Chapter 18 – The Time-Space Administration Bureau – John's a commander?
Inside, they couldn't believe their eyes. There was a giant window in front of them with some weird mixture of colors outside. Also, for the first time, they all realized that they were moving. There were many people at different stations throughout the deck and all of them were hard at work at some screen or other device. "Hi YA Mr. Cap-i-tan sir," said a young lady at a control station. John, "How's things been Amy." Amy, "Nothing worth mentioning. How is your vacation going? Everything alright?" John, "All good, and has that been completed." "Yes, but I don't know why you wanted it so badly, the training room seems better." Lee and the others just watched as Lee's dad talked with this complete stranger and it seemed as if she knew a lot about John.
"Eh hem." Sora interjected the conversation, tired of waiting for them to finish. John, "Ah yes, you probably have a lot of stuff that needs answering." The woman named Amy then looked over to the group of mostly teenagers near the door, just realizing that they were there. "So, who are they?" John, "They happen to be my children and their friends." "Oh!" Amy looked surprised, "I thought you said your children didn't have any magical power." John, "Until a few months ago, they didn't. There wasn't even a trace of any magic what so ever, and remember that I had tried everything. Even a forced activation but nothing did it. It must have been really deep in there, beyond any detection anyway." Amy then walked over to them, "Hi ya, my name is Amy Rose."
They all introduced themselves. When Nanoha and Lance introduced themselves however, Amy gave a leap of surprise. "You wouldn't happen to be the Lance and Nanoha who stopped the Dimensional disruption caused by the failed Beatha Reactor experiment on Maral, would you." Lee looked over at them. Nanoha looked down a little sheepishly, "Yes, that would be us but it isn't as big a deal as everyone makes it to be." Amy suddenly looked shocked and taken aback, "Not a big deal, NOT A BIG DEAL! You saved 15 different worlds from complete annihilation AT THE SAME TIME. You were the youngest people to ever be given the Blue Rose Dimensional Rank Medal of Honor. That's the highest award in existence. You saved over 100 billion people from being disintegrated and messing up all of Dimensional space. And on top of that, both Nanoha and Lance are listed as SSS level mages, and Nanoha's also the daughter of one of the strongest mages in the TSAB. I would call that a big deal. I can't believe that I get to see you in person, it's really an honor." John looked over at the two supposed heroes, "I would have never guessed that was you two. I thought they would have been older." Amy, "On the contrary, we were nine at the time which just makes it that much more amazing."
Lee intervened again, "Would someone mind explaining exactly what you're talking about. I would love to know. We kind of feel out of the loop." Amy was the one to answer, "I'll give you the summary," and she signaled to a person at a station near them. He brought up a screen in midair right behind Amy, which would normally surprise most of them, but at this point they were just going with the flow. It started playing a video. It showed a battle with a very young looking Nanoha and Lance facing a giant blue mass of weird magic energy stuff, though if one looked closely the visage of a face could be seen on it. While the video was running, Amy started telling the story and at the same time, Lance and Nanoha started to blush really hard. "It starts off with an experimentation Lab on Maral, Lance and Nanoha's home world. The lab was conducting research on how to improve pressurizing magic for cartridge users. At the same time, they were trying to invent a machine with the ability to produce Magic on its own without any sort of power source or supply. It was meant to benefit society and if it had succeeded, it most likely would have, but one day, a group of terrorists invaded the factory to steal the data. But during the break-in, they accidentally destroyed the magic pressure unit while fighting with the guards. This set off a massive explosion that in turn set off the MagicEnergyGenrator unit. It went haywire and produced immensely negative magic, which formed the blue monster. The monster was bent on nothing but total destruction, so it went on a rampage. It finally got outside the Laboratory and started to charge it's final blast." This then appeared on the monitor. The monitor read the attack at a 30 billion-power level, not that any of the newcomers understood how to read a power level, but it was apparently off the computer's charts. John explained that it was the equivalent of about 1000 of the Saren Stone manifestation they had just faced. Amy, "This attack was huge and powerful. If it had launched, the resulting explosion would have caused a Dimensional Shift of monstrous proportions. Then Nanoha and Lance appeared out of nowhere. As the strongest mages of the town they lived in that was the closest to the laboratory and probably the strongest on the planet at the time, they tried fighting it to no avail. Then it prepared to fire its final attack. In last minute desperation, Nanoha charged up her famous STARLIGHT BREAKER to its max level. Then Lance added some power to it too. He then used a spell that was thought to have been lost for centuries, simply called the Magnifier, a support spell to enhance a magical attack sent though the magic circle it spawned in front of the user. In the final face off, it was Nanoha and Lance's super powered STARLIGHT BREAKER versus the monsters Final Blast. It was an amazing battle." On the monitor, it showed the two attacks colliding into each other. It was an amazing sight to behold. The two enormous attacks collided in mid air and didn't stop; each one trying to push the other back. In the end, Nanoha and Lance's attack beat the monster's attack and destroyed it, as well as the three mountains behind it. "Obviously, the projects were cancelled for safety reasons and Nanoha and Lance were given the Blue Rose Dimensional Rank Medal of Honor by the heads of all the worlds who were saved and the head of the United Planets council along with the heads of the Time-Space Administration Bureau."
