Chapter 2 – The First One
Lance and Nanoha appeared in some kind of a forest, apparently unnoticed by anyone. Lance was still on guard as he did not know much about Earth, only that it was richer in life than Maral, having a vast and complicated ecosystem as compared to Maral's more universally desert like environment, and that it was classified as a non-magic planet or to say that magic users were extremely uncommon and in the event that someone pops up with some, they usually never knew how to use it so they end up going through life without knowing about magic what-so-ever. Of course, there were exceptions, but they were generally unknown to the planet at large, existing at best as rumor and generally just as myth and folklore.
That all said, the first thing they both noticed was that despite believing themselves to be in a forest, they could hear many sounds that belonged to a more developed area. The hums of electricity and whirring of machinery were obvious as well as the distinct sounds of people, but they were a bit faint. Clearly, they weren't in nearly as remote an area as they first thought. They walked a bit towards the sounds as they got louder until they got out of the forest and came upon what appeared to be a playground with children in it. They watch as the children played and decide to take a look around but before that they realize some people were staring at them. Then they realized they must look very out of place with their clothes. They hurried back out of sight into the forest to avoid any unwanted comments.
Nanoha, "So what are we going to do Lance. We need to get some disguises or well be as noticeable as a white dot on black paper. I don't want to be stared at Lance." Lance, "I guess I could use some of my transformation magic and make us some less conspicuous clothes, albeit only temporarily." Nanoha, "Good idea, lets go with that." A light green Magic Circle (that is the color of Lance's Magic) appeared under Lance. "You need to release you barrier jacket for this to work" Lance said. Nanoha, "Okay Lance, RAGING HEART please." "ALL RIGHT, MY MASTER," said RAGING HEART and her Barrier jacket and staff disappeared and were replaced by a red marble on a necklace that Nanoha put around her neck. Lance, "Just send me a telepathic image of what you think won't stand out too much here. You're the one who has been here before after all." Nanoha, "Only the one time when I was six, and I'm relatively sure that was to a different area of the planet." Despite that, Nanoha did her best to send Lance an image of clothing she thought would be appropriate, and Lance complied. Lance finished the spell and their clothes changed instantly from their Maral type clothes to a light brown shirt and brown pants for Lance and an orange skirt with matching top for Nanoha. "Good, now we'll blend in with everyone else," said Nanoha. Lance though had another thought, "I think I will be better off turning into a ferret so we don't draw as much attention." Lance then changed into a ferret instantly and climbed up onto Nanoha's shoulder. She always liked this thinking it was cute looking, and so decided not to point out the fact that on a non-magic world this might count as conspicuous and just let him be.
They went into the city and found they were in a popular city named Tokyo, confirming to Nanoha that this wasn't the place she had been once before or where her family had been, though it didn't sound completely unknown to her either, but she didn't know exactly. That was something to think about later. They looked around to see what the people of this world were like. They were looking all around them, soaking everything up, and from this they learned a lot. They realized that the people of this planet were relatively harmless for the most part, and also they did not seem to notice that they were from a different planet. Nanoha finally let her guard down and relaxed a bit; she had been very tense since they had arrived. They went back to the small forest where they set up a small camp shielded to normal human eyes by magic (compliments of Lance).
Lance and Nanoha heard it at the same time, a roaring crash from not to far away. Then they heard a scream. Nanoha, "Should we go see what is going on there." Lance, "Yeah, it may be a Saren stone and if it is, we'll need to capture it fast." They went toward where they heard all the noise. When they got there, they saw something they were completely caught off guard by. It was a monster that looked like a big blob of black. They saw the number 26 flashing on its head and they both realized that this monster was the Saren stone after it lost control. "I going to put up a distortion barrier around us to seal us off from normal space, ready Nanoha." Nanoha, "Ready Lance. RAGING HEART, SET UP," Raging Heart "ALL RIGHT, MY MASTER." Nanoha transformed into her Barrier Jacket and her staff appeared in front of her. Lance started to raise a barrier as a green magic circle appears under him. "I ask for a field of protection that shields the truth from those who cannot fathom. An unbreakable cage to trap this beast. STEEL BARRIER!" Lance's barrier formed itself around the whole area of the park. As it did, all the people seemed to vanish. "Alright Nanoha, its clearly already gone out of control. You are going to have to weaken it before you can seal it." Nanoha, "Got it!"
