SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Familiar... so after the first week of University I have deemed myself to be royally screwed. But I shall press on! As for the story, I noticed I got a few chuckles from my little Star Trek reference in the previous chapter... it danwed upon me, why hasn't anyone else tried it? It's almost too easy a reference. At any rate, let's go on to this one. I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or characters from that franchise, they are owned by SEGA. I also do not own Nanoha or characters from Lyrical Nanoha, Seven Arcs owns them.

[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[Meeting Room]
[No BGM]

Normally, a debriefing with the Captain of the Asura was not an uncommon thing. This was especially expected after the recent incident that the ship's resident Enforcer and Admiral had to intervene in. However, as the meetings usually involved Bureau mages and personnel it did come to a surprise to find three kids seated together at one side of the long table, all dressed in casual attire.

It was quite the humorous sight for those, Lindy and Chrono included, who had the curiosity to look at the three. More often than not, the blue hedgehog would shift in his chair in some discomfort, albeit it looked more comical and cute versus serious. If he said anything, it was all in speculated mindspeak. The brunette next to him would reach over and pat the hedgehog on the head, like it would help matters, but it only served for more comical humor. It all toned down as the debriefing went on.

"And so..." Lindy addressed the gathering, making sure that everyone was paying attention to her; including the trio of kids in the corner, "As of 00:00 today, we've officially changed our directive to the search and retrieval of the Lost Logia, the Jewel Seeds.

"This usually doesn't happen, but we've made a special exception in welcoming the discoverer of the Jewel Seeds." The woman, still seated, gestured in the direction of the tallest of the three children, "The barrier Mage."

"Hai!" Yuuno immediately took his cue and stood up straight, "I'm Yuuno Scrya."

"And assisting him in his efforts" Lindy gestured to the brunette next to him, "A mage from the local world"

"H-hai!" Nanoha immediately stood up and folded her arms just below the waist, introducing herself as well in the process, "I'm Takamachi Nanoha!"

"And..." Lindy had to restrain a snicker when she gestured to the lone short hedgehog left, "The familiar of the local mage."

"Yup; that's me" Sonic grumbled and hopped off his chair, revealing perhaps the real reasons behind all of his comical discomfort, and that was the glaring fact that his height was almost 2/3rd of the latter two children and it glaringly showed when his head and neck barely went above the table, "Sonic the Hedgehog"

"These three here will be treated as temporary members of our staff" The woman concluded her brief explanation of the trio's presence, "They will be a big help for the mission"

"Nice to meet you all" the trio bowed briefly and politely. Unfortunately this only furthered the blue hedgehog's woes. As Sonic was a little bit too close to the table, when he bowed, he inadvertently bonked his forehead on the table, fell backwards and landed on his back.

"Uwah! Sonic-kun!" Nanoha squealed in surprise and immediately knelt down to check on her familiar, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine... I'm fine" the blue hedgehog, thoroughly embarrassed, sat up and shook his head, "This is why I hate being short!"

Nanoha giggled a bit and pulled the hedgehog in her cute familiar into a cuddle-hug. It only furthered the familiar's embarrassment, but at least it put a grin on his face. Chrono, who had "only" been curious about the scene between the girl and her familiar; had to quickly turn away and hide a pinkness in his cheeks as he found himself briefly staring at Nanoha's cute face. Said action had earned him a dirty look from Yuuno, but neither Nanoha nor Sonic saw it.

[Opening: "Innocent Starter" Nana Mizuki]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar
Chapter 11
The Decisive Battle Above the Ocean

[Time-Space Administration Inter-dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[Cockpit]
[No BGM]

Lindy once again sat at her chair in the large room. The techs weren't at their stations so there didn't appear to be anyone else in the room aside from Nanoha, Yuuno and Sonic. The woman looked especially pleased with the assistance of the aforementioned trio. In her mind, it didn't feel right to just tell either Nanoha or Sonic to just back off and sit down lazily while there was a serious Lost Logia incident happening almost right in their metaphorical backyard. Despite that, she still kept a professional, but kind air about her.

"The Asura's equipped with highly advanced technology in its sensors. If a Jewel Seed so much as blinks, we'll be able to find it" The woman explained calmly as she took a quick glance around the screens, "When we find one, we'll send you three down there to seal it."

"Hai" Yuuno and Nanoha agreed without missing a beat, while Sonic still had some reservations about taking orders from people he didn't quite know too well.

"Oh, you're having us do all the dirty work" The blue hedgehog half-serious/half-joking, asked the woman, "Huh?"

"If you don't like it, we could easily leave you behind." Lindy noted, "And besides, you seem like the one who'd love the action."

"Guilty..." the blue hedgehog sighed in defeat. Was he that easy to read, or was Lindy just that good at reading him?

"Also..." the woman let out a soft chuckle, "You're lucky to be out there on the front lines, everyone else here has to do paperwork, and I'm sure you'd rather go off and fight some monster or the like versus sit around at a desk and write papers."

"Point taken" the hedgehog admitted again, oh how he disliked the unwinnable arguments.

"Captain" Amy Limietta, the resident cadet/assistant/ship bunny to Lindy addressed the older woman as she walked in, carrying a tray that held a cup of warm, freshly brewed tea, a cup of sugar and one of cream, "Your tea"

[BGM Insert: "Eeto desu ne" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

"Arigatou" the woman thanked the girl as she took three large spoonfuls of sugar, added it to her tea before also adding plenty of cream. Apparently she preferred her teas to be "just" on the sweet side.

While for some, the preferences to how sweet one takes their Green Tea are on a personal preference, there are some cultures and traditions that also apply. For Nanoha, being raised in a Japanese family and being a native, she's learned some of that culture and had initially pegged the admiral as one who appreciates the culture and was impressed. Normally, the Japanese did not sweeten their tea that much. So it came to Nanoha's complete shock when she saw just how much the woman had sweetened her tea.

Sonic, who had been right next to his mistress, couldn't help but detect some of the shocked feelings the girl had. Upon his own curiosity, he took a peek up at her face and promptly had to call upon all forms of his restraint to keep from bursting out into laughs. Nanoha had just about the cutest and most comical of surprised looks. That thousand mile stare, the wide open mouth and the fact that she was rendered speechless. She was held in such a phase for a brief moment before Lindy addressed her.

"By the way, Nanoha-san" the woman had a question that she had been meaning to ask since the girl had arrived; and it was a legitimate one, no question about that, "Is your school all right with this?"

"Hai." Nanoha confirmed with a brief nod of her head and an arm gesture, "I already gave an explanation to my friends and my family gave one to the school, so they wouldn't mind."

[Earth]
[Uminari City, Japan]
[Public Seishou Auxiliary Elementary School]
[Grade 3, Class 1]
[No BGM]

It was a nice, peaceful day for homeroom at the Elementary school. The class had almost a full house, although one particular absence was one of a particular note. The instructor addressed the class from her desk to inform them of the absent student's reason.

"And so, due to family circumstances, Takamachi-san will be absent from school for a few days." The young-looking elementary schoolteacher informed her class, "But she's not out due to illness, injury or personal tragedy, so there's no need to worry."

That last segment of news drew some sighs of relief from the classmates. The girls of note were Suzuka and Alisa, Nanoha's best friends, who both were given a deep explanation from the aforementioned girl prior to her departure to the Asura.

'I know there's not much we can do for her now.' Suzuka thought to herself, 'But at least it's nice to know that she trusts us enough to keep us informed. I wonder how Alisa-chan feels about this though.'