Lee, Sarah, Sora, Sakura and Chrono all looked over at Lance and Nanoha, who were now blushing so hard, their faces had turned completely red. Sora turned to them, "And why is that you never told us this thrilling little story. You've literally saved whole WORLDS. That's more than just an accomplishment…" Nanoha, "Well, we didn't want to brag and look like heroes. I'm just Nanoha and Lance is just Lance and that is how we wanted you to view us." Sarah, "I guess I can understand that but still, WOW!" Chrono to Lance, "So why have you never helped us out with that Magnifying thing. That could've helped us out a lot you know." Lance, "Because it's a double-edged sword. For all of its great benefits, it takes a hefty price. By the amount of times, it literally powers the spell up by magnitudes, roughly the same amount of years are taken off both the user of the spell and the user of the attack that is sent through it. Though the method is not known, it somehow converts actual life energy into magical power. That time, it took off 15 years of our lives, and raised the power of the attack by a magnitude of 15. And the problem with this is that it gets more powerful with each use. It was measured to double in strength and thus it was measured at 3 uses. I used it once already so now I'm down to two. Next time, it will take thirty years of our life span and the third time, we would die afterwards."
Everyone looked at Lance and Nanoha with mixed looks; some of admiration, some of sadness, some of them being insane and others of pity. Chrono looked down, "um, sorry for asking. I didn't know." "It's okay, we knew about the side effects before we used it 5 years ago." Lee, "Well then Nanoha, why haven't you ever used your starlight breaker attack before. From what everyone is saying, if you fought at max power, these Saren Stone manifestations would be nothing." Nanoha, "I mean I admit that I do hold back some times, but I have some very good reasons for that." Lee, "Like what." Nanoha for some reason seemed hesitant to answer, but Lance came to her rescue, "That's an easy one, property damage. If Nanoha had fought seriously before, I wouldn't have been able to effectively prevented non-repairable damage. Nanoha can sometimes get carried away, though if I can localize the protection to a more specific area, it wouldn't be as much a problem. Also, as strong as Nanoha is, people often completely exaggerate her power." Nanoha just nodded a bit, but then suddenly turned away, as if she couldn't look any of them in the eye. There was clearly more to this than she was letting on, the two of them were hiding something, but they decided not to press the issue for now. It helped that Nanoha tried to at least confirm their suspicions, "Thank you for not asking about it." It was clear that there was something that was deeply painful for Nanoha to talk about here. That said, above anything else, they all knew that Nanoha was their friend, and they trusted her, so they decided to drop the subject for now.
Amy, done with her story went over to Sakura and Chrono, "So who are these kids then? They're obviously from Earth." John, "Ah yes, Amy," John said, "These two are Sakura and Chrono, friends of my children. They happened to come across their magical powers in a similar way to my children, except that they needed a little help from Lance to get them started." Amy, "Oh, real Earth mages. I'll have to tell General Grayson about that. He will be thrilled." Sakura and Chrono were looking confused. Amy went on to explain, "General Grayson is a very well-known and respected mage who happens to be 100% from Earth Origins. He is also the only 100% Earthling in history to become a T.S.A.B. General. He always asks me if we find any promising candidates on Earth to tell him." Sakura and Chrono started to blush from their seemingly large significance.
Then Amy went over to Lee, Sarah and Sora, "And these ones have to be your kids. Let me see, you must be the child prodigy Sarah, the captain has told me so much about you." Sarah blushed a little. Amy turned to Sora, "Next, you must be his oldest, Sora." Sora, "I would be ashamed of myself otherwise." Lastly, she got to Lee who was at the end of the row, "And this means that you must be Lee." Lee, "Hi." Amy turned to John, "So are you going to do a power reading today?" John, "Sure, why not. Can you have it set up?" Amy, "Already ready." And with that, Amy said she had to get back to work and so bid the farewell and left the room as she did. John turned to the group, "I think that we should go to my room first though, you guys must be bursting with questions." They left the room and followed John through the ship, going farther and farther up until they came to a door with a plaque saying, "Jonathan Cross. Captain."
