The Haruno Chronicles

Ch. 37 Yay! We finally get to learn about Maral. I bet most of you have been wanting to know what it is like since chapter one. Well here we are. Ancient ruins, Parts shops, Breakfast restaurants its all here. We also get to meet Nanoha's mom and learn part of the secret of why she is so strong. Also John and Lee get some upgrades as well.

Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.

Chapter 37 – Where it starts

Lee arrived back home shortly after he had dropped Miranda back home. He reappeared in the dojo and walked into the kitchen where his dad was helping to clean the table. Lance was also there waiting for John to finish so they could go look into something, though Lee didn't know what as Lance had told him it was unimportant. "Dad," said Lee as he entered. John turned around and replied, "Yeah, here and listening." "I had something I wanted to ask you but I wanted to wait until Miranda was gone." John looked curious but said, "Right after I take a look at today's footage of your battle. I haven't seen it yet and I should take a look at it before I go to sleep." "Well it's about that. During the battle, something happened." John smiled and said, "Whenever you battle Lee, something unexpected always happens. No offense but nothing about you is normal, in the good sense but shoot, what miracle do you have to share with us today."

"Well, during the battle, I was fighting a spawned mage from three jewel seeds consecutively. It was a strong opponent and during the battle, I was refraining from using combination attacks because there were non-combatants that would have been hurt if I did so I used my breaker instead and it crossed with his breaker. His was significantly stronger and I felt like I was at my limit when Haruno told me there was a way, but it was risky because it was to remove all the safeties and supports from my staff to channel untainted power. But there was also the chance that I would die or lose power but I did it anyway and that is where the strange thing happens but I can't explain it. I think you'll need to see it to understand it."

Lee and his dad turned to the large TV and John put in a DVD of the battle footage. John was trying to think about what happened to Lee and couldn't come up with anything more unusual than what Lee normally did so he paid close attention to the video as it played. When it got to the breaker's colliding, John was glued to the TV in anticipation. Then he saw it, though he didn't believe it as Lee transformed into the gold clothes. "KOUKI KYOURAN," John whispered to himself. "KOUKI what?" said Lee, interested. "KOUKI KYOURAN, the highest state of magic being a mage can achieve." "I don't follow, could you explain?" asked Lee, confused. "You won't get it without the full explanation. Where to start now, from the basics I guess. You're about to get a lesson in what mages call the REKKOKU. They are the different "states" a mage can enter to gain abilities and or power. There are the basics like the speed state or the power state that any mage can use which give's them temporary boosts in that stat. Then the next level is ability states. These either requires something in return or is something that you must be born with and not just anyone can do. These grant the user special abilities that would be otherwise out of their reach. Then the next level is hereditary states or states that travel down a line of decedents. These can be anything from a unique power to an insane increase in magic or even something you're born with like an unusual amount of magic or an aptitude for a specific state like speed or agility. These states are usually constant or uncontrollable. Then the highest official level states are the abilities of ZEN, KOU, CHU and TEI. These states govern 4 different abilities. ZEN is the ability to completely negate magic, KOU is the ability to do Combination attacks like you do; CHU is the ability create new dimensions and finally TEI, the ability to control all basic elements at will. But there is a rumor about a higher level, though I never believed it called KOUKI KYOURAN or Final Form. This state supposedly is unique to each individual and maxes out all his or her stats, then takes their most powerful stat and increases it past the point of what is referred to by researchers as the Limit, which is the peak of how much power any one mage can use at a single time. But I heard that there were three things that made it special. One was that to activate it, a certain condition had to be me; second it could not be used for an extensive battle as it had a side effect of draining the energy out of a mage to sustain the flow of power and third and most importantly, while in this state, the user is able to control the four governing states at will or is too say, is able to enter those states and use their benefits. For example, if any one mage were to enter this state, they too would be able to do combination attacks like you plus the other three. That's all I know though." John finished his explanation.

Lee sat there, thinking about it for a while. Then John jumped in and said, "But this is only speculation, we can't confirm it until we see you do it again and we don't even know if this is more than a rumor so don't get your hopes up." They talked about it for a while. Then Lee went up to his bedroom, still thinking about the discussion. John told him more about the magical states. He even told Lee that Lance probably was able to use CHU or the power to alter dimensions which was probably a prerequisite for using the HEAVENS DIVIDE spell he used to contain Lee's attack once, which would explain why he hadn't found anyone besides himself who could use it yet. Each of the four abilities was very rare and only certain people could do them. You had to be born with the ability to use is and who got them was completely random. Each one had a very small percentage of people who had the abilities. The only thing all these people had in common though was that each had a huge amount of magic to use.

When Lee got ready for bed, he lay down on his bed and decided he needed someone else's opinion. He concentrated and telepathically called Lance who was currently doing some research at the base. "You their Lance," said Lee. "Yeah, you need something?" "Just an opinion." Lee went over the conversation with Lance telepathically and afterward, Lance said, "Well, normally I rule out the impossible but that doesn't seem to work when you're involved. You seem to defy all magical logic. But I will say, I never thought of my HEAVENS DIVIDE like that. I think your dad's on to something there with CHU being a factor. To be honest, until your dad's ship analyzed it, I never knew it created it's own dimension. I think I'll look into that. Anyway, have to get back to my research. Lets talk about it with everyone tomorrow."

