This officially marks the end of 'Movements'. I will not be writing for this story anymore. I might, but no promises, write some form of a sequel in the future. It really depends on my mood and my muses. To get a glimpse of what kind of crack is going through my mind, check my Livejournal. Alternatively, if you search Mediaminer, you might find the same fic with my author's notes at the end. That should provide a glimpse of my writings.

So yeah, for those of you who have been constantly reading and cheering me on, thank you very much. Your cheers have helped spur many a writer's block. For those who have been just reading, go ahead and leave a review for the story as a whole. Constructive reviews are greatly welcomed and I could use knowing how to improve it.

I would also like to thank Tsukiyasou for taking time off her precious writing schedule to help me do the beta-check for most of the fanfic. Thank you very much and keep writing. Watch out for her work!

So sit back, relax and enjoy a short, absolutely unnecessary, un-beta-ed epilogue and WORST™ Nanoha omake ever.

Otherwise, thank you for reading and good bye for now.

KC Komicer.


The boy hesitated for a moment as he raised his hand. Then he looked towards the girl who stood impatiently beside him.

"Oh, just do it," she fumed, combing her blond hair nervously with her fingers. Two small pigtails adorned her hairstyle at the side, adding a childish look to the hot-tempered girl, "We travelled around the globe, trekking and interviewing through the countryside of Germany and now we are back here again. Just do it."

With a weary sigh, he rapped his knuckles on the wooden door. It was only a simple apartment located in an urban part of Japan. Nothing on the door indicated anything different about the inhabitant of this particular home, except for the fact that they knew who might be behind the door. The librarian had told them (or at least, shown them journals, considering that all he spoke was 'Ook.') stories about the person they seek.

"The door is not locked," a loud, mature voice boomed from behind the door, "Come in."

The boy pushed the door open, stepping cautiously into the cluttered room, followed closely behind by the girl. There were books everywhere the room, books on rocketry, books on mechanics and more importantly, books on alchemy. A single suit of armor stood proud and tall at the corner of the room, watching over the mess in the room in stoic silence. It was almost a library.

No wonder, the librarian knew about this man they seek. Chances are that the ape had access to the apartment through L-space.

Across the small apartment, in the sun-lit balcony, there was a small coffee table with a chess set placed on it. The boy could not help notice that all the pieces had been nicely laid out, as though it was expected to be played. There were two chairs. One invitingly empty.

In the other, sat an aged man. He was not exactly tall, with streaks of youthful, surviving blond marking his graying hair. His beard was neatly trimmed and hanging to the left of his head, was a long ponytail. He was dressed somewhat formally, sleeves and trousers but with the top buttons of the shirt undone and the sleeves folded in.

Most intriguingly, where his right arm should be was an intrinsic, mechanical metal arm that gleamed in the morning rays.

"Care to join me for a game of chess, young man?" the old man asked. He turned to face them and nodded towards the girl behind him, "And young lady."

The duo looked at each other, then the boy approached the man, leaving his backpack down in the room. Turning back and without waiting for the boy to be seated, the man started to move the pieces on the chessboard.

"You see," he said, lifting the white king with his mechanical arm, "Life is like a chess board." He paused in contemplation. "No, no, I was wrong," the old man corrected himself, "Life is like a chessboard created by Bloody Stupid Johnson. Multiple sides, multiple colors, perhaps even four, five, six-dimensional. Who knows, with Bloody Stupid Johnson involved, what one gets?"

He placed the king back on the board and removed the black queen from play. "Everyone is a player on this chessboard. I make a move," he moved the white knight, "he makes a move," then the black bishop, "she makes a move," the white pawn.

"Every single move by every single person adds up," he whispered as he knocked a white rook off the board, "It all adds up. The best part is," he smiled, "no one knows how. Everything can be so confusing, so messed up. But in the way things work, it all adds up and everything fits into place."

"We place our pieces down and anticipate each other. I make my first move and you take my queen. I move my pawn to the end and you swept the board. However, in the end, we go for the king," he moved all the pieces to surround the black king, "The game ends and we start all over again. Everything comes in circles. Some call it by the cheesy 'Circle of Life' but in a way, it is true."

