Yeah, uh… Remember the last chapter's "Next Time" synopsis, how it mentions a Keyblade? I've decided to move that particular plot thing to later in the book. Sorry!
SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE & CHARACTER PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Belka
Day 2 – 13:07 Hours
The seven girls of Gamma Team walked into the base, returning from a demon-killing mission out in the nearby city ruins. So far, today had turned out to be just as fruitless as yesterday in terms of finding whatever they were looking for. What's more, the Dark Voice's minions had finally shown themselves, handfuls of Heartless, Unversed, and Demons popping up here & there.
"There's another 'shipment' of Bureau personnel supposed to be here today" Marie said. "I think it's some specialists along with a handful of soldiers; hopefully they'll help us find whatever it is we're looking for faster."
"I think they're already here, actually" Teana replied. "I've already spotted a couple of techs who weren't here when we left."
They came into the main lounge area, where Nanoha, Fate, Hayate & the Wolkenritter, and Theta & Sigma Teams already were. A dozen or so of the new arrivals were scattered about as well. Teana flopped down on one of the couches, next to Subaru, with Sarah then sitting on her other side.
"Man," Teana groaned as she arched her back in a stretch (making her assets stick out, to Subaru's quiet delight), "is it just me, or are we not really getting anywhere?"
"Well, we don't really know what we came here to find in the first place" Sarah replied.
"Which is stupid" Teana said. "How can we be going into something important without that sort of intel? Let's hope the eggheads can at least help us find out what we're looking for."
"Lanstar?" one of the new arrivals spoke up. "That you?"
She looked up as he started walking over. "Ha! It is you!" he said with a grin. "Teana Lanstar! It's been a while!"
He had light-brown hair and dark-blue eyes, and a cocky, slightly mischievous look on his face. After a few seconds of staring at him, Teana's expression changed to one of annoyed recognition.
"Oh no…" she grumbled, resting her face in her hands. "Not him… Please, Saint, don't let him be here after all these years…"
"Aw, c'mon, Tia! Is that any way to greet an old buddy? I'm hurt."
"You are not my buddy, Terrence. And you aren't allowed to call me Tia!"
"Who is this?" Sarah asked.
"This is Terrence Albright" Teana growled. "We went to kindergarten and elementary school together. And his number one source of amusement was to piss me off! Every day he'd keep pushing my buttons and then laugh at my reactions – teasing, pranks, the works. I was hoping that, once I moved on to middle school, I wouldn't have to deal with this jerk anymore."
"Isn't that what little kids do when they have a crush on someone?" Subaru asked.
"Nah" Terrence replied. "I don't like her that way, and she doesn't like me that way, either. I just think it's fun to mess with her! …Though she has become pretty hot since I last saw her."
"See?" Teana said in a weary, deadpan tone. "Every day, from my first day at kindergarten to the day I graduated from elementary, this asshole went out of his way to set me off and then laugh at it!"
"Well, you made it so easy" Terrence replied. "You were always such a firebrand, and you had so many triggers, it was way too easy to set you off! I remember how you'd start fuming, your cheeks would puff out and you'd turn as red as your hair, and you'd try to say something back but you'd be too angry to and you'd end up stuttering." He laughed.
Subaru became aware of the sound of Teana's teeth grinding. At this point, the other people in the room were paying attention to the spectacle.
"Is there a reason you're here, Terrence?" Teana growled, trying very hard to keep control of herself.
"I'm part of the research team!" he said with a big, obnoxious grin. "I'll be helping you guys track down whatever it is you're looking for. We get to spend time together again!"
"Yay" Teana deadpanned.
"Hmm… I wonder if Belka has any raccoons…"
"Ohhh, no!" Teana stood up. "You are not repeating the water balloon trap! You hear me?-!"
Terrence scoffed. "You were always such a stick in the mud, Tia. I worked hard to get reactions from you! …Say… Do you still have that stuffed 'Belkan Knight' lamb?"
Teana went red with anger and embarrassment. "You leave Sir Wilhelmston out of this!-!" she screeched.
As Terrence laughed and Teana fumed (Sarah swore that if this were a cartoon, there'd be steam whistling out of the redhead's ears), Subaru tugged on Teana's sleeve.
"Sir Wilhelmston?" she asked, fighting back a grin.
Teana went even redder, if that were even possible. "He was a gift from my brother when I was five" she muttered.
"Do you still have him?" Sarah asked.
"…Yes" Teana whispered, face practically glowing red.