Suddenly, Lance's voice faded and Lee knew he had broken the connection. Lee went to sleep thinking about the battle he had had earlier that day. So many things had been swirling around in his mind since the battle. One of them was what was going to happen next. He had a weird dream that night about being sucked into a hole to find himself a few months in the past around where he discovered his magic and his dad was telling him that he had to go and collect the stones all over again.

The next morning, Haruno did not wake him up. Due to the exhaustion from the battle the night before, his dad thought it a good idea to let him rest for the day. Also, John had something he wanted Lee to do as well. When Lee woke up, he looked at the clock, which read 11 in the morning. At first he thought he was going to be late for school but then Haruno's projection which Lee and the others had decided to call sprite Haruno appeared over him and said, "Don't worry, your dad said your not going to school today." She disappeared and Lee finally got out of bed. He got dressed and then went downstairs where Haruno and Mary were making some breakfast. John was sitting on the couch looking over some paperwork.

They ate breakfast and afterwards, John called him to the living room where he was still going over some papers. "Ah Lee, how you feeling this morning?" "Good." John the picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Lee. On the top, there was a picture of Lee and of his device. "What's this?" Lee asked inquisitively. "Until now, you have been able to go to different worlds on a TSAB status but after you collected the last stone yesterday, that contract ended. That there is an all access TSAB administrative passport for dimensional travel or in other words, a multi-universal passport; it gives you the same authority on another world as you did why under the contract with the Bureau and allows you to legally go to other worlds at leisure. It's actually a lot of trouble and paperwork for me if you went to another world without that. I got one for all of you except Lance and Nanoha who obviously already have one." Lee looked at the document. Then at that moment, it was sucked into the Marble around his neck and Haruno replied, "Identification data received."

"Now you're probably wondering why I brought this up all of a sudden?" Lee listened more intently now. "Today you, me, Lance and Nanoha are going to take a trip to where the stones were originally found. We have collected them all but we need to know more. Lost Logia with multiple parts sometimes have new and possibly catastrophic effects after being brought together and sealed. We want to assess any possible threats they could pose. In order to do this, we need to go to the source so we decided to go today for that purpose." John finished, and then went back to his stack of papers. "But why take me along?" asked Lee. John smiled, "Well for one, it was a good excuse to your mother to let you stay home from school today and two, there is something else we are going to investigate that requires you actually being there. Now we are leaving in a few minutes so get ready."

Lee prepared himself and changed clothes to fit where they were headed. John had told them that the place they were going was dry and arid Bad Lands. He changed and then slipped Haruno around his neck. She then popped out in her sprite form and landed on his shoulder. "Ready to go?" John yelled. "Be right down," Lee yelled. He grabbed his canteen and went downstairs. John was waiting for him in the kitchen. They went into the basement and took the elevator to the base.

When they got there, John then lead him to the bases own teleportation room where Lance and Nanoha where waiting, both dressed strangely. Nanoha was in a brown dress and orange shirt but it looked nothing like what Lee had ever seen her wear. The patterns were not like anything Lee was used to. Lance was wearing brown pants and a light brown shirt with a bunch of pockets. Though it was different than normal, it seemed to be more normal to Lee. "What's with the clothes?" Nanoha replied, " Remember that we are both from Maral and not earth. These are the clothes we wore when we first arrived on earth." "Oh," said Lee.

They all got on the teleport pad and one of the TSAB workers started up the teleporter. He hit the switch and they all disappeared. When Lee opened his eyes next, they were in the center of what seemed to be a small town. There was a street lined with what looked like different stores and shops. They walked down the street until they came to the end where it turned into a dirt road. Lance then lead them along the road until they saw a bunch of houses. They then weaved in and out of the different streets until Lance stopped in front of one. It seemed to be a bit larger than the ones around it but it gave of the impression that someone hadn't lived there for a while. "Who lives here?" Lee asked. "I do," said Lance and he walked up. The door was locked but there was no keyhole. Instead, Lance waved his hand in front of the door and it clicked. He opened the door and they all went in. Despite the appearance of the outside of the house, which was overgrown and unkempt, the inside looked pretty good. There wasn't a coat of dust anywhere nor did it look dirty at all.
" The environment control in the house keeps it clean at all times," Lance said as if to answer the question Lee was about to ask.

They all sat down after Lance showed them the house. It was quite nice for someone who lived alone. Lee was about to comment on this when he remembered that before Lance left it, he hadn't been alone. They sat down in the living room. "Okay so now that were here, we need to get to the ruins," said Lee. "Yes," said John, "but in order to do that, we need to know where said ruins are." "And my dad kept a map of every single ruin he ever visited in his office so if you could wait just a moment." Lance then disappeared on spot.

