Chapter 10 - The Power to Push Away (Part 1)
Once again, morning had come, and Bathory was sound asleep on the couch in the large break room. And, once again, Vivio timidly reached out to poke the sleeping figure.
"Um...um..."
Bathory stirred, but his sleep was a little deeper than it was the previous day. With a soft moan, he rolled onto his side and faced away from the girl.
Vivio resumed her attempts.
"Um...m...mister..."
Behind her, a tall woman with light purple hair stood with her arms crossed, looking down at the obstructive mage. A short figure with red hair, barely taller than the woman's head, sat on top of the woman's right shoulder.
"Vivio," asked Signum, "is this the mage who was here yesterday?"
Vivio turned around, staring almost straight up into the knight's eyes. She nodded.
Agito looked over at Signum.
"Well, you know me and I know you. I'd just throw 'im off."
Signum smiled lightly and looked down at Vivio.
"Vivio, if you could, please step to the side. I would not want you to get hurt."
The young girl moved out of the way, Agito hovered up to let Signum work, and the knight herself stepped forward until she was standing over the ground mage. She bent down, wrapping one hand around his upper arm and the other around the top of his leg. Bathory seemed to notice this, as let out another soft mumble, but he didn't wake up then either. That changed when Signum tightened her grip and pulled him off the couch, letting him crash to the ground.
Bathory cried out in surprise, and the sudden change of scenery definitely confused him. His eyes slowly opened, and he began to move his arm, but that stopped when he felt the bottom of Signum's foot press down on his back as she stepped over him. Signum sat on the now-empty couch and looked over at Vivio again.
"Vivio, I have acquired a spot. Feel free to sit next to me."
Through the haze that was quickly fading away, Bathory moved him arm to try to pull himself up, and then he felt the lighter step of Vivio as she also scampered over him. That pushed the fog away a little faster, and he finally got up to his hands and knees.
"What's going on?" he asked. "You could at least tell me what's-"
He stopped again as he felt something rest on his back again. Though he couldn't see it, Signum was smiling now, and she leaned back with her hands behind her head. Her legs stuck out in front of her, and Bathory could feel her move one leg and rest it on top of the other.
"Thank you for this" she said mockingly. "Now if you could just stay right there, that would be perfect."
In front of her, Bathory shook his head. With a cry of disapproval, he pushed himself up, shoving away Signum's legs in the process. Once he was on his feet, he stared at her.
"What the hell was that?" he yelled.
Signum folded her arms back across her chest.
"Don't use that type of language in front of the young Kaiser. Have some decency."
"Yeah" said Agito, rising up above Signum. "And don't blame us when you pull the same stunt."
Bathory stared at the unison device, first confused about why there was one here that wasn't the one Hayate carried around. He knew she had one, but that one's hair was a lot different -white, if Bathory remembered right - and wasn't really heard to be aggressive. Still, after the initial shock, that paled in comparison to his actual problem.
"I would've gotten up IF YOU'D JUST ASKED" he said, looking back at Signum. The Wolkenritter didn't even make eye contact with him. She just glanced down quickly at Vivio, making sure the young girl could operate the remote control successfully.
Though she needed to hold it in both hands, Vivio used it well enough, activating the television on the wall in front of the couch and moving it through various channels until she got to the one she wanted. Vivio put the remote down next to her and stared up at the screen. On it was some cartoon showing a bunch of girls that looked to be around ten years old. They all appeared to be in their barrier jackets - or, at least, hopefully those were supposed to be barrier jackets and not their actual clothes - and they all seemed to be fighting some monster of a particular ugliness and evilness. This world drew in Vivio almost immediately, but back in the break room, the bickering between Bathory and Signum continued.
"Well, by now your little brain should have recognized the pattern, so don't be lying here tomorrow morning. Best of luck if you get on Vita's bad side."
"Bad side? I just wanted to sleep!"
