Here we are chapter 10. Don't really have much to say here so I will fix any issues and I hope you guys will enjoy.

Same disclaimer as before*

It is currently hours later after the recent training session at night and Nanoha, now in her pink Pajamas was looking over at the footage from earlier in the afternoon. With a careful eye, she watches over it like a fine tooth comb and was wondering what was the thing that shook her mind? It was then that she noticed that Shiro as he was using his sword against the drones from the end of the training, the way he was using felt...off.

'Hmm his movements appears to be sluggish. Even in the swings department. I know that his normal movement would save him in that fight he had but with his skills now and the fact of that man still being on Earth as a problem, this won't be enough. But what to do?' thought Nanoha who was puts her fingers on her chin to think about the problem in hand.

She thought deeply about all of the scenarios where the young man would be in a situation where he would be fighting, a small area, surrounded by more drones or even other mages and the ones who are with Ixia. While Shiro has improved over the past two weeks with the training regimen she was doing with him as well as him decently understanding how a bind spell works, the fact remained within the young instructor who sighs and pinches her nose to say.

"Shiro's swordsmanship is really not all that good and it needs a lot of work."

From there, Nanoha lies back from her chair to look at the ceiling. Now that she knew about the problem it was time to think of a way to fix it. She first thought about maybe programming some drones to fight like a sword mage but shook her head and dropped it because it would be much better for him to learn from a living person so that plan was scraped. Then she thought about a certain long pink haired knight who could help out but sadly said knight would be on another planet at the moment most likely on another assignment leaving the white mage slowly out of options. But just as she about to think deeper, the door opens revealing Fate, with yellow Pjs and a tray with a tea cup on it. She walks over to the thinking instructor and gives the tray to Nanoha who took the cup.

"How is the data working so far?"

Nanoha drank her tea and replied back. " Well...the movement and bind practice was fine. Everything else is ok until I took a deeper look in the drone training session. His movements are very sloppy with no real focus or weight. Plus, it feels as though Shiro's swings are dull and weak like he was swinging a bat. In other words, he need better skill with his sword."

Fate crosses her arms as she looked at the data on screen to get a grasp on what Nanoha was saying. As she saw, Fate also began to notice the low swings, the delayed attacks, weak movements and the lack of power in his swings leaving him wide open. This was a beginners way of starting out using a weapon and they needed to fix the problem now or Gaia could be lost and Shiro could die due to lack of physical training. After that was done, she turns to Nanoha, asking the obvious. "Yes it is an issue. I can see that now so how about you ask someone to help with his physical training Nanoha?"

"I did but Signum could be busy with a mission somewhere and Vita is busy with her hands full training new recruits. So for now it is a no go." the auburn haired woman spoke with a sigh leaving the lighting mage to sigh as well. With that, Fate takes back the tray and is about to leave but not before telling Nanoha some words. "Nanoha I know you will think of something. You always have and you never quit. Just keep at it." She ends with a smile while finishing her words. "Don't stay up too late."

Nanoha then pouts at her friend allowing Fate to close the door. When Fate left, Nanoha smiled thinking back to those words. She knew that the mage was right, she always keep going with whatever she did, even when she wanted to be Fate's friend despite what had happened during their childhood with the jewel seeds. Just then like a lightblub, Nanoha smirked as what she just remembered gave her an idea and the idea was staring at her right in the face and so the white devil began her plan of action to prepare for the coming day ahead.

The next day after class, Shiro as per usual is walking on the ship's hallway to reach the training room. However there was a difference. When he first entered the ship, the young man got lost and was fumbling around confused around where the training area was. So to fix this issue, Nanoha just before class gave Shiro a piece of paper and when asked what it was she only told him that those are directions to prevent him from being lost again. Shiro frowns at the memory and sighs while thinking to himself what would the training session be this time. Apart from the directions, the brunette was not specific in details making the young man briefly rub his head as he continued on his way.

Shiro entered the area and was greeted by the sight of Nanoha already prepared to start the training while Fate meanwhile upon seeing him, waves at him with a smile. Shiro in return waves back and walks to the two women. As he got close, he starts doing some basic stretching and starts to ask a question to Nanoha and Fate. "So what is the plan for today? It has been on my mind since class and when I was walking over here." Fate looked in Nanoha's direction, hoping to also get some answers. In response, Nanoha with a push of a button brings up a screen detailing the current progress of Shiro's training. Everything from small shield training, movement and the stuff from the other day was there. "Now Shiro this is all of your current data of things we were working on. Your shield basic training, movement and Shoot Barret practice has been running smoothly." told Nanoha as she changed the screen to the bind spell training and continued. "Plus the bind spell you did yesterday, while small was a good effort in that you have a general idea on how they work. Overall, you are improving however a certain factor I noticed was in flux a lot of the time when I was looking at your practice against the drones."

