The Haruno Chronicles
Ch. 26. Nice fun short chapter. Lee saves the day again, nothing unusual. All he did was pilot a space cruiser. Also, we get a new "teammate," but this one has an attitude problem that even got on Johns nerves.
Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.
Chapter 26 – Last Moment Fun
When they woke up next, Lance, Sakura, Nanoha, Sarah, and Chrono were in the medical bay on beds. They had fainted from exhaustion as soon as they had gotten onto the ship. "Hey there," said Lee. They all sat up, feeling as good as new. "This is what I would call a clean battle," said John. They looked at him and he continued, "None of you got any major injuries. There was a bruise her, scratch there, amputated legs, that stuff, nothing serious." They all laughed a bit, then John asked, "except for you, Nanoha, you suffered from a bit of magic overload, nothing that could harm you but if you had gone further, there would have been something to show for it." Nanoha replied, "Yes, I already know. I was expecting that to happen when I activated the Blaster System." John then took out a tablet with the data. "And now for your Battle analysis. I just like reading these things, never know until it's done. And I am proud to say that all of you have exceeded the 1.5 billion mark. That is the sign for a mage being a SSS+, which as of now is your record rank. Now lets see what we have here for the stats. For my only daughter, we have a 1.5 even Breaker rating; not bad for a 12 year old. For Nanoha, you exceeded Lee's last combination attack with your Breaker at 1.85. I have to admit, that even impresses me. After this, I would like to hear it in detail. Now for Mr. Chrono, for him, we got a reading of a whole 1.55 billion with a personal bonus for bone shattering and creating shockwaves. And for Sakura, we have a nice 1.65, due to her new cannons super compression ability. Also, I would like to give Lance the anywhere's best defense person. I don't think even I could have made a double barrier able to withstand these numbers for as long as you did, even if you did faint afterwards. Good for you."
They talked about the battle for a bit. Each of them said is was sort of fun and agitating to face themselves and each other when they could regenerate and stuff. Lee and Sora had already planned a line for this, "Well, at least we now know that you can beat each other up if need be." This earned him a playful punch from Chrono, which Lee blocked. Then they all laughed and went to the room. Sora was going to be leaving the ship tomorrow and due to other circumstances; they would all be going back home tomorrow. Unfortunately, the area where John had told their parents they would be camping was going to have a large thunderstorm tomorrow and he didn't want to worry the parents. And so, he had called them in advance about an hour ago saying they would be home tomorrow due to bad weather. It might actually be better this way in John's head because then they can get set for school easier.
They used the last hours of their final day to play a few games and to use the training room a last time. It wasn't going to be the last time they were on the ship though, as they would be parking it in a T.S.B.A. docking station John had built on earth when he first got this ship in secret inside a local hill in the park. The ship would go under-ground using the ships proto-type SDP or Short Distance Portal. It allowed the ship to make a small portal based on a portal users magic to move short distances within a single dimension. They would use it to enter the underground hanger from outer space.
Sarah got this giant urge to play Hide and go Seek in their dad's apartment room. They decided to go along with it. No mater how smart, Sarah was still 12 and liked to play hide and go seek, and it would be fun in such a large place. Lee, who hated to lose, decided to be sneaky. He decided to hide in his Dad's secret control room. It was sort of cheating because he was the only one able to actually get in there but then again, he hated losing more than cheating to his sister. He entered and sat by the computer. He decided to see where everyone was hiding so he turned on the computer and logged in with his General Level Pilot administrator account. He then accessed the camera system for his dad's room. He looked through the different Camera's until he found them. Sora was in his dad's Walk-in closet in-between the racks. His sister was hiding in the kitchen closet. Sakura was hiding in the closet in Sora's room. Nanoha and Lance were under Lee's bed and Chrono was looking for them all because he was chosen to be it by rock-paper-scissors. He was currently searching the two guest rooms. He enjoyed watching them all get found, one by one. Sarah was the last to be found besides himself. Lee then hurriedly exited the computer and ran to the large storage compartment under the desk in the office. He only had to wait a few minutes for them to lift up the overhead entrance. Lee had been declared the winner for being found last, though Chrono was sure that no one was in here or had entered the office at all. Lee just said he didn't look hard enough.
They ate a lot that night as this was going to be the last dinner they would have on the ARTIMIS for a while. They then used the training room for some last minute practice, though most of them were to tired to. It really turned into an Exhibition Katana match between Lee and Sora. John even found time to be the referee. They all went to bed early except for Lee and Sora who stayed up till 11 sparring. They had a single 2½-hour match, which resulted in a draw when Sora pointed out that they really should go to sleep. They had to get up at 9 tomorrow, an hour before what they had been getting up at because it was a 3 hour trip home due to the fact they needed the car and they needed to get home by three so that he had enough time to get ready for his drive tomorrow. Though they would be landing 2 minutes away from their house in the ARTIMIS as it docked, they still needed to arrive by car. They went to sleep around 11:30.