Lance reappeared in his dad's office. Unlike the rest of the house, it was covered in dust. Then again, the office itself was actually in a pocket dimension so it wasn't actually part of the house. Lance then stuck his hand out flat palmed and an orb of green magic appeared in it. Then in one motion, it pulsed outwards and made a flash of light. When the light died down, all the dust and buildup was gone and it looked like someone had been there just yesterday. Lance started to look around for what he was looking for. It took him a few minutes but he finally found what it was he was searching for. He picked up his fathers notebook and pocketed it. After he made a final sweep of the room for anything he could use, he teleported back to the living room.

Lance reappeared in front of everyone who at this time was sipping some tea that Nanoha had got. Nanoha seemed to become happy at making tea in Lances house for some reason. "Okay, I got what we needed," he said as he held up the small book. "Good, good. Now next stop-," "is my house," interjected Nanoha. They all turned around and looked at her. They left the house and then walked over to the house next door. Nanoha ran up and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened and a woman with long orange red hair like Nanoha's answered. When she saw Nanoha, her face lit up instantly. "What are you doing here!? You didn't say you were coming today." She then hugged Nanoha, "Good to see you too Mom," Nanoha replied." Nanoha's mother then realized that her daughter had several other people with her. Then her eye's found Lance. She then rushed out and hugged him too and said, "Oh Lance, how have you been. It's been so long." "Good, good," Lance said why being suffocated. Lee leaned over to Nanoha, "Does your mother greet everyone this way." "No, but ever since Lance's mother died, she sort of looked after him in the same way as his dad was out a lot. We spent a lot of time together because of this."

Then Nanoha's mother turned to Lee and John. Nanoha then interjected and said, "Allow me to introduce them. This is my friend Lee Cross and his father John Cross." She looked over them for a second and then said, "Well, good to meet you. Now why don't you all come in for a snack?" They all walked in and sat down in Nanoha's Living room. A minute later there was tea and cookies in front of them. Nanoha's mother then sat down next to Nanoha and then said, "So did you and Lance finish up your little mission? I have missed you so much!" she asked. "Well that is sort of why were here today. We need to find out more." "Well I hope it goes well. It does get pretty lonely here now with you gone and your father out working." Lee was listening in and then asked, "So what does your father do Nanoha?" Nanoha's mother smiled and said, "He works in the TSAB." "What a coincidence, so do I," interjected John. "Really? What part?" "I actually recently got a huge promotion. I am currently the General of the 5th section of the TSAB otherwise known as the Lost Logia department." "That's quite an achievement, especially since you still seem to have many years ahead of you. "Why thank you Miss. Takamachi. Do you know what part of the TSAB your husband is part of?" "I don't understand it that well as he never explained it clearly but he said his rank was Epsilon or something like that." John nearly froze in his seat. He almost dropped his cup too except that Lee caught it. "Something the matter Dad?" asked Lee, "What is Epsilon anyway, is it important." John turned to Lee and said, "Important, Important. For crying out loud, the Epsilon is the 5th strongest mage in the entire TSAB Special forces unit. That's the unit made up of mages who have achieved Z status. For one to achieve the title of Epsilon, they would need to an outstanding mage, even among those of the Special Unit." Lee sat back down and then looked at Nanoha. Her father was as far as he knew the fifth most powerful mage in all of existence.

"Okay," said John after about an hour, "I think we should head out." Nanoha's mom looked a little sad until John then said, "If we head out now, we should make it back in time for dinner with Nanoha's mom." Nanoha's mom then lit up and then disappeared, presumably to get supplies for the now 5-person dinner. The group then walked into the road where it was wide open and Lance said, "I can get us within about a mile of the ruins but there is an ancient spell around it that prevents teleportation so even a mile away, I still am not sure where we will end up." They all grabbed hands. Lance drew out the book he had gotten from his dad's office and looked at a small map in side of it quickly. He then closed it and put it back in his pocket and then he teleported them all.

They reappeared in the middle of a barren wasteland. There were mesas and canyons all around them. The entire area seemed to be cloaked in a brownish red. "Lets go," Lance said. Suddenly, he started hovering and flew off, the others following his example. They all noticed a difference when they started to fly. It was like something was pressing down on them. Lance then said, "The spell around this place also suppresses magic a bit so you'll feel a difference at first but you'll get used to it." They flew for about 15 minutes before Lance stopped. He was hovering over a large Mesa. "Why did we stop?" asked Lee, looking around for something. "Were here," said Lance, landing as he said it. The others soon landed too. Lance took out his father's notebook again and scanned one of the pages. Lance then walked forward and the others followed. "There's nothing here," said Nanoha, looking around. Lance continued to walk forward until he was at the face of the cliff. He then walked a few yards to the right until he found a flatter area of the rock but unnoticeable to those not looking for it. He then pressed on the rock and shot a pulse of magic into it. The others watched in amazement as a crack 50 ft high appeared from where Lance's hand was. Then the crack widened until it was just wide enough for a person to walk through comfortably.