The young man was looking to the side and had an idea of where Nanoha as going was this. So he rubs his hair and spoke to the two women. "Let me guess it has to do with my use of Gaia as a sword and my swordsmanship overall right?" The answer he got from Nanoha and Fate was a nod, indicating that it was the truth. And really who could blame him? From here, Shiro only just now got used to magic but having him use a weapon was hard since he never trained with a sword or physical training before in his childhood due to his father's teachings. With that said, this was still a learning experience for Shiro and that is what made Nanoha's plan genus. She claps her hands to get the attention of the man and began to speak her plan.

"That is the purpose of the plan for today. Since you have no real experience with a weapon or even physical training, we will work on that today. However to do that you need a sparring partner. Someone who is good with close quarters combat."

Shiro was tilting his head wondering how would they get a teacher in this small amount of time? Fate on the other hand was the same as the man until she slowly pieced it together. The fact that she was quiet, did not really tell her what the plan was. It all came full circle. And so with a bright smile, the white devil spoke to the two. "Shiro, Fate will be your sparring partner so that way you will get a better feel in fighting."

Almost as if a bomb had exploded in front of them, Shiro and Fate first had their mouths opened in shock and they proceed to turn to Nanoha with the same shocked look. While Fate had a general idea of the plan, she never thought that her best friend would do this. The two asked. "What is your reasoning behind this Nanoha?"

The woman in question just smiles and walks to the two, putting her arms on Shiro and Fate's necks respectively. She starts to explain the method of her madness. "Guys I know that this is awkward and strange but trust me on this. This is definitely necessary." Nanoha looks at the two and continued with her speech. "The best way to teach someone is to have somebody else teach them into that different style. To that end, considering that Fate has done her fair share of teaching others as well as being the right person for the job, she is the best worthwhile candidate in helping Shiro with his lack of combat skills and use of a weapon." From that, she lets go of the two and said. "So let's start. Shiro you go to the left while Fate to the right. Get prepared." as the two each move to their stations to prepare. Shiro was mentally preparing himself while Fate was doing the same although she did oversee Erio's training with Signum. However where that was planned with her in mind, this was just sprung on her without warning and she sighed.

While this was going on, Nanoha was just about to get ready the room ready for the session until she thought of something. She brings up a screen and tries to call someone hoping that the person would get the call and thankfully for her, the call got in revealing Yuuno still at the Library. "Oh Nanoha hello."

Nanoha smiled and spoke back, crossing her arms. "Hi Yuuno. You are probably wondering why I am calling you now at this moment." Yuuno nodded in response leaving the auburn haired woman to explain what she needed. "Well I was wondering if you could do something for me."

"Oh and what may that be Nanoha?" asked Yunno also crossing his arms allowing the woman to continue. "I have called to ask you if you could dig any information regarding Ixia; things like where he was last stationed after he left or even where he was last seen. Can you do that?"

Yuuno just pushes up his glasses and stares at Nanoha with a smirk to say. "Nanoha this is prefect for me. Don't worry I am already on it." as he immediately starts to go through the entire library in the span of a few seconds. He was moving from record to record, going through them with the speed he would normally have. Nanoha smiles as Yuuno was in his 'zone' so to speak. Give him a book or anything involving research and or ruins and he will act like a kid on a sugar rush. And with this, she can oversee the training while also checking up on Yuuno, knowing that he will find something.

In a few minutes time, Shiro and Fate are staring at each other, both raised their devices in the air and both said. "Gaia/Bardiche Set Up!" as the two changed into their barrier jackets and weapons ready. Shiro was obviously unsure about how he'll do since this was the first real time sparring with anyone. This is shown to be true as his sword hand is shaking. Seeing this, Fate tells the young man. "Shiro just try your best." leaving him to nod a bit and from a distance, Nanoha pushes a button which causes the area to shift and change. The area was now in the image of a destroyed city complete with buildings destroyed, broken glass and finally cars that where trashed almost like a warzone. And with this being the setting, the sparring match starts.

Shiro starts things off by using Shot Barret at Fate from a safe distance leading Fate to defend using her round shield. That made Shiro puzzled for a bit but sadly he did not have enough time to ponder that for long as he gets blindsided by Fate who rushes at him to attack which also like the lighting mage before, uses his shield to defend. In a brief second, he looks at the shield he made and notices something different about it and thinks. 'My shield looks different from Fate's. I wonder why?' At the same time, Fate shifts her axe to a scythe and starts to attack Shiro yet again. During this, the lighting mage continues her attack on the blade mage who in turn would try to simply dodge the scythe. Due to Fate being faster then Shiro, it was a lot harder for him to move his body away to dodge the scythe so he tries to use the sword but only to reflect the attacks from the scythe. The two continued to trade blows for a while although at this point, Fate was the only one dealing blows while Shiro just used Gaia as a defensive weapon and not even tried to fight back. And even when he did, the attacks still felt weak and slow making it easy for Fate to counterattack the man. This made Nanoha sigh inwardly and decided to stop the training for now.

"Ok you two. You can stop now. Just take a quick break."

At the sound of that, Fate shifted her scythe back to axe form and Shiro lowers his sword to start walking by a bench to sit and relax. Fate could only look as obliviously the man still felt off. The spar was a good indicator of that and with that, she walks over to Shiro. Once she makes it to his location, Fate asks the dark haired man. "So Shiro I have a question. While we were sparring, why did you not use Gaia as it was made and used?"

