SonicANIME2010 here with the debut of my new story; now before I go into this, I'll clear a few things up... For one, this is another Sonic and Nanoha crossover, I just can't get enough of these two and I'm a big fan of both series. 2nd, this is another AU things, not related to the other crossovers by canon. As far as timeline is concerned, this is well in the Genesis days of Sonic, to put it in perspective, after Sonic 1, before Sonic 2, so Tails hasn't been introduced yet. As far as the Nanoha series, this is straight through the original, first season, so fair warning, there may be a bit more of a darkish theme. Without further ado, let it begin. Oh and I don't own any of the canon characters mentioned here, they belong to their respective companies

[Uminari City]
[7:30 am]
[BGM: "The Promise" Final Fantasy XIII]

"We are now entering our destination port of Uminari City; please make sure your belongings are secure" a tomboyish female voice spoke over the intercom, waking the 6 teenage human passengers; 4 female and 2 male, inside. The only non-human passenger was a young, anthropomorphic blue hedgehog. The blue of his fur covered his legs and head, but not his arms, belly or muzzle, those were all peach-furred. He was much shorter than the humans and looked a little bit chubby, but not overly so; clad in only a pair of white gloves, red shoes with a white stripe and golden buckle, and a small little red scarf along his collar. Though, despite his odd appearance, the other humans didn't really seem to mind. It did help that he didn't cause any trouble. In fact he tried to sleep the whole boat trip to Uminari, but the announcement put an end to that.

'So much for Sonic the Hedgehog sleeping the whole way, now I have to face these humans,' The 9-year old hedgehog, newly identified as Sonic, opened his green eyes and stood up from his seat, taking a moment to adjust his scarf a bit then carefully watching the six humans who were also in the cab of the ship he was on, 'I'd like to think that these guys aren't as bad as Eggman, but then again that's my naïve side thinking.'

To the other humans, the hedgehog appeared to be nervous and awkward. Though most of them could understand such feelings; after all, if they were to put themselves in his shoes, they'd be probably feeling the same thing. The humans were then given a rather humorous display of the poor guy getting tripped to the ground due to the ship making a sudden stop into the harbor port.

'Ugh! This is why I prefer the land.' Sonic mentally groaned and slowly stood up, though his wobbly attempt in doing so and his struggle to maintain his balance caused the girls inside to giggle at the cute display. Sonic caught that and let out a chuckle himself to cover his embarrassment, "Uh… I meant to do that!"

There was a little bit of a pause after the hedgehog spoke, and that caused him to get nervous. Sonic thought in his mind that he made a big mistake in revealing that he could talk. He let out small and soft nervous whine, which cued the other humans, who were staring at him, in as to how young he was. To his surprise, the humans didn't say a word; instead, the girls giggled at him again while the two boys had looks of amusement on their faces.

"E-eh?" Sonic blinked, nervously staring at their reactions, but before he, or anyone else for that matter could say anything else; the captain's voice spoke over the intercom.

"Alright everyone, we've finished docking, you are all free to disembark" the captain declared, "Thank you for choosing the Syldra round trip touring service, your one and only ticket to see the beautiful South Island archipelago. I am Faris and I was proud to be your captain, I hope to see you all again soon."

The humans disembarked from the ship, giving their purple-haired captain a friendly wave on their way out. Sonic had attempted to slip out through the crowd too, but was easily caught by the ever-so-observant and experienced captain.

"Ah ah ah... not so fast there" the woman lightly tugged the hedgehog aside by the arm, "I want a word with you"

"E-eh? Why?" Sonic asked, futilely struggling to rush off, "I paid my fare didn't I?"

"In exact change" the captain added, "But that's not the issue..."

"You want to know why I left the island..." the hedgehog lowered his head, "Is that right?"

"Smart little guy too" Faris nodded, "You're the first of your kind to leave the islands to come here. I know that because I'm the only captain brave enough to take my boat over there. Everyone else has been trying to stay away since…"

"Eggman…" the blue hedgehog tightened his fists at the mere thought of the name, "He almost ruined my home, and I want to take a break from it all."

"Yeah, it's idiots like him that give us humans a bad name," Faris held her fist up, "You should know, not all humans are as bad as him."

"I hope you're right" the hedgehog didn't seem so confident.

"How about this, my next tour is set for a week from now" the captain offered, "That should give you plenty of time to take a vacation and observe the people of this city, and if you don't like it, I'll give you a free ride back. Got it?"

