Omake Week 2014: Most of those of you who follow my writing are well aware that I'm fond of writing omake, short humor fics and drabbles that really don't justify being called a story in and among themselves. I tend to gather these together into collections, making it easier for readers to see them (and keeping them from being lost in the shuffle) and keep track when I post them. For the week of August 24th, I'll be posting a new omake a day, across the various fandoms. I'm not sure yet if Saturday the 30th will get an omake or not; I hope so, but if not there'll still be the normal chapter of "Belladonna Lilies" so there'll be something posted.

I'm starting off with a Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha omake, as VHFMT was my first omake collection and one of my most-read. I haven't really been part of this fandom for the past three years or so, other than following the few ongoing stories that I enjoy (Infinity, the Gamesverse stories, Section Thirteen, and a couple of crossovers), but I had been getting a bit more interested in this setting due to some renewed science-fiction-setting interest over the summer. In this omake, I offer a little shout-out to what it was that triggered that sci-fi interest in the first place...

MC 0072 (A.D. 2011)

The pulsing orb fell from the sky.

~I've got it!~ Takamachi Nanoha broadcast telepathically to the rest of her squad. The Ace of Aces angled downwards, a streak of pink light trailing through the sky as she dove between skyrakers, her gloved hand reaching out beneath the orb to grasp it. It was about the size of a soccer ball, small enough to handle without too much trouble, but big enough to be inconvenient to hold and obvious that she held it.

Of course, the obvious part wasn't all that significant, not when one considered the brightly lit panels running up and down the sides that bathed Nanoha in their dull orange radiance.

"Mine!" she crowed, pulling out of her dive as she tucked the orb under her arm.

"Protection," Raising Heart responded, almost a hint of dry sarcasm in the Intelligent Device's tone as she raised a shimmering pink barrier just in time to keep Signum from separating Nanoha from her prize just as she'd obtained it. The force of the blow was still enough to jolt Nanoha back, disrupting her intended flight path. The Belkan knight wasn't inclined to let her off easy, either, following up quickly with swift, chopping strikes. The second one smashed through her defenses, and Nanoha only barely got Raising Heart up in time to parry physically, not one of her ideal strategies.

~Nanoha, we're on our way!~ echoed in her mind. It was a young man's voice, with a firm confidence to it. ~Just get some range on her.~

~All right, Yuuno!~

"Flash Step."

The jolt of movement magic launched her backwards in a sudden pulse of motion, away from the leader of the Wolkenritter. Signum did not pursue, but snapped her sword Laevatein out with a whiplike motion of her arm.

"Schlangenform!"

Laevatein's blade broke apart into segments connected by a long cable, becoming the whip that Signum's attack called for. The coils swirled out, snaking down to encircle, but before they could close on Nanoha a golden streak shot down and Fate T. Harlaown knocked the whip's length aside with two quick scythe-slashes. The momentary gap they created was enough, for in the next instant a gleaming green magic circle formed beneath Nanoha's feet and she was whisked away by Yuuno's teleport.

"Schwertform!"

Signum's blade snapped back into its sword shape again, but before she could resume the pursuit, Fate was upon her, and she was forced to parry.

Nanoha, meanwhile, reappeared next to Yuuno, his teleport obviously having been a summoning spell. They were hovering beneath an enclosed walkway that connected two skyscrapers, giving them a bit of cover.

"Thanks; if it hadn't been for you and Fate-chan, she'd have had me."

He grinned at her.

"Glad to help! You're about halfway to the end now; I'd teleported ahead while everyone else was after the ball."

"Do you know which way I go from here?"

"Northeast, generally, about four blocks up and then over."

"Look out!"

Raising Heart's warning came just in time; Nanoha and Yuuno launched themselves backwards just as a green-clad arm thrust out of a portal, almost snatching the orb from Nanoha's grasp.

"Nyahaha, you'll have to try harder than that, Shamal!" she laughed.

"Struggle Bind!"

Before the Knight of the Lake could pull back, the chains conjured by Yuuno's spell wrapped around her arm, fixing it in place so she couldn't pull it back through the portal.

"I've got her for now," Yuuno cried, sweat standing out on his brow from the effort of holding the bind against the pressure Shamal was exerting to try and break free. "Get moving!"