John opened the door and they all went in. They all went in and received a big shock. It was huge. It looked more like the inside of a house. There was a kitchen, 3 bathrooms, dining room, study, and a total of 6 bedrooms. There was also a viewing room, which you could see out of the ship. He gestured for them to go to the large living room space and sit down on the couches. They did so and then, Lee got to the elephant in the room first and blurted out, "What is all of this? What's the TSAB? How come you never told Mom or us any of this? Why didn't you tell us you were a mage? Why–" John interrupted him. The others were about to do what Lee just did but had decided to wait but they too were bursting with questions. John, "Okay, Okay. I'll answer all your questions Lee. You all deserve at least that much." Lee, "Okay, Let's start off with you telling us who exactly are you." John, "Okay, guess you have a right to know that. First off, I should start with that I am still originally from Earth, in terms of where I was born anyway, but early on before I graduated, I moved to the planet where T.S.A.B headquarters is located and is the center for all things magic, the world of Mid-Childa. I am a mage brought up on Earth where the bigger portion of our family is located. However, if you trace our ancestors back, you will find that one of our ancestorys was said to appear out of thin air sometime during the Muromachi period of history. He was a mage sent here to observe the few who had discovered magic on Earth in ancient Japan at the time and report on them. But he fell in love with a woman and decided to permanently move to Earth, thus starting a family line of Cross's that descended through the ages to present day, or at least our precursor since we only became the Cross's a few decades after the Onin wars. As a method for fighting without magic, we developed our sword skills early on, and after a while, where the amount of Cross's with magic diminished, our sword style which had begun to be developed starting with the very first of us became the more prominent aspect of our family. Most of our family now has nothing to do with magic, but our particular line of the family still does. Truthfully if our family cared about main and branch families like some other pretentious clans do, then for the Crosses the surviving magical lineage would be proof that we are from the main line of descendants, but except for some minor estate issues no one really cares about anymore, that's not important. In any case, my father was actually born on Mid-Childa, but my great grandparents moved back to Earth a few months after he was born, and while your grandfather worked for the TSAB for a decent while, he stayed here, and so I was also born here on Eart, and he retired from active TSAB duty before any of you were born. I should mention though that my brother Dan is technically a mage and got some informal instruction from our father on it, but he decided never to pursue anything with it opting for a normal life on Earth, and while Rebecca does apparently have the ability, for now it is dormant and so Rebecca doesn't know anything about magic or this stuff at all, though from our discussion at the last reunion it seems her magic is growing healthily so we might have to have the magic talk with her sometime soon. In any case, unlike my brother, I did pursue magic, and so when I was 16 and I expressed an interest in joining the TSAB, my parents sent me off to train to be in the TSAB, my father using some of his connections to get me into a pretty top-notch training academy, though that's a story for another time. Then some 6 odd years later on a trip back to Earth to visit my parents, I met your mother. It was love at first sight and we got married, after which I moved back here to Earth permanently. Then we started a family and that is where you come into the picture. Right before I decided to marry your mother, I was already a T.S.A.B officer. To be honest, most the time I say I'm off on a bodyguard mission, I'm actually on a T.S.A.B mission. Those were usually the times that I said that I couldn't contact you, though some of my bodyguard missions are genuine as I maintain that job as both because I enjoy it and as it's a convenient cover story as to how our family makes its income. I won't bore you with the in-between, but over my career, I've climbed the ranks and became a really highly ranked officer, so right now, I am Captain-Commander of Section 5, Jonathan Cross, heading the inter-dimensional warship, the Asura."
Everyone except Lance and Nanoha were in a mix of complete awe and amazement and surprise. Lee, Sora, and Sarah's view of their dad, not to mention the greater universe at large, had just changed entirely in the space of about ten minutes. Nanoha and Lee on the other hand looked like they had just hit themselves in the head. Nanoha, "How could we have not known? You would think we would be able to tell if someone was a Captain Commander. That is the 3rd highest rank a mage outside the Special Forces division could have. There are only an elite few who are chosen." Lance, "I'm surprised we didn't realize it just from his name. Now that I think about it, it's not the first time I've heard it." "It's okay you two," John smiled his all-knowing smile at them, "I purposely made it as hard as possible for people to pick up on it so that none of you could know. Mix that with your own preconceived perceptions of myself as a normal non-magical father of Lee on Earth, and I can't blame you for not making the connection. Also, for not recognizing my name, as much as I like it, it's not the most unique if I'm being honest."