"You've got a room, right?" asked Agito. "Use that."
Bathory rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked up above the couch, back at the small kitchen where Shamal's devilish concoction still rested at the bottom of the trash can. Crossing his own arms, he looked away.
"I was trying to..."
He turned away, conceding defeat and starting to slowly walk away from the scene. However, his mind started to fill again with something he'd been thinking about a lot recently concerning the Wolkenritter. He didn't get very far before he decided to go for it, and he turned back around, heading back to the couch. Signum continued to watch the show along with Vivio, but the small unison device definitely noticed Bathory coming back. She glared at him as he knelt down by the couch, coming almost face to face with the flame knight.
"Signum, I apologize. If you will, there is something I would actually like to ask you. I'm serious now."
"And you weren't before?" asked Agito.
Signum responded before the red-headed device could sidetrack them.
"Go ahead."
Bathory spent a second gathering his words, and then looked back at the woman.
"Why don't you come to Siba? You or - or any of you, really. You four are our real idols there. Not this Nanona crap, or this 'three Aces' crap, no - we would treat you like royalty there. It wouldn't be like this, where you get ordered around as a babysitter."
"Who says I am being ordered to do so?" replied Signum. She continued to look forward, and her voice continued to be coldly plain. "Who says we didn't volunteer to watch young Vivio ourselves if the need arose? I specifically told Testarossa that we would be more than happy to perform this duty if she requested us to. And even if that weren't the case, it is our duty to remain by mistress Hayate's side, and she seems personally very content with her current living arrangements."
"Yeah, I like what I got going on now" said Agito. "Wouldn't want to change it at all."
During the back half of Signum's response, Bathory had lowered his head and was rubbing it against the top of the armrest.
"Of course..." he mumbled. "Hayate, Hayate, Hayate..."
His head shot back up and he gazed back at Signum.
"Signum, think about this! Reason with her- you know there's more to it. A Belkan planet, like mine, would love you. Or, at least, it would love for you to make an appearance. And you don't want to play a secondary role in things, like you're doing here. This isn't what the flame knight really thinks, is it?"
"I would like to stop you right now" replied Signum, her voice growing even colder. Finally, she looked over at Bathory, staring him down.
"And I would like to get this straight. You are telling me what I think? What I choose to do? Are you really so thick-headed that you are going to pull this in front of my face and think it will work?"
"Yeah" cried Agito again. She floated up right in front of the ground mage's face. "Who are you to disrespect us like that?"
"No, no, listen to me!" said Bathory, snatching Agito up and holding her out of the way. "It would be perfect for you. You would make so many of us so happy. Spend a single day off of Midchilda, and you'll see how lackluster this planet...this... this planet..."
Bathory started to feel a weird tingle in the hand that was currently wrapped around Agito, and suddenly his palm felt hot, like he'd placed it on a stove. His hand instinctively shot open and he gasped from the pain. Wincing, he looked over at the unison device and she looked back at him, smug as all hell.
He was turning back to look at Signum when she grabbed him by the hair and pulled him in forcefully. Bathory gasped again, and Signum immediately began to speak.
"You could ask all four of us, and we would all give the same answer. Different wording, maybe, but the same answer. We do not care for more attention. We do not ask for anything more than what we have right now. You will stop trying to change what we believe, because you are in no position to do so. Now, once I release you, you will get out of my sight in the next thirty seconds, or I will make you get out. It's your call."
Signum pushed Bathory back, and he just rested there on his knees. He seemed to be frozen in shock, fear, or something in that range. Meanwhile, Signum looked over at Vivio, who continued to watch the cartoon.
"Vivio, I am sorry about the disturbance. Did I scare you at all?"
The young girl finally looked away from the screen. She just shook her head and then continued to watch the cartoon. Signum smiled lightly, and then her smile faded as she turned back to the ground mage, who was still there.
"Twenty seconds" she said.
Bathory finally snapped out of his trance.
