Chapter 14 – The Family
They woke up next morning as if nothing had happened. The only thing was that they all slept in until almost noon. This didn't surprise their parents who suspected that Lee and Sarah kept up Sora with a million questions and then they all went to bed late. The truth of the matter thought was that it happened to be the opposite. It was Sora who bombarded Lee and Sarah with questions thereby making them all stay up late. Sora, though older and more experienced in some areas was currently the equivalent of a young child when it came to magic. They were going over to the clearing that they had all trained in so they could try and figure out Sora's potential. Sora felt kind of weird going to a training area to be taught other-worldly powers by people who were younger than him but it went away whenever he thought about what they had been doing until now.
When he got to the clearing, everyone was there waiting for him. Like Sarah, it took him a bit to figure out how to harness his power correctly, but as soon as he was able to transform at will, the real training began. They first tested his abilities. Again, like his siblings, he had the same amazing widely varied pallet. But instead of extraordinary wide area capabilities like Sarah, he had stronger close-combat capabilities. Another thing was like his brother Lee, Sora had the aptitude for innate sealing magic. Lance thought that this was good as now there were three lone people who could seal. "This will reduce the chance of me sealing at any rate," Lance thought to himself. Due to his good close combat skills, and probably even his non-magical natural affinities, his staff's true form was a Japanese metal katana; its blade was curved slightly at the top and the outer side of the blade was razor sharp while the inner side was duller. Lance pointed out that this was unusual since most people's true form was a very basic device mode like the rest of their team's staffs since that mode allowed for the most versatility and could be used with most any spell if one were able to meet its conditions. Through a bit of experimenting however, they discovered that his staff's STORM MODE covered this department.
"Chrono, Sakura, Lee, Sora, Sarah. Please come over here for a minute," said Lance. "I need to teach you something important, it's a skill called a half-release." Everyone except Nanoha looked confused at this. Lance, "Let me explain, whenever you release normally, you have to give a command to and everything comes out. I am pretty sure you know this by now but there is a nice lengthy time delay while doing all that, not to mention that its conspicuous to the point of just being flashy. That is where half-releases come in handy. These are when you release just your device without a command or your barrier jacket. This is also done without a command and it is instantaneous. Nanoha, please demonstrate." Nanoha, "Gladly." She put her hand out in front of her and then her staff suddenly appeared in it. "There are restrictions," Nanoha proceeded to say, "For manifested devices, at first at least, you can usually only make it appear into one mode unless modified to do otherwise, or your skills improve enough to enable it on your own, and some more advanced functions or skills might not work as expected. That mode will be chosen by your magic's affinity so to speak."
They all tried to do it, but to their frustration, they couldn't do it immediately, "You have to really sync with your device with your heart. Don't try with your brain," was all the advice that Nanoha could give. To Lee, Chrono, and Sora, it just sounded plain girly, but Sarah and Sakura took it to heart. They continued for another fifteen minutes or so when finally, without knowing how, Sakura's staff appeared in her hand. It was her FIRING TYPE staff. "I did it," said Sakura. "Now try it again," said Lance. She did and to her surprise, it happened, almost effortlessly. "I just felt it and went with it." With this boost in moral, the others got it down only ten minutes later. Surprisingly, Sora was the second one to achieve this. Sora's, Sarah's and Lee' all appeared in sword mode. This suited them fine. Sora said it would be handy to be able to summon a sword at any time. He wouldn't need to carry one now. Lance though suggested against this so he didn't look too suspicious. Last was Chrono's who was the hilt. He was hoping it was the hilt because it meant he could summon any weapon in the blink of an eye.
They all headed home for the night. Sora teleported home now that he learned how. When they got home, their father was waiting for them. They had planned to have a training session when they got home but they were all tired out from the half-release training. It was more exhausting then it sounded since each failed attempt used up not just their magic, but their mental energy as well. Unfortunately, since they couldn't tell their Father what they actually were doing, they all decided that they would just have to put up with practice.