"It's okay" Sarah said with a kind and understanding smile, gently pulling Teana into her lap. "I still have my old friend Oswald."
"Oswald?"
"A stuffed octopus with a mustache, monocle, and top hat. I got him when I was six, and I still sleep with him sometimes."
Terrence's Storage Device chimed. "Whoops, that's my cue!" he said as he turned and headed for the exit. "I gotta go get to work. Later, sweet-cheeks!"
As he reached the door, a thrown couch pillow smacked him in the back of the head hard enough to almost knock him over. He turned back to the girls, grinned, and then left.
"He's more obnoxious than ever" Teana growled. "Asshole…"
"Let's just hope, for his sake," Laicixa said, "that he doesn't let his 'fun' get in the way of our mission."
"Yeah…" Vita said. Then she looked at Teana with a smirk. "So… Sir Wilhelmston, huh?"
"Oh, I don't wanna hear a peep outta you, bunny-girl!"
-SCENE BREAK-
Realm DB-107
Brief Residence / Capsule Corp. Headquarters
Vegeta the Second, last surviving pureblood member of the Saiyan royal family, sat on one of the couches in his living room, his nine-year-old son napping on the easy chair nearby. An open laptop sat on the coffee table, and Vegeta was knelt over it. Out of boredom, he was going over genetic data from some of the coalition's members (contrary to expectations, the Saiyan Prince's intelligence was not limited to combat; he may not be as smart as his wife Bulma, but the fact he & she had produced an offspring together had driven him to study up on genetics). He sighed as he scrolled down the current code, looking for anything out of the ordinary (nothing of note so far)…
…And then he stopped, and scrolled back up. The information currently onscreen was hauntingly familiar. After a few seconds, his eyes widened.
"Impossible…" he whispered.
He opened up another data-packet, looking for more confirmation. As he poured over data for the next few minutes, he felt shock as it finally hit him. Her father's name had only been mentioned once during the recordings of everything the other coalition had been through. It had flown past him at the moment, but now he found himself struggling to remember. He also now remembered the 'scene' from right before the group busted free of the Last Precursor's prison…
"…I need to confirm this. If my hunch is true…"
-SCENE BREAK-
Belka
Day 2 – 20:04 Hours
The seven young teens of Group Puellae relaxed after a day of Heartless-hunting. Kyōsuke sat in the middle of the couch they were on; normally, Sayaka would be laying her head in his lap, but a certain other member of the group had been becoming closer with him and her, and they'd decided to try 'accommodating' her. Thus, Kyōsuke was holding a blushing Kyōko in his lap, her back pressed against his chest and his right hand on her exposed midriff. Sayaka was on their left, held close by Kyōsuke's left arm, her head resting on Kyōko's shoulder. Kyōko had been a bit confused when she'd seen Kyōsuke and Sayaka sharing a look and then nodding to each other, and then she'd made a surprised squeal when he'd pulled her into her lap and Sayaka had latched on from the side. She'd gone red and started stammering, but they simply held onto her as she gradually calmed down (mostly). His soft, warm hands slowly and gently rubbing her exposed tummy, though making her blush more, had also helped calm her down.
Next to them, a mirrored scene was playing out – Mami with a shy Homura in her lap, her right arm around Madoka, who was in turn hugging Homura. And between the two trios sat Miyako. She looked back and forth between the two, conflicted on whether or not she should try joining in either of them, and of which one to try. Mami and Kyōsuke both noticed her distress. A few seconds later, they scooted themselves and their hangers-on closer to each other and thus to her, pressing her between them, and then Mami's left arm and Kyōsuke's right both went around the shy girl. She blushed, and then laid her head on Kyōsuke's right shoulder.
Across the lounge, a fairly similar grouping was taking place among the six kids of Theta Team – Timmy had Erika and Mariko latched onto his left and right sides, respectively, with an arm around each of them, while the same was playing out nearby with Erio, Caro, and Laicixa. The kids were tired after running their own missions today, though they'd also been in discussion about something.
"You think it'll work out?" Caro asked. "Adding another member to Theta Team, I mean. Cocolova-san is kinda… fiery."
"Y-Yeah, I do" Erika replied. "I think Anya will do just fine with us. B-Besides, I know that I, at least, can h-help her keep cool; apparently, I'm one of the f-few besides Negi to whom she'll listen when t-told to calm down."
Mariko suddenly let out a quiet whimper, shifting in her seat ever so slightly.
"Do you need a change, honey?" Timmy asked.