"AVIAN WINGS," said RAGING HEART and a pair of wings appeared on Nanoha's shoes. "Aright, lets do this RAGING HEART." Nanoha flew straight up towards the monster. She stopped in front of it, but then flew straight up to dodge, narrowly evading the monsters tentacle that shot out of the Blob that was its body. Nanoha, "Alright, ready RAGING HEART." "READY, MY MASTER" A pink magic circle appeared below Nanoha's feet in mid air as Nanoha was pointing and aiming her staff at the monster. "Okay. DIVINE SHOOTER!" A small blast of pink magic shot out of the staff at the monster and it made contact but barely as the monster jumped out of the way quickly to avoid a direct hit.
Nanoha, "Okay, so you can handle my divine shooter. Then try this." RAGING HEART "BUSTER MODE." The gold head changed from the device mode to shooting mode. Now the head looked like an oval with the top gone so it had a clear shot from the red marble that was RAGING HEART. Nanoha, "Okay ready. See if you can handle this" as magic gathered in the staff. A very large magical circle appeared under Nanoha this time. Lance braced himself as Nanoha gathered a very large amount of power into her staff. Nanoha, "DIVINE BUSTER!" An extremely powerful ray of pink magic shot out of the staff. There was a large explosion and aftershock as the venerable wave of magic hit it straight on and did serious damage but it was not out yet. It shot out blasts of black magic rapidly in all directions, clearly a desperation move, many of them flying straight at Nanoha, but she was prepared. She held out her hand in front of her, "ROUND SHIELD," and a shield that looks like a magic circle appeared from Nanoha's hand at her will to block the attack as it ravaged the surrounding area from the omni-directional shotgun style onslaught.
Clearly that attack was a last resort though as once it was done, they could feel the monstrosity's power waning big time. "Nanoha!" Nanoha turned to Lance on the ground who was shouting at, "Seal it now why its tired from the attack." Nanoha "Okay Lance." Nanoha held her staff high above her as she flooded it with power "RAGING HEART." "SEALING MODE SET UP." Nanoha's staff changed back to its original mode but then 3 giant wings appear from the top of the handle. She lowered the staff back down and aimed at the mass of black magic before her, "Okay RAGING HEART. Sealing, number 26, SEAL!" A ray of magic enveloped the monster. There was a flash of light and then after the light from Nanoha's attack died down, the Monster had turned back into a Saren stone like the ones Lance saw in the ruins in Maral, except it briefly flashed a number in what Lance recognized as writing from the ruins, the number 26 if he saw it clearly. It floated over and was absorbed into RAGING HEART, where his translation was confirmed. Raging Heart, "ARTIFACT DESIGNATION: SAREN STONE NUMBER 26, SEALED." Suddenly a bunch of steam came from the bottom of the staff as RAGING HEART cooled down from the battle.
Lance came running to Nanoha as she landed on the ground, "Great job Nanoha, well done." Nanoha, "Thanks Lance, I tried my hardest to get it done quickly. I think you can release the barrier now." Lance said okay but he couldn't until Nanoha released her Barrier Jacket and her staff. Nanoha released them immediately and they turn back into the red marble that was RAGING HEART. Nanoha puts the Marble around her neck. Lance, "Okay. RELEASE!" The barrier disappeared and all the people who disappeared reappeared and continued as though nothing had happened.
Lance, "For now we can go back to the camp. You look exhausted Nanoha, that looked like a tiring battle." Nanoha, "You don't look energetic yourself Lance. Maintaining a barrier that strong and that large for that long has to take a toll as well." Lance, "Honestly more from blocking the damage from your fight than anything else. Well then lets both go back and rest then." The two leaning on each other for support head back to the campsite in the woods. When they got there, they went straight to sleep.