He looked at the chess board before him and smiled to himself in satisfaction. Then he grinned at the young boy, "Forget what I said, that was all bullshit. So what is it that you want to learn from an old man?"

"Alchemy," the boy answered confidently and definitely.

"Hmm…" the man mused, scratching his beard, "I have not heard of that since the Second World War. Tell me more."

"I am Gabriel Testarossa," the boy introduced himself and he pointed towards the blond girl still in the apartment, "and she is my partner, Arisa Bannings."

"Elder sister," Arisa corrected with an annoyed frown, "We- I mean, he would like to learn alchemy from you."

"I'm afraid I cannot help you there."

"You are Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist from your dimension, one of the best alchemist there and now, probably the only true alchemist left on this dimension," Gabriel argued, "We know of your stories from the Librarian. You and your brother brought your mother bac-

Mr. Elric raised his arm to stop Gabriel from continuing, "Don't do that. I can see it in your eyes."

Having stopped the boy, he leaned back into the chair, staring at the chessboard in deep thought before he spoke again.

"What is the main principle of alchemy?" he asked.

Gabriel shrugged and answered, "Alchemy is the instant application-

"No, no, no," Mr. Elric waved his hand in dismissal, "I don't want that textbook answer. You still have much to learn about alchemy if that is the first answer that you intend to give me."

"Then teach him!" Arisa burst in frustration, stomping forward, her pigtails bouncing at her head in indignation, "What's with all those chess stuffs? He came all the way here to learn more about alchemy; we spent so much money to track you down. So teach him your alchemy!"

The man looked at her in curiosity before he smiled, "You sounded like my brother. Except he tended to be a lot more polite… so you want me to take your little brother in as a student?"

Arisa nodded against Gabriel's protest that he was not really the younger of the 'siblings'.

"You…" Mr. Elric pondered, scratching his temple before he removed himself from his seat and walked towards the pile of books on his work desk. He shifted the books away, shuffling them around until he found an old telephone beneath the mess.

Picking up the telephone, he asked without turning back, "How long more before your school starts?"

"Two more months before the end of summer break," came the answer.

"That would be more than enough," the man said as he dialed the number, "I shall give your little brother a task to complete. If he can complete it, I shall take him as my student. You, as his sibling will do it with him."

"Wait! What do you mean?" Both children asked in unison over the strange condition.

"I'm not the one learning alchemy!" Arisa protested indignantly.

"Yeah! I don't need some interfering, bumbling girl by my side!" Gabriel added in agreement.

"Yea- What did you say? I am NOT- I bet you simply don't want to expose your weakness to your big sister, heh?" She folded her arms and smirked at him smugly.

"Oh, and I bet you simply don't dare to take the challenge!" The boy retorted with a scowl.

Mr. Elric ignored the squabbling siblings and continued to talk through the telephone.

"Yes. Yes. Instant teleportation, please. Yes, I owe you one. Thank you."

The surroundings around them seemed to blur for a moment; then before they knew it, they were no longer quarreling with each other in a middle of a cluttered, badly maintained apartment full of books. Instead, tropical greeneries surrounded them. Just beside them, there was a stream filled with crystal clear water. The call of birds and wildlife could be heard everywhere around them. The remnants of an ancient, glorious civilization lay in ruins around them, engulfed by creepers.

Most bizarre of all, there were books everywhere. In the trees, on the ground, even drifting in the water. Stacks after stacks of them in perfect condition despite the surroundings and the lack of human maintenance around. It was enough to stop the petty squabbles and force the pseudo-siblings to gap in wonder of the surrounding sight.

"There," Mr. Elric dropped their belongings before them, "This is almost the same task my teacher gave me when I first started. In fact, you have it easier."

"Where are we?" Arisa asked, dumbfounded.

"Mahora Library Island," the man answered without a pause before he continued, "You two are to survive here without the use of magic or alchemy for thirty days. You are free, and in fact encouraged to explore everywhere. At the end of it all, you must be able to answer my question, 'What is the main principle of alchemy?'"

Arisa looked around her. The calls of the wild were starting to sound creeping. There were way too much roaring, howling and hissing in the background.

"Wait! I don't even know much magic!" Arisa tried to argue.

