AUTHOR'S NOTES: Had trouble with my kamen rider fic so had to take a looooong time to finish that one before getting back here. Hope my reader's haven't deserted me as of yet. I plan to bring in a rather and yet awesome ending to this little skirmish.
3 scenebreakers make a change of POV or scene, 1 is just a flashback.
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Nanoha flew through the skies, taking down any gadget that crossed her path. Lasers from behind caught her by surprise but did not hit her. She retaliated with her Axel Shooter and destroyed the pursuing gadgets with the deadly pink bolts of magical energy. The second wave from behind sought retribution and fired even more than the first batch. Nanoha took evasive maneuvers but the shots were getting harder and harder to dodge so she accelerated to pull away from them. She was even more surprised when she looked back and saw the gadgets were keeping up with her. "They weren't that fast before. They must get upgraded after every fight", Nanoha concluded. She made a sudden stop and shot upwards into the air. The gadgets weren't that maneuverable and crashed into each other in a large explosion. The surviving machines gathered up and flew up in pursuit of Nanoha firing lasers that threaded the skies. It was all meaningless though as Nanoha just gracefully weaved through them. When she reached what she thought was far enough from harm. The White Devil of the TSAB was about to let loose another of her devastating attacks. She aimed her magical device straight down at the gadgets that were climbing towards her and commanded, "Cartridge load!".
"CARTRIDGE LOAD!", Raising Heart echoed in its programmed feminine voice.
"I'll end it with this shot", Nanoha declared as the magical energies gathered and focused into a single point in front of Raising heart's head. Like her previous large attack. The energy shaped into an orb and pointed straight at the targets. "Diviiine!", Nanoha began and the energy pulsed and condensed itself. "Buster!", she finished with gusto as the energies released downwards onto her targets in a huge stream. It took out the remaining few dozens and Nanoha thought that those were the last. The White Devil knew better than to relaxe though as she spun and redirected her divine buster to attack the large control unit which held the cargo. The pink energies followed her will and made for the machine, she didn't notice the shadows which had crept up on her with their humming levitators until it was too late. "What!?", Nanoha turned around just in time to avoid fatal shots of laser but she could not avoid them completely and took deep hits to her side and below the shoulder. "Axel shooter!", she coughed up with blood as balls of pink light smashed into the machines to blow them up.
'Ugh!", Nanoha thought. 'This is pretty sloppy of me not to notice them. I should have noticed them. I could have dodged them. How did my senses dull so much? Even if they did I could have dodged them. I've dodged much closer surprise attacks than that.', Nanoha berated herself over such a thing so deeply that she didn't hear nor see Vita scream her name over the blood and smoke that surrounded her, her blood and what she sacrificed it for.
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"Nanoha!", Vita screamed in a mix of absolute shock and dread. It wasn't long before rage and thirst for vengeance took over. "Yaaah!", the angry little knight charged forward.
Even without verbal command, both of her remaining magic cartridges loaded and Grahfeissen cried, "EXPLOSION!". It then transformed, shedding its sledge hammer head with one that would remind people of a pile driver. "GIGANT FORM!", Grahfeissen announced.
"Hwaaaaargh", Vita let loose a battle cry that pierced the snowy skies. She swung her much larger hammer now and smashed it right up into the master gadget's under-side which seemed the least guarded and finished by sending it flying with a smashing horizontal swing. The huge machine went flying and so did the cargo in its hands.
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Sora ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He did a flying baseball slide and caught the plummeting Nanoha in a cloud of blood and snow. He immediately brushed away the snow from his face to make certain of Nanoha's condition. "Takamachi-san", Sora called out to her. "Takamachi-san", he repeated as he located the wounds with a quick scan. He looked at her face and saw her eyes, they had gone blank. This was very bad, she'd already gone into shock from the bloodloss. The wounds weren't fatal to instantly kill but at this rate she'd... Sora gripped her tightly. He didn' t like this at all. Without proper materials, he could do nothing but reduce the bleeding and try to properly restore her blood flow.
It wasn't far off that the tall teen spotted Vita limping towards them. She seemed as lifeless as the girl in Sora's arms right now. When Vita reached Nanoha's side and saw all the wounds which let blood dirty the brunette's pure white barrier jacket, she fell to her knees and cried. "Nanoha!", the little red-head cried into the brunette's chest. Sora could only watch and frown at the scene as the little knight released all her anguished cries for the world to hear. "I'm sorry!", she cried. "I'm sorry that I couldn't help you.", Vita cried over and over as Sora silently wrapped the wounds from bleeding further.
After a few moments of crying and dressing Nanoha's wounds, Vita stood up and wiped tears away from her eyes. She still had a mission to do. Help should be on the way and the only thing left to do was resecure the cargo. She tried to stand back up but couldn't. Sora knew that she was too exhausted to move and asked what it was she needed. Vita replied, "I need to resecure the cargo".
Sora stood up and told Vita, "I'll go get it. Just tell me where it is and I'll find it".
"No, it's my job", Vita protested and succeeded in raising herself to half a squat before falling back down on her rear.
