The Haruno Chronicles

by Bobby8795

A brand new story with beats taken from the original MGLN series, featuring brand new characters, as well as ones based off the series we all know and love. It is about the journey of a group of friends to try and save their world from the threat of the Saren Stones, and in the process discover new things about themselves and the world around them, let this brand new epic begin!

26. Chapter 24 - Reason and Resolve

Chapter 24 – A Battle of Reason and Resolve

It was a week after the party. After seeing the immediate result of Lee's Magic Resistance training, everyone else also wanted to do the training. John understood their feelings. Due to the training, Lee had made a huge leap in head of them in terms of power, and while she never confirmed it, they were sure that Nanoha was significantly stronger than them as well. It turned out that a few of them had overheard Lee's conversation with Edwin Aster, though in truth they had the same feelings about Nanoha and so they all continued to feel they had no need to pry. In any case, the two of them were on a totally different level from the rest of them now, which made them fel a bit left behind. To compensate for this, John hurried up and finished his design for a new version of the Magic Resistance weight training band he had already been developing for use with A rank mages. As he designed it, it would allow A rank mages to get the similar benefits from the training but stretched it out over 2 weeks instead of one, and since unlike his first version that he had tested personally, these obviously hadn't been used yet so he couldn't vouch for their effectiveness, but they all agreed to try it anyway. It was made to increase the rate it limited magic output as the mage improved until it was at the level the normal ones were, which made the training a bit safer, something that John had thought about when trying to make the training a bit less risky, which was why they could do it for two weeks instead of one.

They all decided to do the training. The only thing was that John believed that it couldn't train a mage to be more than around an S level mage, or in Sora's case maybe SS, and it only worked if they already had the potential for it, but that was still light years more than what they were now, and so they went at it full steam. To make it go faster (in terms of regular time), John had Lance put up a space-time barrier like he did with their original training to make the two weeks fit into one week, the result being that a week and a half after the party, they all completed the training, and as John had hoped, they had all become S class mages, and Sora himself becoming just barely SS. John had been right, they all had immense potential, well and beyond what they had already shown. In fact, despite completing the magic resistance training, after learning to use their power properly from it, John noticed that they continued to grow even stronger, to the point that they seemed to grow exponentially every day, to the point that even just a week later when they got a full handle on their powers after the magic resistance training, their reassessments showed that they had gone even further, with all of them officially qualifying as at least S+, and truthfully in John's opinion were possibly even SS, with Sora at the very high end possibly bordering on SS+ himself.

Such increases were unheard of, and John could only assume that it was that they had already had the power, but the training was just bringing it to the forefront for the first time. John tried to figure out if it was something with the bands, but he couldn't figure it out, there was no logical explanation for such a dramatic power increase in such a short time, and after a bit of testing he was also sure that it wasn't anything to do with his inventions, so as ludicrous as it was to John, he had to accept that this might have merely been their inborn ability.

John could only watch as they were all becoming stronger. Lee scrimmaged a mid air battle with Sarah at her request. It was good for Lee too that the rest of them were getting a better handle on their powers, as it meant that like Sarah was now, they had all become tough opponents that he could train against. Sarah in particular between her newfound power and her natural ingenuity even did something that surprised Lee. She fired one of his attacks at him, his GLOWING SHOOTER. This caught him off guard as a gold blast came at him. He dodged it, but to his surprise, she made the blast follow him. He decided to fight fire with fire and shot a GLOWING SHOOTER, making his collide with Sarah's and cancel each other's out. But not to be outdone, she surprised him a second time with a brand new attack, DIVINITY CANNON. He wasn't prepared for a powerful wave type attack and barely had time to dodge. That said, he was at least able to sense the second one coming and he prepared an attack of his own, his ever-trusty SHINING BUSTER, causing the two massive waves to collide in midair. Lee had to put an extra surge of power in his to get it to break through, but it did. Luckily and unluckily at the same time though, Sarah had already prepared her next attack, PIERCING LIGHTS, with Lee forced to counter with his FLASH SHIFT. That said, upon using the spell he realized as this was the first time he had done so outside the training, and thus found that without the restraints, he could make a good few dozen of them easy and could control up to about half of them at once. Sakura though still had him beat though because the results from her own training made it so she could do hundreds easy. In any case, in a tricky move, Lee shot some extra shots appear behind Sarah while she was distracted, which made a clean hit. Lee, "I win, that's it for today," Lee flew to the ground, deactivating Haruno as he did.

While Lee and Sarah were training, Sora was practicing on creating a new attack spell at their father's suggestion. John said creating a new attack would benefit him in the long run if he created a good ranged attack, of which he currently lacked. Even though he was naturally gifted at close-range magic, he was still an all-rounder type, and thus longer ranged spells were not lost to him. John even took it a step farther, suggesting that Sora create a breaker spell despite the fact that they were among the most difficult to use, let alone create. Sora though seemed up to the challenge, and as John stated power wise he was already capable of using a Breaker class spell, and so John got started teaching Sora all the basics of what was known as spell-crafting. There were apparently multiple ways to create a new spell, including newer methods that used all sorts of fancy equipment and computing, but John stated that those took a good bit of education to learn to use properly, and besides John himself wasn't particularly fond of the method, preferring the more hands-on approach. Thus John suggested that Sora try one of the original and oldest known methods to creating custom spells.