"This way," said Lance and the other three followed. They walked down the path for a few minutes. After a few minutes though, the light had disappeared from the cave as they were out of sight from the entrance. John solved this problem by making a gold sphere of magic in his hand and then made it hover above them, showering them in light. They continued walking forward until they came across a large clearing with two crossing arches in the ceiling. Lance then glanced at the notebook again and looked at everybody. "Okay, from here on out, no magic." Everyone looked at him incredulously. "Sorry but that is what it says in the notebook. It says magic is what activates the traps." This changed everyone's minds very quickly. John knocked out his light orb. Lance then took out a lighter and headed over to the wall. There was a little indentation in the wall with some type of liquid in it. He lit a flame and set the liquid ablaze. It lit up instantly and then all the torches around the whole area went ablaze, illuminating everything. "Maral oil never extinguishes," Lance said as he started walking forward again.

They continued walking farther into the ruins. From the large room they went through a passageway at the far side of the room. Then Lance led them through a series of other halls and passages, stopping to look at his dad's notebook every so often. After about an hour, Nanoha suggested they take a break and the others agreed. They sat down and Lee took some snacks out of his backpack. "Good thinking Lee," said John, taking the candy bar. After everyone had eaten their snack, Lee put his backpack back on and they continued going through the ruins.

After about another hour of walking, Lance stopped and said, "Were almost there." He led them down a hallway and then they hit a dead end. "Well now what?" said Lee, "are we lost now?" Lance looked at his fathers notebook and replied, "no, it say's here that we are supposed to hit a dead end. I remember hitting this dead end as well. Its just this is as far as we got the last time he wrote in his notebook. The time after that was the incident so he never got the chance to write down what to do next." "Well that is a problem," said John. Getting out would be easy enough but we won't have accomplished anything." Lee didn't want all of this to be for nothing. He sat down on a rock and tried to think of something he could do.

Suddenly, the rock Lee sat on sank into the ground to create a hole. Lee jumped off at the last second. At this sight, Lance said, "Oh yeah, I remember now. You push down on the rock and it reveals the tunnel. I can't believe I forgot that. I remember my dad falling down it by accident." They all jumped down the hole into a dark tunnel. There where no torches in this tunnel. John then had a flash of inspiration and said to Lance, "This places trapped are only tripped by magic, right?" Lance nodded. John stuck his hand up and then focused. Suddenly, a gold orb of energy appeared in his hand. Lance looked horrified and looked around for any tripped traps but none activated at all. "Don't worry, it's made out of Ki so I don't think it will set anything off." "Good thinking dad," said Lee. Lee then copied his dad and made a small ball of Ki as well, illuminating himself and his immediate surroundings.

With this newfound light guiding them, they walked down the tunnel. The tunnel wasn't very wide so they walked single-file so they didn't trip each other. About five minutes later, Lance saw a speck of light hitting against a wall some 30 yards ahead of them. "I think were almost there," he said. They walked towards it. The tunnel turned where the light was. When they got to the end of the tunnel, they saw the source of the light. There was a huge statue in the middle of the room, which was holding a plane wooden staff. The top of the staff was ablaze which illuminated the rest of the room. All along the walls, there were different markings that Lee assumed was the ancient language of the people who built the ruins.

"This is it," said Lance as he walked into the middle of the room. He stopped right in front of the large statue and then walked behind it. There, he saw a very discreet box lever built into the statue. Lance pulled the lever down and a door opened in the ceiling. Then a ladder cascaded out from the opening. "Up we go," said Lee, heading up first. But then, John pulled him back. "I think you should let Lance go up first." Lee didn't understand but he jumped down anyway and let Lance go up. Lance went all the way to the top of the latter but then stopped. It looked like he was hesitating to go up into the room. But after a few seconds, what ever had made him stop wore off and he climbed into the hidden room. John followed up the latter a few minutes later, then Lee went up and finally Nanoha.

Neither Lee nor Nanoha expected what came next. John was standing a few feet behind Lance who was kneeling on the floor. In front of him was the body of a man, lying on the floor. He looked stone cold and lifeless. Nanoha and Lee realized who it was at the same time. Nanoha suddenly started crying on Lee's shoulder. This scene remained unchanged for another few minutes. Then Lance got up and Nanoha stopped crying. "Okay, we came here to do something so lets do it. This rooms traps are weaker than the rest of the ruins so you should be able to use your devices." Lee then tapped on the blue marble around his neck. Suddenly, Haruno appeared on his shoulder in her sprite form. "Haruno, can you make a copy of everything in this room, including the walls and ceilings?" "Sure Lee, piece of cake." With that, Haruno disappeared and Lee's device started to glow. Then in it's more computer like voice, Lee's device said, "AREA SEARCH, SCANNING MODE." Lee's device continued to glow for a minute, and then it stopped and said, "LOGGING COMPLETE. FILE SAVED." Haruno then popped out on Lee's shoulder again and said, "All done, now I think I will go back to sleep. Wake me up for dinner please." "Okay Haruno," said Lee, "You did good today." Haruno disappeared again.