"T...twenty? What?"
"Twenty seconds, moron!" said Agito. "It's more like fifteen seconds now! Fourteen! Thirteen! Twelve! Eleven!"
Finally, Bathory got up and walked away from the couch. Defeated, he could still hear Agito shouting after him as the entered the hallway that took him out of the room.
"Five! Four! Three! Two!"
"Agito" said Signum.
"What?"
"That's good enough."
"Are you sure, Signum? You're just letting him WALK? I mean, he insulted us to our faces and-"
"Simple minds think everyone believes what they do. I do not need to waste any more effort in dealing with him."
Apprehensively, Agito returned to her master's side.
"Fine. I'm...I'm fine with that..."
Past the end of the hallway, once Bathory was out of sight of the flame knight, he slammed his fist against the wall and cried in frustration.
"How could she think that? How could THEY think that? That's not right... If they only came and saw our planet, they would love it."
No matter how he tried to justify the flame knight's response, he knew that this was something he wouldn't be able to change. And that was the conflict that he kept running - changing things from the way they were. And slowly, some of those conflicts were beginning to seem like hopeless endeavors.
There were a few things that he was still able to affect. Minasa was one of them, but the other one was located across the hall from his room, currently behind a closed door. Bathory reached for the door to Satel and Negati's room and tried to open it. He met heavy resistance as the door was locked.
He faltered, but eventually composed himself and knocked on it, waiting for one of the other two to let him in. Just like before, it was Negati that got to the door first. She looked a little more tired than she was at this same time yesterday, though.
"Hey," she said slowly, "good to see you're okay."
Bathory walked past her and shut the door behind him. He waited a bit before speaking.
"Well. Day two."
"Yep" replied Satel. Once again, he was sitting on the bed. He leaned forward and looked down at the bottom of the wall. "Another fine day on Midchilda. Negati, what are you thinking for today? What are you going to do?"
His fellow Lieutenant walked over and stood in front of him.
"I haven't gotten that far. I'm still thinking about last night. What the hell was any of that? Bathory, you didn't need to pull at your limiter. Satel, you didn't need to be a complete asshole at every opportunity."
The air mage looked up at her.
"Wait, hold on, hold on-"
He started to get up, but Negati pushed him back down. She started to look more determined.
"You, sit right there. Bathory, come sit next to him."
"Negati," said the other ground mage, "don't start ordering me around like-"
"Don't you finish that. Come sit down."
Reluctantly, Bathory followed her word. As he sat down, he and Satel looked off in opposite directions.
"Now again," asked Negati, "what the hell was any of that? Satel, you first. Why did you continue to do what I asked you not to do? Why are you acting this way to Bathory?"
"You know why. He knows why. It's a perfectly valid reason."
"But it's a stale reason, and one that doesn't bother me anymore. I've moved on! But you...ohh, sometimes I wish we weren't the same rank. Sometimes I wish I could just order you to shut up."
Satel laughed.
"Sometimes, I think the same thing."
Negati ignored that response and turned to Bathory.
"And Bathory! We talked last night, but you didn't give me an answer. And I'm not feeling as sympathetic now. Why are you pulling at your limiter and waking us up in the middle of the night?"
"Hold on, now" he said. "Let's make Satel answer his little questionnaire first. I've hardly done anything that caused us to turn into this. I've barely started any of our group's conflict."
"Well, that's because you're busy starting something with everyone else" said Satel. "You stormed off after working with that kid for what, five minutes? You pissed off Vita later, and Nanoha too, from what I could tell."
Negati held her hands up to her temples and rubbed them.
"I...I am trying to corral CHILDREN, that's what I'm doing. Bathory, answer my question."
"Well, I'm trying to make things for the better" answered Bathory loudly. He looked between both other Sibans. "I'm trying to make things right. I'm trying to change things. I'm trying to make things better. It's the Siban way, isn't it? If there's a problem, fix the damn problem. Minasa's headed down the wrong path? I lead her back. I'm not strong enough to do so? I try to make it so."