To make a spell this way, John explained that one had to physically draw it's magic circle the first time, including crafting and placing the symbols and characters to enact the given effect. Of course, Sora was the first to point out that he had no idea what the symbols and characters even meant or how they were supposed to be arranged, but John also showed Sora how his device could help in that regard, being able to roughly translate them for Sora as well as help him test that it was a working formula by sending magic into it to see if it caused any adverse reactions, and thus through a series of trials and errors he could attempt to create his very own spell. Sora actually likened it to programming in a way, which his father said was actually a very apt analogy of this kind of spell crafting. Overall, there was no doubt that this was advanced stuff. Most mages had to go through quite a bit of education and research to develop entirely new spells from scratch, especially ones that were unlike any they could do naturally, but given Sora's natural ability to grasp difficult subjects and problem-solving skills that had landed him as one of the top ten on the Tohoku University entrance exam, one of if not the best college in Japan, John knew he was up to it.

It took Sora a while to draw the magic circle out with chalk, especially given the number of revisions he kept having to make to it, but he managed in the end by tracing over one he had created on multiple sheets of paper that he had laid out on the ground to simplify the process and make it easier to revise. That said, this was only the first step. After that was done, John said the second part was to impart the intention of the spell to the formula, effectively the user thinking of exactly what they wanted the spell to be, for a spell more than anything else was, as John explained it, a form of wish, or else desire that the user had and used their magic to fulfill. Sora thus focused in hard, since as it was explained, if he got the image, between that and the formula he had created, it theoretically would be possible to create the attack spell he wanted. Sora spent the next few hours working intensely, but Sora found that no matter how hard he tried, he never got to the final point of actually casting the spell, though his father told him that he was on the right track since if nothing else, the magic did appear to gather properly. Sora originally was quite discouraged at his lack of progress, but his father kept encouraging him, saying no good spell of this magnitude was ever made in a day except maybe by the most expert spell crafters and that Sora had honestly already gotten farther than John had anticipated for his first attempts.

Elsewhere, Nanoha, Lance, Sakura, and Chrono weren't slouching either. As the enemy's strength went up, they needed to up their own too, so they were in a four-way battle. Even though Lance wasn't a fighter mage, it didn't mean he didn't know any offensive magic. In fact, given that Lee had never actually seen him fight directly before, he was actually much better than Lee's initial expectation. The first attack he used was slow, but it was also sure. If it made contact, it did some serious damage, and more annoyingly, it seemed to basically shatter any weaker defenses almost instantaneously, having what Lance called a PIERCING effect. He called it SIEGE BLAST, and claimed it was one of only three directly offensive spells that he regularly used. Their latest spar ended almost 20 minutes after Lee and Sarah had finished, allowing the two of them to see the latter half of it with interest. Counting the number of most hits, Sakura was the winner but in terms of damage, Nanoha clearly had them all outclassed power-wise, despite her best efforts to hold back. That said, between Lance's savy spell work and Sakura and Chrono's most recent increase in power, Nanoha didn't have the same leeway that she had before, and so for the first time in their training sessions, she had been forced to use one of her trump cards, her Axcel Charge System.

On the other hand, given that Nanoha had started using higher levels of magic to keep up with the others advancements, it appeared that using her ACS, also not take nearly as much out of her as it seemingly had before. To the others though, that just served as more proof of what they already suspected, that Nanoha wasn't really going all out, either in training or even when they fought. In any case, she felt good enough to fire it many more times in fact. Lance on the other hand looked a bit tired, not having the amount of physical stamina as the rest of them even if it was clear magic-wise that he still had quite a bit left in the tank. Thus they decided to wrap up their session and went in for dinner, which they were having at Lee's house that night.

During dinner, Sarah popped the question that most of them had been wondering as well. "With results like we've achieved over the last two weeks, why doesn't everyone train like this?" John, "Well for starters, despite what you all think, this training style is incredibly difficult and risky, and frankly above the capability of most. Also, its benefits would vary wildly depending on the person's innate abilities, so not just anyone could do it. They need to start off with a certain amount of untapped natural potential, in this case enough to become at least an S ranked mage which is already a rare enough phenomenon. That said, I also must admit that I can't entirely place the blame for the results of the magic resistance training's effect on your overall growth on my inventions alone. It is clearer now than ever that it only worked as phenomenally as it did because you all have such immense potential to become that strong, especially since my inventions don't allow you to gain otherwise unattainable strength, but merely allows one to train ones self-more effectively. As I said originally, it's based off of similar principles that have been developed for kenjutsu training in the Cross Style. Of course, like that training, there are risks to my magic resistance training as well, since if one does not have the abilities or talent required to do it properly, it could just as easily backfire, and in this case, it could even result in severe damage to the linker core. Honestly, if I hadn't been almost completely sure you all had the ability to succeed, then I wouldn't have even offered the magic resistance training to any of you. But you all not only had talent and ability to do so, but a good drive to motivate you through it, which honestly is something most mages lack and what is necessary for this training to be successful."

Lance, "Still the results the others have shown have been remarkable. I'm sure that the TSAB would be more than happy to introduce the method and training bands into their advance training methods if they saw it." John, "Well maybe in the future. As I've told you all, I originally only developed them for myself, and so they only were developed for use with mage's that were around my own level at the time, in other words mages SS and higher who had rough mana control and fluidity. The version of this training and the bands to go with it that I had Sarah, Sora, Sakura and Chrono here use are something that while I've been working on them for a while were only completed quite recently that I made to help talented mages that hadn't made it to such high levels yet, so its possible that I would try to introduce that version in the future. In truth, Lindy already knows about it from my original version and as the head of the general service training section, her insistence was the reason I even started developing the lower end versions in the first place, so maybe someday."