"Don't be so stubborn. You can't even stand, so just let me handle it. Besides, the shouldn't be anymore of those things around anymore", the tall teen referred to the gadgets.
"Fine", Vita nodded. She pointed in the direction where she came from and gave instructions, "It's up there. Once you reach the place where I knocked away that hulking monstrosity, you should see a big black container. The cargo is inside."
Sora nodded, "Right. I'm going then".
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Sora didn't have trouble reaching the container that vita spoke of. He opened it with a bit of difficulty as it required him to enter a passcode. Thankfully hacking had been one of his hobbies even if there was a language barrier between his japanese self and the mid-childan interface. He opened the container doors till sufficient light entered it so he could see. Inside were two briefcases and nothing else. Both of them were fastened down to the platform like center by metal safeties. Sora checked them out and found a button. He pressed it and out popped a holographic interface. "This one seems a bit more complicated than the one outside.", the tall teen mused as data flickered against his eyes.
He figured it out in due time and pressed a couple of buttons to release the safeties. He approached to open them in order to affirm if the contents were still in one piece The two cases were identical but for some reason, his attention was directed to the one farther from him. He approached it and decided to check it first. His hand touched the cool metal surface of the case. He slid his hands under the lock and released them. The case opened and steam released from it, that was when a loud bang resounded outside the container. Sora ran outside and checked the surroundings. He stood stock still at what he saw in shock, "How?".
The lead gadget that Vita had hammered down was still operational. It towered over the remains of the drones it commanded. The large dent on it lessened the frightening visage though, courtesy of Vita and Grahfeissen. It was still for a moment and turned towards Vita and Nanoha's direction. "Oh no", Sora thought as he ran towards the girls. Behind him in the container, a light shined brightly without his knowing.
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Vita was just as surprised as Sora had been when she saw the huge gadget. She didn't have any strength left to fight and Nanoha didn't look to be in any position to be moved. She could do nothing but watch as the big thing hovered over to them so that it could finish them off. It stared at them for a moment and readied to fire its lasers. Vita closed her eyes to brace herself for the piercing lights to bore holes into her body but they never came. It seemed that the laser emitters it had equipped on were taken out by her last attack. It must have realized this after a short diagnostic because it now raised one of its less than intimidating arms to grab them.
A snowball came out of nowhere and caught the gadget right in its camera. It turned and saw Sora shaping up a new snowball to hurl at it. Sora did as he planned and socked another frozen projectile at the machine. Now the machine stopped in its actions and factored in Sora to the situation. What came out was an analysis that he was a bigger threat than two injured and exhausted mages. It turned and went after him instead.
Vita saw what was happening and turned to Sora screaming, "Run! You can't fight this thing, just leave us!".
Sora shook his head and said, "Don't move from there, I'll lead this thing away from you guys. Reinforcements should be here soon."
Vita nodded in surprise at his steadfast belief of back-up, it was true that she called for them awhile ago and would soon receive their aid, was he used to such combat that reinforcements were a regular factor to count on? If that was the case then he should know that-
"Enemy reinforcements should be reaching here as well", Sora told himself. Even if he pulled this thing away from Vita and Nanoha, other machines might attack the two at any moment now. He should make a run for it with the cargo. If that's what they're after, he could bait them with it.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the containers. He went in and didn't bother to even look at the case he had opened before slamming it back shut and taking the other one in hand. He ran back out the container and came face to face with the hulking gadget. It deployed arms much larger than the ones that were already out from its sides and made to swipe at Sora. Even with his lacking agility, Sora was able to duck under it and roll through to safety. He ran past but the gadget had just as much if not even more maneuverability as he, when it spun and smacked him right through the steel cases he held.
Sora went spiraling into a dune of snow, sending it up everywhere when he emerged from it. Aching and half coherent but still moving with only mere instinct and the thought of leading the monster away. It ended up as one of the most epic chases Sora had partaken of in his life but this time he was the prey and not the predator.
There was nowhere to hide within the field of snow. Everything was either white with snow or red with blood and fire. Either way, his dark hued clothes would stick out and it would spot him immediately. He just kept running, but it proved futile as machine did not tire as flesh did.
Sora slowed and that was all it took for the machine to catch up from behind and smack him once more, but this time with a solid hit. the hulking metal goliath scanned the place where Sora should have been but sensed no life anymore. With that, it decided to go after the two weakened mage from before.
Like before, one of the cases opened. It emitted a powerful light that was almost blinding.
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Vita was now sure of her and Nanoha's impending demise. The reinforcements were still five minutes away in her estimation and it only took this machine ten minutes to lose Sora. Sora! it suddenly hit the little red-head of what might have happened to him. 'Was he hiding? Did the gadget give up on him? Was he hurt? Did he die? Did he... leave them and ran away?'. She shook her head and collected herself, 'No! Sora would never abandon them'. There was no time to ponder this issue however as the huge gadget came at them at no haste.
