Omake Week 2020, Day 6: Of all things, it's a Steel Queen Chronicle story, from a very short time after "A Road Onward."

~X X X~

"Schwalbefliegen!"

Steel spheres rocketed down at Takamachi Vivio. The ten-year-old mage cadet lunged forward, dodging out of the way so that the first projectile hammered into the pavement behind her, exploding in a magical blast that showered asphalt into the air. Her tutor had always told her that, tough as Vivio's defensive magic was, the best defense of all was not to get hit in the first place.

"Not only does it keep you from getting lazy, it also saves your magic reserves for blocking the stuff you can't avoid."

Vivio took the lesson to heart, dodging not only the first projectile but also the second. It wasn't just good sense, but since this was a training exercise and her tutor was the one doing the shooting, it was a generally good idea to show that she'd been paying attention.

She briefly considered trying to avoid the third shot as well, but it would have taken a wild leap to the side and giving up stable, balanced footing was only rarely a good idea. Flitting about, jumping and rolling, was strictly for movement-magic types with weak defenses and fast recovery times from extreme motion, not forward combatants; that was a lesson she'd learned both from Vita and her hand-to-hand teachers in Strike Arts. Instead, she called upon a spell that enhanced the power of her Barrier Jacket.

"Eisengeist!"

The projectile blasted into her hip and detonated, sending a quick pulse of pain through her but nothing else, more of a sting than a blow thanks to the defensive enhancement. Vivio expected to feel another such strike from the fourth and final projectile, but instead it barely missed, slamming down to the ground in front of her and detonating up another cloud of smoke and debris.

Vita missed? she thought. That doesn't make any—

Vivio didn't even articulate the idea as it popped into her mind fully formed, instead throwing up one hand while her Device, Parsifal popped a cartridge, calling up a surge of magic.

"Eisenschild!"

The rainbow-tinted shield of Belkan magic popped into existence just in the nick of time as the Iron Hammer Knight exploded through the smokescreen, the back of her warhammer Armed Device, Graf Eisen, roaring with the flame of a rocket engine lending it additional speed and power.

"Raketenhammer!"

The hammer's head slammed into the shield at full-force, the magic of its impact strike met head-on by the defensive spell. The conflict ended the only way it could: explosively. The detonation of warring magic shattered the shield and knocked both combatants tumbling head over heels.

"Uhhhh," Vivio groaned, trying to keep track of where she was and not really doing a good job of it. Her spinning head didn't help, nor did the fact that her arms and legs seemed to be bent into a posture that a yoga instructor would probably be pretty proud to be able to assume.

"Not bad, kid; you're learning."

"Thanks, Vita-sensei," she mumbled.

"Here, lemme give you a hand."

Vita helped pull Vivio to her feet, the girl's body unfolding as she was pulled upright. She was young and flexible, after all. And she'd been praised, so she wanted to clear her head fast so she didn't forget the moment.

"I didn't think you'd figure out what I was doing with that smokescreen," Vita said, looking up at her. Up, because while Vita was a centuries-old magical construct who'd once been part of the Book of Darkness, she also had the body of an eight-year-old girl with crimson pigtails.

"It seemed wrong that you'd miss when I was a stationary target," Vivio said.

"Good logic, but the important part is that you saw that and figured out what I was up to in a matter of split seconds. That is you developing combat awareness." She slapped Vivio on the back.

"Do we have time for another exercise? I still have plenty of magic reserves, and I only have a couple of new bruises from that last explosion, nothing that needs immediate treatment."

"You're your mama's daughter, all right. But I don't think—"

Pin-pon! chimed out over the training field.

"Nope, looks like this session's over. The next class is here."

Indeed, a class of fresh-scrubbed mage students between the ages of ten and fifteen were stepping out from the training ground control room along with one of the TSAB's junior instructors. Most of the cadets had shell-shocked expressions at Vivio and Vita's tattered, smoke-blackened Barrier Jackets; they'd probably even caught the end of the exercise.

"Hey, Vivio…you wanna go hang out for a while?"

"Mmn!" Vivio chirped. "Dinner's going to be late tonight because Fate-mama has a late meeting with the prosecutor on one of her cases. I'll call Nanoha-mama and let her know you'll be bringing me home."

"Man, I wonder where they're going to be going now?" one of the cadets murmured to the boy next to her as Vita and Vivio walked off the field.

"I don't know, but that was awesome! They took that blast, stood up, dusted off, and started talking strategy!"

"Do you think we'll be like that someday?"

"Darn right!" He punched a fist into his palm. "We're Belkan-style knights, too, right, Miti? We're gonna be hardcore, just like them! Rack up some bruises in battle, then go out, pound a few beers, and get into a high-stakes poker game that ends in a bar brawl!"

"…I think they're a little young for beer, Jarret."

"Pound a few caramel milks or something, then! You know what I mean."

Miti grinned. She definitely did. She might have been only eleven, but someday, she too was going to be a total badass!

~X X X~

"Oh, no! Who can ever save me from this hideous beast!?"

"Don't worry, Prince Cris! The Argent Fluff Knight of Belka shall never turn aside from a gentleman in distress, no matter how ferociously the beast may snarl."

Silence echoed that declaration.

"I said, no matter how ferociously the beast may snarl," Vita repeated, snarling a bit herself.

"That was your cue, Zaffy!" Vivio stage-whispered into Zafira's ear. The Guardian Beast of the Wolkenritter, currently in his blue wolf form, twitched slightly.

"Grr."

Vivio pouted, cheeks puffing out. Her stuffed bunny, Cris, was currently sitting between Zafira's paws, ready to be rescued by Vita's heroic plushie, but the ferocious monster was not cooperating with what was most definitely Serious Business. Vivio looked at her teacher, and Vita looked back. A message passed back and forth; this was not magical telepathy, but rather the kind of complete unison of the mind that was forged on the training ground between master and student.

"It seems that only one method can defeat this horror," Vita said in her bunny's squeaky voice. "The dangerous forbidden technique…"

As one, Vita and Vivio tossed their plushies safely out of range onto the couch and pounced.

"Tickle attack!"

As Zafira went down helplessly in laughter before two opponents who knew exactly where all of his ticklish spots were, he knew that he would rue the day he chose to be surly in the face of such hardcore badassery.