After dinner, they just lazed around for awhile, having tired themselves with training earlier and their father saying that it was probably better to rest that night then try to push themselves father, even cancelling sword training for his children. That said, the group ended up losing track of time and it got late. Predicting this, Lee's mother had already called their families to say that they would be staying over for the night. They all went to sleep pretty late and woke up equally late the next morning. Following his suggestion, the previous night, John suggested that they take a break from training as well and to just enjoy a day off from it all. Thus they decided to do something they hadn't had time for in quite a bit and head to the mall. As such, they soon found themselves shopping through almost every store the mall had to offer, which really meant that Nanoha, Sakura and Sarah shopped while the rest of them were dragged along to carry the bags. Sora to his luck actually avoided the fate of being a bag carrier given that he had to start on an assignment one of his college professors sent him for one of his new classes. Apparently, it was sent late due to a mailing error, which bummed out Sora who thought he was off the hook for this especially long break, though apparently it wasn't anything hard for Sora, just tedious. Ain any case, after a few hours, they were pretty burnt out from the girl's shopping rampage and so decided to call it a day there, splitting up to go to their respective houses.

Once the cross children were home, Lee and Sarah decided that while their father had told them to take a break for the day, they were feeling a bit restless and so decided to do a bit of sword training, which the both of them felt that they had been neglecting lately after having focused on magic recently for the same reason, though they knew with time they would figure out how to balance the two better as their father clearly had succeeded in doing. Lee for his part focused on some of his daily Ki regulation exercises, which Sarah decided to join him in. Of course, she wasn't at his level of Ki use yet, still working on trying to actually harness and activate her Ki regularly, but as shown over her last few weeks of training, she was making progress. While not most of the time, she had successfully activated her Ki a few times, the first primary use of Ki which led to its higher levels, and so for now was focusing on honing that. Sora on the other hand, after deciding on taking a break from his schoolwork, continued his attempts to complete his new original spell. Over dinner though, Sora having school work on the brain reminded his two younger siblings that they still had a load of summer homework, to which they both suddenly paled a bit at. They had both forgotten completely given everything that had happened lately and school started in two weeks. Thus, they both decided to use the rest of the night to do some of it. That said, to both their reliefs, the next parts of their homework they tackled were surprisingly easy, and they both actually made decent headway respectively.

The next 3 days passed in similar one with little variation. On the fourth day, John had decided to change things up a bit and he had something he needed to tell them anyway, "Everyone, come to the park, ten sharp." They all went hurriedly to the park after breakfast, wondering what John had for them today, arriving to see John already waiting for them. "Good, your all here. Let's get going then, we have quite a bit to discuss today." Before they knew it, they were all suddenly teleported out of the blue, reappearing on what Lee knew was John's new ship, the ARTEMIS. The group was a bit disoriented by the sudden change in location, but John clarified it for them, "We're on my new ship, the Artemis, which is currently parked right above the Earth. For today's meeting, it didn't feel right to just do it in my living room, so if you will follow me." Now the group was getting interested, and were getting the feeling that the conversation they were about to have wasn't going to be as casual as they were used to having with the Cross Patriarch. For the first time, they felt that they may in fact be talking to John Cross, the General. In any case, they followed John through the portal door he made in front of them and instantly arrived in a meeting room where Amy and a few Bureau clerks were already sitting. They sat down and John walked to the General's chair at the end of the table.

John, "Okay, now that were all here, let's get started." Sarah was about to ask why they were there when Sora stopped her with a "Not the right time" look. John though just continued, "Okay, this is a meeting concerning the events happening on Earth currently. First off," a screen appeared behind him, "The repeated activations of the recently reclassified Class 2 Lost Logia, the Saren Stones. It has become the attention of the Bureau after the events at my pro motion party that this is a problem that we can no longer overlook or leave to civilian mages. Based on our current information, it is estimated that the Saren Stones most likely pose an even greater threat than we originally estimated. Thus, the Council has reclassified them as Class 2 Alpha Lost Logia, in other words, Lost Logia that are currently classified as Class 2 but are expected to eventually meet the classification of Class 1. As such, the Council handed down a direct mission to Section 5, in other words me, to capture, seal and secure the Saren stones and have them sent to Bureau headquarters to be placed in one of our most secure facilities that we have specifically for this kind of purpose. At least, that is what we would like to do."

Chrono, "What do you mean would like to do. I thought you guys were basically a super government?" John, "Well that's not necessarily untrue, but by design we aren't all powerful. As such, the Bureau has no proper authority as of now to do anything on Earth, as it is technically an un-administered planet. At least, not without permission, which brings us to the first reason why I have brought you," he looked at them all, "here today. As you are all the strongest and most experienced mages of an un-administered planet experiencing a magic-based crisis, as well as the only occupants currently aware of inter dimensional society, the standard TSAB law states that you are the ones who are in charge of it on a dimensional level for non-political, humanitarian and or emergency purposes, which this currently qualifies as. I, as a direct TSAB affiliate, have given up my right to any authority I may have had over Earth, and so do not have the authority to make any decisions of this magnitude. The same applies to General Grayson. You though, with the obvious exceptions of Lance and Nanoha, as residential mages of Earth who are NOT with the TSAB do have the right to make this decision, including my children as while they are related to me, it has been agreed by the Council that you shall be treated as independents for this purpose. Thus I ask you, not as a father or friend but as a representative of the TSAB, Section 5 General Johnathan Cross, will you allow the TSAB to take over the responsibility of re-capturing the Saren stones and sealing them."