"Right!" Nanoha cried, and she was off again, the pink of her magic swirling together with the orange of the orb's light, leaving a trail as she darted and dove between buildings. She didn't fly directly down the streets, but curled between them, down alleys and around buildings to try and reduce her target profile, while staying in motion to keep Shamal from getting another fix on her. The evasive actions weren't enough to hide from Zafira, but once again Nanoha's friends came to her defense, Arf hurtling into him as he lunged for her, the red and blue wolves colliding in a snarling, biting, clawing ball of fur.

There!

Nanoha swept around the corner of a building, the shockwave of her passage so close that windows cracked and shattered in her wake, and there it was ahead of her, her goal: a metallic ring rotating in the air, a second ring suspended within it and turning along the opposite axis of the outer ring. In the middle of this inner ring, which was about two feet across, pulsed an energy field, the same pale orange as the orb. If she could just set the orb in place, the mission would be complete…

"Protection."

Vita's hammer crashed into Nanoha's barrier, knocking her up and off-course from the path to the goal.

"You had to come here sooner or later," the redhead said smugly. "As soon as you shook off Signum, I went right here to head you off."

"It won't be that easy, Vita-chan."

"Oh, no?" She spun Graf Eisen in her hand, smirking.

"You shouldn't underestimate me!"

"Accel Fin."

The pink wings on Nanoha's feet swelled with the sudden infusion of magic and she bolted upwards just in time to avoid Vita's next swing, momentum carrying the Iron Hammer Knight past her.

"Pferde!" Graf Eisen exclaimed as Vita whirled around towards her fleeing quarry. Whirlwinds formed around her own feet, increasing her flight speed to match Nanoha's, but it was too late; Nanoha was already by her and even her curving flight path back down towards the goal didn't make for enough time…

Unless…

Nanoha was focused on her target, putting all her energy into maximizing her speed, so she missed the sound of the cartridge firing. The roar of the rocket engine, though, that she noticed. She looked back and down, and saw Vita spinning up towards her like a living tornado, Graf Eisen's head turned into a chisel-pointed missile.

"Round Shield."

"Raketenhammer!"

The instant before impact, Nanoha half-turned and hurled the orb towards the goal. The moment it left her hand, the orange light faded, and Nanoha was suddenly free to use offensive magic again.

"Restrict Lock."

The pink coils wrapped around Vita, pulling her arms in and pinning them to her sides, but before they did Graf Eisen hit home, shattering Nanoha's shield and blasting the outer layer of her Barrier Jacket to shreds. Tingling shot up Nanoha's arms, and she went hurtling away from Vita.

"Crash Emulate: Broken Right Arm, Broken Ribs, Concussion, Temporary Unconsciousness," Raising Heart said. Nanoha plummeted from the sky, and the training ground's automatic safety protocols engaged at once, wrapping around her in soft energy-absorbent materials that kept her from being injured in the fall. Meanwhile, Vita could only watch helplessly as the orb sailed towards the goal.

Unfortunately for Nanoha, her superb facility for calculating range, timing, and the effect of the environment for perfect missile attacks was countered by a throwing arm that was not exactly the envy of her friends. The orb fell short, clanging off the outer ring, and began to fall. The orange lights started to pulse faster and faster as Vita wrestled her way free of the binding spell, turning to red as she dove.

She was about two feet short of it when it exploded in a shimmering blast of magical energy, sending Vita tumbling head over heels to crash into the cushioning safety barrier sight next to Nanoha.

"What idiot invented a training exercise with an exploding ball?" she muttered.

~X X X~

In the training center control room, Yagami Hayate crowed, "That's no score for Round Eight, making it four to two with one to play. Which means, pay up!"

Chrono Harlaown signed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, dinner for all eleven of us is on me."

"Eleven? There's only you, me, and eight players on the two teams."

"Hayate, you may be the Queen of the Night Sky and the grand mistress of the sucker bet, but clearly you're not married. Of course I'm inviting Amy along."

"Oh, I see. But tell me, Chrono, what did you think of the game?"

"It actually could be a valuable training exercise and a good change-of-pace from typical mock battles, though rules like 'no projectile magic' leaves shooting mages like Nanoha at a disadvantage. Just don't tell the higher-ups that you got it from an Earth video game when you make the pitch to the Instructor Corps."

Hayate laughed.

"Don't worry. After all, I can't very well admit that it's all a ploy to start up the American Grifball League of Midchilda!"