"Okay, lets head out," said Lance and very hastily, he headed for the ladder. "Wait," said Lee, "Are we just going to leave your fathers body here. Don't you think we should bury it or something? You know, give it a proper burial." Lance looked down and said, "But without magic, I don't see how we could get it out. That's why I had to leave it here in the first place." John and Lee looked at each other. Then Lee walked over to the body ad picked it up as if picking up a toothpick. "I don't think it will be too much of a problem for me," said Lee.

About two and a half hours later, they were outside the ruins in the middle of the desert. "I think we can teleport back to town now that we are out of the ruins," said Nanoha. They decided that it was a good idea and they teleported back to Lee's house, arriving on the front porch. Lee felt weird teleporting to a populated area without any concern if he would be spotted. They headed to the back yard first. It was a small yard. There, Lance picked up a shovel and started digging a large hole. Lee was going to do it by magic but John stopped him again. Lee understood and stopped. After it was done, he picked up his fathers body and placed it in the hole and then covered it back up. Then he moved a boulder via magic and placed it at the head of the now covered hole to mark the grave. He was about to carve words into the boulder when Lee said, "Stop!" Lance looked up. Lee made a katana appear out of nowhere with his Ki and then walked over to the boulder. To a normal person, it looked like Lee merely slashed his sword in front of the boulder a few times. But then, the boulder cracked all over and chunks of it fell off, revealing a perfectly cut tombstone. Lee then made the sword disappear and walked back. Lance didn't say anything but the expression he gave lance clearly said thank you. Lance's pointer finger then started to glow bright green. He moved it in front of the tombstone and as he did, writing carved it's self into it. When he was done, he backed away. It read:

Here Lies Lance Scrya Senior
Archeologist, father, friend.
Born 16 November 1961
Died 12 April 2008
R.I.P.

The rest of them went inside but Lance stayed out in front of the grave for almost an hour. They gave him the time in respect of his father. After an hour, Lance went inside to find the rest of them conversing. "I'm hungry," he announced to the room at large. They all headed to Nanoha's house next door where her mother was setting the table. "Oh good, you're just in time." They all sat down, then Lee remembered something. "Could you set an extra spot," Lee asked. Nanoha mentally told her mother about Haruno ect. She went and set an extra spot for Haruno. Lee tapped on the marble again but this time, Haruno appeared in full. They all sat down to eat the wide spread that Nanoha's mother had made. Afterwards, Lance left saying he had to go analyze the data that Lee and Haruno had collected earlier. Then Lance left to go back to his house. He had told them he would need his father's notes to help with the deciphering. John and Lee were about to go when Nanoha suggested they stay the night. John decided this would be a good idea and asked Lee if he had a problem with it. Lee thought for a second and as going to school the next day was the only alternative, he agreed immediately. Nanoha's mother said that they could stay at her house tonight as they had two guest rooms and they agreed.

Haruno went to sleep and changed back into her normal mode a.k.a. Lee's device and Lee and John headed to bed. John had already called his wife saying that they would be staying the night. Nanoha also headed for bed. This would be the first time in many months that she would be sleeping in her own bed in her own room. She didn't tell anyone but she was looking forward to it a lot. Lance was the only one who was not going to sleep. He was still up, translating and taking notes on what they had discovered in the ruins.

The next day, Lee woke up to only find out it was still dark out, though he could see light in the distance. By the time he was dressed and walked downstairs, it was still daybreak. He walked downstairs, being extra careful not to wake up Nanoha or her mother. He walked downstairs to the 2nd guest room where his dad was to find that it was empty. Lee decided that his father was probably just out getting some early morning exercise and decided to do some of his own.

He walked out onto the dirt road and decided to see what Lance was doing before starting his daily routine. Lee walked next door to Lance's house and saw the door was open. Lee walked in and headed for the living room. When he got there, he saw his dad lying on the couch, looking at a floating screen in front of him. When he noticed Lee was in the room, he sat up and motioned for Lee to come and sit down. Lee did ad as he did, he saw that his father was watching footage of his last battle. "Why are you watching this?" asked Lee. "I've actually only been watching this part over and over again," John replied, pointing to the screen. It kept on replaying the part where Lee went all gold and beat the tar out of his opponent. "I am still trying to figure out what triggered your transformation. I've been through almost every archive on state transformation possible and I still haven't found anything that looks remotely related to this. "Okay, so what about Lance?" Lee asked. "He's been working all night, non-stop. The last time I saw him was when he came out of his dad's office to use the bathroom and that was 4 hours ago." "4 hours ago? How long have you been here?" "I actually came here right after I knew everyone else was asleep to go over this video. I find it very interesting and I am going to find out what it is. It is that fascinating to me."

They waited for about 3 more hours on Lance's couch, both of them watching and re-watching the video. They each took turns coming up with theories on what happened. Lee even suggested they watch the entire battle a few times as a clue may have been earlier in the battle but in the end, they didn't find anything. After three hours of watching the same clip, they decided to see if they could get breakfast so they walked out and went over to Nanoha's house. Unfortunately, they were still both asleep, "Like mother, like daughter," Lee said as they walked away. "How about we eat out Lee?" John suggested. "Can we?" said Lee. "Sure, being a TSAB mage, my salary is good on any administered planet as currency. My treat."