Their father was especially hard on them today. He had Lee and Sora doing non-stop matches. They had been banned during the duels to use ZERO TENSHI due to three reasons. One was that while they had both learned the technique as perfectly as one could at their levels, it was still an immensely dangerous technique even in a calm setting and they didn't have John's level of experience with it yet. The next was that they would never improve if they just relied on the one attack and the third is that they kept breaking all of the wooden swords every time they clashed with ZERO TENSHI. They were now just batting it out. They both agreed to not use magic to beat the other as well. Due to this, they weren't as close, Sora was currently still better, given that he had been training seriously much longer then Lee and whose style and finesse and skill level were much higher. That said, to let Lee use the most of his current talents, John also taught Lee the Shunpo technique that Sora was using against him to even the playing field a bit. This technique, also called Flash Steps, was a running style that accelerated the user to speeds beyond what was normally possible by forcing the muscles in the legs and feet to use over 50% of their maximum as oppose to the lesser amount that they normally use. Even Lee who had mastered what John called the first level of this technique still couldn't believe that what he was doing was within a normal human's ability. Sora said that he had felt the same way when he learned it. It really showed Lee how small his knowledge of the world was, something he was getting more used to recently with all that was happening. That said, what Lee didn't realize that shocked Sora and John was just how fast Lee had taken to the technique, and not just the speeding up itself, but being able to function at that speed. They both thought it was downright crazy how fast he picked it up as if it was natural to him, but didn't tell him that, especially because despite what they told Lee, there was more to SHUNPO then just the form, but hadn't needed to since Lee seemed to pick up on its other aspects naturally. But still, Sora couldn't help but be a bit envious given that he had needed over a month to learn the technique himself and to condition himself with it enough to use practically. John also taught Lee SHOU. This was an extrasensory technique that heightened your senses as to kind of feel out were others were without using their eyes. As John explained it, it was sort of a forced sixth sense that could be conditioned by focusing all of the senses evenly outward instead of just in front of them, though it wasn't perfect.
As John put it, truthfully all it amounted to was a mix of intuition and conditioning to rely equally on all of ones senses instead of primarily sight as most people did. By combining this with what John called a swordsman's inner energy, or Ki as he was trying to get Lee to refer to it as, gave one immensely heightened senses. Lee tried to wrap his head around the concept of Ki, but didn't really get it. Of course through TV and manga he could imagine what his father meant by the inner energy, but Lee was never particularly good with all that spiritual stuff, and couldn't get how it could make someone physically stronger. Of course John said that at least for now he shouldn't think about it too hard. While John pointed out that harnessing this mysterious inner strength was important, at Lee's current level he didn't really need to understand it, especially since he seemed to be able to do it naturally regardless. Lee didn't know how he could be using it without knowing what it was, but his father assured him that it was so, mostly because techniques like Shunpo and more importantly Zero Tenshi made use of this mysterious principle.
Sarah too was getting the hang of it. She actually caught on to the very basics Shunpo why watching Lee and Sora train, though not at the higher level that Lee had gotten to. This impressed their father as well as Sora and Lee. Their father then taught Sarah the basics SHOU due to the fact that they were a set. SHOU allowed you to find your opponent after accelerating without having to rely on the burred images. That said, she hadn't gotten down the finer points of either yet, but still she was advancing fast. Unfortunately, she couldn't learn their father's signature, ZERO TENSHI because the backs of her ankles were naturally stiff, making ZERO TENSHI impossible to perform. This was a hereditary trait of most the women in the Cross family line so they couldn't find a way around it for now, though it wasn't outside the realm of possibility with enough conditioning and training, but that would probably require years. Sarah even asked their father to at least explain the theory behind the attack to see if she could find a way around it, and her father obliged, thinking that his exceptionally smart daughter might be able to, but she didn't immediately come up with any ideas, and when John mentioned the same energy from within stuff as he had tried to explain to Lee earlier, she became truly lost, not yet comprehending it either. To make up for it, their father taught Sarah a different, slower technique. It wasn't even remotely as fast but in some ways more devastating. It was called ZEHI TENSHO. This technique required a quick charge by use of Shunpo, and while her Shunpo wasn't complete, it was good enough to learn this technique. The user then sped past the opponent and with a special move of the sword, cut the tendons in their legs and arms. The sword movement itself was charged and power was amplified by the spin around the opponent. The entire attack time was only 3 seconds skipping the time it took to speed up. This was 6 times longer than the time it took to get into the stance for ZERO TENSHI but on the other hand, this attack made the opponent immobile. John said he used this technique a lot more than ZERO TENSHI for when he needed to bring in someone for arrest or terrorist investigation. It was perfect for Sarah because all the power for this technique came from a spin of agility focused on the front of the foot entirely. Due to this, Sarah learned it very quickly. She practiced on a target dummy with marks on the back. The attack had to be brutally accurate otherwise the attack would ultimately fail. It would also if nothing else be good Shunpo training for Sarah.