The group looked at each other, honestly mostly blindsided by what was a surprisingly heavy topic and decision. They opened a telepathic connection between them all to talk it out. Sora, "I don't know what to do. I wasn't expecting this." Nanoha and Lance popped in, "Our home-world is Maral so we don't have a right to decide." They continued talking about it for a few minutes until they were finally able to come to a decision. Sarah was the first to speak, "Our answer is unfortunately no, We have decided as a group to not let you take over this responsibility." John was taken aback. He though they would say yes purely due to the fact that he was Lee, Sarah and Sora's Father. John, "I will not force you to change your decision as it is outside of my authority as a General of the Bureau, but may I ask why."

Lee, "Realize that before we say it, Nanoha and Lance had nothing to do with this decision." John nodded in agreement. Lee continued, "The original reason we were collecting the Saren Stones is honestly only because Lance and Nanoha asked us for help. It was Lance's father's last wish that Lance came with Nanoha to collect the stones. In fact, without that, we would have never met and our magic may have never surfaced, even if some of us were half mage to begin with." The rest of the group nodded with this, with Lance himself expressing his heartfelt thanks. They were unified in this decision. They had already started it, and they were going to be sure to put an end to the threat of the Saren Stones themselves.

That said, the rest of them were surprised when Lee started to speak again, "Beyond that there is another reason now why we must continue." The entire group looked surprised at this as they hadn't discussed anything like it, but they let Lee continue, "I never told anyone but a few weeks ago, another person who was searching for the stones came and approached me. Everyone has already met her in battle, but when we first met, we ended up in a fight without knowing a thing about each other. I won but regardless of this fight or the other hostilities we have done towards her, she came un-armed and defenseless, and only came to talk so I listened. During the conversation, she asked me a rather serious question 'If you do something bad to do something good, is that wrong?' At the time, I didn't have a real answer then, but I think I have one now. If you are doing something good, something you want to do from the bottom of your heart for someone you care about, then that can never be wrong. The only wrong thing you can do is stop and give up because that doesn't just affect you, but the people around you and even more importantly, the one you are trying to help. That is the only wrong thing you can do in this case. So, with that in mind, we cannot give up, we cannot stop. All we can do is keep going forward until it is done."

Everyone looked at Lee. All three of the girls had tears in their eyes from emotion overload; Sora came and patted his brother on the back. Chrono had thumbs up. Lance looked like he was about to cry from happiness. John though, to all of their surprises, suddenly smiled, "Good answer." Everyone looked at John as he said this. They all became confused, even Amy and the other mages present. John, "I didn't raise my children to be quitters or cowards. Honestly, while I expected you to accept, I was actually hoping you were going to refuse. But now that that's settled, I have another proposition I've come up with, and this is one I really do hope you will consider accepting. How would you like to work with the TSAB on this case as temporary special agents of section 5? You would pretty much be able to do whatever you want and the only person who could give you orders is myself given that I'll be the sponsor of this endeavor. Even the council couldn't give you orders directly since you wouldn't be enlisted agents. And you would have the TSAB backing you for whatever support I can provide. So, what do you say?" Lee and the others didn't need more than a few seconds to come up with their answer. They all answered at once, "We accept!"

John, "Good, I thought you would. But to iron this out, at least in the near term, it would be best for you all to stay with my forces on this ship, at least at the beginning for appearances sake, is that okay? I already have a cover story for your parents," he pointed at Chrono and Sakura (Sakura including Nanoha as they were under her parents' supervision), "And I already spoke this over with Mom so the rest of you are in the clear." They again accepted. John continued, "Good, good, now as for the cover story, we are all going on a two-week vacation to a house I have in the mountains, which actually exists so we can use it as cover if need-be. It's actually the ancestral home of the Cross family, but that's a story for another time. I will invite you and you accepted the invitation while you will actually be on this ship. I would like to honestly do this for a longer period of time so that the TSAB didn't think I was giving you special privilege, which I guess I am, but obviously we can only do it for so long because the new school year starts soon and we can't really have you missing that."

They said it was a good plan until something occurred to Lee, "I think the plan is good and all but what about our entrance homework. If we're working with the TSAB full time, we could never finish it all." John smiled again, "Remember," as a few crewmembers took out 5 boxes, "You have the TSAB to back you up, for ANYTHING." They all smiled when John continued, "Despite the fact that education is important, we can all agree that immensely dangerous objects inundating the Earth probably takes priority in this case. Each one was made to replicate your actual grade average except for Lee in math. Even I, his own father have to have some mercy. But in all seriousness, the four mages I assigned to this had a lot of trouble doing some of it. You all must have it really tough." Lee smiled and hugged his father, who in turn faced his eldest son, "If I'm right, you're already finished Sora." Sora, "More or less, just got to organize it. Won't take me more than an afternoon." John proceeded to give them more of the details as well as the plan for the next day. John was going to pick them up in his car and they would drive out to a meeting point where they would be teleported onto the ship, and so they all needed to get packed and ready tonight.

They were teleported back soon after the meeting was over, John taking out the car that he rarely used to drive them all to their houses. To Chrono's, Sakura's, and Nanoha's surprise, their parents (Nanoha's Guardian/Sakura's father and Step-mother) had already been called and had started packing for them already. When Lee and his siblings got home, their mother had also started packing but had not included some of the more vacation-oriented items, as she knew that they weren't really going to their mountain house. Of course, she thought it was funny that it was called a house. It was after all the ancestral home of the Cross family, dating back hundreds of years and was actually more along the lines of a walled compound of a traditional samurai bent, though no one lived in it full time currently so it was mostly a retreat for the extended Cross Family to use currently since it was in the middle of nowhere. Lee himself had never actually been to it given its remote location.