"Hai" Sonic nodded, "I'll do my best, thanks for your help."

"Don't mention it" the captain nudged the hedgehog off her boat, "Now get going, and don't come back until next week!"

"Yes ma'am!" the blue hedgehog nodded quickly and sped off to the top of the nearest building, 'She doesn't seem so bad, and maybe she's right. Not all humans are like Eggman. Well, I have a vacation, might as well get it going with a blast!'

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Lyrical Familiar, is about to begin

[Opening: "Innocent Starter" Nana Mizuki]

Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar
Chapter 1
it was a meeting of chance that changed it all

[Uminari City: Midori-ya café]
[BGM: "The Yachas Massif" Final Fantasy XIII]

To the 9-year-old Takamachi Nanoha, it was the start of any other day; wake up early, style her reddish brown hair in her usual twin-pigtails and get dressed in the long, white dress uniform that was the girls uniform for Seishou Elementary School; and go down and greet her family for breakfast.

"Ohayo, okaa-san, otoo-san," the girl greeted her mother and father as she entered the kitchen.

"Ohayo" Shiro, Nanoha's father returned the greeting with a warm grin

"Ohayo, Nanoha-chan" Momoko, her mother greeted Nanoha casually with a soft smile, "Breakfast is on the table."

"Arigatou" Nanoha said as she sat down at the table, "Itadakimasu"

"Did you do your homework?" her father asked, looking up from his newspaper.

"Hai" the young girl pulled out her backpack, "Everything's all done and ready to be turned in"

"You did it all, including your cram school?" Shirou asked in some disbelief, "That's a lot of work to do all at once."

"Nyahaha..." Nanoha giggled, "I sort of got tunnel vision when I started, so it was hard for me to take a break."

"You're a hardworking girl, just don't push yourself too hard" Momoko half-complimented/half-warned her daughter, "Oh, Kyouya and Miyuki took their breakfast to the dojo again to practice, in case you're wondering."

"Hai" Nanoha nodded, finished her breakfast and looked up at the clock, which read 7:35. In her surprise she quickly finished her breakfast and put her shoes on. Before she left she called back to her parents, "Ittekimasu (I'm going now, common Japanese greeting for the situation)"

"Itterasshai (translation "please go and come back" but again, common for situation)" Shiro called back, sighing as he watched his youngest daughter leave for school, "You're right about her being hardworking. It makes me worry that she could be working too hard. She ever tell you why?"

"Iie.. And neither her cram school teachers nor her elementary school teachers have been able to get an answer from her on that either." Momoko shook her head, "I don't know what drives her, but I just hope it doesn't get her hurt."

[Seishou Elementary School]
[BGM: "Plains of Eternity" Final Fantasy XIII-2]

The bus to the coed elementary school came to a park just in time for the students on board to head into the building. Three students in particular included the average friendly Nanoha Takamachi and her two multimillionaire heiresses that were her best friends: the dirty-blonde, outspoken Anglophone Alisa Bannings; and the gentle and kind Suzuka Tsukimura. Though her friends would probably say and tell her otherwise, Nanoha often felt like a third wheel to them in comparison.

"Did you hear? Apparently after his base on South Island was destroyed, Doctor Eggman went off the radar. Like he disappeared and nobody's seen him since." Alisa asked the two, "Hard to believe that a formerly well-respected scientist in the field of robotics and technology could all of a sudden go crazy and start kidnapping innocent animals and do terrible things to them."

"It's been barely a week since we heard his "declaration" that he was going to conquer the world..." Suzuka added, "Something about powerful gems too..."

"What makes me curious is how his base was destroyed in the first place" Nanoha noted, "and it looked strong… Still I feel sorry for the ones who lived on South Island during that..."

"I just hope they aren't hurt. I've heard about how beautiful the islands are" Suzuka added, "Ever since I heard about them, I've been trying to convince my family to take one of the tours, but after hearing the bad news in the past week, I think they'll be more concerned for our safety."

Both Nanoha and Alisa nodded in agreement. The school bell cut their conversation short and the girls went into the classroom to start their school day.

[Lunch-time]
[No BGM]

The first place Sonic visited in his little "tour" around the city took him to the elementary school, a place where young humans went to learn things about the world, not unlike the schooling on South Island. On a nearby rooftop, the blue hedgehog stood; making sure that he wouldn't be spotted and at the same time watching over the young humans as they enjoyed their lunch.