'At least she told us about this before she left.' Alisa neutrally just stared at the teacher and the chalkboard behind her in an absent manner, 'I've been too hard on her recently'

"While Takamachi-san is absent.." the teacher began to slowly list out some tasks that she would like one volunteer from the class to do, "I'd like to have someone take notes, collect handouts.."

"Hai!" Alisa might've broken a speed record or two in standing up from her seat and raising her right hand. She didn't give the teacher any chance to finish what she was going to ask, but it wasn't needed as just about everyone knew what it was, "I'll do it"

"Very well, Alisa-san" the woman accepted the offer easily, "I'll leave it up to you"

"Hai!" Alisa lowered her right hand and seated herself.

"Now, let's start today's homeroom!" The teacher declared, which started off the usual routines that occurred during homeroom in a Japanese elementary school.

'Wherever Nanoha-chan is…' Suzuka thought as she found herself staring in the direction of the window and the clear sky, 'I hope she's still smiling and cheerful.'

'These Time-Space whatever people better make sure they return Nanoha-chan to us safely' Alisa thought to herself with little doubt of a serious expression on her face, 'Otherwise, they'll answer to me!'

[Undisclosed Location: Inside a barrier]
[Local Time: Unknown*]

[VS: Jewel Seed Monster]
[BGM: "Normal Battle" Final Fantasy IV (Arrangement, DS/IOS/Complete Collection)]

It certainly didn't take long for the Bureau to isolate the presence of a recently activated Jewel Seed and it took even less time to get the trio of Yuuno, Nanoha and Sonic out there to take care of it. The trio was sent out there alone, but if they were to find themselves in a pinch, Chrono and Lindy would've been out there to get them out of it. For the moment it was a test.

The Jewel Seed must've possessed a bird; because this latest variant had taken a form of an avian sort. The possessed bird wasn't too big, but it had a wide wingspan and it could easily cover a lot of ground in an escape attempt. That observation from Yuuno made it clear that the main directive was to first get the bird busy enough for the boy to place it under binds.

To get the better results of a distraction, one must need the finest of live bait. In the current case, who better to be the distraction than the speedy Sonic the Hedgehog? The blue blur proved to be quite effective in snaring the possessed bird's attention while also using his speed to outmatch it to make sure that bird was going nowhere anytime soon. At the moment, the blue hedgehog, swords flashing and at work, rode the bird's back, making sure it's busy long enough for Yuuno to get a bind on it.

"Yeehaw!" The hedgehog shouted in practical glee. Live bait? No problem, he'll probably dress in drag and perform a hula dance if he felt it would've gotten a job done; a fact that only Nanoha was aware of, but she didn't plan on using it anytime soon. The blue hedgehog made two more slices at the bird's wings to weaken it further, "We're having chicken tonight! Dibs on the wings!"

"Good job, Sonic!" Yuuno, finding his human form far more comfortable for practicing magic, readied and unleashed his Chain Bind spell. Green chains of magical energy started to wrap around the possessed bird monster, starting with the wings. Luckily the hedgehog bait had jumped off the monster before the binding. The hedgehog landed just as the boy had finished his Chain Bind, "Alright, Nanoha! Your turn!"

"Okay!" the girl confirmed, bending her body down a bit to stretch. Unintentionally, her action had the effect of flashing Yuuno and Sonic her pink panties from under the skirt of her Barrier Jacket. This surprised the ferret-boy a bit and he couldn't help but stare. Sonic didn't take too much issue from it, although he did roll his eyes and bonk the resident ferret-boy on the back of the head with the hilt of one of his blades. The humorous exchange went unnoticed by Nanoha, who decided to start the sealing.

"Cannon Form" Raising Heart chimed in declaration, "Set up!"

As soon as the device shifted forms to the combined shooting and sealing form, pink strips of Nanoha's magic started to wrap around the Jewel Seed possessed bird. When it was completely immobile, the serial number to the Seed appeared in the usual form of an inscription just underneath the bird's neck and beak. The inscription read the Roman Numerals VIII.

"Lyrical Magical! Jewel Seed Serial 8" Nanoha shouted out her magical incantation and command that she wanted her magic to do, "Seal!"

"Sealing commencing!" Raising Heard declared as more pink strips engulfed the avian monster until it was completely covered. The monster appeared to squaw out in pain before it disappeared in a flash of light. There was no issue in sealing the Jewel Seed, so Nanoha was able to slowly coast down to the ground with the jewel beside her.

"Receipt No 8" Raising Heart declared as it safely stored the Jewel Seed inside, "Sealed!"

[Boss cleared]
[Jingle: "Victory Fanfare" Final Fantasy IV (Arrangement/DS/IOS/Complete Collection)]

Sonic and Nanoha, as apparently practiced in habit, performed a little victory pose and dance combo that had a mixture of cuteness and coolness. The hedgehog took a small hop off of Nanoha's hands and took a backflip before landing again. As he landed, Sonic coordinated his usual victory pose with Nanoha's, which consisted of her twirling Raising Heart in her hands skillfully a bit before thrusting it straight out somewhere.

They finished their poses at the same time and held them. If there was anything these two were missing, it would've been some fanfare of sorts. But it wasn't like they were to let that stop them from doing these poses.

"Nipaaa~" Nanoha said cutely, really having nothing negative to say about these victory poses. Coordinating these poses gave her and Sonic a good opportunity to get to know each other's personalities better. Plus, she would've been a bit dishonest if she said that she didn't find them cute.

"Anybody else suddenly hungry for chicken?" the blue hedgehog asked because, of course, "Cause fighting that big bird has given me that craving."

[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[No BGM]

Lindy and the rest of the backyard staff had watched the battle from their vantage point in the situation room of the mighty cruise warship. They weren't just watching the battle from the footage, they were also keeping an eye on all of the sensors and such, making sure nothing went awry in the sealing.

"The situation has been dealt with successfully. The Jewel Seed was sealed with no issue" one uniformed tech informed the dispatched trio over live communications, "Good job, Nanoha-chan; Yuuno-kun, Sonic-kun!"

"Hai!" Nanoha acknowledged, looking up to the video screen above their heads.

"I'll make a gate for you three" The tech further went on to request, "Please wait there for a moment."

"Hmm.. those three are really quite excellent" Lindy commented out loud no doubt intentionally so that the trio on the sealing site could hear her praise, "At this rate I may want to keep them."

While the techs were busy setting up a dimension transfer gate for the trio to return home on; Amy Limietta was busy at her station with Chrono. The two were currently trying to find leads on the mysterious Fate Testarossa.

"So this girl in black.." Amy pulled up a screen that held a picture of Fate's face and side profile. The pictures weren't all that good as they were taken from device recordings, "Her name was Fate?"

"Fate Testarossa." Chrono confirmed; adding his own opinion to the surname of the mysterious girl as well, "Sharing a family name with a great mage"

"Oh…" Amy paused and turned her chair to face the enforcer, "Is that so?"

"It's a story from a long time ago" Chrono explained some of what he had read about in reference to the Testarossa woman in reference, "In the Central city of Mid-Childa; during an experiment, this great mage caused a dimensional interference, and was banished."

"And this may have something to do with her?" Amy asked, wondering how Fate fit into the picture

"Who knows?" the teen shrugged, "It might not even be her real name."