John took a deep breath, "Okay now to answer the all-important question of where the hells' are we. This is a relatively simple one to answer. We are on my ship, the Asura." Lee interjected, "And where is this ship." John, "That is a bit harder to explain. The best way to put it would be the space in-between dimensions, the Dimension Shade. The ship is always here on standard patrol when I'm back on Earth." Sarah, "Okay, and what's with that. You've told us what you are, some Captain-Commander thingy, but what is the TSAB anyway?" John, "Ah, that is a pretty big question. I can explain it more to you later, but the TSAB stands for the Time-Space Administration Bureau, a reference to what the original name of a concept known as inter-dimensionality, the idea that there is more than one dimension. Since explaining its full scope would probably take several days, the shorter version is that it's kind of like a combination of a unified governing body, a military, and a humanitarian organization for a vast number of worlds and dimensions in the greater universe, the single largest organization of its kind by a massive scope overseeing populations in numbers beyond what you could reasonably comprehend. They deal with everything between intervening in armed conflicts to managing trade and diplomacy issues to environmental conservation and so much more. Also, while I can assuredly say that it is by far not a perfect organization, I believe that it is a good one, and an important force in the universe."
Sarah and the rest seemed to accept that answer for now, and John promised to tell them more later, but it was clear that Lee had one more question he needed to have answered, "So then, if this is all so important, why did you never tell any of us about it". John suddenly took a deep breath, "Ah, your final question, that is the hard one to answer for sure. Why I didn't tell you originally? The best reason I can come up with is because if you didn't need me to get involved, I didn't want you to know and worry about me. A person who worries but knows they can do something can still keep a level head. It is the people that worry and can't do something that go off the deep end or do something really stupid. So my best answer was to protect you." Then Sarah entered the conversation, "Then why didn't you tell us the second you knew we had discovered our magic." John, "Ah, that I confess was my doing alone. I wanted to see if you could figure it out. I kind of thought of it as a bit of a fun game I wanted to play with you guys a bit, but I may have been wrong. I probably should have told you but it was kind of fun watching you and your friends trying to solve the little mystery. And to my credit it only took you guys around a month." Lee, "Just to be clear, how long have you known that we have magic?" John, "If you want to know honestly, since the moment you guys came home the first day I got back. Truthfully, I thought someone from the Asura must have been coming to tell me something when I sensed the two of you coming towards the house, and so I was honestly shocked when it was you two who walked in literally oozing with magic, and then I was doubly sure when we had that first sparring match. No offense Lee, since I know that you are probably a once in a century prodigy when it comes to the martial arts, but there was no way you could have given me that hard a time without magical enhancement or formal sword training, not that I minded at all." Lee looked a little sheepish, "I guess I wasn't being particularly subtle about it back then I guess." John, "Only as subtle as a crashing meteor."
Sora, "So now what?" John, "Now, we go to the training room to test you all out, except for Nanoha and Lance who already had this test, and in Nanoha's case because I don't want my ship damaged." Nanoha just continued to look a bit sheepish, but was clearly also a bit upset this time, "Do I have that bad of a reputation?" John smiled, "Honestly, yeah kinda!" The rest of the group was suddenly much more curious, but left it for another time, especially since while Nanoha passed it off as a joke, there was clearly a much darker story behind it all.
They got up and followed John out of the room and around the ship. Sora, "So what kind of test is this?" John, "The type you can't fail. It's pretty standard stuff for mages in general, but in most of your cases since you just got your magic and were previously presumed powerless in that department, you've never had a proper power level scan. It's important to know your current power as well as to compare it to future readings not just to know your growth, but also because that information can be used to diagnose a host of things about your overall wellbeing and immediate health down the line, so consider this a kind of medical examination if you will. Also if nothing else, it is good to know where you stand so that you know how to improve."
It took them ten minutes to get to the training room. All that was there was a big white room. Next to it, there was a control room with a bunch of different screens and tools. "Okay, we'll let the girls go first, lets start off with Sarah. Everyone but Sarah left the room to go and observe from the control room. There were already two people in there. They introduced themselves, "Hello Captain, Roger Marston and Fusaki Korneal reporting." John, "Now, didn't I tell you that I despise all formality? I really don't know way such a thing was even invented." "Right Captain Cross." John just rolled his eyes as they all sat down.