'Well these ones don't seem too bad' Sonic mentally observed; suddenly he found his attention grabbed by a particular trio of human 9-year old girls who were about to enjoy their lunch on the same bench. Out of the three, the one who grabbed his attention the most with the girl with the brown-ish hair and blue eyes that had a slight purple tint to them, 'Huh? Who is this? Why do I suddenly feel this tug? Like I'm drawn to her…'

"Erg... gotta get out of here before I reveal myself!" The blue hedgehog disappeared in a flash of blue that was his speed. In the back of his mind, the image of that 9 year old girl made an impression, but the reasons were still unknown.

Meanwhile, the middle of the school day finds Nanoha, Alisa and Suzuka eating their bento lunches on the school's rooftop, a somewhat popular place to eat due to the peaceful atmosphere. One of the topics discussed in class was about the future and the jobs they wish to go into, which got Nanoha to ask the first question in their conversation.

"Alisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, you two already have decided what your futures are going to be" Nanoha asked the two curiously, "Ne?"

"Well my parents are company managers" Alisa answered, "So I'm working hard to succeed them when I grow up."

"And I have an interest in machines, so it'd probably be engineering for me." Suzuka added, "What about you, Nanoha-chan? Your family runs a café, so it'd be natural for you to take over it when you grow up."

"Hai... it seems that way, but...I feel like there's something else I want to do... I'm not sure I can see it clearly yet though." Nanoha nodded, and without her expression so much as showing it, she criticized herself, "I have no special skills or strong points about me either…"

[BGM: "Miscasting" Nanoha A's OST]

"BAKA!" Alisa's outburst caused Nanoha to turn her head to face her, only to close her left eye as the girl had thrown a slice of lime at her cheek. The dirty-blonde girl looked outright upset at what Nanoha had said, "You shouldn't be saying that about yourself!"

"That's right, I'm sure there's something only you can do" Suzuka's soft and encouraging tone voiced her agreement to what Alisa had said.

"Furthermore, aren't your grades better than mine?!" Alisa went further and pointed her finger at the girl in emphasis, making Nanoha inch her head slightly away. The outspoken girl looked like she was about ready to pounce on her friend, "And if you say that you have no strong points, what's that say about me, huh?!"

Sure enough, to the surprise of Suzuka, Alisa pounced on Nanoha and drove her to the ground. She then got behind the poor girl and stretched her face to rather comical levels. This display started to draw a bit of a crowd from the other students who chose to have their lunch on the rooftop garden area.

"But I wouldn't be good as a business administrator" Nanoha whined somehow through Alisa's humorous action, "And I wouldn't be good at normal work either…"

"E-eh, you two, you shouldn't be doing that, come on!" Suzuka tried, and failed to break the two up, "Come on, you guys!"

[Later]
[No BGM]

Not fully able to take the image of the girl out of his mind, Sonic found himself following the trio of friends for the remainder of the day. He took care not to be spotted by them and somehow he was in the clear so far.

With only the peaceful sunset to serve as a backdrop, Nanoha, Alisa and Suzuka walked along a path on their way to the cram school they attend sometimes after elementary school.

"Something I can do…" Nanoha thought about what Suzuka had said during lunch, "Something only I can do..."

Along their way, the trio passed a teenage girl taking her dog for a nice jog. The hedgehog had the dog pegged as one of the more annoying types, so it came to no surprise, and actually some amusement to see the energetic one become annoyed.

"BE QUIET!" the girl shouted at the dog in plain English. Satisfied that she shut the yappy beast up, she turned to rejoin her friends; however a soft chuckle from the bushes to her right caused her to curiously turn towards that direction, "Huh?"

'Uhoh! Bailing!' Sonic ducked his head and leapt to the trees, though he narrowly avoided detection, the light-blue trail his speed left drew some curiosity to Alisa Bannings.

'Odd... thought I saw something just now…' Alisa thought to herself, only to quickly realize that her friends were up ahead. In her haste she rushed forward and past them, just in time to direct them to a shortcut off the beaten path that led to their cram school, "Over here! There's a shortcut."

The girls walked through the path, however, Nanoha looked a little bit pensive and she suddenly stopped when she realized something.

'This place…' The young girl suddenly thought, reflecting back on a dream of a young human boy getting fighting off some weirdly shaped creature, 'This is just like… the one in my dream..'

"Nanoha-chan, are you alright?" Suzuka asked in concern.