They woke up the next day at 9 exactly due to some annoying alarm clocks that wouldn't turn off until you got out of the beds. John had probably placed them their when they were asleep. They all went down stairs to see that Amy was in their kitchen. She had got in the mood to cook and asked John if she could cook their breakfast as a sort of send off for the last two weeks. She made every breakfast imaginable, and some that weren't (remember, Amy is NOT from earth.) They ate a huge breakfast and then went to pack their stuff. It was 11 when they were done packing. They were going to hang out at the Bridge to see the first test use of the ships proto-type SDP. They headed to the Bridge to see every station filled. John was in the captain's chair and they were preparing to fire the portal beam. They got confirmation that they were ready at the new hanger. Earth T.S.B.A. members were operating it until they got there.
"Power up the SDP," said John. "SPD, powering up," said one of the mages at a station working in the portal. "SPD, ready for use." "Fire Portal beam." In front of the ship, a white beam of energy fired and a giant white magic circle, much bigger than the ship appeared in front of them. It felt like looking through a window, like Sakura's portals. On the other side, they saw a hanger that looked like the one at Bureau headquarters. "We have confirmation from the hanger that the portal has connected. Proce-," Suddenly, the bridge went dark. "What's happening?" said John. "Sir, I have confirmation that the eclectic cords for the bridge were mixed up on a final check-up. We can repair it but it will take too long. The ship is currently drifting towards the portal at an incorrect angle. At this rate, we will destroy the hanger on entry." John's eyes widened, It was under a city park with innocent people. If the hanger was destroyed, the ground under the park would collapse and would take the people with it.
He wasn't sure what to do but Lee already had an idea. He ran out of the door; Lance and the others followed Lee. "Where are you going," said Lance, "We need to help with this." Lee answered, "I am helping, no time to talk." He ran to his Dad's room. The rest of the ships power was working fine. He entered through the office entrance. "How can you help from here?" asked Sora. Lee wasn't listening. He walked over to the desk and lifted up the nameplate. He pressed the button and the door to the secret control room appeared. He placed his hand on the panel that appeared and the door opened. They all went inside and saw with surprise the secret control room. Lee sat down in front of the computer immediately and logged himself in with administrators piloting rights. The system accepted the log in and Lee activated Level S control Level. This room now controlled all ship functions. Then a Steering wheel and all the controls like the one near the captain chair appeared around him. The large screen in front of him now was showing the view from the window at the bridge.
He then made a connection with his Dad's device. Back at the Bridge, John took out raging fury and a window appeared with Lee in it. Lee said to his dad, "Don't worry, I think I can land it from here." John needed a second to figure out what Lee was doing but he figured it out after pondering and replied, "Don't worry, I sure you can." He closed the line and said to the bridge, "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine."
Lee's controls had finally been connected. He took the wheel and turned it a bit to bring the ship back on course. As he did, everyone in the control room felt the ship turn, as well as the people at the bridge. He then signaled to the hanger, "Pilot Lee, General rank authority on General Private Battle Ship, ARTIMIS, do I have confirmation." He got a response from the base, "We have confirmation from base system; Pilot Lee Cross has been confirmed." Lee then replied, "Were coming in. Please evacuate the immediate landing space and prepare for docking." "Acknowledged." Lee then refocused on the controls. He then powered down the main thrusters and activated the Hover engines and primary thrusters. The controls around him changed. The throttle and the stuff around it disappeared and were replaced by a series of switches and an altitude lever for the hover engines. He then activated the secondary reverse thrusters that appeared below the two points in the front. He gave them a bit of juice to slow the ship down some more. They were now entering the portal. It was weird, even inside the ship. You could sort of feel yourself in the middle when passing through the portal slowly. When the ship was fully through, Lee de-activated the SDP and the portal disappeared. Then he moved forward slowly with the primary thrusters until they were at the docking station. Then he used the secondary thrusters to come to a complete stop above the docking station. He then made the secondary thrusters turn 90˚ and gave them some power. The ship started turning in mid-air. He made it turn 180˚ so that the front was now aiming at the exit ramp they had entered from. He then slowly powered down the hover engines to make the ship hover down slowly to the docking station. There was a small thump that told them they had touched ground. Lee then turned off all engines and returned main control to the bridge, which was now fixed. He then logged out and the controls disappeared.