Amy went back to her typing so she could try to isolate the location of Fate. Despite her best efforts, however, she came up blank. There were no readings from Fate's device. Which, considering her suspected magic power ranking, was odd. Either there was interference or the girl was somehow able to conceal her own power so greatly that the Bureau couldn't find her.

"No good… I can't find her at all" Amy shook her head, and turned to face the enforcer again, "Fate-chan must be using a very effective jamming barrier or something."

"Her canine familiar…" Chrono gestured to a picture of Arf in her wolf form, "She's most likely the cause of that. She's probably supporter her master."

"Thanks to that, two of the Jewel Seeds that we've found have already been taken by them" the brunette noted

"Perform a thorough search to make up for the loss." The teen enforcer ordered of the cute tech bunny worker, "We're counting on you"

"Got it" Amy once again nodded and went back to her work.

[Minutes later]
[No BGM]

Fresh from their recent Jewel Seed sealing and the slight battle with the sickly feeling from the Dimension Transfer, Nanoha, Sonic and Yuuno talked amongst each other as they walked through one of the halls of the large ship. By coincidence they passed by an odd, but beautiful painting of a naked woman with long, black flowing hair and a long pinkish red ribbon wrapped around her body. No one noticed this, though if they did, it probably wasn't best to ask about it anyway and just admire the work.

"Fate-chan didn't show up" Nanoha paused in her trek and looked down; feeling slightly saddened that she didn't have a chance to meet with her rival.

"Yeah.." Yuuno stopped as well, though he was a bit more neutral about his feelings for their apparent rivals, "She seems to be out collecting Jewel Seeds."

"We'll meet them again" Sonic, in attempt to cheer up the brunette, patted her on the shoulder, "There's no reason not to. I've still got a score or two to settle with Ms Lassie"

The girl offered no words to what Sonic or Yuuno had said. She was still troubled. Despite that, she wasn't about to let her familiar's efforts go in vain however. The girl lightly gripped the hedgehog on his shoulder and pulled him close to her in a soft embrace. A chaste one at that, as the emotional bond between these two was more on a sibling basis.

[Undisclosed Location]
[No BGM]

For Fate and Arf, their latest location lead turned out to be a big dud. The two had searched the better part of a stream of sorts that held some old, submerged ruins. The only positive thing about this little stop was the peaceful environment and mood that could take ahold of someone easily. These two were not so easily swayed however.

"Fate.." Arf, still in her wolf form, looked up to her master; whom was still clad in her usual Barrier Jacket, although for some reason her whole left arm was bandaged up; probably still from that other black-clad enforcer's spells. The wolf sighed and looked around the vicinity, not that it helped matters, "This area's no good. Looks like a dud"

"I see" Fate nodded neutrally

"We shouldn't be too surprised with these results" the wolf noted; not that she was complaining or anything, it was purely the truth, "We have the disadvantage of having to search in hiding. So that they won't be able to find us."

"Mmm.." the girl gave an agreement of a nod as she swiftly and almost in a dramatic fashion removed her bandages from her left arm with just a simple tug, "But we should do our best for just a little longer."

Sighing to herself, Arf watched as the recently removed bandage seem to just float in the wind. The wolf familiar couldn't help but have that lingering thought in her head that almost begged for them to run into their rivals again. The lingering thought's reason was due to her own initiative to save her master; and perhaps seeing a way to do so in her rivals; she just had to be sure and she wasn't. She never voiced said thoughts or feelings though, as she doubted her mistress felt the same.

[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[BGM: "Namae wo yonde" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

Ten days have passed since Nanoha and Sonic have boarded the Asura and helped the Time-Space Administration. They've obtained three more Jewel Seeds, VIII, IX and XII. Not to be shutout, Fate and Arf have been confirmed to have obtained 2 more of their own, II and V.

For the moment, Nanoha, Yuuno and Sonic were in their sleeping quarters, looking at the three Jewel Seeds they had just recently obtained. Much like the living arrangement at home, Nanoha and Sonic had opted to share their bed while Yuuno had one separate of his own. The reasons behind the unusual sleeping arrangement were actually quite recent. Originally the kids all were to have their own separate beds. Lindy had originally intended it for a few common sense reasons and she wasn't fully aware of how the kids slept on earth.

Unfortunately, she was in for a surprise when the blue hedgehog had started to get nightmares on the first night of the arrangement. The nightmares actually surprised Nanoha a little too, but she was the only one who was able to keep them at a bay and had offered to share her bed with him again, and would take any responsibilities for any possible trouble it could've caused. Sonic, for his part, didn't mind, and wasn't about to decline anything, he just wanted to have a full night's sleep. The sleeping oddities aside, the trio found themselves in their sleeping quarters looking over the 3 Jewel Seeds that they had caught.

"6 left…" Yuuno noted the rather mathematically obvious situation. All but six Jewel Seeds have been identified and secured by either party.

"We're almost on the home stretch now if that's the case" Sonic noted with a sigh as he turned to face his, albeit by a few months, older sister figure, "How are you doing, Nanoha?"

"I'll be glad when this is over…" Nanoha answered briefly, though the hugging of her knees was a telltale sign as to how she truly felt at the moment, "Fate-chan hasn't been found yet, still.."

"Knowing our luck.." the hedgehog sighed, "We'll run into them again."

That wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last time that Sonic had said those words to his master. That line had come up oh about 3 times in the past week, but the optimism was still there.

[Situation room]
[No BGM]

Despite the successful sealings of Jewel Seeds in the past 10 days, the last six were still unaccounted for. Lindy, Chrono and Amy all patiently sat at their chairs respective to their own position. For the most part, their search was isolated to the planet Earth and that was where the Jewel Seeds had landed. When the Jewel Seeds were inactive, their power barely registered on anyone's sensor; even with the advanced tech of the Time-Space Administration.

"The last six…" the woman thoughtfully pressed her gloved hand to her chin, "We still haven't detected any of them yet."

"We just expanded our search area to cover more than just the land. Since we are near a large ocean, it's quite possible that they've sunk into it" Chrono noted from his position, "Amy is also working hard to locate them and the girl in black."

"I see…" Lindy acknowledged the report. The woman let out a small sigh before standing up in her chair and stretched as if to indicate that she was about to leave the room, "Keep at it, let me know if anything shows up."

"Where are you going?" Chrono asked in some curiosity.

"While we have the time, I'm going to have a word with Nanoha-san and Sonic-san" the woman explained briefly as she started to walk out of the room, "There are a few things I've been meaning to ask them since they arrived here"

"Alright then" the boy was somewhat curious as to what his mother was thinking, but decided not to press the issue, "I'll inform you of any updates."

[Mess hall/Cafeteria]
[No BGM

The end of another fruitless search for the Jewel Seeds did a number on Nanoha's spirits, but she was still optimistic. She, Yuuno and Sonic discussed a little bit about their empty handed search results. Well she and Yuuno talked, Sonic was a little bit too busy enjoying the snacks.

"We came up empty handed again today" the girl sighed a bit

"It may take a while before we get them all." Yuuno noted before his demeanor changed to an apologetic one, "Nanoha, I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Nanoha paused a moment from a snack of her own. Heck even Sonic did so as well, the ferret boy's statement came out of left field.

"Aren't you lonely?" came the boy's question. Well-intentioned and for good reason; he probably felt that Nanoha might have felt lonely being away from her friends and family.

"Not really. I'm not lonely here at all. I'm here with you, Yuuno-kun, and.." the girl took a bite from her cookie then wrapped her arm around Sonic, who just happened to be sitting next to her, and pulled him into a little cute one-armed hug, "Sonic-kun's here too."