"H-huh? Oh I'm fine, don't worry" Nanoha tried to assure her friends.

'That's not "fine" something's on her mind. First I see some weird blue flash thing, now Nanoha-chan's acting strangely' Alisa noted in her thoughts, she didn't have much time to ponder them, as cram school was about to begin soon, "Come on you two, we don't want to be late!"

Suzuka and Nanoha followed her again. However, Nanoha still had the mysterious dream on her mind. Then, to add to Nanoha's sudden confusion, she felt something on her mind and heard a young voice. Unknown to her, the voice was also heard in Sonic's mind, much to his own confusion.

'Help me' a male voice, no older than ten years old if that, called out to them for help.

"E-eh?" Nanoha suddenly stopped, which in turn, caused Alisa and Suzuka to stop ahead of her, "Did you two hear that?"

"No…" Suzuka shook her head, she didn't hear anything

"Me neither..." Alisa added, though her thoughts had a different opinion, 'Could this day get any weirder? First I thought I saw something blue in the bushes earlier after I told off that dog, then Nanoha-chan starts acting weird, now she's hearing voices? What is going on?!'

Nanoha stood for a moment, trying to figure out where the voice is coming from. Suddenly, she (and Sonic, though she didn't know that), heard the voice again, and this time she was able to pinpoint where it came from.

"This way!" Nanoha suddenly rushed in another direction, with no other choice, Alisa and Suzuka followed suit. Their blue hedgehog follower had also followed via leaping from tree to tree.

In a few minutes, Nanoha arrived at the source of the voice, which was revealed to be a sleeping yellowish-tan furred ferret. The hedgehog follower, still choosing discretion and subtlety, watched as the young girl knelt in front of the ferret in concern for its wellbeing.

The ferret, as if sensing a presence above him, raised his head upward and gazed at Nanoha, somewhat half awake. When he did, the red orb-like gem tied around his neck in a pendant caught the girl's attention. Sonic watched as the girl lifted the ferret up. Just as she did, Alisa and Suzuka finally caught up to her.

The girls were caught up in a little bit of frenzy, wondering what to do about the ferret. Alisa suggested that since it was injured, they should take it to a hospital. Suzuka countered that since it was an animal, they should take it to a vet. Nanoha, on the other hand, was just confused and concerned for the ferret's safety. The mentioned ferret looked up at the girl holding him before falling asleep again.

[Makibara Animal Hospital]
[No BGM]

Within almost ten minutes, the girls safely got the ferret to the vet. Sonic had followed suit and stood outside the office so he could listen into the conversation between the trio of grade-schoolers and the vet.

'There's something about that ferret too…' Sonic mentally observed, 'I'm pretty sure that it was his voice I heard earlier, same with that girl too. But why? What is going on here?'

Thankfully, the ferret's wounds weren't deep, but it was a bit weak according to the vet. He did wake up for a moment and stared at Nanoha in particular. Then it showed her his gratitude for help by softly licking her finger, much like any other domesticated animal would. The girls had to cut their visit short; however, otherwise they would've been late to cram school.

Sonic then came to a decision himself that as much as he'd like to figure out what his connection to the brunette was, or how he kept feeling the mental tug, there was one other issue he had to deal with: finding a place to stay for the night. The blue hedgehog gazed down at his gloved hand, looking at the small amount of yen he had left, saved up from selling some of the scrap metals from the mechs he thrashed to merchants who acted as middlemen in buying out some metals in order to resell them to other companies who could make metallic parts such as shelving units for shops.

'Ah... the one issue I never thought I'd have to deal with this early..' the hedgehog mentally groaned, 'I have enough money to probably get me ONE night at a little hotel and maybe a small meal for dinner if I'm not picky… but other than that, I need to find a way to get more money fast if I'm gonna be spending a week here.'

With a soft sigh, the hedgehog rushed off to take care of his own business, hoping it would provide enough of a distraction to keep that young human girl off his mind.

[Later that same night]
[No BGM]

It wasn't easy, but somehow Sonic had managed to book himself a nice little hotel room and at the same time get some nice dinner to go with it. As luck would favor him, he found a little local inn that was owned by an elderly woman. The reasons for her low pricing was a little bit of a personal philosophy she followed; that one should never have to overpay for something so simple and necessary. And maybe it was just her friendly demeanor, or how anxious and nervous the blue hedgehog was, she took his money and gave him a room key without any questions asked. She even offered him some of the curry she made for dinner.