He lowered his head, and the last part of his thought raced through his mind. It was the part he didn't want to say, but it was the main thing that tied the rest together.
And if Siba doesn't want to accept me, I'll do whatever it takes to make them change their minds.
Inside the room, Bathory couldn't tell what was going on outside in the hallway. However, as he argued inside the Lieutenants' room, a young girl with brown hair stood in front of the door to Bathory's room, hoping to get her device back.
"B...Bathory? Hello?" asked Minasa. She didn't get an answer even when she knocked, but she found herself reaching for the handle to the door. Hoping it was open, she gave it a gentle pull, and she was surprised when it actually began to open up. Pushing it open, Minasa walked into the room.
"Hello? Bathory?"
He wasn't there, and she wondered if she should be there at all. Still, she saw her device's blue gem sitting on top of the desk, and she walked over to it, happily picking it up and holding it in her hands. Looking around, the girl decided to wait a little bit to see if Bathory would return, and so she sat down on his bed, right next to the green gem that had rested there alone all night.
[EXCUSE ME] said Aphelion.
Minasa looked down in shock and almost jumped back off the bed.
"Aah! Sorry! I didn't see you there."
[I DID NOT INTEND TO STARTLE YOU - I AM WONDERING IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON THE LOCATION OF MY MASTER]
"Your master?" asked Minasa. "Bathory? I...I don't know. I don't know where he is."
[IT HAS BEEN APPROXIMATELY 638 DAYS AND 9 HOURS SINCE HE LAST WILLINGLY PARTED WITH ME FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME - IT IS NOT LIKE MY MASTER TO DO SO]
Minasa shifted slightly.
"Umm, he'll be back. I...I hope. I know he probably wants to train me again so I...er...I..."
[I AM BEGINNING TO HAVE WORRYING THOUGHTS ABOUT MASTER'S ATTEMPTS TO DO SO - HE MAY BE PUTTING TOO MUCH OF YOUR WELL-BEING AT RISK]
Again, Minasa shifted.
"Well, um, he...he wants me to be happy, right? You know what I mean, don't you?"
[FROM THE ANALYSIS OF MY MASTER'S THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS, HE CERTAINLY BELIEVES IN IMPROVING YOU FOR THE BETTER - BUT YOU DO APPEAR TO BE THE HAPPIEST AND APPEAR TO MAKE THE MOST IMPROVEMENT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTOR TAKAMACHI]
Deep in thought, Minasa put her device down and picked Aphelion up. She seemed almost hypnotized by it from the way she stared down directly at the green gem.
"Then...then if just wanted me to be happy..."
[MASTER WOULD HALT HIS CONTINUED ATTEMPTS AND ALLOW YOU TO PERFORM FREELY AS YOU WANTED TO]
Minasa smiled widely and held the device up.
"Wow, so that's what intelligent devices are like!"
Almost right after that, her smile faded away again.
"But...but then...oh, that would mean..."
Across the hall, the seconds ticked by, but Negati didn't have an answer to Bathory's remarks. Every time she started to reply, another thing about it would stun her back into silence.
"Hey Negati," asked Satel, "did he dazzle you with brilliance?"
"No" Negati replied. "He baffled me with bullshit!"
Bathory's stomach growled, and he looked down at it. Again, things were quiet for a bit.
"I...I told you I get more temperamental when I'm hungry" said Bathory. "We'll break for twenty minutes, eat, and then figure something out."
He stood up and went for the door, but Negati tried to stop him.
"No, Bathory, you're not getting out of this one like that-"
"Just a little break, Negati. You're both invited too. I'm just getting my device again and then it'll be quick."
He opened the door, trying to get out quickly. Then, he saw that the door to his room was open, and he slowed down immensely. Worriedly wondering what he'd see inside, he grabbed the open door and looked inside. He saw a familiar face, and his worry was changed to confusion.