"Don't worry! No magic required, just survive," Mr. Elric said with a cheerful smile, "Oh, I almost forgot." He clapped his hands together and brought them to the ground. The trademark streaks of alchemic energy leapt from his hands onto the soil. Something began to take shape from the soil, pushing itself upwards into the hands of the aged alchemist.

When he was done, he held a single machete in one hand and a huge timer in another.

"Here, you might need these," He said as he placed them in Arisa's hands and started to blur, fading away from sight before them, "Good luck, both of you!"

He disappeared into thin air; probably back to the old, untidy apartment before any of the children could reply.

Arisa sank to her knees in despair. What had she gotten herself into? Why had she done so… Ms. Testarossa's last words came to her. Oh… Was she always so responsible? Somewhere at the back of her mind, she could imagine all her friends cheering her on. Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Suzuka… maybe Ferretboy in ferret form, waving his furry paw on Nanoha's shoulder.

Fight on! They would say. She can do it! … Somehow… She was starting to wish she had chosen to drag Gabriel to their gathering in London with everyone else, rather than accompanying him, as his elder sister (she reminded herself) to meet that eccentric cyborg man.

She looked miserably behind to Gabriel. He was surveying what was around him glumly, looking just as surprised with the encounter as she was. Obviously, this was not something he had expected.

With a sigh, he opened his bag and looked into it disapprovingly. He was already taking up the survival challenge.

Then he turned towards Arisa and shouted, "Come on! Help me out here!"

With a sigh of her own, Arisa got up and walked towards her 'adopted' little brother. It will be a long thirty days for the both of them.


NEW GAME START


To post or not to post, that is the question.

The writer hovered his cursor over the 'new chapter' button. He had after all swore that if there was not enough reviews, he will write the WORST™ crack omake ever for 'Movements'. It was a tricky decision but he decided that one can never get enough reviews, not even Satashi with his/her ever-increasing harem. The punishment will always be there and it must be fulfilled. To keep his integrity. The problem is that not only eyes will bleed, probably noses will too. That would not achieve his aim of vengeance at all. He aimed to hurt, not pleasure.

On second thought, maybe a couple of blood-stained keyboards might malfunction due to that… the thought brought a warm fuzzy feeling to the reviews deprived writer as he prepared to click with his right trigger finger.

Wait. Won't damaging their keyboards mean that they can't flame him? Oh, what the heck. They can always do so after changing a new keyboard.

"Click" goes the left mouse button.

One month after the Philosopher's Stone case,

It was a beautiful day on Terran. It was the kind of day which everything, even that gross, slimy slug crawling up the weed leaf, looked beautiful. The sky was dotted with white, fluffy cotton-candy clouds, providing occasional shade to the inhabitants of Terran, especially those who were running merrily, shouting and laughing at each other in the swaying grass fields in the parks.

It was the kind of day that homework should be relegated to the very last priority so that children could go outside and soak in the vitalizing sunrays of the beautiful day.

Unfortunately for Nanoha, she was stuck at home with her unfinished summer school work lying on her desk as she stared out of the window into the blue, blue sky, laying the brickworks of a magnificent castle in the air. Raising Heart was placed snuggly on her folded handkerchief on the table, gleaming like an exquisite glass marble.

"Hey, Raising Heart," Nanoha spoke.

"Yes, My Master?"

"I have an urge to try something new."

"Yes, My Master?" There was a bit of uncertainty in the voice.

"Would you mind if I try riding you?"

"…Master?"


Yuuno was doing his usual in the Infinity Library. The beautiful day outside was of no concern to him, not that space can be very beautiful in the first place. There was another tight deadline to see to, courtesy of dear Officer Chrono. His staffs were running up and down frantically around the library, tearing through shelves after shelves of books in search of information of some 'Reiji Maigo'. On his part, his scanning magic was scanning through the collection at a faster rate than any physical means possible. There was still no 'Reiji Maigo' anyway…

Closing his eyes for concentration, he searched through the books again and again, delving deeper into the collection of infinity. A holographic screen popped up beside him with a 'blink'.

"Yes, dear officer? How may the library serve you?" he asked without even looking up. The channel was only available to certain people and usually Chrono was the only one trigger-happy enough to harass him through it.

"Yuuno-kun! I'm in trouble!"

Nanoha? His eyes sprung open to see Nanoha's anxious face reflected on the holographic screen.