'Well, especially after that nice old lady was kind enough to give me a room, I'd say that this counts as a decent start to a vacation.' The hedgehog grinned in satisfaction after he finished his dish of curry, which almost was as good as his favorite food, chili dogs. To work off such a delicious meal, Sonic had planned to stretch his legs for a bit then go out for a nice long run.

[BGM: "Inflexible Determination" Final Fantasy X OST]

"Huh?" the blue hedgehog paused for a moment in his stretches as he felt yet another tug on his mind, only this one was quite different, almost like someone was calling out to him versus the tug he felt earlier. With a soft sigh, he closed his eyes to focus on whom or what was calling out to him, 'now what?'

'Two…I sense two that can hear my voice... Please both of you, I need your help... please lend me your strength' the familiar male voice echoed in his mind.

[Midori-ya Café]

Nanoha Takamachi stood right beside her bed, her eyes too were closed and focused on the voice that called out to her. Deep in the back of her mind, she too felt the tug from the other presence, but she never could tell where it came from and it was something she just had to shrug off.

'Is it the ferret that's calling me?' the girl questioned in her thoughts, 'If that's true, then what about the other presence? Could he be calling it too?'

'Please, come to where I am...' the young male voice pleaded again, 'the time we have left… the danger... It's too late!'

The voice cut off from there, almost similar to a phone call suddenly losing connection. Nanoha sighed and laid her head on her bed for a moment or two before making her decision. Something was going on, and it involved the ferret she and her friends had found. With her mind set, she rushed off towards the vet's office.

[Makibara Animal Hospital]
[BGM: "Knight of the Goddess" Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST]

Even with the ability to break the sound barrier without breaking a sweat, Sonic still only managed to arrive at the hospital just as Nanoha did; though she appeared to be a bit out of breath and wasn't able to spot the blue hedgehog as he hopped into a nearby tree.

All of a sudden the both of them heard an odd, screeching noise that made them cover their ears in pain from how loud the noise blasted their eardrums and further in.

'This noise!' The two of them gripped their heads tighter, only to release them when the noise suddenly subsided. Then they both noticed that everything stopped around them, such as the stoplights, almost like time itself had come to a complete halt.

With a shake of his head, Sonic watched as Nanoha ran in, and at the same time, the same ferret who had been calling out to them both, rush out from the hospital and straight for the tree that the blue hedgehog currently had perched himself from. The ferret wasn't alone; he was chased by what looked like a weird furry monster with distinct pinkish eyes that just oozed out a "DANGER" warning.

Fear evident in his movements, the ferret ran right up the tree. That in turn, caused the beast that was after him to follow suit, only its momentum and superior strength would cause the tree to topple down once it hit.

"Oh... of course, the ONE tree that has the blue hedgehog in it gets thrashed by the weird monster!" Sonic shouted as he jumped from the tree to the top of a nearby wall. He let out a sigh as he landed, "So much for my vacation, looks like I'm gonna have to do some fighting!"

Nanoha blinked as she noticed the blue hedgehog on the wall nearby, however, before she could say anything, her attention was shifted again to the tree that the ferret ran up. Just as the monster toppled the tree, the ferret jumped from the branch it made it too. Noticing that the ferret was heading right for her, Nanoha opened her arms up and was able to catch him just in time.

"W-what's going on?!" Nanoha asked in a mix of confusion and shock, "W-what is that thing?!"

"You came for me..." The ferret suddenly spoke to Nanoha, probably ignoring the blue hedgehog in the background.

"You spoke?!" Nanoha flailed her arms a little bit in surprise

"Yeah... way to pay attention to the blue hedgehog right here." Sonic quipped cynically to Nanoha and the ferret, though his light-hearted tone showed he wasn't serious

"Correction, you BOTH came for me..." The ferret said after a small sigh, suddenly getting the sinking feeling that he wasn't going to quite like the blue one who happened to hear him.

"Nya..ha..ha." Nanoha looked up at the hedgehog and offered a small sheepish grin

"Kidding, kidding" Sonic waved his arms in dismissal, "I quip for stress relief. Kami knows I've needed that in the past week or so."

"Eh?" Nanoha blinked, wondering what the hedgehog was referring to, 'Could he be from South Island? It would make sense with the timeline from what he said'

'Stress relief?' The ferret stared as well, 'this guy couldn't be any younger than me or her, so what could've happened that even HE would need stress relief?!'