They started. The room turned dark and everything turned on. Through a microphone, John told Sarah, "Okay, so this test really is quite simple. When we give the signal, simply summon as much power as possible any way you feel most comfortable, nothing else." Then he turned to Fred, "Turn on the simulation." He touched some keys and then the training room seemed to vanish and replaced by a clearing in some woods, though the moment it did, Sarah suddenly jumped, yelped, and started looking around herself rapidly, unsure of what just happened. "Sarah," John spoke to Sarah through a microphone, "Don't be alarmed, it is just a projection made by the room but none the less, everything will seem realistic to you. Now try and gather as much power as possible. We need to know your maximum output." Sarah upon hearing her father's voice suddenly calmed down a bit, "Okay Dad." She activated her barrier jacket and transformed. Then, a white magic circle appeared under her. She started to focus as hard as she could on gathering her power. John, "Don't force it, try to feel it out." She tried, and the magic circle gradually got larger. Sarah was starting to power up. Then suddenly, she flared up. She started to glow white with power, and her hair started to get lighter, closer to the white it turned when she transformed. The air was getting thick with her magic and the area under her was starting to crack. Bits of rock were flying up and disintegrating and the magic circle got a hell of a lot bigger. "Okay, I think you're almost there," said John. "I think I can go more," Sarah replied. She started to focus in. She focused as hard as she could. The air around her got heavy. It seemed like the gravity itself was being increased. The ground was tearing itself up now and violent winds started to blow. Both she and her magic circle were now shining with a blinding white brightness, but then John saw it flicker a bit, a tell-tale sign of maxing out. "Okay, you're at your max, you can stop now." She nodded and then everything died down. Her magic circle disappeared and then the glow vanished. All of a sudden, Sarah stumbled and fell to the floor. Lee and John went in and then carried her out, laying her on the sofa in the control room. John, "That was excellent Sarah, good job." Then he turned to the men at the computers. "Can I get a reading Roger?" He looked at the screen. "Maximum peak at– holy cow! – The max is 162 million. That's a AAA ranking there. I never thought even your child would be that strong, especially without any formal training; and to think that she is only 11 years old." Sarah, "Is that good enough Dad?" John, "Are you kidding me, only my elite divisions have that type of level and you're still stronger than most of them and they've all been training since they were kids to get that. I'd say you're plenty good…"
"Okay, the auto repair function is done so everything is as good as new. We're ready to go again at any time." "Good," John turned to Sakura, "Next, we'll have the next young lady give it a whirl. If that's alright with you Sakura?" "I'm good. Tell me when you're ready." She walked into the training room and the projector activated, making it seem like she was outside again. "Okay Sakura, whenever you want to start." Sakura transformed. Then her magic circle appeared. She started to concentrate as hard as she could. The circle was getting slightly bigger and bigger, continuously growing. "Okay Sakura, you're doing good, just keep going." She was focusing as hard as she could. Her power then stopped growing. That said, it was at only 40 million, much lower than most of her friends thought it should be given Sarah's reading.
"Is everything alright?" Lance was talking to Sakura through the microphone, "Remember your training and what I told you. Remember the type of mage you are and where their power comes from. That is the key." John, "What are you saying Lance, do you think she can still go more." Lance, "A hell of a lot more to be precise. This is just the tip of the iceberg." Sakura tried to think back. She remembered that Lance told her that she was a sniper and support type. Her power came from shoving magic into as small a space as possible to maximize its power and accuracy. Then she realized exactly what she needed to do. She started to focus only on one thing, the power around her body. Her magic circle shrunk so it was just large enough to surround her. Then she started to glow red. Her magic circle started to glow bright red. Then she broke a wall. Her circle grew to a giant size almost instantaneously, she was glowing very bright, almost blindingly so. The ground was tearing itself up again. The room's projector was going insane. Then it shorted out. Bits of debris were floating up and imploding. The room shook a bit too as cracks and eventually a crater started to appear under her. John, "Okay Sakura, that as much as you can take, power down." She did and all of a sudden, everything stopped. The glowing died down and her circle vanished. Then she fell unconscious. They carried her into the control room and set her on the couch. John put some of his magic into her staff to replenish her lost supply. She woke up immediately, "So, how did I do?" She was looking for an answer. Lee, "What was her reading?" Rodger looked at the screen and said, "Another young female prodigy here. Her power level is–," he paused for a second and said, "My god, it is reading her level at 160 million. That's another AAA rank mage level. What are these kids?" Nanoha, "Nice job Sakura, awesome!" Everyone was congratulating her.
John, "Okay, we don't have all day, I have some stuff to take care of. Why don't we have Chrono go next?" Chrono went into the training room. Then transformed and got ready. The projector went on again. Chrono started to gather his power. Before he had entered the room, Lance had told him his more efficient way of maximizing his power. He was the exact opposite of the support-sniper type mage Sakura was. He was the close-combat Striker type mage. These mages, usually the first in any platoon to initiate combat according to Lance, were the more overtly powerful of the two. These mages always went full out. Unlike snipers which heightened their powers from super focusing their attacks into individual blasts, they were the type where they simply outputted a much raw magic as possible to gain maximum performance. This type of magic required little control. A close-ranged type mage combatant always summoned as much power as possible without hesitation so theirs would spread into a much wider area, not focused like Sakura's. Per Lance's suggestion, he took a focused stance, his magic circle appearing below him as he tensed up, trying to let his magic flow. His grew quickly in size as he gathered up power. Instead of focusing like a sniper, he relied on his instinct to release his power, and the results were immediate. He started to glow blue and his glowing aura started to grow far past his body until it filled the room, the magic circle below him growing fast. He was feeling his magic swell up and he just let it flow. The ground was no longer tearing itself up, it was violently ripping itself to pieces. Larger than pebble bits of the simulated ground were floating up as if gravity itself had disappeared for a minute, but Chrono kept going. Then, the opposite happened; gravity then seemed to intensify and everything seemed to come crashing down. The floor seemed to go down a little and the room was shaking more than a little now. John, "Chrono, stop. You're maxed out." He stopped. Everything stopped including the gravity. His barrier jacket disappeared but unlike the girls, he didn't faint or stumble. He walked quietly back into the control room and flopped onto the couch as if he had just come home from an extremely tiring day of non-stop sports. John, "And the reading is?" Chrono looked expectantly at Rodger who hastily turned around and examined the data. "The third time and it still blows my socks off. "Your reading is." He stopped again, and then he went over the data again to make sure there was no mistake. "I don't believe it, this has to be a mistake. It says that his level is at 186 million. That just barely a AAA+ ranking. That can't be possible for a kid." John, "Roger, I felt it, that got be accurate, even if its mind blowing." Chrono seemed rather pleased with himself as he relaxed on the couch behind them, apparently exhausted.