When he got up, his friends and siblings gathered around in admiration. Sora made a rhetorical comment, "Since when does my kid brother get the license to pilot an inter-dimensional battle cruiser before me." Chrono said, "And here I thought I would be the first between us to drive." Sakura was crying a bit from fright and hitting Lee lightly. They new that Sakura hated roller coaters and this was at least 5 times as extreme as that. Nanoha was surprisingly cool, but to their understanding, she had been on a ship before, same for Lance. Still, both of them told him how impressively he handled the ship. Sarah went and hugged her brother.
When they exited the secret control room, John was waiting for them in his office. "Lee, everyone on this ship, in the hanger and the park owes you big time." After the serious comment, he went over to Lee and patted him on the head. "MAN, are you a life-saver. Do you know how much grief I would get from Allen if I brought this thing in all scratched and banged up? He would have my hide before the treasury department could get to me. But seriously, that was some smooth thinking, using this room to land the ship. We really would have crashed if you hadn't moved when you did. But, more than I am proud of you, I am ashamed of myself for not getting here first." They walked out of the office and to the exit dock. They exited into the hanger where a team of about ten mages was waiting for them. In the front, they saw someone about Lee's age. They walked to the elevator and went down to the main floor where the group was waiting for them.
They first all lined up and saluted, then said in unison, "Good afternoon, General Cross." Then the kid walked up, "Special Cases Officer, Andy Santo, 1st rank, second division, category: unlimited. Lee and the rest all looked confused so John said mentally, "The overly long title basically means that he has as much authority as a Captain Commander except his authority reigns over all of the 13 sections, unlike Amy who is limited to section 5." This gave them a clearer picture of his authority. Lee decided to be friendly and said, "Hello Andy." Andy gave him a menacing glare. "And who are you. You shall address me as Officer Santo. And what is with the attire, you should be in uniform at all times while with your general. You need to be whipped into shape." Andy then looked at John, "Sir, if you please, I can whip him into shape for you, as previous second-head of the code authority division." He took out a wooden cane and pointed it at Lee. It happened before he even realized that he was gone. Lee was now right next to Andy with a metal katana at his throat. Then, the wooden cane broke into a dozen pieces and fell to the ground. As soon as he realized what had happened, Andy jumped back and said, "What the devil. How the hell did you do that, and without a device? I am a AAA ranked Mage and I don't even know that one." John intervened, "Okay, enough with the school yard fight." Then he looked at Andy, "And more for your safety than anything, I am going to tell you that apart from him having the most authority of anyone here as being the most powerful residential mage of this planet and NOT part of the T.S.A.B., he happens to be my son and is a SSS+ ranked mage. He is also a master of one of this planets most accomplished martial arts. I do not recommend getting on his bad side. I can't guarantee your safety if he is in the picture." He said it with such a serious, movie guy like tone that, except for Andy who was scared stiff everyone knew he was joking. After a moment of silence, everyone burst out laughing their gut out. Andy figured out the joke after a few seconds. "Ah, a joke. Good one General, got me there for a second. A SSS+ mage, that's a good one." John then said, "No, that part, along with anything apart from your safety is all true. Lee, along with his group of underage-," "AHEM," said Sora. ""Ah yes, my mistake. Lee, along with the group of underage AND ONE OVERAGE friends and or siblings is a SSS+, and three, including Lee could probably kill you before you saw the blade. Heck, I could kill you before you realized that I moved." He started Laughing hard again along with everyone else in the vicinity.
"Okay, now that I have been publicly humiliated, can we proceed? I am to understand it that you have requested the services of all mages currently stationed on earth, specifically those in the island Nation of Japan and have personally requested my presence for this case." John said, "Yes, that is correct. I have asked the mages I placed here, along with you for your abnormal search analysis ability to gather here, which for the duration of this mission, will act as our headquarters. I am to take it you got the Mission briefing in the packet along with everyone here." They all nodded. "In the packet, it said that any and all direct confrontation with the class one lost logia would be done by a select of trusted mages appointed by the general that reside on this planet." John said that he was correct. "Then I would like to talk with these mages personally to ascertain their skills and see if they are really trustworthy." John smiled and said, "The 'specialists' as you call them are those guys," He pointed a thumb behind him at Lee and co., "are those 7 over there. But it unfortunately will only be six after tomorrow, as one has to go back to college outside of Japan's mainland. But these six will be plenty, though we lost one of the good sealers on the team. But we still got Lee and Nanoha and Lance if it really comes to that. We will be fine."