"Wha- hey hey hey!" Sonic flailed somewhat cutely, though there was no way he's going anywhere anytime soon, "my cookies.."

"I'm more or less okay with being by myself as well." The girl was not too shy to admit to her faults and reasoning, easily opening her heart to those who would listen, "When I was little, I was all alone a lot of the time..

[BGM Insert: "Yasuragi" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

"Back when I was really little, my dad got into an accident at work and he couldn't move out of bed." The girl went on to explain a bit about her father's "accident" that happened when she was a little kid. If she had known then what she had knew now or at least suspected; she would've had the feeling that it wasn't her father's first accident, but it probably would've been his last in his previous job.

"He was just opening up the café, so it wasn't as popular as it was now. Because of that, kaa-san and Onii-chan were always busy." She had such vivid memories of her past and could never forget how she felt at the time, "Onee-chan was always taking care of tou-san. So until recently, I was all alone at the house a lot of the time.

"Even now I still think about how I felt back then. Everyone else had something they could do, but me. And I felt useless; with my small hands; I felt that if I could finally find something that I could do, I wouldn't feel so sad or useless." The girl finished on, "That's why I'm kind of used to being alone."

"That's why you jumped at the chance to save my life.." Sonic noted in reflection as the information and wheels clicked in his head, "Even if it meant binding our lives or something and getting involved in this, even despite the dangers."

"If you put it that way" the girl didn't deny it, "I know that this feeling would make me selfish, but if I saved you and helped Yuuno-kun with the Jewel Seeds, I would finally have something that I could do; something to get rid of that useless feeling."

"I see…" Yuuno absorbed the information from the brief but revealing exchange. The boy's thoughts went from the girl to the hedgehog, remembering some of the similarities between the two. He couldn't help but wonder if that was why Raising Heart bonded with them both so quickly, that they were of the proper nature.

"Come to think of it" Nanoha suddenly decided to change the subject, because, well of course, "I don't know much about your family, Yuuno-kun"

"Yeah.." The boy blinked a bit, surprised by the quick change and was about to talk about himself a bit and the similarities he had with the brunette. However he never had the chance as either by poor timing or design, Lindy's voice interrupted the chat.

"Will Nanoha-san and Sonic-san please come to my office please?" the woman requested, "I'd like to have a word with you both."

"eh?" Nanoha blinked rapidly and stood up, completely taken by surprise

"Now that came from left field." The hedgehog noted as he rose from his chair as well, "Rain check?"

"Sure.." Yuuno nodded and watched as the two went off toward the hallways, their course dead set for the admiral's office. The boy couldn't help but wonder why the admiral wished to speak with just the two of them, they couldn't be in trouble, could they?

[Office of Admiral Lindy Harlaown]
[No BGM]

For Sonic and Nanoha, they were quite surprised to find that their summoning to Lindy's office wasn't for reasons of a scolding or anything. The woman had politely invited them to sit down on her little tea mat set and offered them sweets and refreshments. There was little doubt that the woman had wanted to ask the two a few things; she just took a different approach. The idea of the approach was to give the children the "mother figure they could trust" aura.

"Thank you for coming" Lindy kindly smiled to them; easily giving off that motherly, kind vibe, "I hope my summoning wasn't too much of an inconvenience"

"Not at all." Nanoha quickly answered. She was nervous somewhat, but her nerves were noticeably fading, "We were about to ask Yuuno-kun about his family after I told him a little about me."

"I promise I won't take too much of your time" the woman said as she poured some tea into separate cups for the young children, "There are just a few things that I'd like to ask you."

"They wouldn't happen to have anything to do with how we're sleeping, would it?" Sonic asked; having a legitimate cause for such

"I'll admit that is unusual and I am curious, but it's something I feel that will be answered as we go" Lindy shook her head, levelling a stern look at the hedgehog, "After all, kids of your age usually don't' get nightmares unless they witnessed something so terrible that it would cause haunting memories."

"H-hai.." Sonic flinched from the look and found his gloved hand gripping the sleeve of Nanoha's shirt, "I don't suppose scary movies count?"

"At your age, yes, but I know that's not the reason" Lindy noted, "You're not like the usual familiars. Most are created under contracts and take on a human form. You do not appear to have that."

"That would probably be because I didn't give him one" Nanoha admitted guiltily, "When I made him my familiar, I didn't want to change his form and make him feel uncomfortable"

"That's actually his natural form?" the woman, despite her experience, couldn't help her skeptical feelings about the matter.

"Yup" Sonic answered without missing a beat; anybody else he'd probably make a sarcastic joke, but Lindy was one of the few that could unnerve the boy, so he decided not to push it.

"Why would he not be comfortable with a human form? He doesn't sound or act any older than you" the woman, playing with a little bit of house money, pressed her curiosity, "And I'd like him to answer this one."

"I'm not exactly a fan of humans." Sonic quickly admitted and glanced to the other two to see how they reacted. For the most part, Nanoha had a little frown but she knew why and knew that he was improving. Lindy allowed herself to look surprised slightly for a brief moment before calmly taking a sip from her cup.

"Understandable; if you aren't fond of us, then you shouldn't be forced to take our form." The woman made no attempt to criticize the blue hedgehog, "Though, this does raise the question as to why."

"On our world, he's from a chain of islands known as South Island" Nanoha noted quickly, "I don't know if you've heard of the islands."

"Yuuno-san mentioned it to me recently" Lindy nodded in confirmation, "Apparently from what he could gather. South Island was recently under attack by a scientist identified as Eggman; and Sonic-san was apparently there. He didn't appear to know the reasons, perhaps our hedgehog could elaborate?"

"Alright…I'm not going to be able to keep this under wraps for much longer" The blue hedgehog let out a defeated sigh, "The reports that the Tutorial Ferret probably told you also said that Eggman's base was destroyed"

"Hai, I read that in the paper" Nanoha chimed in this time, knowing full well what Sonic was about to say next, but she wasn't so confident that Lindy was as informed, "It said that the Doctor's base was destroyed quickly and suddenly, and no one knows how"

"Well, that was me." Sonic said without missing a beat, his expression serious, "I was the one hedgehog wrecking crew that put Eggman out of commission."

"Just you?" Lindy couldn't contain her surprise the second time and just stared at the blue boy in disbelief, "You against what could be the equivalent of an army?"

"Never said I had it easy. I still remember the first day.." The hedgehog went on to explain, in such a detailed way, just how he single-handedly bested Eggman and his mechanic menace. Travelling through such beautiful zones, but having to battle all of his friends as they were turned into robots; it was tough. Sonic felt some tears in his eyes as he admitted to that, "And I still remember everything today. The smell of smog, the ash in the air, the feeling of cold steel on my quills, pungent odors, although that last one could've been Eggman's breath. It's hard to forget.. and especially the bad breath! I swear does that old geezer know of these things called breath mints?"

The ladies couldn't help but give the hedgehog a little chuckle for his efforts of a joke, but they both knew that he was almost close to breaking down. For such an almost traumatic experience to happen to Sonic; it was appalling. Nanoha was the closest to her familiar and she couldn't help but notice the tears threatening to fall from his face.

Before she could let the blue hedgehog burst into tears and interrupt the story, Nanoha pulled her familiar into a little cuddle. She calmed his nerves somewhat with the kind embrace and the cute little pats on the head. Lindy thought of the display as cute, and had she not pegged them for siblings, she almost would've had a lingering thought that they were a couple. She knew better and kept listening.