John, "Next we'll have my oldest go up." John looked at Sora. He entered the room and suited up. He transformed and prepared himself. He was going over what he remembered Lance teaching him with the rudimentary training that he was able to provide. He was an all-rounder type with emphasis on close combat, just like his siblings. His power was in the way he focused it and how much desire he had for that focus and the resolve to bring it out. Thus, he concentrated as hard as he could on these things. His power flared up from the start. The projector went haywire and the lights started to flicker. He was glowing a bright orange and his giant magic circle under him was glowing too. He focused on that which he most wanted, that was the protection of all that he cared for. He flared up much more. The gravity of the room intensified to the point that the glass window looking into the room so that those in the control room could see was cracking inwards. Lance and John instinctively put a shield around the entire room at the same time. The room was going down again. The lights shattered and went off. The room however was still completely lit a deep orange due to the light emitting from the aura that Sora had produced. He was still going up. Then they felt it, the temperature was rising fast; Sora's magic was heating up the room like he was literally on fire. The ground under him started to crack and eventually, there was a medium sized crater under him. "And STOP." His father yelled into the microphone. Sora stopped and all at once, everything died down. His barrier jacket disappeared on its own and he fell to his knees. He was wiped from the exercise, but he was able to walk back into the control room, closing the door quickly after noticing the temperature difference, but had to supported by Lee and John once he did, where they helped him settle onto the couch. Sora "So what is it?" Roger looked at his screen and said, "Taking into account that you're much older that the rest and you're the captain's son, this one is a little more believable but still, THIS READING IS INSANE! It reads your level at 204 million. That's just enough to be an S class mage." Sora, relieved to be told that he was the strongest one as of yet, relaxed and settled into the couch. Fred then said, "The extensive damage will take about 15 minute to repair so please be patient." John, "Okay, That's perfectly understandable."
They waited for a bit as a repair crew entered the training room and started to fix the place up. It took them only 15 minutes to fix the extensive damage, obviously due to magic and then it was Lee's turn. He was anxious to give it a good whirl, wanting to know how he would compare with the others. He entered the training room and activated his barrier jacket. He prepared to start. The projector wasn't going to be used this time as it had heavier damage from Sora's test, beyond the ability to be magically repaired in time, so he would have to settle for the room as-is. Lee started to focus as hard as he could. His distinctive gold magic circle appeared below him, growing slowly but constantly. Lee's power was rising rapidly, its force started to tear away in chunks, with the debris about to hit Lee himself disintegrating before it could even get close. His power was going up at a steady pace. They were tracking the rate in the control room. "50 mil, 55 mil, 60 mil, 65 mil, 75 mil." To most of their surprise, not only did it continue going up, the rate seemed to eb getting faster as well. "85 mil, 97 mil, 110 mil, 130 mil." The room started to tear itself up violently, Lee's power forming a single cyclone around him just from the force of his own magic. In the control room, everyone was starting to get an ominous feeling, especially since it it was clear that Lee had no signs of slowing down, with even the control room starting to shake… "140 mil, 153 mil, 167 mil 173 mil., 179 mil, 185, 196" "Holy COW. He broke the S rank limit and it's still going up. It's at 210, 228, 249, 272, 285, 293, 299 mil." The group looked on with apprehension, was Lee that much stronger than them? Lance knew Lee was probably stronger than Sora, but not by this much. Fred, "Okay, he looks like he is maxed out." John took the microphone and said to Lee, "Lee you're at the peak. You can stop now." Lee was about to let up, but he could feel it, even with this all out, he felt he had something else waiting to come out, "No, I'm not, I can still go more," yelled Lee. "MORE!" said Roger, "How could he go MORE. He is nearing 300 million and he thinks he can still go MORE!" Everyone looked stunned at this comment, but John let it play out, though even he was apprehensive at this point.