"…Mm-hm" Mariko nodded.
"I'll help" Erika said.
"Alright…" Timmy got to his feet, Mariko letting out a tiny squeak of surprise as she was picked up and carried bridal-style. "We'll be back in a minute or so, guys" he said as he and his girlfriends headed for somewhere private.
"Take your time" Erio said.
In the hallway outside, there was a slap and a sudden "Eeek!", followed by a giggling Terrence running for the hills. Teana stood in place, mouth open with shock and a hand drifting to hold her just-struck right buttcheek. She stammered for a few seconds, shocked still by the sheer audacity of that jerk doing such a thing; no-one had ever done that, not even Subaru. Then she let out an angry cry and fired a barrage of Sagitta Magica down the hall, but her obnoxious target was already long gone.
-SCENE BREAK-
Day 3 – 08:45 Hours
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen" Teana said to the group gathered in the courtyard. It was a fairly big team – Teana, Marie & Sarah, Subaru, Erika & Timmy, Golden Tiara, Shining Armor, Zaeed and Jack, and, from Delta Squad, Sam and Carmine. "It seems that a few of the tech-heads have found something, and they're sending us to inspect it. We expect significant opposition, so that is why we have so many combat specialists in this group. Unfortunately, the path to this destination is not vehicle-friendly – thick forest and a narrow canyon. So once we get dropped off outside the forest, we'll have to make the rest of the journey on foot. This is probably gonna take up a good chunk of the day. We leave in 35 minutes."
"At least this planet's relatively cool…" Jack murmured.
-Break-
19:50 Hours
Today had sucked. That was the consensus shared by pretty much the entire group. First, the dropship had needed to drop them off earlier than planned, meaning extra walking. The forest had been thick, with loads of easily-tripped-over roots coating the ground, and many times they'd been ambushed by the Dark Voice's shadowy minions. It had taken them hours to get all the way through. Then had come the canyon – squeezing through gaps, climbing up and over jagged rocks and slippery boulders, frequently fending off more attacks from above, watching out for the occasional randomly-falling rocks, and – as the day wore on – a chillingly cold wind, which was made worse by the fact that most of the group was a bit sweaty from exertion, meaning that the cold air left some of them shivering.
Now, as the sun was setting, they finally approached an object at the end of the canyon path, a device of obvious Belkan design. Everyone ached to varying degrees, cold and tired, just wanting to get this done and go back to base. Erika, in particular, looked about ready to collapse, her Keyblade having drawn the ire of a significant chunk of the dark creatures' attentions; a small pack of Heartless had even attacked while she was in the middle of being changed by Sarah, necessitating her to fight them off with her lower body bare before her big sister could finish. She was wheezing a little bit, her little body trembling in the cold and her walk awkward from the ache that permeated her legs (and the fact she needed another change).
"Fuckin' finally!" Jack said as the group made their way up to the device.
"Alright" Teana said with a weary sigh. "Let's get this over with and see what we came for."
She walked up, letting Cross Mirage interface with and activate the machine. It made a whirring sound as it came to life, parts unfolding to form a holographic projector. The projector came online, and from it emerged a holographic recording of…
"Oh, no way…" Teana said exasperatedly.
"Heyyy, Tia~!" the recording of Terrence Albright said. "You found the prize! Congratulations! I guess I should explain myself. You see, I've got a new boss, one who's not part of the Bureau, and he's paid me big credits to keep you occupied for a while. Now, he didn't specify how I was to do that, so I thought, 'Hey, how's about one last prank?' – lead you on a wild goose chase, make you work your sexy little ass off for nothing, the biggest thing I've ever done to you! Oh man, I can only imagine what your face looks like right now! What was it your cute little friend Marie called me – a 'troll'? Well, whatever! I gotta get going; the boss-man's got another job for me. Toodles, Tia!"
The holographic Terrence blew a kiss, and then the recording ended. The canyon was dead silent save for the wind, as nobody could quite think of what to say or do yet.
"…What…" Teana whispered.
"Y-You… You've…"
And then, sweet little Erika's patience finally broke. No, scratch that – it exploded, and so did she.
"You have got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME!-!-!"
The little girl's enraged shout drew the attention of everyone, with Marie & Sarah's jaws dropping at hearing their sweetheart baby-girl sister swear for the first time since… well, ever. But she wasn't even close to done.