"Minasa?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Bathory" the girl said. "I...I was looking for my device, and I saw you were gone, and I...I waited..."
Bathory smiled for the first time that day.
"A bright and early start, Minasa? I knew you'd start to enjoy it. Do you want to go right now?"
The young girl nervously lowered her head.
"Well, I...I guess...because I saw him again, and...and..."
"What?" asked Bathory. He walked over and stood over the girl. "What was that? You were mumbling."
"I...I saw Erio again when I left, and he talked to me, and he... he said he could try to help again."
"Really? That's great. Good for you. Do you know when he's available?"
Minasa looked up at the other Siban.
"He...he came over with me. Um...he's outside..."
Excitedly, Bathory ran out of the room and back across the hallway. He barged in and didn't even wait a second before talking.
"Satel, we've got Erio again!"
The two Lieutenants had been talking to each other, but Satel looked over and responded.
"Erio?"
"Yeah, that Belkan kid from yesterday. Minasa was over in my room, saying he's waiting for us."
"Oh, yeah. The kid who wanted to move to that zoo planet, right?"
"Yeah. We've got another shot at this. Come on."
"Wait, hold on a second!" shouted Negati.
Bathory had turned back around and was running back across the hall. However, Negati held her right arm out as red lines of energy formed on it. Several red bindings shot out of her arm and after Bathory, wrapping around him. When they went taught around his body, Negati grabbed them in her hand and yanked him back into her and Satel's room. Once Bathory got back to her, she lowered the bindings but held his arm tightly.
"WAIT!" she shouted again. "Nothing's going on until we figure out what we're doing."
"I think I know" said Bathory. "I'm going to train Minasa again. I've done it the last two days."
"And I'll keep watch on him" said Satel.
"No, that's what I'm talking about" said Negati. "Putting you two together again - that's what I'm worried about."
"Come on," said Satel. "And I really am interested in working with Erio. You don't usually see a kid like that on a planet like this. Something's off."
"I don't know" said Bathory. "I'd like to do this one myself."
Negati looked between the two men a couple times, and she slowly ended up grinning. She released her hold on both of them.
"Actually, never mind. You two go together. But you have to make up. You two have to get along. If either of you start trouble, the other one should feel free to tell me immediately."
Then, she narrowed her gaze, and both men heard her voice in their heads.
"And I will be very serious about this."
Both nodded, and Bathory finally got back to his room. He turned the corner and saw Minasa still on the bed.
"Alright, Minasa" he said. "Bring me my device."
The young girl looked back down at the green gem and then got up. She walked over to Bathory, taking both devices over.
"No, stop" said Bathory. "Leave yours on the desk."
Minasa paused.
"I...what?"
"Don't question me. Just do it."
Minasa looked up at Bathory, but his smile was slowly starting to look forced. Feeling another tinge of reluctance, she set her device down on the desk next to her and went on without it. Bathory held his hand out, and Minasa place Aphelion in it.
"Good" said Bathory. "Let's get Erio and go. Where is the device I gave you?"
"I...I put it back..."
"You...you...fine. We're going to weapons training anyways. I'll get it again."
Aphelion began to pulse with light.
[MASTER, I BELIEVE YOU SHOULD ALLOW HER FREEDOM TO USE ANY DEVICE SHE PLEASES TO]
"No, Aphelion, trust me. I know what I'm doing."
[THEN I REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT I DO NOT AGREE WITH WHAT YOU ARE DOING]
Bathory froze, slowly looking down at the defiant gem. Then, his hand clutched tightly around it and he stormed back into his room.
"You do not get to tell me what to do, Aphelion. I am not going to stand for that."
He stopped by the desk, taking Minasa's device again. Then, he headed over to the small closet on the other side of the room. Opening up one of the drawers, he dumped the two devices in there and slammed it shut again. He stared at the front of the cabinet and his face had switched to anger.