Andy didn't look at all convinced but continued, "Moving on now, along the list of names, there was a Nanoha Takamachi and Lance Scrya. I am to take it these are the same ones from the Energy Wave incident five years ago." Nanoha and Lance nodded in confirmation. "Well," he looked at Lee, "At least there is two good mages on the team. But unfortunately, by my current information, I can tell that the rest of them need work, at least on their manners. As far as ability, it will do. I guess." Lee had already made a Ki wooden Katana. As this type of Katana couldn't kill a person, he was about to give the guy a good beating. In the next second, 4 things happened. First, simultaneously, without communication, all three Cross children charged at Andy with wooden Ki swords, holding them to his throat. The second was Sakura and Chrono, each doing a half release and Chrono did a FLASH MOVE. Now they both had their weapons, Sakura's staff shooting mode and charged and Chrono's MWD in handgun mode, pointed at Andy from behind him, opposite Sakura. The third thing was John who had his Katana out, blocking all three of his children's from moving and he had an orb of magic at each of Sakura's and Chrono's throats, ready to strike and the fourth thing that happened last was four slash marks across Andy's uniform, each creating a cut.
Andy was in a deadlock position. Suddenly, John did two things. The first was he made his orbs disappear, freeing Sakura and Chrono. The next thing was that he tapped each of the Ki wood katanas with his finger. He then pushed a weird pulse of his own Ki into them, dispelling them. Then he dispelled his metal one. Then he said, "Okay, really. The second I get home and were already fighting. I think this is a little childish," he was looking at Lee, Sarah, Sora, Sakura and Chrono. Then he looked at Andy, "And as for you. First of all, I expected better from a Bureau officer. And secondly, I will not let you off so lightly next time if you insult my children of their friends again." Suddenly, Andy's clothes fell into pieces. Underneath his clothes, Lee noticed 7 slash bruises. Andy then fell down in pain. "Your lucky that Lee got there. If he hadn't been there, you would be the hospital right now." Andy got up, sore as hell, and limped away. He repeatedly apologized to John on his way out.
Andy walked into the main office and sat down, flustered by what had happened. Then he decided to check on something. He brought up the security footage of the last hour. Then he narrowed it down to the incident. He looked at it. Normal speed, it was too fast to get any clear visual. "OKUNINUSHI," he said, taking out a metal card that looked like the Ace of Spades, "Slow this visual down by 16x." "YES SIR," said the card, the spade in the middle glowing as it answered. Another screen appeared in front of Andy. The same video segment showed, but slower. Now, he could see Chrono and Sakura point out their weapons, but he still only saw blur's for the Cross's. Then he had his device slow it down 100x. Another screen replaced the current screen and the video played. He could now see the Cross's movements, though they looked only like they were walking, unlike everyone else who looked motionless. What he saw surprised him. There were two things he didn't notice when it actually happened. The first was Nanoha. She looked like she was doing nothing from the angle Andy saw it from, but a camera view from behind showed her gathering up quite a bit of magic for one of her attacks, DIVINE SHOOTER. The second was Lee's position. At first glance, it looked like he was about to cut his throat off. But looking closer, he saw that its blade was pointed the wrong way and his arm was pointed in the wrong direction. Upon even closer inspection of the freeze frame, Andy could see that Lee's sword was actually holding his dad's sword, and indirectly Sora, and Sarah's swords, from moving. Andy didn't have the faintest clue why, but as he saw it, it looked like Lee was protecting him, not trying to attack him. Upon slowing it down to the computers maximum, 300x, Andy also saw that John was the first to move and Lee had been the last to move. Before Lee had got there, Sora had slashed him twice, Sarah had slashed him twice and John slashed him three times. He told OKUNINUSHI to save this and made a mental note to apologize to Lee when he saw him again.
John had teleported them to the car in the lot and they were currently on there way home. During the ride, Chrono said to John, "So why did you stop us? TO me, it looked like you were about to pounce as well." John answered, "I did pounce, and I only got three hits in before Lee stopped us. I only stopped you because it would be less trouble if I did it then if you did it." Chrono looked at Lee, "You stopped them; why?" Lee looked at him and answered, "Because I didn't learn how to use a sword as a means to take out my anger." John looked at his son. "I should feel ashamed. Out-virtued by my own son, I shouldn't call myself a father." Lee looked at his father and said, "Don't worry, if that was true, we would be discredited. It wasn't like I did nothing, it was just that it didn't want you fighting my battles." John then got a visual mentally of what Lee did from Lee by magic. "That is rich Lee. I wish I could see it."
Back at the Hanger, Andy was going to the bathroom. He took a shower, washed off and dried. When he was done drying off, he went to the mirror to comb his hair. When he lifted his hair though, he saw that he had a bruise on his forehead. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it said "BAKA" (baka= idiot/stupid ect… in Japanese.) Andy broke the comb in frustration. "Forget the apology. I am going to kill that son of a-."