It was analyzing them in case Vita and maybe Nanoha had recovered any of their battle capabilities since its short absence. This didn't seem to be the case from the gadget's analysis and it went on to raise a robotic arm the width of a redwood tree.
Vita Held Nanoha close, hoping to protect her at least. She wanted to save the girl who had saved her. As the robotic fist came down with the red-head prepared for the worst. The most miraculous thing happened. A huge thunking sound of flesh against metal resounded in the air with the crunching of said steel following upthe noise.
"Sorry, I'm not used to this yet", Sora's voice further excited her racing heart.
Was it really Sora? Vita took a careful look up at where the arm shadowed her form and sure enough saw hislankysilhouette against the darkness. His hand was clutching the steelwith a grip strong enough to bite into the armor plating. What caught Vita's sight most was the thing attatched to his right arm that hung just before her face. It was a white buckler like gauntlet with a red symbol that resembled a vague blood splattered rune. She looked up at him and started, "You..."
Sora didn't let her finish though as he said, "No time for that now.". He reached down with his right hand without losing an inch to the giant gadget's arm that threatened to crush them. He softly touched Nanoha's forehead and the blood that seeped through the makeshift bandages Sora had made slowly stopped flowing, leaving but stains of the blood already lost. "That should do for now", Sora pulled back his hand. He turned to Vita and commanded, "Stay somewhere safe". Again he reached out with his gauntleted hand and barely laid his fingers on the little knight's forehead before she felt strength return to her body.
Vita looked down upon herself in amazement as wounds closed an bruises receded in their sick violet hue to normally pale flesh. She looked up at Sora as he pulled his hand away and asked, "How did you just-".
"No time to explain, just trust me. Okay?", he gave her a reassuring smile. "Now go", he shoved her away gently but somehow the strength was enough to send Vita flying a few meters.
Sora turned to the big gadget and flung the huge arm out of his face. He dashed forward and let his gauntlet armed fist, fly right into the hulking structure's main camera. Unfortunately, it was built quite sturdy and suffered no more than a big crack that split its vision right in the middle. The tall teen didnt let up his assault as it was followed up by blow after blow to keep the machine from retaliating.
He then went for a left roundhouse kick but the machine blocked and was sent spiraling into the air. It stabilized on its levitators and kept in the air to analyze the sudden increase in Sora's combat capabilities. He was much more of a threat than initially anticipated, that was one definite thing.
The said teen didnt wait for his enemy to reorganize and wanted to end it as soon as he could. He tensed up his entire body like a coiled spring and launched himself at the machine a clear 10 meters above. Sora connected a flying thrust kick. In retaliation, the machine grabbed him by the torso and proceeded to deliver blows with its smaller arms that were better made to repair other gadgets than lift or attack anything. This proceeded to a mid-air grapple session involving the robot trying to bludgeon Sora to death with its puny metallic arms or crushing him into two while Sora trying to stay in one piece while swatting away as many blows as he could.
Sora swatted away a blow headed for his head and another that threatened to shatter his sternum. With his free legs, he kicked at the arm holding him to no effect but a slight tremor which spread throughout the arm. He smacked the armor plated arm again and gained no other result. The gadget now concentrated on snapping Sora in half rather than hitting any smaller blows as its past tries gained no success.
Sora felt the pressure on his midsectition increase and was not at all pleased. He tried to pry it back with his newly acquired strength but there was no way for him to gain a good grip on the mechanical fingers that held him. He slammed his fists again and again at the machine's arm, like before still no effect.
"Dont even think for a moment that I'll die here", Sora grit his teeth and smashed down on the arm one last time, putting all his strength and will into it. The part where the blow landed shattered into pieces. Sora grabbed what was left of the arm that clung on him and hurled it at its owner. It easily crushed the main body's armor and pierced the inner circuitry. It crashed into the snow and exploded.
Sora fell back onto the ground quite roughly, he wasnt used to landing from 30 feet in the air yet.
'Are those two okay?', he looked about. He saw Vita running towards him in her slightly damaged battle dress. He smiled, "Its okay now". With that he fainted from relief and exhaustion.
Vita heard Sora say the words as she caught his larger form. She wondered, were those words for her or himself?
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POSTNOTES: Urgh! Not satisfied with this chapter. I'll make it up to myself and my readers in the next one. College prepping and last year homework is gonna drive me up the wall I swear.
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OMAKE:
Vita was taking care of both Nanoha and Sora before Sora suddenly started muttering in his sleep.
"Red, red", Sora mumbled.
"Red?", Vita wondered and came closer, thinking he referred to her.
"Stop taking it out on my toaster. You burnt your own toast", Sora grumbled some more.
"How'd he know I burnt toast while trying to make my own breakfast!?", Vita looked horrified at the thought that someone besides her and the local firefighters found out. She was alone that time and very hungry, even if she was fortunate enough to avoid one of Shamal's morning disasters when she still couldn't cook. She took hold of Grahfeissen, thinking if she should eliminate the witness.
Meanwhile Sora was dreaming about his daily morning situation. Akai was denting the toaster by smacking it against the wall again after only her toast came out burnt.
