped the other watch to her arm and loaded the clip in. Moving in synchronized fashion, they immediately grabbed the mission memory from their buckles and locked it into a slot on their right arm, immediately followed by grabbing the chip from the device on their left arm and placed it on their buckles. Following that, the two of them quickly grabbed their knuckledusters, grabbed the mission memory for the device on their right arm which had their original chip loaded, and locked it into the Faiz/Kaixa Shot.

[Complete] both devices called out. The Faiz armour immediately reacted as the chest plates popped forward before rotating and sat comfortably on her shoulders, revealing a core inside before turning the frame of the armour from red to silver, and the visor from yellow to red. The Kaixa jacket also did the same thing, except the chest plate popped out into two, and slid over instead of rotating, and the visor turned from purple to yellow.

[Ready] the weapons called out.

Stepping out, the two of them were greeted with mages of all sorts cutting off their escape routes. Devices raised, they could hear various people order for them to stand down their barrier jackets. Unfortunately, the two of them feared that at least half of them would not walk away alive from this encounter.

“Let’s get out of here,” Faiz sighed, and raised her left arm. Kaixa simply mimicked Faiz’s movements as they both tapped a small red button on the device on their left arm.

[Start Up] both units called out, followed by engine revving. That was all the warning the TSAB mages had before the mages forming one of the blockades were violently thrown everywhere from the force of something fast slamming into them. Some were unfortunate enough to be vaulted in such a manner that their necks broke from the impact against the walls. Bewildered, they looked around frantically trying to find them. But to their surprise and confusion, they were gone.

With their speed enhanced, so did the force of their own physical punches and kicks. With 4 seconds to go, they leapt two floors up, and encountered the first barrier they had to deal with. Without missing a beat, Faiz stepped forward and tapped a button on the device on her right arm and the Start button her device.

[Discharge]
[Exceed Charge, Axel Grand Impact]

Rearing her arm back, the device on her arm discharged a cartridge and immediately expended the energy towards its mission memory, quickly followed by the standard energy release from her buckle. Slamming her fist forward, she watched as the door, and the wall surrounding it exploded violently, revealing an elevator they had not bothered to use before. Ripping the door open, Faiz entered it with Kaixa on her tail and ripped open the top and climbed out into the elevator shaft.

[Time Out] the Axel Watches called out, bringing them back to normal speed. Unfortunately, exhaustion immediately set in as the sudden transition from high-speed to normal speed rocked through their bodies. Struggling to stand straight, they fought against the physical need and reaction to faint from the massive drain on their magic. They couldn’t afford to fall here.

“Can you go again?” Faiz immediately asked, panicking as she began to fathom how much of an improvement was made since the original designs of the Axel Watches. She was incredibly winded, and felt the incredible drain on her magical reserves. She felt she had enough for one more 10 second burst before she reached her limit.

“I think so,” Kaixa panted, grabbing hold of the elevator cable to keep balance. As far as either of them could tell, the only thing that was holding them up was the adrenaline rush.

“Run as far as you can,” Faiz stated, before the two of them did it again.

[Start Up] Watching as their world came to an extremely slow state, the two of them performed gravity defying manoeuvres as they ran up the wall to the ground floor and blew their way out of the shaft. Barrelling through the unprepared guards who only had roughly 15 to 20 seconds to prepare since they left from the vault, they smashed through the gates and ran across the base grounds and out the gate.

[3]

Splitting off, they kept running. They just had to keep running. Stopping now would be their undoing. They had to keep going.

[2]

With two seconds left on the clock, they dashed in and out as fast as they could. They needed to separate the distance from each other, and from their home. They could not be traced back to Eir. They knew what a desperate person was capable of, and they weren’t going to let them use Eir as a bargaining chip in their act of desperation.

[1]

This was it. They were in the clear. All they need to do now was get home.

[Time Out]

Coming to a stop, the two of them collapsed onto all fours. Knowing that they were still producing magical signatures, they forcibly rolled onto their backs, and immediately put all the mission memories back into their proper positions.

[Deformation] their devices called out, returning their barrier jackets to their original states. Grabbing their devices, they both took them off the cradles, and hit the End button, dispelling their jackets.

“It’s over…” Suvia sighed, and stared up at the stars above.

“Mission accomplished,” Lilia groaned forcing herself to stand. Leaning against a wall, she took a few shaky breaths and started to head home. She was glad she stopped where she stopped. She could navigate her way back from here.

Muscles screaming in protest, Suvia forcibly sat up, and took a moment to gather her surroundings. Allowing her eyes a moment to adjust, she let out a sigh both of relief, and slight worry due to the fact that she could see the apartment building she lived in. Getting up onto her shaky feet, her horribly weakened body protested angrily against movement, but she knew that this was no place to sleep. She would go home, and from there settle into a comfortable bed and sleep the day away. Or if she accidentally woke up Eir, lie there in bed and let Eir simply comfort her with her adorable presence until she fell asleep from exhaustion. Either would be good.

*wanders out*