With that, they walked into town. It was around 8 in the morning but there was still people walking around normally. John pulled out Raging fury and asked it to bring up a map. "OKAY," said Raging Fury in its pre programmed computer voice. It then made a screen appear in front of John. Lee still wasn't used to using magic in plain daylight in public and it felt kind of weird. John looked over it for a second and then said, "Looks like the best place to eat is just at the end of this street."

And so they started walking down the street towards the restaurant. On their walk down the street, Lee looked around at everything taking it all in. To him, it was like being on a completely different planet, except for the fact that he was on a completely different planet. He saw people appear and disappear at random and people use magic to do something as casually as throw their trash away. Lee was so entranced in it all that he didn't even realize when they had arrived. "Lee, were here." Lee looked up and saw a sign for "Mandy's Morning."

They walked in and found that it was stuffed with people. It was rush hour according to John. There was a waiting area that was also pretty full. They waited for five minutes. There were only one waiter seating people; he was tall, blond, probably around 20 and seemed to be the envy of all the girls waiting. Lee also noticed that those girls seemed to be being seated by the waiter before anyone else, regardless of when they came in. This gave Lee an idea. He told his dad he would be right back. He ran outside and to the side of the building and made sure he was out of sight. Then he took out his device and called out Haruno.

"Good morning Lee," she said. Then she looked around and saw they were at a restaurant. "I just thought you would like to eat breakfast with us, as you seem to always be making it for us. It's our treat." She smiled and they walked back in together and went to where John was waiting. "Hello Haruno," said John. Then he mentally asked Lee, "Any particular reason for bringing out Haruno?" "Just watch and learn," Lee replied. His dad had a confused expression on his face but waited all the same. Lee's idea worked almost instantaneously. When the waiter spotted Haruno, he literally ran straight over and said, "Good morning miss, sorry for the wait, we are quite busy today. Please allow me to seat you right away." He started to show her to a seat when she stopped and said, "Those two are with me too so can I have a table for three?" The waiter looked over at Lee and John. His expression dropped a little bit but he showed them to a table nonetheless. John telepathically said, "Nice move." They sat down and gave the waitress their orders. When the food came, John and Lee started eating so fast that before Haruno had eaten more than a few bites of her pancakes, they were already ordering seconds. By the time they were done, Lee and John had eaten 3 orders of pancakes and the 2 eggs that came with them as well as a side order of bacon.

John paid the bill with currency that Lee didn't recognize and they left. Haruno said she was tired so she transformed back into Lee's marble like device and Lee put it around his neck. It was still only about 9 in the morning so John suggested they walk around town a bit so Lee could see what a town of mages was like. And so they walked down the street, this time slower than when they were headed for the restaurant. Lee recognized some shops like a grocery store, a general store and a pet shop and even a clinic but then there were some shops that caught his interest that he didn't recognize at all. "That one over their Lee is what is called a Point shop. They offer teleportation services for dimensional travel. You see, though any mage can do a long range teleport, they are tricky if you don't know where to go so that is where this shop comes in." Then Lee saw a shop with the label, "M-Y." "That one there is a one of a kind chain store selling small magical goods. They range in everything from kids trinkets to battling supplies like pre filled cartages. A very useful store and they are on every single administered mage planet. They are the Bureau's main supplier in equipment as well."

They continued walking down the street when Lee saw a small shop that had a huge crowd around it. Due to the crowd, they couldn't see the sign so they decided to walk up and see what the commotion was all about. When they got up to the front, Lee saw a bizarre assortment of things. It was advertizing a bunch of parts with complicate names like "Part C32-DM5." And then Lee saw a sign next to it that said, "Re-stocked and New parts." "Ah," said John, "no wonder there is a crowd. This is a customization shop." "A what?" Lee asked. "It is for purchasing and customizing devices Lee. You see, only mages with exceptional potential can manifest a device from their magic. Most mages have to buy their devices for a place like this or build it from parts. Either way, you need parts to customize it. You see Lee, all devices are unique, and that is why they have names. Even bureau staff has custom devices that they modified themselves. It is part of a mages responsibility to create their own device and modify it until it suits them. Even mages like me who manifest their devices have modified them with different parts at one point." By the time John had finished, Lee had already gone over in his head what he could do to improve his device. He wondered what Haruno would think. John recognized the look on Lee's face as he too had had it at one time. "You want to have a look see?" John said to Lee.

They walked towards the door but to their disappointment, the door read a closed sign. Then John spotted the store hours sign. "Seems the store doesn't open for another hour." Lee's expression fell until John said, "but remember who your father is, watch and learn." John knocked on the door and a minute later, an elderly looking man came to the door. "I am sorry sir but we don't open for another hour or so." "Yes," said John in a very casual sounding voice, "but I am on a bit of a time constraint you see. I need to get to a meeting but I told my son we could stop here first." "Are you with the Bureau or something?" said the old man. "Yes," John replied. "What rank are you?" said the old man inquisitively. "I actually just recently got promoted. I am General of the 5th Section now." The old man's eyes widened and his entire expression changed drastically. "Well why didn't you say so, I would of let you in immediately otherwise. Please, won't you come in?" Lee and John followed the old man inside and he flipped on the lights. "Just one of those perks of being a general," said John.