"It's been a while since then; but it's hard to forget and I can't help but wonder what would've happened if I had failed.." Sonic admitted with a sigh, "I wanted to take my mind off of everything, so I decided to take a vacation. I wanted to think that most humans weren't like Eggman; but I couldn't be sure. At least not until I met Nanoha"

"It was against the first Jewel Seed." Nanoha noted just to be specific, "He almost died too… and was about ready to give up on everything too until I… um…"

"Slapped me in the face and made me her familiar" the hedgehog finished with a cute grin, lighting the poor girl's cheeks pink in embarrassment, "Wicked left palm"

"And that was the start of your friendship?" Lindy drew the conclusion; she couldn't help but see the irony in it. Nanoha was probably one of the nicest girls she'd seen; and the girl would've gone so far as to slap someone if it got her message through.

"And since then my family's taken him in and he's like a brother to me" Nanoha eased up and actually sent a little teasing smile to him, "My younger brother."

"By maybe two months!" The blue hedgehog countered in exasperation, "Do you have to get that technical?"

"I'm impressed by you both even more now." Lindy interrupted their little exchange with a serene expression on her face, "Though one of you may not act like it, I can tell that you both have an air of maturity."

"Eh what?" Sonic stared at the woman in confusion, "Mature? Us?"

"I don't know how many other nine year olds who would've done what you did" the woman explained her reasoning, "Some others would've put their metaphorical tails between their legs and got out of dodge; yet here you two are, willing to take on the dangers."

"My reasons are a bit selfish though" Nanoha noted, "I didn't want to feel so useless like I did when I was young and alone.."

"Your intentions are still pure and you're still a nice girl besides that" Lindy smiled, "You two are such good kids; and I hope after this is over we'll all be able to get to know each other better."

"Hai.." Nanoha smiled in agreement, "Yuuno-kun too"

[BGM Insert: "Raikou Shuurai" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

Much like most picturesque and cute moments, this one never lasted long either. Within a matter of seconds, the whole office quarters had loud alarms sounding out throughout. Were it not for the fact that the room was so large, the three inside might've gone deaf or close.

"Emergency!" a male tech's voice sounded out through the speakers, "A large magical reaction has just been detected"

"Aw.. it never fails" Sonic quipped in some sarcasm, "Get a picturesque moment and trouble starts brewing."

[Earth]
[Somewhere above the ocean]
[BGM: "Raikou Shuurai" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

Fate and Arf must've caught the memo about the possibility that the Jewel Seeds were sunk underwater and they didn't let the detail go by the wayside. The two were up high above the coast of Japan. Either it was in desperation or a lack of patience, or probably both, but Fate was starting to prepare a high-powered spell. Arf patiently watched as her mistress readied a spell to hopefully force a Jewel Seed's activation.

"Alcus Curtas Agias..." Fate began to chant as she floated in mid-air high above a large magic circle of her mana color, yellow. As she chanted, lightning started to stir up from her own power, "Swift glimmering thunder, fall under my guidance now. Paruer Zaruer Brouzel…"

'The Jewel Seeds are probably under the ocean. So your plan is to pour a stream of lightning-based magic into the ocean and force an activation to determine the exact location,' Arf broke down Fate's plan in her mind, she didn't approve of it that much, 'This isn't something she hasn't done before… but Fate…'

"To pound is lightning, to echo is thunder. Alcus Curtas Agias…" Fate chanted as what appeared to be a large yellow eye appeared over her head, glowing yellow in her magic color. The one eye soon multiplied into 8 and became linked by magical lightning flowing in between them all. With a loud shout, Fate unleashed her powerful spell Thunder Fall spell and shot the lightning into the water.

The magical lighting had created a huge chain reaction with the water. The waters swelled up in the magical storm. Thank goodness nobody was out there on boats or anything because the waters were dangerous. Far more than just some radical waves for those who spoke surfer lingo.

From within the yellow magic circle came one stream of light-blue power. Then another, and another; it appeared that the magic spell did the trick in activating the Jewel Seeds. There was little doubt that Fate was going to be successful, the question would be how many Seeds would be activated in her spell. Three more streams came up suddenly, signifying the activation of the last 6 Jewel Seeds.

"Found them…." Fate said weakly, her magic reserves had taken a huge hit from that activation spell and she was gasping to catch her breath, "The last six.."

'Pouring this much magic and intending to seal all of them at once?!' Arf 's concern for her mistress far outweighed the amazement she might've felt at the display of pure power Fate had shown in her spell, 'Even with Fate's magic power and reserves, we're going to be well past her limit!'

"Arf!" Fate backed up a bit in her flight and called to her familiar, "Please set up a spatial barrier and back me up."

"Sure, leave it to me!" Arf confirmed the order and slowly began to focus her own power, 'So no matter who comes, no matter what happens, I'll protect Fate!'

The magic-induced chain reaction continued to storm about. Though they were both caught up in the magic storm, they all managed to hold their own in flight. It was tough, but not impossible. Arf went to work with a barrier spell. She was determined to protect Fate, probably more determined than Fate was to capture the Jewel Seeds.

"Let's go, Bardiche." Fate said to her ax-form device, "We'll do our best."

[Dimensional Space (Earth Orbit)]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[No BGM]

It took a dead sprint for Nanoha, Sonic and Lindy to get into the situation room, but they had all arrived there just in time to watch the fireworks. The display screen in the situation room had shown a shaky, but live feed of Fate's forced activation of the remaining 6 Jewel Seeds. The tactics utilized by the black-clad mage drew frowns and disapproving expressions from the Bureau members.

"What does she think she's doing?" Lindy was appalled by the actions and she couldn't help but stare, "It's so unreasonable it's disgusting."

"Not to mention reckless; she'll get herself killed by doing that" Chrono added as the feed showed Fate battled with the storm and the Jewel Seeds, "It's beyond the limits of how much magic power one can emit.."

"Ano.." Nanoha couldn't take any more of watching Fate almost get herself killed in that storm. She just had to help the girl, she had to; both she and Sonic looked about ready to head out there "I'll head out to the site immediately!"

"That won't be necessary." Chrono levelled a stern look on both the girl and her familiar, "Leave her alone, she'll ruin herself out in that storm."

[BGM Insert: "Yogizashi" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

Nanoha paused and her familiar followed suit. Nanoha just couldn't believe what she had just heard. Sonic had a better clue, but he wasn't about to lose his temper over a misheard quote or something of the like.

"Even if she doesn't ruin herself in the storm" Chrono went on with his cold demeanor, "We can smite her easily when all of her power has been spent."

"No wa-!" the hedgehog started but Nanoha quickly gripped his mouth to silence him

"B-but!" Nanoha found herself fighting two dangerous battles. The first was pleading with the teen enforcer while the second battle was keeping her familiar from losing his temper.

"We should prepare to capture her now" Chrono started issuing orders to the staff.

"Hai!" the tech and officer personnel affirmed the orders

[Earth]
[Site of the 6 Jewel Seeds activation]
[BGM: "Yogizashi" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

Talk about losing battles, Fate and Arf seemed to be right in the middle of their own as they both found themselves battling the massive storm and magic chain reaction of their own doing. The blonde had Bardiche's Arc Saber activated, but it soon shorted out as she was dangerously low on her magic reserves.