In any case, after they were done packing, they decided to get some training in with the rest of the day. Sakura and Chrono came over too when they finished packing to join in. Today, Chrono was going to do close range mid-air sparring with Lee, John suggesting that he only use his MWD device form. Chrono had asked John to help him master this mode better as he never thought that he was making good enough use of it despite its obvious versatility. It was a mode where he could change it into virtually any weapon of his choice and he gained physical stat boosts as well, at the sacrifice of more defined mana control making it immensely hard to use with refined spells.

In any case, unlike Lee, who had been taught by his father how to use a sword for most of his life and had recently been more significantly focused on the endeavor, Chrono had no type of weapons training what so ever. John though was more than ready to help, as while he wasn't necessarily a master with other weapons, to further his own martial training, he had learned to use many different types of weapons to a significant degree. And so after a bit of trial and error which John used to measure Chrono's potential for certain weapon styles, he chose three weapons that he felt suited Chrono the most. The first was a slightly over-sized English long sword, not all that different than Lee's sword form Device but bigger and wider. Due to this mode's abilities, the weight of the weapon never really changed so he could make it as big as he wanted. The next weapon of choice was a war-hammer, which Chrono found by channeling extra magic into it would allow the hammer to produce damaging shockwaves if hit across the ground. The third weapon though was actually much different than what Chrono would have imagined, for it wasn't a melee armament at all, but instead was a sort of large handgun that could be used to fire more concentrated blasts of magic, something that Chrono himself wasn't normally suited for. Chrono didn't know he could make something like this, originally believing that he was limited to direct contact weapons. He even found that he had pretty good aim from the physical enhancement he got from this mode, and with concentration he could even alter the trajectory to his needs, controlling the launched blasts remotely. In fact, given its basic nature, the gun was actually the easiest for Chrono to get used to, which was good since John admitted that he wasn't in any way an expert with firearms. The trickier ones were the sword and the hammer, though for those John was more than adequate enough to teach Chrono the basics. That said, upon doing so, John had to admit that Chrono was honestly a natural when it came to learning armed combat, taking to his lessons like glue. In any case, the best practice was always experience, and so he recommended that Chrono spar with Lee to get accustomed to these new armaments.

Sarah meanwhile wanted to practice her flying maneuverability and so asked Nanoha to show her some tricks since while Nanoha was around average on the ground, in the air she reigned supreme. That said, just flying around in circles wouldn't have been good practice, and so they killed two birds with one stone and asked Sakura to pitch in, giving her a chance to test out one of her newer spells, her PLATNIUM SHIFT. It was pretty much a Sakura style version of John's RAGING JUDGEMENT. The only difference though was in their abilities to multitask, where Sakura actually came out on top, for she was able to control each and every single one of the several hundred blasts individually, though she still needed some practice on keeping them all accurate, but still the simple act of being able to control all those individual blasts was mind numbing. It boggled all their minds on how in the world Sakura could control so many and still be as accurate as she was,. Sarah and Nanoha continued their aerial maneuverability practice as Sakura fired at them.

Sora meanwhile was still working on his new Breaker spell, and he could honestly say that he was finally making real progress. Now when he started casting the spell, he was able to maintain the power gathered, and even attempt to launch it, but when it fired it would only go all of 2 yards before disappearing currently. That said, Sora still refused to give up and continued to work on the spell. He even called over Garret Kaisen who called the other day to say he would be in the area to ask him for his advice. Garret too had some experience creating his own spells before, and so he was able to give Sora some pointers.

Garret's advice was invaluable, as with the help, Sora worked out one of the major kinks he had been running up against, and with that resolved he found that he was able to fire the spell almost 10 yards before it dissipated, a hell of a lot better than before. Unfortunately, after that the form of the attack would disappear, and even before that it leaked a significant amount of its power when launched. At one point in the day, Matt and his two little sisters came over as well to see what was happening after Garret said he was heading over to see the Cross family and they got curious. Of course, seeing everyone practicing their individual brands of magic that they had recently discovered themselves got them in the mood to do a bit of practice themselves John honestly though if they got any more people wanting to practice, he'd have to get a schooling license, but in any case for efficiency, he divvied everyone up into groups so that he could at least attempt to chaperone and make sure everyone was safe and successful. Lee and Chrono stopped and made a group of four with Lance, Lee, Chrono and Matt. Then Rachel and Louise went with Sarah and Nanoha and Garret went with Sakura. John already knew that like Sarah, Garret also had a sniper affinity, and that he was apparently about to enter a very selective sniper training class with the TSAB, so he definitely had some good advice for Sakura on that front as well. They trained until dinner when the Kaisen's said had to go home before it got too dark. Sora almost didn't stop, feeling that he had been making immense progress on his spell, but he still knew he had more to do. He had gotten farther but as his dad had mentioned, the attack still lacked true form, and that alone was cutting its power to a tenth of what it should be. That said, he also stated that he could tell that the spell would be immensely powerful once completed, and so not to give up hope.