Lee was now focusing as hard as he could, he could feel that there was something more he could do, more power he could call upon, but he was having trouble. He was focusing as hard as he could, trying to will his power forth, when suddenly a thought crossed his mind. It was only for a moment, but for Lee, it seemed like an eternity. The thought just kept repeating over and over, "Why am I here? What am I fighting for? Why do I need this power?" He tried to think why. "Was it because Nanoha asked me too?" That wasn't it because he volunteered to help. "Was it to prove something?" It was obviously not because he didn't feel he had anything to prove. "Then why?" He wasn't really expecting an answer, so he was surprised when he got one, from none other than his own device as Haruno answered him telepathically. "I AM HERE TO HELP YOU. FOR YOUR DESIRE I EXIST." What was his desire? Then images of his past battles appeared in his head. All the time, images of the ones who he had saved appeared in and out of his head. It came to him. He fought TO SAVE. He fought to save as many people as he could. To help Nanoha and Lance, to help all his friends…
Suddenly, Lee flared up. His power skyrocketed. "Sir, this is insane. The level is 320, 345, 370, 425 mil, 450- ahhh!" The computer exploded. "It's beyond the scanners recognition sir it can't keep up!" The entire ship started to shake violently as Lee's power exploded out of him all through the ship, and what was more it wasn't even done growing as Lee was still powering up even further beyond. Computers everywhere were frying on the spot. The lights were flickering on and off. Then, the lights exploded. Screens started to crack. A violent golden twister formed around Lee, tearing up the ceiling and shooting out of the ship.
Far away, at T.S.B.A headquarters, a low ranked mage came from the main radar room and rushed into the Generals office. "General Grayson, urgent report. Captain Commander Jonathan Cross's ship, the Asura has a large unknown power reading inside it. It has breached 450 million. That's a SS+ rating. It is starting to approach yours and that person's and still going up. You are being alerted because John's ship is near your home planets general vicinity and his General cannot be contacted at this time." The general turned around with interest, "Prepare my ship for departure, we're heading out. I want to be leaving in two minutes." "SIR yes SIR." The mage ran out of the room.
Back at the ship, John looked on in complete amazement, but then he realized that this couldn't go on. He grabbed the microphone quickly, "LEE, you need to stop, you're going to destroy the ship completely at this rate." Lee focused in as hard as he could, trying to reign in the rush of power coming out of hi, and then everything died down. His barrier jacket released on its own. That said, at that moment, the fatigue that Lee had incurred from such a display hit him all at once as he fainted on the spot in the torn up training room. By this point, almost everyone on the ship had abandoned his or her posts to try and find out what was happening.
Amy suddenly appeared on a screen in front of John, "Captain, WHAT IN HELL HAPPENED. Are we under attack?" John answered Amy's question, "No, No, nothing as dangerous as that. We were just measuring power levels." Another person stepped forward and said, "MEASURING POWER LEVELS, it looks more like an all-out battle happened. How does a power reading exercise do this?" John replied, "It happened when my son's outrageous power exceeded 450 million." The entire crew looked white in the face. They were all thinking "A kid with a 450 million power level? Is that even possible?" "Alright, enough of this. Get to your stations and start making repairs on the double!" Everyone dispersed at the order the captain had just given them all. Lee looked a little guilty at the damage he had just caused. At this, his father turned to him, "It's not your fault. NO ONE could have predicted this. This is what you would call an unavoidable accident. What surprises me more was that you are able to control and suppress all that power with basically no training. Most of the people who have huge powers like yours need some type of limiter to keep it in check. Even I had Mystic Fury suppress my power for me most the time in the early days. But to think that you do it on your own is amazing in and of itself.