"I will do what I need to. You will sit there until I'm back on Siba, if that's what it takes."
Bathory turned around and tried to compose himself while he walked back over to Minasa. He couldn't hide much though, and he ended up yanking Minasa by the arm out into the hall. Satel was out there, but he was feeling much better that Bathory. This time, he was the eager one.
"So, where to?"
"Um...outside..." said Minasa.
Bathory finished locking the door behind him, and now he was more in control.
"Lead the way" he said.
The three made their way downstairs and out into the open air. Bathory was still affected by his device's behavior, but that went away when he saw a familiar pair of kids.
"Heeeeeeey, Erio!' said Satel. He walked up to the smiling boy and patted him forcefully on the head twice. Erio winced, but both adults saw the pink-haired girl with the small dragon at the same time and their excitement faltered a little.
"Yeah, and...and you..." said Bathory, pointing at the girl.
"Caro Ru Lushe" she said. "I believe I introduced myself, but...but maybe I didn't."
"I want Caro to come along today" said Erio. "We were both in Forward Lightning. We always work together."
The young summoner nodded.
"And I will be able to offer my assistance if it would help her."
Friedrich cried out, agreeing with Caro.
Bathory and Satel both stood there, feeling apprehensive. They looked over at each other.
"I don't know" said Bathory. "I wasn't really planning for that."
"Yeah" said Satel. "We just wanted the boy, to be honest."
Erio looked at Caro and then stepped forward.
"I want Caro to come along. If you don't, then I don't want to help."
Something immediately switched in the adults' eyes.
"Alright, alright, no problem" said Satel.
"Yeah, no issue here" said Bathory. "That's fine then. So here's the plan. Minasa needs another weapon, so we'll go to weapons training, get that back, and just stay in there. I'll run some things for her, one or two for you guys, and it'll all go according to plan. Sounds good? Good."
He looked at the indoor training facilities that he had gone to with Minasa the first time and began to head over there. Behind them was the outdoor arena, but at this moment, it was empty.
"Wait" said Erio.
"What?"
"I think one of the rooms is broken, but I don't remember which."
"Broken?" asked Satel.
"Yes" said Caro. "It was two days ago, wasn't it? One of them stopped working."
"Huh," said Bathory. "Minasa, do you remember which one it was?"
He didn't even realize what he said, but Satel suddenly got a suspicion.
"Why are you asking Minasa, Bathory? Perhaps she knows who broke it?"
Quickly, Bathory's face drooped, but he got it back to normal again.
"Or maybe she's heard something I haven't. I'm not in the program. I'm busy with my own things."
The group was coming up on one of the facilities, and Bathory just hoped it wasn't the one he'd locked up earlier. He opened the door, hoping the control panel would work, but something surprised him even before he got to that. The front room was packed already - with the Nakajima sisters. All six that weren't at the Saint Church were standing in front of the door and the panel.
Subaru was closest to the door, and she turned like she was expecting someone. Bathory wasn't that person, but her face still lit up and she waved her arm.
"Hi again!" she shouted. The other Nakajimas looked over, but none gave any more than a cursory shrug.
Keeping the door open, Bathory looked back at Satel.
"I swear, there are tons of mages around here, and I keep running into the same ones over and over again. Don't you ever get that feeling?"
While he was talking, Erio and Caro ducked under Bathory's arm and stepped inside.
"Subaru?" asked Caro.
Behind Subaru, Wendi ran over and basically scooped the two kids up.
"Great timing, guys! Did you come to cheer her along too?"
"Huh?" said Erio. "What's going on?"
The two were plopped down in the middle of the group, and Cinque began to answer.
"Dieci is to about to receive the first prototype of her modified equipment. Shario asked us to meet her in facility."
Nove playfully leaned against her sister.