They woke up the next morning and ate breakfast quickly since today was the day they officially started their joint mission with the TSAB aboard the ARTEMIS. John was waiting for them in front of their house with his old station wagon which now "looked" like it was fully packed to go to the mountain house. They went and picked up Chrono, Sakura, Nanoha and Lance (who was in Ferret form this time due to a lack of seats) and to their surprise, went back to Lee's House and parked the car in the garage. "We can't have the car sitting in a parking lot for two weeks, now can we." That said, before they even had a chance to get out of the car, they got blinded by a flash of light, and when they regained their vision realized that they had been teleported onto the ARTEMIS from the garage, luggage and all. Not wanting to waste any time, John proceeded to show them where they would be sleeping, which in this case was in John's personal "quarters". That said, his quarters were more akin to a house he had built into the ship, with it clearly having enough space for everyone. They were sleeping in the bedrooms that John had personally designed, which he was still amazed they built to his ridiculous specifications given that it had been mostly a joke at the time he had done it, one of the parting gifts granted to him by the man whose job John now filled.

Due to the fact that there were seven people and 5 rooms, they split up into bunking groups. As John had modelled three of the five rooms after his own children's bedrooms back home, obviously the three of them would be taking the matching room, with Sakura and Nanoha were going to share one of the guest rooms with Lance and Chrono taking the other. Sora and Sarah were immensely surprised when they went to put their stuff into their rooms though and upon entering actually saw THEIR ROOM, John admitting that he himself was surprised they met his wild specifications to the letter. John also took this time to register all of them with the ships system as Guests with full level authorization, two below the administrator in the ships computer and that they had privileges to use his portal door and a few other things as well. The only exception was Lee since he had already been given Authorization when he went to help his father pick up the ship originally. That said, he noticed that his authorization was a higher level than everyone else's but decided it wasn't worth mentioning. After all, John had only done it because he had thought it would be fun to have Lee pilot the ship a bit back when he got it and hadn't had a reason to remove it so he hadn't.

They settled into their rooms, and then proceeded to explore the ship, except for Lee who had already had the grand tour and wanted to work on his swordsmanship for a bit, retreating to the dojo in his father's quarters, still amazed that his father even got the TSAB to add even that to his private on ship home. In any case, for the rest, this was their first time on the ARTEMIS and it was honestly much bigger and more complicated than the Asura. Amy, having a bit of down time and still apparently having not gotten over the grandeur of the ARTEMIS gave them a tour around, leaving Lee to his training. Lee practiced his sword techniques for a while before he remembered that he had one more thing he had been wanting to train on recently, as well as a guide to help him with it, the tablet that he had been given by Edwin Aster that contained his research and tips on Combination spells. Thus, Lee departed for one of the training rooms to start on this new endeavor. Once he found an empty training room, he took out the tablet and started to read through it for the first time, skimming through most of the information until he found the closest thing he could to a "How to" guide on how to do combination spells…

"Combination, sometimes referred to as the KOU ability, allows the user to create fusion spells that are without a doubt the most powerful of all possible spell types. They are a true fusion of two or more spells by a single mage, but generally only one spell can be borrowed from each mage, excluding yourself. The second spell is "borrowed" from another mage(s). That mage has to be 'mentally' close to the user for the combination to be successful. Physical distance is not a major factor, but spells used in this way tend to be strongest when physically close to the other mage. The user can also fuse spells that are not his by acting as a medium between the other mages, who only have to be mentally close to the combination mage, not necessarily each other. It is also possible to combine two or more of the users' own spells to do a combination, but they will be less effective than if done with another mage's spells but with the added advanced of higher fusion efficiency and lower overall cost.

That's it for the basics you need to know before a mage actually uses a combination. There are two methods for using a combination spell. The first is for the user to summon MORE THAN 100% of their power. This method, though it is the easiest of the two initially has a few flaws. The first is that the user has little to no control over the spell. Once enacted, it cannot be stopped, and things such as targeting and restraint are next to impossible. The second is that the other spell used for the fusion will come from the mage mentally closest to you at the time who has the most appropriate spell for the situation as decided unconsciously. The other downfall of this method is the power output. Using this method will, by definition of its requirement of using more than a mage's full power, will inevitably use up ALL of the user's current magic supply. This will usually result in an undesirable backlash effect for the user, BUT this is at first the more powerful method. Also, I would like to add on a personal note that I would not use this method too often, as it does serious damage to the user's linker core if not done properly or too often and that offensive spells created in this way seem to have a tendency for dimensional interference. Overall, this method is more of an instinctual last resort that mages with the combination ability are able to use, and as such I urge the user to THINK HARD before using this method.

The second, safer, and in my opinion proper method requires more than a bit of effort and training from the user. This method, though usually not as powerful as method 1 at first is just as effective, and if done perfectly will surpass the power of method 1. This method allows the user to call upon a combination spell at will. It also gives the user control over the spell used, including the source mage and the spell selected. This proper method is usable under two conditions. The first is that both you and the other mage know each other on a personal level. It is emotion that gives this version of a combination spell its power. The second is that the mage is able to combine the spell themselves. Unlike the first method where the sheer magic fuses the spells together, this method uses willpower and emotion that fuel the power of a combination spell as the bonding agents. This is where the effort comes in. The method is as follows:

1. Focus hard on the mage(s) you want to connect to and the spell you wish to borrow (If you want to use your own, imagine yourself.)

2. Form your spell and charge the necessary magic externally while still concentrating on the other mage and spell.

3. Now, if the two steps were done right, imagine yourself forming the other mage's spell and if done properly, you should be able to manifest the spell externally next to your own.

4. If done correctly, there should be two charged spells in front of you, most likely in the form of spheres of magic. Now comes the hard part. It really can't be described but try and imagine yourself combining the spells. Imagine them fusing in your mind. Then focus all of your will power to kind of push the spells together.