When they finished their training for the day, they had realized they had been training for 4 hours. It was now 7 O'clock and time for dinner. Luckily, Dinner was waiting for them when they came into the dining room. During dinner, Sarah kept falling asleep with the fork half way to her mouth and Lee kept on dropping his spoon. Their mother Mary was chastising their father while she told him not to be so rough on them. That said the three children butted in saying that it didn't matter. If they didn't do it to the fullest, they wouldn't learn anything. Half way through dinner, their mother and father said they had something to tell them. "There is going to be a Cross family reunion this weekend." With this, their faces lit up. They loved family reunions. They were always different except for one thing. They always had a Kendo competition during the party. Almost all of Lee's relatives on his Dad's side were either Bodyguards or Law officials. In the police world and bodyguard business, the Cross's were the elites. They were considered the ones to go to for the best. Of course, that was also the only place they were known. As John stated, they tried to keep out of the public eye with their amazing skills like true martial artists. John had actually made a slip up when he used ZERO TENSHI at the kendo competition when Lee was younger, and he only learned later that his father only entered the tournament due to some childish bet with a childhood friend. That said it wasn't hard to find them, they could be contacted like any other company or business but they didn't like to broadcast what they could actually do either, since it was a silent unwritten rule that they shouldn't use their skills for the sake of fame or glory, a so called Martial Artists Manifesto that was an unwritten convention among those who truly strove to the pinnacle of Martial Arts. Even so, there were rich people in the family, but even they didn't go broadcasting it.
The next two days passed in a blur of training and fruitless Saren Stone searching. The day after they learned of it, they told the others that they were going to the family reunion. They then offered for them to go along with them. They all said yes eagerly. These reunions were pretty open to friends of the family. Neither Chrono nor Sakura though had ever gone to one. They were only held once every couple of years and were always on short notice. Organization was not one of the family's strong points. So later that day, they headed up for their uncles estate where it was being held. The others were going to come later. He had a nice sized house and a large Dojo and seating at his house, which was on a 100 acre lot. His uncle was previously a bodyguard of foreign ambassadors from many nations so besides being multi-lingual, he got paid a lot and had invested that money smartly in the American Stock Market and made it big, eventually creating a whole company around security services, of which a few other members of the extended family were also a part of. When they got there, they saw a lot of their relatives. Their father was popular within the family as the three-time winner of the family's Kendo competition and for his invention of ZERO TENSHI. Apparently, each of the other branches of the families that still actively practiced the art had made up their own moves to add to the Cross's fighting style, though everyone accepted that Zero Tenshi was probably the strongest, which was why John held it as one of his most guarded secrets even here.
Before the real tournament, Lee and Sarah went around to try and find some of their cousins. Sora was already busy with their older cousin Paul. They were friendly to each other but had a deep rivalry in Kendo from way back, which apparently had extended to their college Kendo careers since they were at rival universities. Lee was the next to find a relative. He found his cousin Sam near the Dojo warming up. He was probably on the best terms with Sam than any other of his cousins. They were almost the exact same age down to the week. They too also had a sort of rivalry, though in their case it was in almost everything. They decided to have a warm-up bout before the actual competition. Their dad had warned before they arrived to not show their skills until the competition, so when they started, Lee didn't even bother taking off his training weights. He only used enough of his strength to be just slightly better than Sam. The last time they had been in a match was during a party 2 and half years ago. Back then; they were both not nearly as strong as they were now and given both of their previous disinterest in seriously training, the match was basically them beating each other with their swords like they were stick fighting. Apparently, it was not uncommon for someone to start developing their real skills at their current age though. Of course, Lee and Sarah's skills were still way above average but that didn't stop the fact that Sam had become a whole lot better. Back then; Lee had tied with Sam in their match, though again, that match had mostly been the two of them flailing at each other. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He decided to drag on the fight for 5 minutes before doing a quick blow to win the match. That said, Sam was still smirking when he got up, "You're a lot better now I see, but I let you in on a little secret though. I was holding back. My dad said to save it for the competition. I hope we get a chance to fight again in the competition. I could tell you were holding back some too. Next time we should both take our weights off." And with that, he walked away towards another of their cousins.
Sarah suddenly came busting in with another girl in tow, "Kay, its our turn now." She had found Rebecca, the only girl of her age that also studied Kendo. It was known in the family that Rebecca was supposed to be a Kendo prodigy, beating both her older brothers at age 9. Of course, it was also unknown to the family how much of a prodigy Sarah probably was. Sarah and Rebecca's bout lasted only 4 minutes. Their bouts were usually like this. They were totally even but also short. It was also true that the last time they had fought, they had both only been 8, and thus it was a very childish match on Sarah's part, and Rebecca beat her soundly. Suddenly Chrono, Sakura and Nanoha came up to them. Chrono couldn't stop talking about the size of the property. Even compared to his house this was big. It was apparently the first time he had been to a house bigger than his own before. This was a new sensation for him, since his house was even larger than Sakura's, though Lee just mentioned that it was probably because he was way outside the city where land was much cheaper. Lee and Sarah introduced the others to some of their relatives. Sakura already knew their uncle Fusaki because he had once been an escort bodyguard for her father while on a business trip. After they were all done with the introductions, they all went to the oversized dojo. What they didn't know was the real size of the dojo. Apparently, the dojo they saw was the small part. The connected oversized garage had been temporarily renovated so when he slid the door open, they saw three more rings going down a line. The entire family was impressed with this surprise.