"Better late than never, I guess, but they could've sped it up. If you had asked me, Dieci, I could've made them get it done months ago."
Dieci just looked to the left and responded as normal.
"I do not feel like you should have done so. I did not feel any strong desire or urge to have the cannon back."
One word of that piqued Bathory's curiosity.
"Cannon?" he asked, walking over to the group. "Yeah, I've got one of those in my device as well. It's pretty badass, I'll..."
He held up his right hand and realized his device wasn't on him. Quickly recovering, he looked back at the group.
"I'll show you all later. Maybe next time. But it is pretty cool if you ask me. Now, I'll be taking these two back, since we need to move to another facility."
He grabbed Erio's arm and started to pull him back. Cinque reached out and grabbed the other boy's arm. Bathory felt something resisting him, but he definitely didn't expect it to be the smallest of the Nakajimas. Staring at her, he kept trying to pull Erio away, even as the boy started to wince.
"Umm, guys?" he asked.
Bathory looked over at Cinque, whose expression hadn't changed a bit. Not at all. She was standing straight, looking perfectly normal, and she was holding all three of them in place. The ground mage pressed his feet down as hard as he could and put his strength into freeing Erio from Cinque's grip. This got him absolutely nowhere. Though, in between the two, Erio definitely felt it.
"St...stars..." he mumbled. "I'm seeing stars..."
Finally, Bathory gave up. He released Erio and just continued to stare at Cinque. She looked up at him, but didn't appear to look any different than usual.
"If they want to stay, they should be able to stay" she said. "They have been very kind to us."
With a sigh, Bathory began to back up.
"Alright, crazy girl. Crazy little...little dice-throwing, little strength-of-a-thousand-mages girl, it's your call. Really."
He finished, and immediately heard something behind him. Someone was trying to get into the facility, and Satel and Minasa moved into the room as a girl with large glasses and waist-high brown hair pushed through them.
Near the front of the cyborg group, Ginga smiled.
"Shario, it's good to see you again."
All the Sibans seemed to be pushed back by the door, leaving Shario to end up in the middle of the other group. She seemed a little frazzled, and she almost spun around in circles to talk to everyone.
"You too! Glad you're all doing fine - oh, Caro and Erio, hi - so I've been really really busy trying to get this to work right. It hasn't been easy - well, they kept stopping me from working on it, and then Hayate would force them to let me keep working on it, and I couldn't even get it brought in to start on it for a while, but I got it done. There were a few restrictions I absolutely could not get around, but I have not cut any corners in creating this."
Coming to a halt, she looked at Dieci.
"Dieci, this is a near-replica of your device, now with an active and standby form."
Shario held up a gem for Dieci to see. Some of the more expressional Nakajimas gasped, leaned in, or just looked impressed, while Dieci herself only appeared to smile lightly.
"Thank you, Shario" she said. She took it from the other girl and held it in her own hands.
"Now, Dieci, I haven't truly been able to test this. The simulations say it will work, but it will require activation and actual use for me to know it works."
"Hmm" said Nove. "Good thing we met here then. Dieci, go ahead and try it out."
"Are you sure I should try it now?" asked Dieci.
Shario laughed nervously and scratched her head.
"One of the restrictions so far is that I can't let that go off TSAB grounds. Sorry, but you can't keep it. Yet. So now is a perfect time."
"Aright!" cried Wendi, and she started to chant. "Try it out! Try it out!"
Nove and Subaru also began to chant, and while neither Ginga, Shario, Erio or Caro joined in, they all smiled and gave their own encouragement.
Dieci nodded and looked at the device mechanic.
"I will fire it then. But I do not know exactly what I am able to do with the level I am allowed to be at."
While the louder Nakajimas cheered, Shario ran over to the console and began to activate it.
"That's fine. I'll get something strong, but not too strong."
On the preview screen above Shario, a single large gadget drone spawned into the large arena next to the control room. In one big wave, the Nakajimas and the two kids pushed through the door between the rooms, and soon they were able to be seen on the camera feeds.