5. If successful, the two charged spells should have fused in front of you, with the general rule being that they have the appearance with the base color your own spell's while the aura surrounding it being of the color of the other mage(s) spell. Now all you need to do is fire it like any attack. Everything you need to know about the newly created attack should come to you instinctively.

I hope this short guide is of help to future users of combination magic. Please use the main guide for other questions."

Lee finished reading the short manual, standing up as he decided that there was no time like the present to give it a try. According to the manual, the person whose spell he was borrowing had to be someone he knew well. He decided to use Sakura as his first test and her SCARLET FURY BUSTER, activating his device to help him channel the magic effectively. He started by making his own spell, his favorite SHINING BUSTER, for the base, charging the spell in front of him. Then following suit, he focused as hard as he could on Sakura and her spell. He focused as hard as he could until he was sure it was the only thing in his mind, imagining himself casting her spell. Lee was still surprised when he actually felt himself start to form the spell. It felt weird to him, like his magic was moving in a way it couldn't normally, but somehow something from outside of him was reforming the magic so that it could become Sakura's spell, though exactly how he was doing it was still a mystery to him, but he knew it was mor a feeling thing than a knowing thing. In any case, the basic form of Sakura's SCARLET FURY BUSTER appeared in front of him, next to his own spell, and so he moved onto step four, the actual combination of the attacks. This was supposed to be the hardest part and Lee soon found out the guide wasn't exaggerating. It was harder than Lee could have imagined. No matter how much he tried to make them fuse, they didn't even budge, the two charged spells just stood motionless in front of him. He needed a clue, something to help him, and so went back to the manual and looked for the section again. He noticed before that there were all sorts of references and attachments to the guide, and so he looked through the ones pertaining to step four, and that is where he saw something that looked interesting, a separate note that just said 'Advice'. Since he had nothing to lose, Lee pressed on it, reading the new information that came up when he did…

"If you are reading this, it most likely means that you are having trouble even moving the spells close enough to each other to fuse them. There are only two bits of advice I can give to you. The first is the visualization. While this can vary between mages, for myself, I picture two different colored balls of light, one blue and one yellow, moving closer to each other, then at the moment of contact, imagine the part where they overlap turning into an all-new color, green. That is the basic concept of combining spells, taking two separate halves to make one singular, new whole. As for the second part, I would say that it's the emotional state of the user. The entire reason for a COMBINATION SPELL being so powerful is that it draws its power from emotions, the resolve of the user, the feelings of the mage who you are combining with, and all those who believe in you and your power. Through those emotions, bonds are formed, and those bonds are the true source of the attacks power. As there is an unlimited amount of emotion, the power of a combination spell is also limitless. For this part, I can offer no help but if you dig deep enough into yourself, and hopefully you will find what you need."

Lee tried again. He made the two spells appear in front of him once more, getting more familiar with the sensations involved. Following the advice he read, he tried to quiet his mind, trying to focus on nothing more than visualizing the two light orbs in his mind. Lee felt it before he actually saw it, but like what he was imagining in his mind, the two spells in front of him started to move, slowly but surely, until they were about to touch. When they finally touched though, to Lee' dismay, they sort of bounced off each other, as if refusing to fuse, though Lee didn't let that get him down for he definitely was making progress. He knew that he got the first part of the tip right, but it was the second part about the emotions that he still had no clue on. He was trying hard to focus on any and all memories he had of Sakura when they were growing up but to no avail. He spent the next few hours continuing the fruitless attempts until he decided to call it quits for now, hoping something would give him some inspiration if he changed gears.

He went to go find the others, who happened to be in the cafeteria as it was around lunchtime. He grabbed some food and went over to join them. Chrono, "Where have you been Lee? We went back to the room and you weren't there." Lee, "Just doing some practice in the training room. I have been trying out some combination spells." The rest of them suddenly looked quite pale, though Lee couldn't really blame them. They, Lee was sure, were afraid of what would happen if he actually launched a combination spell like the ones he had thus far demonstrated on this ship in the middle of nowhere dimensions away from any civilization what so ever. Lee though reassured them, "It's not what you think. Edwin Aster, that council member that was at my dad's party, apparently has been doing research on combination spells for a long time, being a user himself, and he handed some of his research on them to me which includes a guide that I'm following. I have just been trying out its second method, which if done right, is nowhere as uncontrollable and destructive as what I have been doing until now. For instance," he formed two spheres in front of him, one was his own BLITZ SHOT, and the other Chrono was surprised to see was his CRASH SHOT, Lee having at least mastered the borrowing spell part. Lee made them move close to each other while the other's watched. Chrono, "Damn, mastered it already?" Lance also looked amazed. Lee though just sighed. "Not quite, here's the problem." Lee continued as he made the spheres touch, only for them to bounce off each other, "Every time I try to fuse them, they bounce off each other so I can't complete the spell. The only help the manual gave for this step was to look in yourself and find a connection between you and the mage of the second attack, but I'm not sure what to do with such vague advice." The rest of them thought for a second but none of them was able to give Lee any advice of their own. They who couldn't even use a combination had no idea how to make one. Lance said that he should try remembering the person a lot but Lee mentioned that he had already tried that and failed.