The Cross's may have been disorganized but the Kendo tournament was an exception. You would think it was a regulation event (since for all intensive purposes it was). First were the rule briefing and the prize announcement. This year, it was a solid 24-karat gold trophy about 2 feet high. They looked at it with envy. This year, there were 64 Cross's who decided to participate, or at least of the Cross family since not every branch had obviously maintained the family name for many reasons, but still. This was good as the even numbering made the tournament go smoother. First off was the drawing for seeing who would face whom. They would then be split into 4 blocks with the top 2 from each block advancing. That meant that you had to win three times before going to the finals. When all was set and done, Sora, Sarah, Lee and their dad John were all in different blocks.
It looked like Sam was in the same block as Lee. But they were on opposite ends so they wouldn't have to fight each other (yet). The blocks each were sent to one of the four arenas to start. Lee was first up in his block. He was facing his Aunt Sakuro. She was supposes to be pretty good. Lee allowed her the first attack. She sped toward him at a fast pace. SHUNPO and SHOU were standard in the family, though the techniques themselves were not exclusive to Cross swordsmanship, though John had stated that they put more emphasis on them than most. Lee sped toward her just as fast but then in a split second, doubled his speed, spun around and hit her from behind. The match ended in 10 seconds. It though was the second one to finish. His father's match ended in 2 seconds, a new-in-family record. His next two matches took a little longer but had the same result. The rest of the family and their friends (the ones that didn't take part) looked at Lee in admiration. Lee hadn't showed the results of his training to anyone besides those in his own house so they were looking on with awe. Meanwhile Lee's friends were just looking on in shock. Chrono, "Sakura, remind me never to pick a fight with Lee again." Sakura couldn't hear due to her intense focus. She had to use her enhanced senses just to see half of the fights. Nanoha was getting a large headache from just watching. She could see the fights well enough due to her combat training but just couldn't understand that these people were fighting without magic. She just couldn't grasp the idea of how strong they were. She surmised that these people could probably beat lower level mages with ease. This also kind of worried her. Non-magic people being able to defeat mages; it was unheard of for that to even be possible.
Sarah was doing similarly well. She had finished all three of her matches in fewer than 5 minutes. She also had amazed her opponents with her skill. She was expected by most of the family to have lost in the first battle. Sora showed off a bit and finished all of his matches within one minute consecutively. Their father (who was actually fighting as easily as possible) won all of his matches in 27 seconds. That was the total of all of his matches, not the length of each. Lee's family also had an ace in the hole for the finals. They were all still fighting with their training weights on. Their dad had insisted they master SHUNPO with the weights on since it would only make it that much more effective. Since then, they hadn't taken them off for anything. None of them knew how fast they would be with the weights off except for Sora.
There was a lunch break before the finals. The rest of the family came over to congratulate them. Then they got into a discussion with their father about their training regiment. He told them the usual. The other finalists were from Lee's block, surprisingly Sam. It was true that 2 of his opponents were younger than him but the third one had gotten 8th place last year so Lee was sure it wasn't luck. From Sarah's block, Rebecca had made it to the finals. Out of all the teen's participating that year, she was the only one who was expected to pass besides Sora, who at age 20 wasn't really even a teen anymore. From Sora's block, their Uncle Kousei (Owner of the estate) made it. He was known to be extraordinarily skilled. Then finally from John's group, the one who in their family was called Lightning God, their cousin Paul, age 23. He was currently in his third year of college. He even won the nationals twice in a row in high school and was one of Sora's current Kendo rivals. He was also considered a protégé. Now however, Lee and Sarah were also being considered protégées. Sora was already known to be a gifted swordsman so he was expected to do well.
After the break, they met back in the dojo. It had been rearranged over the lunch break. Now there was a single, much larger arena space surrounded by bleachers in the actual dojo area for the family to watch. They all gathered in the arena area after lunch was over. With the entire family and their friend there, the dojo felt more like a fully seated stadium than a family dojo. All of the finalists lined up in the middle of the arena. They all went up to a box in the middle to draw lots to determine the order. No one could of guessed what it was (except for anyone who understands the concept of a plot).
1st match: Lee vs. Sam
2nd match: Sarah vs. Rebecca.
3rd match: Sora vs. Paul
4th match: Jonathan vs. Kousei
Authors Note:
So a few things here to unravel. The first is much more of the Cross family, and their swordsmanship taking a more central role. Now I'll be honest, I've debated this particular mini-arc many times, as even I the author feels it's a little contrived and out of left field, and I even admit that I've tried removing it entirely from the story to see how it feels, but honestly, I felt it was important to leave it in for a few reasons, some of which should be obvious right now, and others more visible later, but I can only hope you can trust me when I say that its (probably) better that it's here. I'll explain more in the next AN for those that don't see it in the chapter proper.