The inside of the store was a lot bigger than what it looked like from outside. There were shelves and shelves of different parts and a few listing devices. "Sally," said the old man, "We have customers." A girl probably in her twenties came walking out of a door behind the cash register. "I thought we didn't open until ten today father?" she said. "We don't Sally, but these aren't you average customers." He walked over to her and whispered in her ear, "The man there is a General in the Bureau." At the word General, she seemed to spring to life and ran over to them. "Welcome to AL Parts. How can we help you?" "Can you show me to the intelligent device section. My son said he wanted to walk around a little." "Sure thing." Sally showed John to the device section.

Lee headed around the shop a bit. Everything fascinated him. He first headed to the shelves that displayed devices. The first one he saw was labeled, "Basic trainer. Storage type. This staff is good for the beginner. Has a power limiter preinstalled. Minimal battle offensive and defensive." Then Lee moved to the next one, "A-54 Device. Storage type. Good for the average mage, highly customizable with a dual mode capability with basic offensive and defensive capability." Lee looked for the next one. "B-76/ Battle Staff. This staff is battle heavy with a sturdier construction than a normal device. This device is available in both storage and intelligent device styles. Good for tournament play. High battle stats." Lee moved over once more to see, "Custom intelligent shell. This shell has the basic construction for you to build a custom intelligent device. Comes with core. 20 percent discount on all intelligent parts with purchase of this product and at least two other parts."

Lee walked around the store for a few minutes, then found his way to where his dad was. "Ah Lee, had a look around." Lee nodded. Then John got struck with inspiration. "Lee, I just had an idea, wait here a second." John walked over to Sally and said, "Excuse me, just a question." She turned around and waited. "Would you say that the owner is a skilled craftsman." She replied, "He is in fact considered to be one of the best craftsmen on the whole planet. Even the Bureau comes here to have their devices worked on." "Good, just what I wanted to here." He walked back over to Lee and said for him to follow. They headed over to the cash register where the owner was waiting. "Excuse me," John said. The owner turned to see John standing near the counter. "Can I help you with something?" he asked. "I am pretty sure your one of the only people who can. You see, my son's device is not what you would call normal by most standards and a few days ago, it did something strange. Could you give it a look through? You see, we don't know exactly how or what happened." "I'll give it a try."

The owner brought them into a back room where there was a bunch of technological equipment. First I'll scan it to see what type of parts it has. What type is it by the way?" John answered for Lee, "It is a Manifested intelligent device. It has never been customized before either." "A Manifested device at his age, now that's something." The owner looked surprised and happy at the same time. "A pure manifested device. I haven't looked at one like that in years." He took Lee's device and placed it on a small table in the middle of the room. Then he went back to a control panel and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, a whole bunch of floating screens appeared out of nowhere and started flashing information. "My word," said the Owner, "its construction is unlike anything I've ever seen yet, it's almost perfect. This is beyond anything I've ever worked on but it fascinates me to no end." He then turned to Sally and said, "Sally, please apologize to everyone waiting for us to open for me but tell them we aren't opening until some time later today. This is just too good of an opportunity to pass up." Sally left to go and deliver the news to the waiting crowd.

For the next hour or so, the owner looked over the devices construction while at his suggestion, Lee and John looked around at different parts. Lee went to a section, which had different battling parts. John on the other hand has looking at construction parts for information processing. After the hour, they went back in to see if the owner was done. He wasn't. Lee watched him work. He noticed Lee watching and he said, "Kid, did you know that there is a legend about Manifested devices?" "No, I didn't," Lee, replied. "Well, it is said that Manifested devices have a life of their own." "Really," Lee said in an innocent tone. "Yeah, and there is probably some truth to that as well. For instance, Manifested devices personalities are always more intricate to those that people try to program. We craftsmen can never design one that seams to be alive as much. Another thing is that Manifested devices sometimes do things that are unexplainable and that never happen with normal devices. Most people just say these things are glitches or just that we can't mimic magic with handwork but I disagree. I believe that a device a mage manifests does have a life and should be treated as such. Your device for some reason reminds me of that."