"Uh... as much as I'm such a nice sight to stare at" Sonic coughed to drag the two out of their staring phase, "Need I draw your attention to the tree that just got crushed?"

Sure enough, as they looked, the tree was pushed to the side and the monster itself stared right at them with a dangerous grin and glint on its expression.

"W-what is that thing?" Nanoha slowly stood up and stared at the creature in surprise.

"Uh… A giant… tentacle... furball?" Sonic voiced his observation of the monster, "Yeah, you'll have to come back to me for a quip on that"

"Something that's been chasing me" the ferret said in a soft tone, "You both seem to be of the proper nature... I'd like to ask that you lend me your strength."

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't planning on helping out." Sonic replied, a sentiment that Nanoha had also shared.

"I come from another world in search of something" The ferret explained, "But I don't think I'll be able to handle the weight of this task alone. I know I may be an inconvenience to you both, and that neither of you even know each other, but I have to ask the help of those with the proper nature to help. I promise I'll repay you both."

"As much as I'd love some extra "pay" to live here, I can't take any payment. It's just not my thing" Sonic shook his head, though he did get into a battle stance, "But that doesn't mean I won't help. Heh... this creep won't even be a WARM UP!"

Without so much as a second thought, the blue hedgehog revved his legs and ran in place until his legs appeared to be a red finger-8 loop; his signature Super-Peel-Out, used to build up his true blue, supersonic speed. Within a matter of milliseconds, the hedgehog blast off at the speed of sound and rushed for the monster.

"S-such speed..." the ferret gawked with a look of total surprise that looked outright comical for a ferret's face.

"S-so fast!" Nanoha equally gawked, her jaw dropped open and her eyes white and circular to emphasize her shock.

[VS Jewel Seed Monster]
[BGM: "Worlds Collide" Final Fantasy XIII-2]

In the hedgehog's mind, the fight would have gone by in a script that included, but wasn't limited to: amazing the on looking two with his amazing speed, heroically rushing the monster; curl up in his spin-dash just before impact to maximize his speed and power, and probably demolish the creep in one strike. Sadly, the movie script did not include the monster's tentacles gripping the spin-dashed hedgehog and throwing him against a nearby wall, because that was EXACTLY what the monster just did.

"Ugh-gah!" the hedgehog groaned in considerable pain as he felt the hard wall on his furred skin, "T-that's probably going to hurt in the morning..."

"Are you alright?!" Nanoha asked in concern as she watched the hedgehog slowly get up, struggling though to maintain his balance.

"He won't last much longer at this rate" the ferret said in blunt honesty as he observed, "You'll have to help him"

"S-shut up, baka-ferret!" Sonic shouted as he gritted his teeth in determination, stood upright and looked to be in some considerable amount of pain from the blow, but he did not back down, "I did not survive my home almost getting destroyed by some crazed scientist jerk just to die here!"

'So he is from South Island…' Nanoha couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the guy, 'Poor guy'

'I'm missing something here, I just know it…' The ferret shook his head.

Determination filling his very core, the blue hedgehog put all that he had into his next spin-dash. He charged up so fast that particles of light could've been seen surrounding him. In a burst of speed that not only broke the sound barrier, but arguably could've put a small dent in the light barrier, the hedgehog blast forward and straight into an all-or-nothing charge against the monster.

Like a knife through butter, the hedgehog cut straight through the monster, but when he unrolled, the hedgehog just stayed there, struggling to get back on his feet. He looked completely drained from the last attack, and for good reason, as he did literally just took whatever energy he had left and put it in his last dash. It seemed, at least for a few seconds that the hedgehog had won, as the monster appeared to be on the ground after taking the spin-attack head on.

However, to everyone's surprise and horror, the monster reformed itself, almost like it didn't take any damage at all. The hedgehog noticed this, and then winced as he felt one of the monster's tentacles wrap around his leg, cutting it just enough to draw a little bit of blood.

"Eh... heh..." Sonic had a grin on his face, but it was one of the grim kinds, "This is gonna hurt..."

Unfortunately for was Sonic, his last words were more true than he wanted them to be. For the next half-minute or so, the monster drove the tentacle holding the blue hedgehog into wall after wall. There wasn't anything Sonic could do to stop it and every blow felt like he was getting crushed by a boulder. Try as he might, he couldn't hold back his grunts of pain. Then, like a child bored with its toy, the monster just dropped the limp hedgehog. There was a rather unnatural, disturbing and painful "bounce" that the hedgehog made on landing that took him about less than a foot away from where Nanoha and the ferret were.