The young man looks at Fate briefly before pointing his eyes to the ground and grips his sword. "Fate don't get me wrong. I appreciate everything that you and Nanoha that doing for me. Training me, helping me get better and being my friends. But..." He further grips his sword and his free left hand causing him to move on with his words. "But it is just that compared to you two and even that guy I fought, I feel weaker which makes me feel like a failure. I know I said that I want to become stronger however I am not so sure if I can't use Gaia." Then Shiro feels hands on his shoulders and as he looked up, he sees Fate staring at him and was about to tell him something.

"Shiro I know what you are feeling right now. Everyone feels that type of way. Me, Nanoha and the people she teaches. Which is why we are doing this because the only way to better yourself is to in turn get better. Just keep going with this and you will be better at using Gaia. It just takes time like everything else we have done." She shines a radiant smile at Shiro who was thinking about what Fate said. In a way, she was right and the fact that he still wants to do this is proof of that. Not giving up was something he did not want to do already but wanting to be better at fighting was slowly burning in his heart and after a while, it turned into a flash of confidence washing away his previous feelings from before and with Fate's words of advice, he grips Gaia again only now he looks at Fate. "Let's go again Fate. One more time." spoke a now confident Shiro and with that, the two walk back to their positions, ready to give the practice another go.

Like before, Fate rushes at Shiro only now with a difference: the young man also rushes at Fate forcing the two to clash. The two then stayed clashing with each other for a while until Fate dashes behind Shiro to attack him from behind. However, Shiro turns his body around and in a shock was trying to attack using Gaia as a weapon but there was another surprise. Shiro had change then and it proved to be known when he uses Gaia. Instead of using it like a beating stick and flimsy when he fought Drav or when he sparred against the drones or even the first spar with Fate, now he was trying to use the sword as an actual sword a weapon. His swings had a bit more push to them, his strikes were decent in strength and the slashes while they still had there opens, the space inbetween each slash was not as big as before. Upon seeing this, Nanoha smirked in the sense that he's starting to get the handle of using Gaia as a sword while Fate was just as happy that her little advice helped to push him a touch forward. As it stood, the two continued to clash for a little while and even though Shiro was not as fast as Fate, he at least was able to get a better feel for Gaia in the long run. To end the spar, Fate moves her arm up and summons a yellow ball in front of her. "Photon Lancer!" shouts the lighting mage as she sends directly at Shiro. With the projectile coming for him, Shiro raised his hand to produce his shield and now the shield is directly visible to the blade mage's eyes. It was not a circle like Fate's but rather a neo colored triangle and the shot hits the triangle protecting Shiro. And with that the training was over.

The stimulated battlefield disappears and Shiro and Fate change back to normal each with a smile. "Shiro this was a good sparring match. A step up from the last one." Fate spoke being happy with the man steadily moving forward. Meanwhile Nanoha walks to the two, smiles at Shiro and said the following. "I agree with Fate. That was a much better run then last time. You are getting there and it shows with your movements with Gaia. And because of that, I would suggest that you do some small practice with Gaia so you could get closer and closer to be better with Gaia. Just don't do what you did before ok?" She ends that with a wink making Shiro already nodding his head not wanting to repeat that issue ever again. Then he looks at his hand, his left hand and remembered that shield from before. The strange triangle shield from before. He was staring at his hand intently allowing Nanoha and Fate to look at him wondering what was up?

"Shiro what is wrong? Why are you staring at your hand?" Fate asks hoping to get an answer from the man. He stops looking at his hand and looks at the two women now ready to ask the question that bugged him. "Well, about that. Nanoha, Fate I have a question for you both."

Nanoha crossed her arms and replied. "What is the question?"

"I felt that my magic feels different from yours and Fate's. Even the shield types like Fate's circle shield while mine is a triangle. I just want to know why are they so different?" asked Shiro leaving Nanoha and Fate to understand the question. It was something that the two forgot to bring up and while they brought Mid-Childa type spells, they briefly forgot about the other types. The two were about to explain the shield types and other magic types however...

"The reason why your shield was different from Fate's is because you use a different magic type from her."

A mysterious voice said that causing Shiro to be all turned around about who was the person that said that. Then the door to the training area opened revealing a very familiar face to Nanoha and Fate. There was Yuuno who enters the room and pushed his glasses to finish answering Shiro's question. "The magic type in question you use is a magic system called Modern Belkan:a mix of Mid-Childa and Belkan while the system that Nanoha and Fate use, well I guess you already know." The librarian turns to look at Shiro which causes the young man to think about the new question that overtook the previous one:

'Who is this guy?'

So yes Yuuno made another appearance, Shiro is getting closer in being stronger and better at fighting. Now that the ferret boy is here, obliviously things will go down. What are those things you may be wondering? You will find out next time and as always I thank you guys for the support, feel free to leave any help you have to allow me to be better and be seeing guys next time!