After another hour of work and Lee and John looking at parts, the owner came out and said, "Okay, I am done." They all headed to the back room where he had all the data on screen. "Okay, here is the low down. I have scanned the device but with it's weird construction and the data I got out of it, I am not sure I did it right. The results said that it shot out at peak a 3 billion level burst of magic." John smiled and said, "Nope, that's about right. Lee here is what most people call a prodigy." The owner looked at Lee and said, "So he is a Z mage?" "And quite a good one at that," John said. The owner was surprised for a second, and then he said, "Okay, now that we know that the data is reliable, here is what I found out. It has a unique construction unlike anything I have seen and I must say it is ingenious. Now as for what happened a few days ago, I think I know what happened up to a point. I am guessing that your some was in a battle of someone with near equal power. Is that correct?" "Yes," said Lee. "Okay, so anyway, somewhere in the middle of the battle, there was a magical collision where each combatant fired a peak blast or a blast of magic that was as powerful as possible. At that point, any and all safety measures implemented in Lee's device to limit power disengaged, making this staff at the time nothing more than a focus for Lee's magic. Lee therefore must have done all of the staffs normal functions manually and that includes magical compression and output and with him doing those things, the max output or peak increased exponentially and it did something weird. Unfortunately, after that, it seams something happened to something in the staff and I can't get any data past that point."

John was thinking for a second. Then said, "I want you to look at this." He then tapped his device and one of the screens over the control panel changed and Lee's battle footage started playing. It had been sped up so it only took about 8 minutes to play but the owner got the gist of it. "That would explain everything. And when Lee transformed, the device must have reconfigured which would explain the absence of data. This mystery would be so much easier though if I could talk to devices though. I could just ask it what happened." Lee looked at John for a second, who nodded and Lee said, "Would that really help?" The owner replied, "Sure, but why-." Lee took his device off the table and tapped on it. Suddenly, Haruno appeared, puzzled as to where they were. The owner jumped back in shock, "How the, what the." John went over to him and explained it to him. When he calmed down, his shock turned to interest. "Amazing, an actual living, breathing device." He looked at Haruno for a second and said, "Well, maybe you can help me then, seeing it is you we are investigating." "Okay," she said. "Do you know how or why all the safety measures in you as a device disengaged at that point?" Haruno thought and said, "Because I disengaged them. Lee needed more power and I just told him how, then I released the safeties on the staff and Lee did the rest. When I released the safeties though, I went dormant." "I see. Now I think I know what happened. Lee must of broken the limit line of his power somehow and went into the Final Form." "But I thought that the final form was just a myth?" said John. "No, it's not. The final form exists. This is the second time I have seen it though. My grandfather was the previous ALPHA in the TSAB and once, he showed me the Final Form. I never thought I would see it again."

"WAIT, your grandpa was the Gold Flame. THE Golden Flame," John said in exasperation. "Yes, though I try to keep it a secret for the most part. I changed my name and everything." "But why keep that a secret." The owner looked down and said, "Because, I was never seen by others." His voice started to match his age when he said, "During my childhood, I was considered to be a prodigy of magic. Not as much as Lee obviously but everyone had high expectations. They always said, "You're just like your grandpa" or "Here comes the next Gold Flame." It was like they thought I was my grandpa or something. It drove me crazy. So, one day when my parents told me I was going to go to TSAB training academy and enter the TSAB, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away from home, changed my name and headed out, teleporting from world to world, looking for work. Eventually, I met a kind man and he felt sympathy for me. He took me in and taught me his trade, Device crafting. He treated me like a son that he never had and when he died, he left me everything he owned, including this store. I've been here ever since, got married and had a daughter and I am happy with my Life. No one expects more of me than I can do and I found that my job makes many people happy. I have no regrets about my decision except that I never saw my parents again. Though they did ahead to my wish I left them in a letter and didn't waste their lives chasing after me. I only visited their graves once." He became quiet as the room.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then the owner said, "Now, as for the device, the design is flawless but the parts aren't. The parts in here are much too weak for your power level now. To be honest, they are probably limiting you exponentially, another reason why you may have been able to achieve the final form once they were all disengaged. I can replace them with something more suited to your level. I have a special set of parts my grandfather had given me specially made for him to go final form. I think you should have them. Especially since I don't think I will find anyone else who could use them." Lee waited for a second, then looked at Haruno who nodded and then so did Lee."

Haruno transformed back into a marble and Lee handed it to the Owner who said that he would have it ready in half an hour. Lee and John went outside to the normal part of the store and looked at parts. John had explained how certain parts were used and the ones Lee fond the most interesting were the mod parts. They could change certain aspects of something and alter it depending on how they were used. Lee looked around and one caught his eye. It was labeled, "Magic path, Basic part for creating magic flow." Lee's attention to a part next to it labeled "FLIP-879. Add a physical appearance to one part." Lee's head expanded with a brilliant idea. He took one of each and ran into the room where the Owner was working. "Excuse me, I was just wondering…"

Lee and John were waiting for 40 minutes when the owner came out. "Done. Sorry it took so long. I had a bit of trouble with the unique part construction of Lee's device but I got it to work in the end. He then went over and told Lee, "It's exactly as you ordered." Lee thanked him and took his device. John then asked if he could install one part for strengthening the handle which he felt was a bit weak and the owner said he would." The owner wasn't gone for even a minute when he came back with John's device. Yours was much easier t figure out. John went to take out his wallet when the Owner put up his hand. "This one's on me. I don't know why but something about this entire thing has given me a good feeling." John was about to protest when he decided against it. "Okay, but I'll owe you one." Lee said thank you again and they left the shop.