Feeling concern for the poor hedgehog, Nanoha, still gripping onto the ferret, rushed toward his side. To her surprise and shock, not only was the hedgehog awake despite his beat up condition, he was actually chuckling about it.

"Well… that.. could've gone better" Sonic said dryly, "To recap, my legs are probably broken, definitely hurt and bleeding… same thing can be said for my arms, my vision's blurring every now and then; and I'm feeling light headed… Yup! It's official, I'm screwed"

"You're making jokes even now?" Nanoha asked, not quite sure if she should give the hedgehog the courtesy of a laugh or not.

"Why not?" if he could, Sonic would've shrugged, "If I'm gonna die because of my recklessness, I might as well have a quip or two about it."

"Actually.. there is a way for you to survive" The ferret piped up, "But, once this happens, neither of your lives will ever be the same again."

"Just tell me how…" Nanoha didn't care about any "changes" to her life. After all, her life had already been changed enough in one day, 'and I can't stand and watch him die while I'm able to do something about it.'

"Well… I was going to tell you about this before he rushed in, but it involves magic" The ferret started to explain, then gestured with his paw to the red jewel on his collar, "Take this in your dominant hand"

Nanoha nodded and took the gem in her left hand, "It's warm…"

"Now you'll need to recite a magical code, then you'll become a mage" the ferret explained further.

"Maho? Mage?" Nanoha blinked then pointed at Sonic, "But how does this save him?"

"I was getting to that." The ferret sent her an annoyed look at the interruption, "After you become a mage, you can make him your "Familiar". And, well to put it simply, link his life to yours."

"You sure it'll work?" Nanoha asked, "I mean I don't even know incantations or any of that stuff."

"And even if she did, she'd be just wasting her time on me." Sonic let out a defeated sigh, "Because it's my impulsiveness and recklessness that has me in this situation in the first place, and to put it bluntly, if I'm too stupid to do that, I'm not worth sav-"

SLAP!

[BGM: "Rydia's Theme" Final Fantasy IV]

The hedgehog was cut off of his little self-criticism phase by a loud and rather painful slap on his cheek, courtesy of Nanoha. The ferret winced in phantom pain when he saw the red handprint on the cheek.

"Don't say that!" Nanoha's eyes threatened to leak tears as the girl pleaded with him, "Don't say another word! We all have our faults, and sometimes they do get us hurt, but that doesn't make us any less worth. You are worth saving, and even though I don't know you, I can't just stand here and watch you die if I can prevent it."

'She's willing to do this for me? Why? Though she is right… I can't give up now!' The blue hedgehog thought over what the girl said for the moment then said only one word, "Sonic"

"Eh?" the girl blinked

"My name" Sonic explained briefly, "Sonic the Hedgehog"

"Sonic, that's a nice name" Nanoha smiled in a friendly fashion in response, "My name's Takamachi Nanoha, but you can call me Nanoha. My friends call me by my name, you can be my friend too if you say my name. That's the first step to becoming friends."

"Friends, eh?" Sonic gave the concept a quick thought before flashing her his trademark smirk, thought it pained him to do so, "Why not? I'll be your friend… but first… will the talking ferret please continue his boring chat about magics and stuff?"

[No BGM]

"H-hai.." The ferret nodded, then cast a quick glance at the monster, only to regret it as the beast, after looking somewhat bored, began to ready itself to strike again, "I know the incantation.. so repeat after me.. I, the one who accepted this mission…"

"I, the one who accepted this mission" Nanoha repeated, then followed what the ferret said, word by word, to the red gem in her hand, "by the ancient contract, order you to release your power. 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! Standby ready!" The gem spoke in a distinct female voice that almost sounded alive, if it weren't a device.

"Alright, now that the device is activated, try to focus your mind on some images" the ferret continued his explanation, "Focus on what will give you the power to access magic, your staff. Then what'll protect your body, like a strong armor."

"Oy, isn't that asking a bit much of her?" the peanut gallery, aka Sonic, asked.

"That's not all, in addition, you need to focus on him as well" the ferret added in reference to the seriously injured hedgehog, "Feel your magic flow into him and empower his life. Doing that will bind his life to yours as your familiar. Finally you'll need to focus on what form your familiar might take, should you wish to change that. Though you should probably try to picture him as a bodyguard of sorts, including what would he wear and wield as your familiar."