"What the hell does this asshole get off on, pulling this kinda shit on us?-! Making us spend the whole god-damned day traipsing about through the forest of death, landing flat on my face after tripping over a root four different times, working our asses off and being ambushed every five minutes, crawling through this god-forsaken canyon in the ass-end of nowhere! And for what?-! My favorite shirt has half a dozen holes torn in it, I'm freezing my ass off, my chest feels tight, my diaper is wet, my legs feel like jelly, I can barely see straight, and this was all just A FUCKING PRANK?-!-?-!"
She finished by letting out what could only be described as a roar of pure, primeval fury and rage, echoing through the whole canyon. As she stood panting and gasping for breath, eyes glowing a little from anger, everyone stood watching, shocked into silence. Then Jack started applauding, and Zaeed, Sam, & Carmine joined in.
"I think they'll hear that one all the way over on Sera" Sam quipped.
"…Okay, new plan" Teana said with deceptive calm. "We get out of this canyon, radio the brass and tell them what happened, get Erika into a fresh diaper, return to base to get patched up, get some food, and get the ache out of our bodies, and then hunt down Terrence and take turns breaking every bone in his body. That sound good, everyone?"
There were unanimous responses of agreement among the rest of the group.
-SCENE BREAK-
Day 4 – 09:20 Hours
Unfortunately, Terrence Albright had flown the coop; nobody knew where he was or how to find him, and some suspected he wasn't even on Belka anymore. Teana and Erika were still fuming when they woke up the next morning, though a sparring session with Signum for the former and a massage from Timmy and Erio for the latter had helped diffuse that. Celestia, after learning what had happened, had not-entirely-jokingly told Luna she wondered if this 'Terrence' were an alternate incarnation of Discord.
Everyone found themselves in the lounge the next morning. It was another dull morning, though this gave everyone the chance to rest a little more. Just then, however, Commander Shepard walked in.
"Everyone," he announced, "we've finally found something! A search team just discovered an old Belkan military installation which they believe might be just the thing we're looking for!"
That got everyone's attention. "What's in it?" Nanoha asked.
"An old astronavigation databank. They believe it can point us where we need to go. Who wants to go see?"
-Break-
Belkan Groundside Naval Base (Ruins)
10:05 Hours
A mid-sized group, including Gamma Team, Nanoha & Fate, Precia, Shepard, and Galen Marek, entered the facility. Moving in a little, they found a pack of techs moving about in the large, circular chamber, analyzing things. Nanoha walked up to the head researcher on-site.
"What have you got?" she asked.
"It's a star map, ma'am" the man replied. "Complete with coordinates. What's more, the machine was programmed to constantly keep up-to-date, synching with old probe satellites scattered through the entirety of the old empire's space and a ways beyond its borders. The satellites had self-repair protocols, so they're all still doing their jobs exceeding a few that have been destroyed by random chance. We've got a fairly complete map of the galaxy, including some sectors well outside of the TSAB's borders. Here, I'll show you."
He walked over to an old console, keying in a command. The room darkened, and from the center of the room sprung up a holographic 'map' of a good chunk of the galaxy. Shepard slowly walked among the 'stars', noticing how many of them had names and other bits of data hovering next to them. Midchilda's home, the Beacon System, was just outside the 'near' edge of the Empire's border.
"There are dozens of habitable systems displayed here" he said. "How do we know which one's the right one?"
"Let me try" Galen said. "Let's see if the Force is willing to give us a nudge in the right direction."
He walked into the holographic field of stars, eyes closed as he let the Force flow through and guide him. After about a minute, he came to an unassuming K-type orange dwarf star (though close to the G-type boundary in size and temperature, with a yellowish tint), with three planets – two terrestrial and one Jovian – orbiting it. It was outside the old Belkan Empire's borders, near the very edge of the map, the opposite side of Belka from Midchilda. The tiny holographic words above it said 'SYSTEM JBX-49, CONTENTS UNCERTAIN'.
"This is the one" he said, pointing to the system. "The second planet of this system, along the outer edge of the star's habitable zone. This is where we need to go."
Precia walked up, analyzing the space-time around the star. "It looks like there's some sort of gravitational anomaly surrounding this cluster of stars" she said. "Hyperspace or voidspace travel through the anomaly would be difficult, if not impossible, without the right calculations and drive settings. However, slipstream space travel would be wholly unaffected; black holes are the only realspace objects with strong enough gravity in a small enough space to affect objects in slipspace, so a ship in slipstream space should be able to pass right through this anomaly like it's not even there."
"Good thing all DDF ships are fitted or retrofitted with slipspace drives, then" Teana said. "So when do we leave?"