During this whole thing, Bathory was not impressed.
"How hard is it to remake a cannon? I mean, it didn't look like an intelligent device."
"I don't know" said Satel. "I wasn't paying attention."
"Damn, I shouldn't have left Aphelion behind. Its Breach Form is sort of like what I think they're talking about. But it's pretty big. I'd stand it up and it would be almost up to my shoulders. I know they'd be impressed."
In the combat room, the other sisters stood away from Dieci, giving her room. On one side of the room, she stood a couple feet in front of the wall. On the other side, a large drone was hovering in place, still waiting to be activated.
"Dieci," asked Shario over the intercom, "do you have any questions before I start the simulation?"
"Yes, actually" said Dieci. She almost appeared to be embarrassed by it. "How...how do I activate it? I never had to before."
"Ahh, yes. That's a great question, don't worry. It's still on the default, so just say 'set up' when you want to use it."
"Understood."
"Alright, then. I'll send it in!"
The large drone froze in place for a second, and a shimmering white light washed over it as it was activated. Across the room, Dieci held the device out and 'raised her voice'.
"Enormous Cannon, set up."
The gem began to glow white, and a huge amount of space around the device started to glow as well. In the control room, Bathory took a step forward as he watched the screen.
"W...wait..."
Dieci dropped to one knee and held her right arm around the massive structure that was phasing in.
"Heavy Barrel."
The barrels shot out in front of her and then kept going to a total length much taller than the girl's actual height. Along with that, a deep orange ring lit up the floor around her, and the end of the barrel started glowing with white-hot intensity.
If it weren't for the wall next to him, Bathory would have fallen over.
"I...I am miniscule..." he whispered.
The charge at the end of Dieci's cannon started to grow bigger, and the rest of the group in the combat room needed to shield their eyes, though Dieci's were open and set on analyzing the drone's position. The drone was not set to move, so the girl hardly needed to adjust for any changes. A few seconds later, the shot was as large as its limited power could be, and Dieci fired the cannon. A heavy beam of energy shot from it directly into the drone, and the drone was more than overwhelmed by the attack as it exploded violently.
The louder of the Nakajimas cheered again as the drone's remains fizzled back out of existence. Dieci felt the cannon begin to revert back under its own accord, and she watched as it glowed again and transformed back into the gem. She stood back up, but she seemed to be very focused on the device.
"Dieci?" asked Ginga, "is something wrong?"
The family gathered around the girl again, but nothing broke her concentration. After a few seconds, she held up the device again.
"Enormous Cannon, set up."
Subaru jumped back,
"Wait, wait, Dieci, what are-"
Nothing happened. Instead of activating, a random pattern of lights began to glow on the device. Dieci brought it back down and looked at it again.
"Just as I thought. I am not able to interact with it after firing."
The door opened up, and Shario ran through it.
"Yeah, that's another restriction. It needs to be re-authorized after every use. Sorry Dieci. I told you that it was very difficult even getting things to where they are now."
"I also noticed some shortcomings in transferring my energy to it. It did not fully replicate the efficiency of the original."
Shario sighed.
"Well, let's go one step at a time. The good news is that it works. The bad news is that there are hundreds of reasons it might not match up to the original. I would love for you to help me in the design process, but, again, you are banned from being within a certain radius of the actual weapon. I don't think Hayate will get anyone to budge on that."
"Understood" replied Dieci. She held out the device for Shario to take back, and the mechanic did so.
On the other side of the wall, Bathory has slumped to the ground.
"This family..." he muttered. "What the hell is up with this family..."
"Like I said," replied Satel, "maybe they're not a family. Maybe they're all members of something. Like a cult, I think."
"A cult?" asked Bathory. He let his head drop. "You mean a clan. I don't think they're a cult."
"Ehh, cult, clan, same difference."