"No good.." Fate was grasping for breath metaphorically as her exhaustion started to really slow her down. The girl soon found herself thrown about in the storm again as she futilely tried to fight, "ugh.."

"FATE!" Arf shouted as she tried to get to her master and support her but the storm just wouldn't let her. The wolf was soon zapped and thrown back, "Aaaack!"

[Dimensional Space (Earth Orbit)]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[BGM: "Yogizashi" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

Nanoha found herself staring at the view screen again, watching helplessly as Fate and Arf continued to struggle against the Perfect Storm that was of their making. Sonic had cooled his temper down, albeit reduced to grumblings, but at least Nanoha didn't have to worry about him going after. Lindy, remarkably so, kept her calm and was willing to share her own experience in the matter.

"We must always make the best choice for the situation." The woman said calmly but still with a serious demeanor. She didn't like what it had to come to, but she kept her personal feelings from interfering with her duties, "Even if it may seem cruel to you both, that's the reality of the situation. If you two went out there now, there's a good possibility that you could get hurt and you have family and friends waiting for you at home"

That last point was the proverbial exclamation point. If Nanoha and Sonic were to get themselves killed as a result from going out there; they would've burdened Lindy among others with that painful and regretful house call at the Takamachi residence. For Sonic, Nanoha's life was especially important to protect because if she dies, he'll die as well.

Despite that, the two still were not willing to just stand pat and watch Fate and Arf put their lives in jeopardy. Not while they were both able to do something about it. With Raising Heart, their magic power and reserves at full strength; they were able to do something. Yuuno, who had opted to stand close to the entrance, was able to easily read that determination.

"Go!" the boy said to them suddenly in mindspeak. The two blinked and turned to face the young archeologist. Yuuno offered them a friendly smile, "Go on and help. I'll open a gate for you two."

"But, Yuuno-kun" Nanoha tried to argue with the boy; arguing that he shouldn't have to get in trouble just to help them "The fact that I wish to talk to Fate has nothing to do with you!"

"She's right" Sonic added, "This is our battle; don't put your own tail on the line just to help us out."

"That may be true" The boy noted, but still with that determined grin on his face, "But you've both been a big help for me since we first met, and now it's time that I start returning the favor. You both were there to help me when I needed it the most, now I can start being a help to you two when you're in trouble. That's what friends are for, am I right?"

Before anyone could do anything to stop him, Yuuno opened the dimensional gate that would lead down to the site. The boy had made up his mind; he was going to help out his friends. The boy stepped aside so the duo would have a clear path to the gate.

"You!" Chrono looked at the young boy in shock.

"Last one to the gate's a rotten egg!" Sonic grinned and revved up his feet into that trademark figure 8 motion that was his Super Peel-Out. At the last second before he launched off, he gripped Nanoha by the wrist, "On second thought; you get a free ride."

"Weeeee!" Nanoha pretty much resigned herself to enjoy the ride that her speedy familiar was giving her. After all she was only going to be missing that feeling of her feet on the ground for less than a minute if that.

Lindy and Chrono were taken by surprise at the sudden actions of the three; so much so that there was nothing that they could've done to stop them. Lindy gasped in surprise and her face had quickly lost any calmness that she had. A slight feeling of fear leaked to her face for a moment. Chrono was surprised, despite being unable to do anything, the enforcer settled for leveling a stern glare at Yuuno. Chrono's glare was countered with one of Yuuno's own as the boy spread his arms out protectively in front of the duo in the gate.

"I'm really sorry about this" Nanoha informed the crew in the room, her voice clear and full of determination, "Takamachi Nanoha is going to disobey orders and take action on her own!"

"You can count the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog in that too" Sonic added with a cocky pose and smirk, "Wherever she goes, I go."

"Transport to a location within that girl's barrier!" Yuuno made a few motions with his hands to make a magic command for the gate the two were in front of, "Transport for this girl and the boy with her."

Within seconds, magic light engulfed Sonic and Nanoha and they found themselves warped away into the gate. Their destination confirmed as anywhere within Fate and Arf's barrier. The two were off of the ship before anyone could react and stop them.

[Earth]
[Site of the Jewel Seeds activation]
[BGM: "Unkai wo nukete" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

The Dimensional Transfer put Sonic and Nanoha high up into the skies just above the barrier that Fate and Arf were inside. The girl and hedgehog duo closed their eyes as they were in a freefall downward. Neither of them minded it really, in fact it was quite nice to have the wind blowing behind their backs. A cool breeze; if one was to put it in one way.

"Let's go, Raising Heart" Nanoha commanded to Raising Heart, the ever-so-trustworthy device attached to her neck, "As the winds fill the sky and the stars fill the heavens, so shall my heart fill with courage, and my hands with magic! Raising Heart, set up!"

"Alright!" Raising Heart chimed as its master and familiar fell into the clouds, "Standby ready!"

The transformation of the duo created a bright flash of light that could be seen through a dark cloud above Fate's head. Both the blonde and her familiar turned their heads and paused in their efforts to see just who was behind this new intervention. She and Arf were greeted to the sight of Nanoha slowly descending from the clouds.

Arf was immediately taken by surprise at the new intruder's entrance. Fearing that the white-clad girl may try to get into Fate's way, the wolf broke free of the electrical binds that the storm magic had wrapped around her feet due to the influence of all 6 Jewel Seeds and rushed for her.

"Don't get in Fate's way!" the wolf shouted as she quickly covered the distance between herself and the rival mage in a matter of seconds. Before Arf could get any closer to the girl, a familiar blue spin-dash launched downward from the same clouds that the girl came down. The wolf familiar easily recognized her counterpart and had to stop when a sky-blue Round Shield spell appeared between herself and the hedgehog, "Y-you?!"

"Chill out, Lassie!" Sonic shouted at his wolf counterpart as he uncurled from his spin-dash, wielding his twin kodachi blades in a cross-armed defensive stance, "We're on your side right now!"

"This is absurd!" Chrono practically shouted in a direct communication link between the Asura and the scene via Raising Heart, "What the hell are you two doing?!"

"I'm really sorry. We'll both apologize properly later for disobeying orders, but I can't just leave her alone!" Nanoha answered back quickly, surprising the teen enforcer with her resolve, "I'm sure that she's all on her own! It's lonely, being all on your own. I understand that."

"If we don't stop the Jewel Seeds now; they'll only get worse." The blue hedgehog dispelled his shield spell, sheathed his twin kodachi, and then held out his gloved hands to begin focusing his magic power to cover Arf in his aura a little bit, "This should top you off."

"Why?" The wolf had only one word to ask of her counterpart as she found some of the injuries and pains from braving the storms, although most of them minimal at best, were healed by the hedgehog's magic.

"Do I really need a reason to help out someone who needs it?" the hedgehog countered that question with his own. Inside, he was almost jumping for joy, that was the first time he had successfully casted the Physical Heal; a spell that Yuuno had rushed to teach him. He couldn't help but grin a little when he saw the wolf stare at him in awe and surprise, "You look pretty cute with that thousand mile stare of yours"

"O-oy!" even through her wolf form, Arf still couldn't help but blush a bit at her counterpart's compliment. She had a feeling that he was doing so just to make her laugh, but she wasn't about to lower herself to fall for such a trick by someone lower on the food chan than she was.

"Gotcha!" the hedgehog smirked in cockiness; though it was quickly replaced by a serious demeanor that one almost would've thought impossible for Sonic. He quickly readied himself up to cast the Chain Bind spell he had again picked up in magic training; "At any rate, our girlies are going to need some help in sealing this whole mess, so back me up here!"