"As soon as possible" Nanoha replied. "Let's inform the higher-ups so we can get this show on the road."
-SCENE BREAK-
It took a handful of hours for everyone to get packed up and ready. Most of the Bureau scientists would remain on Belka and continue to puzzle out its secrets. By 15:00 Hours, the fleet was ready for departure. Coordinates were punched in, and the ships jumped to slipspace.
Unidentified System, Low Orbit Over Second Planet
16:30 Hours
The planet was a 'snowball' type, from all observations. Snow and ice covered nearly the entirety of the world; only a narrow band along the equator saw above-freezing temperatures, and even then nothing above 62 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the atmosphere was perfectly breathable (though cloud cover hid the majority of the world's surface, depositing a steady stream of snow). The planet's companion world, a lifeless silver rock somewhat smaller in size, was easily visible out in space; it was large enough that the two worlds' center of mass was outside of either one, classifying the two as a binary planet system.
But what was most interesting about this cold world was what scanners detected: Forerunner technology. Sat-scans revealed dozens of Forerunner structures scattered around the northern continent, nearly all of them partially (but none completely) buried beneath the snow and ice that covered the planet. Several of them had long-abandoned younger structures of different design built near and around them – this planet had apparently played host to another civilization (and a fairly advanced one judging by what could be seen; a few sites could even already be discerned as former cities) after the Forerunners had gone.
"Well…" Teana said as she stared at the footage displayed on one of the monitors on the Starshot's bridge. "Let's get down there."
-Break-
18:45 Hours
Once teams got down to the planet's surface and started exploring and examining, a lot could already be discerned from observations. The planet's ice age had been going on for about 380,000 years; it was frozen long before the Forerunners discovered it. The civilization that had last lived here had been present from around 600 BC to 800 AD, before vanishing with an unnatural suddenness, leaving no signs of major devastation or battle; it was as if they abruptly packed up and left the planet. Closer examination did reveal a few signs of ancient battle; maybe the occupants had decided to take their fight elsewhere before it really got going, so as to spare their world any serious harm?
Deep seismic scans had revealed more ruins preserved deep, deep beneath the (at some points kilometers-thick) snow and ice. The leading hypothesis was that these were from the planet's original, native-evolved primitive sapient inhabitants, who were unable to cope when the planet froze over and went extinct nearly 400 millennia ago. But most intriguing of all was what was discovered buried beneath a few of the Forerunner structures, deep under the ice and ancient metal, the lowest levels of the Forerunner structures connected to them:
Precursor constructions. Actual, honest-to-goodness intact ruins left behind by the multi-galactic, reality-bending entities who 'created' the Forerunners (and then tried to destroy them for not fitting their desired parameters, like disposing of an unsuccessful experiment, only to be near-totally wiped out in self-defense). Apparently, a few Precursors had survived and escaped the Forerunners' retaliation, finding and settling on this world at some point after its ice age's inception, only to either die out or go elsewhere. The Forerunners had then found this planet at some point after discovering limited interdimensional travel around 120,000 years ago (and, having learned via examining the Ark's records just how imperialistic the Forerunners were, the DDF was glad that said travel was quite limited), and set up shop to examine what they could find. It was almost certain that the Forerunners had long since picked the Precursor sites clean of anything useful or interesting.
"Now I know how a Forerunner ship with a Precursor bring-back-from-the-dead machine ended up in a pocket realm on Midchilda…" Teana said. "Old Belka's refugees weren't the first sapient beings to set foot on the Bureau's capital world."
Right now, Teana, Nanoha & Fate, Precia, Aqua, and Luna were exploring a structure built in the shadow of a Forerunner spire. Whoever had last lived here, they built things to last. This building looked to have been a city hall of sorts, and was remarkably intact given its age of at least 1,400 years. Nanoha soon found and pointed out what looked like a computer terminal, and miraculously it still had power. They 'woke it up', calling up a holoscreen that displayed several lines of text in an unknown language.
"I think I've seen this language somewhere before…" Precia murmured. "Hrist, run translation program."
"Yes, ma'am" her Device replied. "Language recognized from categorized records in Infinity Library. Working…"
The holographic text began to shimmer and shift, and after several seconds it became legible. There were a few lines about protocol, the somewhat grandiose title of this old city's last 'mayor' (or a close translation equivalent), but what drew everyone's attention, what almost made Precia's heart stop, was the bottom signature, which at long last revealed the name of this snowy planet.
Al-Hazred.
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: Enemies old and new