"U-um…" Nanoha tried hard to focus, but found some difficulty in really finding a "strong armor", so instead she went with the first things that came to mind. As for Sonic, she didn't want to change his overall form. She felt that it was his hedgehog form that gave him the unique flair he had. She again designed his garb and weapon the same way as her own, the first things that came to mind. The device seemed to cooperate and engulfed her, and a surprised Sonic in a flash of light.

[Insert: "Raising Heart, Set up" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha THE MOVIE 1st OST]

Inside the bright light, the red gem grew to almost three times its size, relatively almost, if not the same as Nanoha's fist. The gem became suspended and held in a golden-yellowish tinted near-circle that was the magic staff's head. The head extended a long, silver pole with a blue piece at the end.

When Nanoha grabbed the staff in her left hand, her clothes disappeared, but were quickly replaced by a blue and white dress, similar to her school uniform, only with a few additions. The shoulders of her dress were thicker, sort of like a jacket, and at the end of the sleeves along her arms were thick, blue wrist guards that were fastened together by a screw. Her hands had black, fingerless gloves and her shoes were white with a red gems on the feet. White bands replaced the green ones that tied her hair into her traditional pigtails look.

For Sonic, the only changes to his body were his wounds being instantly healed by the magic that flowed into him, he was still his cool blue hedgehog self. Much similar to Nanoha, Sonic too received his weapon first, only instead of the staff, he received a set of twin kodachi blades; one for each hand. The blades came to him so that in the the initial grip; his right hand would hold its sword in a normal grip, while his left hand held its respective blade in a reverse grip.

His shoes, scarf and gloves remained the same, though his wrists were given light metal arm-braces for protection in close combat, as well as to keep the second blade held in the reverse grip from accidentally cutting himself. He also gained armor similar to that of a Japanese samurai: a light, form-fitting lamellar armor for his front that provided solid protection without sacrificing any mobility. The armor was shaped in a tunic that covered most of the hedgehog's upper body and shoulders, leaving only his back, legs just below the knee and forearms bare. The armor had a white and blue color scheme along with some reddish tints to match.

The duo finished their "transformation" by posing back-to-back with their respective weapons held in full view.

[BGM end]

The whole transformation took a matter of around 3-5 seconds in real time. The flash, which had disoriented and kept the two out of view of the ferret and monster. The two who were affected by it all just blinked simultaneously.

"E-eh?!" Both of them let out a surprised cry at the same time.

"What's all this? The staff.. and this dress" Nanoha gazed at her outfit and staff in awe and confusion.

"I feel… alive! Even more than ever… Like a burst of energy just came and boosted me even more than I'd ever thought possible" Sonic voiced his thoughts in awe, then gazed at his swords and armor, "Snazzy looking swords and armor too! And I don't feel any of this stuff weighing me down!"

"Sugoi…" The ferret gasped in awe at the brilliant sight before him, and not only that, but the power those two were giving off were off the charts.

The moment of awe and admiring had to come to a quick end, however, as the monster roared to remind everyone that it was still there, and it still had a few targets to chase after.

"Ehhh?!" Nanoha held her new staff tightly to her in nervousness, but her new "familiar" on the other hand had a much different mindset than her.

"Yeah, yeah; we hear ya you ugly… tentacle… furball thing! Okay I still haven't thought of a clever quip for you, but I'll get one before this night's over.. Before I get to that" Sonic pointed his right hand sword at the monster then smirked as he took on a battle stance in front of his mage, "IT'S PAYBACK TIME!"

[To be continued!]

[Ending: "Little Wish (Lyrical Step)" Yukari Tamura]

[End of Chapter 1]

Ha ha ha! How's about a CLIFFY to start my new story off, eh? Huh! Oh yeah, this is how you come back from a long hiatus! Anyways, this'll be the pilot, I'll get the next chapter going as well as my other two stories as well. I think what I'm going to do is set aside certain weeks, like one week I'll work on and update Lyrical Record and Night Sky while another week will be for Lyrical Familiar. Character designs are not exactly my forte, but I'm trying my best.. I'd like to hear some input as well on this so I can improve. But one thing's for sure, I will be able to balance this and my schoolwork out! Til then, I'll see you all in the next post.. oh and if anyone has ideas on video game arcs, I'll be taking them.. this set before Sonic 2 so doors are open.. However, I will not use original characters, I'll go as far as small shout out cameos but that's it… Oh and I left a nifty classic video game reference somewhere, can anyone find it?