The hedgehog immediately went to work on his own to support Nanoha with Chain Binding spells. Although Sonic didn't have as much power to the bindings as say Arf or a certain Tutorial Ferret, he had quicker casting speeds so he made up for the lack of power with the speed and number of binds. The chains he made wrapped around one of the waterspouts from the storm and easily made short work of it.

With the coverage of her familiar working to take care of the waterspouts in her path, Nanoha was easily able to fly and navigate through the lightning storms over to Fate's location. She slowed down just as she saw the girl.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha called out as she floated right beside her apparent rival, "We need to stop the Jewel Seeds!"

The white-clad mage held her device out close to Bardiche and the orb of the staff began to glow. Fate, exhausted and almost out of her reserves and probably was preparing for the worse, was completely shocked to see that her rival was actually starting to use the Divide Energy spell to share her mana. In no time, her reserves were replenished.

"Sir!" Bardiche declared informatively to Fate as steam was finally released from its head and the Arc Saber regenerated, "Power has been charged!"

[BGM Insert: "Uchinuite, yoru mo kurayami mo" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

"Divide Energy is complete Master" Raising Heart added to Nanoha.

Fate was held speechless in her shock. It was an understandable feeling as well. She had been rather cold to the white-clad mage that she had continually considered a rival. Nothing she did could've earned the girl's help or support. Despite all of that, here was the white girl again, coming to her aid when she was in a bind; it just didn't make sense.

"We'll split it evenly into halves" Nanoha offered, "I'll take one half, and you take the other."

Meanwhile, containing the output of an extremely power chain reaction that were the six Jewel Seeds activated together at once proved to be quite the issue for just one little hedgehog. This was the only way he could think of that could calm the storms. He knew that his speed was certainly enough to stir up the wind a ton, but this wasn't a natural storm he was dealing with. Unfortunately magic storms call for magic solutions and the battle he was getting from the waterspouts was starting to bug him.

"Grah… and I thought navigating an underwater labyrinth on minimum air was tough!" Sonic grumbled as he found himself thrown back a little bit by a shockwave and tried to regain his focus on the binds. Fortunately he wasn't all alone as a Chain Bind spell of an orange magic color joined the fray and added to his own bindings. Looking to his right, Sonic had the pleasant surprise to find that Arf had lent her support, "Just in time, Arf"

"Later!" The wolf, for lack of a better term, barked at her counterpart. She had conflicting and confusing opinions, but she knew well enough that they could settle their rivalry later.

For the moment, the combined efforts of the familiars were keeping the magical storm at bay. The Chain Bind spell may have been one of the more basic of binding spells as most mages were able to learn it. But, in this case, the chains were able to lock onto the waterspouts from the magical storm. If pulled off right, their masters should have enough time to seal the Jewel Seeds.

"Sonic-kun and Arf are stopping the storm for us, so now's the only chance we'll get!" Nanoha said as she started to ascend up into the sky, "On my signal, let's seal all of the Jewel Seeds in one shot!"

"Cannon Mode!" Raising Heard declared as it shifted into the combined shooting and sealing mode once again.

Unsure and confused, Fate glanced at Bardiche then at the white-clad mage she had called her rival. She once again found herself baffled by the girl's motives and actions. With Nanoha, she had found herself swerving back and forth to avoid the magical lightning. Luckily she was able to either avoid or lightly graze any lighting close to her.

'When I was all alone, and feeling lonely, the one thing that I wanted people to do most wasn't to ask me if I was all right, or to be nice to me.' Nanoha thought to herself in reflection; her thoughts of optimism and determination fueling her resolve. The girl finally got high enough to place a large pink magic circle glyph suspended in mid-air. The purpose of the glyph was for her to have a solid footing in the air, and she would need it to concentrate her power. The brunette looked down at her black clad rival and locked eyes with her again.

"Glaive Form, set up." Bardiche declared as it morphed its head to the spear-tipped hybrid Sealing and bombardment form much similar to Raising Heart's cannon form.

"Bardiche?" the blonde was surprised by her device's sudden shift. For the moment, she knew what she had to do. She locked eyes with her apparent rival and was greeted with a cute wink in return. Though Fate didn't notice, her cheeks flushed a light pink color.

"Divine Buster, full power" Nanoha declared as she held Raising Heart upward, "You can do it, right Raising Heart?"

"All right, my master" the device confirmed as pink magical wings were generated just underneath the head of the device.

With a flick of her wrist, Nanoha focused her magic power which caused the large glyph to expand. Not to be outdone, Fate had created a large magic glyph of her own and Bardiche sprouted two pairs of magical wings in an X-pattern. With the storms held at bay by their familiars, the mages gathered as much magical power as they could. To seal all six Jewel Seeds in one shot, it would take a tremendous amount of power. With their power combined, Nanoha and Fate had a good shot at sealing them.

"Set!" Nanoha shouted out the signal to coordinate and synchronize the combined sealing shot to her rival.

"Thunder…." Fate declared out loud as a small burst of magic shot down to bind all six of the Jewel Seeds for the first stage of her spell.

"Divine…" Nanoha shouted as she focused mana to form a ball at the tip of Raising Heart's cannon form. Her targets were set as the six Jewel Seeds in the water, bound by Fate's lightning.

"Rage!" Fate stabbed the center of her magic circle with Bardiche. In doing so, she unleashed the second stage of her spell. The Jewel Seeds, which were already bound by lightning, were hit further by the powerful resounding boom of thunder. By itself the damage wouldn't be enough to deactivate and seal the Jewel Seeds.

"Buster!" Nanoha unleashed her powerful bombardment spell, engulfing all six Jewel Seeds with her magic. Much like the original Divine Buster, the Full Power variation was more suited for wide-area aimed bombardment. Or for those who'd prefer the video game terminology, her spell was suited for Area-of-Effect damage.

The two spells combined and caused an even bigger chan reaction that easily overpowered all six of the Jewel Seeds in the ocean. While the combined impact of their spells did also create explosions and reactions in the water and environment; luckily they were nowhere near any civilization so the only damage to note was the crumbling of some of the rocks and cliffs nearby. Although there were some rather unnaturally high surf and swells to the ocean, the body of water was well big and deep enough for it to be downgraded to merely rough waters.

[Dimensional Space (Earth Orbit)]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[No BGM]

The sensors on the Asura reacted to the sudden change in the signal that came from the Jewel Seeds. One of the displays showed the active status of the Jewel Seeds detected. One by one, the blips that represented the Seeds turned green as if to signal their sealing.

"The sealing of all six Jewel Seeds has been confirmed!" Amy Limietta reported to the admiral and enforcer on deck.

"What an irresponsible action." Chrono commented, though his demeanor was one of exasperation, which was an improvement to the outrage he was in earlier.

"But still that was amazing.." Lindy couldn't keep her surprise from her face. She also felt relief that despite the reckless actions, both Nanoha and Sonic were relatively unharmed.

[Earth]
[Sealing site near the ocean]
[No BGM]

Despite the victorious feeling Sonic had, he elected not to perform any victory dances. At least not until the Jewel Seeds were secured in a device or two. Arf was almost next to him, watching Fate as she and Nanoha floated close to one another.

What used to be a major storm had calmed down to a gentle rain. Under the overcast sky with the sunlight shining through the clouds; all six Jewel Seeds floated up in between the two mages ready to be stored in any device, be it Bardiche or Raising Heart.