"I was riding on Raising Heart just now… you know, just for fun…"

"What?" Yuuno's face turned bright red at the thought. With a gulp of anticipation, he asked, "Riding?"

"I was going to ask Fate to join me with Bardiche but then I thought that I should try it out first! Now, Raising Heart is stuck! I can't let the others see it! It is too embarrassing!" Her face also turned a shade of red from the flushing blood, "You are the only one whom I can trust to help me!"

Yuuno's face went even redder. He was pretty sure he could find some books on the topic in the library, but… if it was what he thought it was… perhaps he should, you know, turn up in person…

"Yuuno-kun! Can you… you know… come down in person to help me in person? I might need your healing spell…" Nanoha asked shyly.

Oh, Haruhi-sama! Oh, Oyashirou-sama! The librarian's mind was going into overdrive with all the possibilities going through his mind. Could this be… could this be… Despite the fact that Nanoha could be seen dressed in her barrier jacket through the holographic screen, the image of Nanoha in a bunny girl costume flashed through Yuuno's mind. It was too much.

"I will be there in a moment!" Yuuno quickly started his teleportation spell. The rotating green magical circle for teleportation never burst out faster. Screw Chrono's 'Reiji Maigo'; that can wait for now, it probably will last forever anyway. He needs to be by Nanoha's side now.

"Where are you now?" he asked.

"The forest near my home. Please come fast!" Nanoha pleaded before she closed the connection.

In the wild… he never knew Nanoha had that in her. The bunny girl image flashed through his mind again. It was probably someone at his current age should not be thinking, however in the library of infinity, it was inevitable that he would come across books that teaches such things occasionally, by accident.

The green light of the teleportation spell engulfed the librarian. With a whistling sound at his ears, Yuuno travelled from the Infinity Library to the forest near Nanoha's home in an instant.

He was in luck. Nanoha grabbed hold of his hand the very moment he materialized.

"Yuuno-kun! I knew I can count on you!" she cried out as she started to pull Yuuno aside, "Over here!" She was almost in tears. Her usually neatly maintained auburn hair was unkempt and undone at one side. There were even leaves stuck in her hair. Her barrier jacket was also torn and roughed up at places. A single stream of blood flowed from under her dress, on her leg, staining her petite, white socks.

Nanoha must be quite desperate. She must be in much pain. Yuuno was starting to feel ashamed of himself. How can he think of such things as he did? He cannot take advantage of Nanoha in times like this. He looked down in shame as he forcefully banished the errant thoughts from his mind.

"Here we are! Please! Raising Heart's stuck!" The magical girl pointed upwards.

"What?" Yuuno looked up, somewhat unsure what was going on now. As his sight followed in the direction of Nanoha's pointing, he caught sight of the pink end of his ex-intelligent device protruding out of the canopy of the tree.

"Raising Heart is stuck in a tree?" the librarian asked weakly, feeling all his strength draining from him.

"Yes… " Nanoha shuffled her foot, creating a smear of blood on the grassy ground, "But she is really stuck! Really, really stuck! And it is too high up there for me to climb!"

"Okay… " Yuuno answered uncertainly. It did look very high up. Just how did Nanoha get Raising Heart so high up in the first place… wait a minute… he was missing something very important.

"The blood!" Yuuno exclaimed, "How bad was it?" Nanoha had been bleeding from underneath her dress all these time. He knelt down to examine the more urgent of the matters…

"Nanoha? Can you show me your wound?" he asked shyly.

Blushing slightly, Nanoha nodded and started to lift up her dress.

No, wait! Yuuno screamed mentally but was unable to remove his fixated eyes from Nanoha's rising hemline. Higher, higher…

It stopped at her knees.

There was an ugly rash at her knee, caused by the friction of a nasty fall. It was still bleeding despite Nanoha's best efforts to clean it with her handkerchief.

With an admonishing sigh, Yuuno started his healing spell, watching the wound close up slowly.

"So how did this happen?" he asked.

"Well…" Nanoha started with a sheepish grin, "Remember last month in London? Gabriel was riding his staff with that knob at the end everywhere. I was wondering if I could do the same with Raising Heart; so I rode her… but my controlling was not very good so…

CUT!