Just then, a crewmember came rushing in to deliver a message to John. "Captain, General Grayson is going to be here in a few minutes in his personal warship, BARANGER. He is requesting permission to come aboard and have you tell him what the hell has happened." John, "Ah, should have expected that making such a scene near Earth, even if this is generally General Ferro's jurisdiction, though he's probably still out on that assignment he told me about. Okay, I'll give him a reply." He suddenly took out Mystic Fury, "Can you make a connection to the BARANGER's main line?" "Please wait a moment," Mystic Fury said in a male sounding computer voice. A large screen appeared in front of John. They all got out of the way as to not interrupt. Suddenly, a picture appeared on the screen. "Hello, this is General Grayson, here on report from HQ about an abnormal large and unidentified power reading, responding in place of General Ferro who is currently away on active assignment. Who is this I am addressing." "Captain Commander Jonathan Cross and can I say it's a pleasure to see you again." General Grayson, "Ah, John, is that really you, it's been ages. I thought you were still on vacation to visit your family." John, "Things happen, you know how it is." General Grayson, "I can see that John. Your ship is a mess. Could I come aboard so you can explain to me what exactly happened here?" John, "Normally I would be delighted to have you come aboard my ship but as you can see, we are kind of in terrible shape. Is it possible to come aboard your ship instead?" General Grayson, "You make a very good point, very well. I shall have the transport room ready for your arrival." John, "Thanks and may I bring a few guests, they are directly related to the matter and I have a feeling you are going to want to talk with some of them, and a guarantee that you know at least one of them already." General Grayson, "Interesting, I'll have some refreshments prepared. I look forward to seeing you again." John closed the line, putting Mystic Fury back around his neck. "Kay, looks like you'll all be joining me on a little visit to see General Grayson. Roger and Fusaki, you will be joining us as well as witnesses to what has taken place here." Lee and the rest didn't know what to say. They didn't even know if they were even dressed up good enough to see this supposedly high-ranking officer, who by all accounts seemed to be of even more stature than John who was supposedly very high up himself. Instinctively though, John said, "It's okay, he hates formality almost as much as I do. You will find that a lot of higher-ranking officers do, besides he isn't going to care one bit after he sees one of you in particular."
Author's Note:
Okay, so this chapter… There's a LOT to unpack this chapter, so much that I dare not do it all here in a single author's note, so a lot of it will just be some clarification.
First off, anyone who from last chapter didn't guess the TSAB was making an appearance, please go back and watch Nanoha classic, the first part of this was ripped partially from OG Series Chrono's initial scene bringing Nanoha on board a ship, named the Asura, where he had a colleague named Amy on board, and I'll state right now that except in terms of power scaling, which has been altered heavily in this series, and her effective age Amy's design is basically one for one what it was in the series proper.
This of course brings us to one of the two largest concepts introduced this chapter, power scaling. No true Shonen type story is really complete without one, and the Nanoha series proper just happened to have a pretty convenient one already, so I based it off of that and modified it a bit. I'll expand upon it in either the next Author's note or potentially a bonus chapter, but for now that A ranks are rare and S ranks are insane, just like the original series, if not even more so, but just accept them for what they are for now.
As for the TSAB, they are not too dissimilar to what they were in the regular Nanoha series in concept, but I've changed a few fundamental things about them. For one, I've created a much more defined structure to this organization, which will be shown in due time (Possibly also worth its own bonus chapter to be honest), as well as increased its size and scope. Without any spoilers, all I'll say is that the TSAB sometimes bothered me in the original Nanoha series, showing itself as this sort of intergalactic or interdimensional governing military body, but for all that, it always seemed, for lack of a better term, small. You would think an organization that was overlooking what was stated a few times as literally hundreds of worlds if the numbering system is consistent, then you would think that the TSAB would be made up of a huge number of people, but its literally never shown. Thus, the TSAB in this story is designed to be absolutely monolithic, well beyond the scope of what an ordinary person could imagine. Also, to justify this, it's also a lot older than the one in the original series, since I think anything of that kind of scale would have to have the time behind it to justify it being so. Thus, this TSAB is going to be made up of numbers that would completely dwarf that of the population of even the largest of worlds, and have a reach much vaster than that which was demonstrated in the original series. We aren't talking just dozens, or even hundred, we're talking thousands, if not higher.
That brings us to John's and this new General Grayson's ranks. After giving perspective to the TSAB above in terms of size and scope, I don't want to undersell these men's ranks. They stand close to the very top of this insane monolithic food-chain, above the assumed billions upon billions of individuals that make up the TSAB, though that will be expanded upon as well.
And finally, we get to Lee and company. If it wasn't clear before, I wanted to make it clear now, they are not ordinary mages in extraordinary circumstances. They are all unnaturally powerful, well beyond the ordinary pale. In line with that, I only felt it right that between the new mages that aren't Lee, I made Sora the strongest, despite him also having his magic for the shortest amount of time. He's older, and so I felt he naturally would be a step more developed, his magic having more time to mature and grow subconsciously. But then we get to Lee. Lee is the central protagonist of this Shonen story, and there are really only two kinds of Shonen battle protagonists. They either are the underdog, or they are the overpowered, and if it wasn't made obvious by his previous several exploits, he is the latter. Lee is actually beyond the pale, and I'll state right now that while he isn't invincible, as that would make for a terrible story, he is STRONG, even compared to his already extraordinary friends… with two possible exceptions.
Besides getting major backstory into the Cross family, we get massive story beats for the OG duo, Nanoha and Lance. They are famous, and if it wasn't obvious by Amy's comment, they are strong, Nanoha in particular having a certain reputation, which will be completed with a special moniker soon that I'm sure you all can already guess. That said, to anyone thinking that their current deeds don't match up to their supposed power, you clearly are paying attention, but for anything beyond that, you'll have to read what comes next…