'To share the same feelings… to split the loneliness, the sadness in half…I finally understand it now… What I want to share with her..' Nanoha came to that realization of her own feelings as she looked at Fate's face and their reflections in the Jewel Seeds. Suddenly, the brunette placed her right hand over her heart, a gesture that confused her rival-apparent further "I want to be friends with you."

That statement had Fate gasping in shock and surprise. Friends? That was what the girl wanted from her? The fact that Nanoha had said it with her sincerest feelings from the heart quashed any idea that she was just trying to play any deception games. As if she could've gotten an answer from him, Arf leveled a confused and questioning look in his direction, only to be given a shrug and grin in return.

[Dimensional Space (Earth Orbit)]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[No BGM]

Just when it seemed like everything was going to turn out for the better, something just has to happen to ruin it. That probably would've been the shared thoughts and feeling for the backyard staff on board the Asura as their alarms went haywire again.

"Dimensional interference!" Amy called out in shock, "A magical attack is heading for not only our ship, but the combat air zone as well. The attack is coming from another dimension! Impact incoming!"

In a matter of seconds a burst of magical lightning impacted the Asura. Luckily the armor absorbed the impact and all it really did was knock a few of the staff folks off of their seats. While Chrono had used his mother's chair to keep him from falling, he was taken by surprise when she stood up and stormed away from her chair with the all too familiar card device in hand.

"Captain?!" Chrono stood and watched as his mother stepped toward the dimensional gate.

"You're in charge, until I get back. This is something I need to see for myself" the woman explained her reasoning as she also grabbed Yuuno by the arm and pulled him into the gate with her, "I'm going to need your support on this as well."

"H-hai.." Poor Yuuno was completely blind sighted by the woman's actions and the best he could do was just tag along for the ride.

[Earth]
[Combat Air Zone]
[BGM: "ugokidasu shukumei" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

The purple stream of magical lightning struck an area close to where the group and Jewel Seeds were. Nanoha was completely taken by surprise and was rightfully confused. Her familiar was also a bit confused, but he voiced it in the form of his annoyance and sassiness.

"Of course" Sonic grumbled as he gripped his swords and unsheathed them, holding them in the usual grip style, "Just when we have a nice, cute moment; something just has to come and ruin it!

"Kaa-san!" Fate immediately recognized the spell or rather who was behind it.

The lightning, almost like it was controlled, struck Fate hard. The poor blonde squealed in pain as she fought a losing battle to maintain consciousness. It didn't take long for her to lose it and fall down toward the ocean.

"Fate!" Nanoha called after the girl, only to be knocked away with a graze of the lightning that came from when she was close to the blonde. She was blown away, but luckily Sonic was able to grab her before her momentum could take her into the drink.

Arf immediately shifted to her wolf-woman form and caught her master just before splashdown. After securing the blonde in a bridal carry; the familiar flew up to the Jewel Seeds, hoping that she could secure them. Unfortunately, she found her path blocked by the bluish-silver spearhead device Lindy Harlaown.

"Don't get in our way!" Arf shouted as she pushed the tip of the device away and sent a point-blank spell into the tall woman's gut.

Lindy had only taken minimal damage from the spell itself; however that still didn't change the fact that she was on a crash course to land in the rough ocean. Thankfully her fall was broken by a well-timed floater field spell, courtesy of Yuuno Scrya, who was there specifically to back up Lindy defensively should she need it.

Arf could care less about if the woman was helped or not, her main concern was securing the Jewel Seeds. She looked up at there the six originally were and gasped in surprise when she found the number of seeds was cut in half.

"There's only three?!" Arf, almost franticly with her unconscious master in her grasp, grabbed the three that she could grab and looked around in search for the other three. She finally found them, but not in favorable hands.

Lindy, with that stern expression on her face that gave off the telltale sign of experience, held out her left hand. In between her fingers were three of the Jewel Seeds. With the wolf-woman only able to watch helplessly, Lindy willed the three seeds to be transferred from her hands to her staff. The device let out a bit of steam as it accepted the now inactive Jewel Seeds.

"Captured, boss!" the device declared in a mechanical male voice

"Thank you, Durandal." The woman said to her device, softly, but with meaning behind her words.

Her temper finally unable to be contained, Arf roared as she flung a spell bullet down into the water. The impact created another waterspout, that, while it was minor, it had done an effective job in making a diversion to cover her escape.

[Dimensional Space (Earth Orbit)]
[Time-Space Administration Inter-Dimensional Cruise Patrol Warship "Asura"]
[BGM: "Ugokidasu shukumei" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]

It wasn't often that his mother would leave him in charge, but Chrono was well educated in the protocols. Not that he needed them for the moment; the right course of action was well obvious. Arf was about to escape with Fate and the inter-dimensional attack had proved to be an effective cover.

"Don't let them escape!" Chrono ordered out to the crew, "Capture them!"

"It's no good!" a uniformed officer replied, "The lightning strike has stopped half of our systems from working!"

[No BGM]

The wave of lightning had expired as soon as Fate and Arf left the world. An eerie silence fell among the crew on board the Asura for a moment as the gravity of the situation settled in. There was another party that was completely unaccounted for. The party was most likely linked to Fate and her motives in collecting the Jewel Seeds. The crew of the Asura wasn't worried about that for the moment; they were more concerned about the possibility of another attack.

"25 seconds until all functions are restored!" a uniformed tech officer informed Chrono, the enforcer who was in charge while his mother was in the field, "We won't be able to keep up with them!"

"Leave them then. Put up any anti-magic defenses until our power has been fully restored" Chrono ordered; knowing full well the uselessness of chasing the wild geese, "Prepare for another attack!"

"Hai, (Sir!)" the crew confirmed the orders and went to work

"Also.." the teen added in his orders, "Retrieve Nanoha, Sonic, Yuuno and Admiral Harlaown."

[Earth]
[Air Combat Zone]
[No BGM]

The inter-dimensional lightning storm had disappeared, and the skies had returned to their original overcast state. It was almost as if the lightning hadn't happened, but that wasn't the case. No one was hurt from it all, but the gravity and understanding of the situation was somewhat clear and muddy.

Arf and Fate had escaped once again and had taken three of the six Jewel Seeds while Lindy was fortunate enough to seal the other three and not leave empty handed. Still, there were so many questions amongst everyone. The eerie and uncomfortable silence settled in for all. The rain, appropriately enough, was the only form of "noise" that one could hear. If one were to summarize the collective thoughts of Sonic, Nanoha, Yuuno and Lindy, they would get an almost simple question to ask.

What just happened?

[To Be Continued]

[Ending: "Little Wish ~Lyrical Step" Yukari Tamura]

[End of Chapter 11]

Author's notes: If anyone watched the anime or movies; you'd note that originally it was Chrono, not Lindy, who intervened well at the end. I changed it here to add a different twist, plus to confirm some lingering suspicions from those who noticed that familiarity with Lindy's device in a previous chapter. Well now, looks like the fits hit the shan; another new twist has added yet another surprise to the plot. At any rate there are a few things I'd like to note specifically before ya'lls get to reviewing. For one, Sonic's backstory as he explained it to Lindy and Nanoha; how did that one turn out, I tried hard to get it together. Then there are the original twists I'm adding, I'd like to see how they're looking because it's so hard to really critique your own work because you know what you're trying to portray while others may not and I hope I made it clear. R&R please, I'd like some opinions.