They pretty much spent the next three days lazing around the ship. The group took turns using the two training rooms in shifts to train a bit, with the sometimes except for Lee. They decided to let him have half of the first room to himself so that he could continue to work on his combination spells. John came down occasionally to teach them all something useful as well. He was sort of becoming their magic teacher, giving them advice and showing them new battle tactics, and he was actually a great instructor. They could only chalk it up to his experience, but John always seemed to know what they were struggling with and what they would most benefit from learning next. It was a good thing too since most of them only had the basic teachings of Lance and Nanoha, and the two Maralians both admitted that they weren't really teacher material, though everyone else disagreed with that statement quite a bit since they got the rest of them started off pretty well. Sora meanwhile was still working on his attack on the other side of Lee in the same room most the time as well, working hard towards completing his new spell.

He wasn't the only one trying to improve though. With help from John, Sakura and Chrono both found out about the FLIP in their primary affinity modes, which was FIRING type for Sakura and the Variable Weapon Driver (VWD) for Chrono. John told them that often, these kinds of specialized modes that were attuned to a mage's attribute so heavily had a second sub-mode to them in manifested devices, and he was right on the money. Chrono found out that his VWDs Flip was that it turned into a gauntlet with two revolving gears on his wrist, with the gauntlet on his primary right hand. John was able to help Chrono discover what this new form could do since it didn't have the shapeshifting abilities of the VWD, but Chrono found that it had many other uses. For instance, the other weapons were just weapons, but Chrono had some specific spells and abilities with this weapon. Besides being able to use CRASH SHOT V2, which was an attack spell where it made a blast shoot at the opponent on contact, he got a new spell as well called REVOLVER. It started out by gathering magic inside the gauntlet while making the gears spin rapidly, creating a strong heated air-current around the entire gauntlet, and then released the magic into the air-current and shot it at close range at the target, which tore itself up. It was a strange attack to Chrono since it could only be shot at close range, despite not needing any direct contact with the opponent and two. From an outside perspective though, it looked like Chrono was throwing a blue fire twister in the form of a sphere.

Sakura's Flip was with Cerenity's Firing mode. She found out that she could turn it into a very large cannon kind of weapon. There was a scope on the end and a trigger a quarter of the way down on the bottom like a rifle. It was like a giant rifle that was just too big to hold and thus had to be propped up on the leg stands that came out the bottom of it. The weird thing though was the end of the barrel where six rod like objects stuck out perpendicular to the barrel and curled back in to each other farther up. This mode, according to John, was designed to be a set weapon, as it had to be supported on its stand. In exchange for no maneuverability besides pivoting and angling, it most likely had extreme accuracy and the potential for absolutely massive power. Also just from initial tests, it could also focus Sakura's magic 4 to 5 times more than she could otherwise. As such, John stated that it might not be the best idea to test most of them in a training room while others were in there with her, so she had to hold off on practicing most of them for now.

On the third day, they were starting to get really sick of being on the ship with their routine becoming repetitive to the point of becoming dull, but as they were thinking this as if on cue, a loud siren sound throughout the ship, followed by every screen in sight and all the lights in the hallways and even the training rooms they were in shading everything in emergency red. Every screen that they could see read the same thing, "EMERGENCY ALERT, GET TO LEVEL 2 STATIONS." It was also being broadcasted through the speakers. Lee and the others didn't know what to do, not knowing anything about TSAB ship jargon when Amy came running in, "Good, I found you!" She ran into the training room Lee and Sora were in. "Orders from John, you two and Lance are to go to the main teleport bay at once. Everyone else is to go to the Bridge." The others had already come into the training room where Amy was to see what was going on. As soon as Amy finished, Lee, Sora and Lance went through a portal door that the ship made automatically for them and entered the teleport bay as Amy instructed. As they got ready to be teleported, they heard their father's voice come through Lee and Sora's devices. "Lee, Sora, Lance, a high magic reading confirmed to be a Saren stone has been confirmed in the Aokigahara Forest outside Tokyo. We are sending you there to capture the stone. Good Luck."

They were then teleported straight off the ship and into the middle of a thick forest. Lee had never been in this forest before, though like almost everyone, he had heard about it since the place was famously considered haunted. This theory was supported by the fact that even most wildlife avoided the place, making it eerily quiet, and while having not really put stock in the supernatural before, within the last few months he had become a magic using mage whose family was descended from what were effectively aliens and he had already been to two other planets and flown a spaceship so he was a bit more open minded than before. Even without that he had still learned to harness his inner Ki to do attacks faster than time itself, so he had recently been re-evaluating what was possible, even if Lance had assured him way back when he learned magic that such things as spirits and ghosts were utter nonsense and that magic for the most part could be explained logically. In any case, all three of their group who arrived in the forest agreed silently that it was no doubt quite creepy.

They flew up to try and find any abnormality that would lead them to the stone. They didn't need to look far. There was a giant black cloud about a kilometer away, and in the center of it, there was what looked like a giant black scaley looking snake with wings. In other words, they were suddenly confronted with a dragon, and it was by far the largest manifestation they had come across to date. Its eyes were red and it looked agitated and ready to fight the moment it spotted them. It started off by shooting of a powerful blast of black magic at them. Lance put up a strong shield to counteract it, followed by an additional barrier around the area they were in to try and contain the fight. It wasn't a matter acceleration barrier like they were used to though. To make the barrier stronger and because there was no need to stop time or phase out normal people while they were in the middle of nowhere, he did a simple, but incredibly strong space shift barrier that covered a good ten kilometers for safe measure.

Lee originally started going over with Sora how they wanted to go about fighting this thing, but to his surprise Sora told Lee to let him handle this alone. Lee had fought the last three of them and Sora felt that he both needed the experience and the chance to test out his training, and so Lee let Sora go to fight alone. Thus Sora took off alone towards the dragon, sword form device in his hand, and immediately went on the offensive, trying to cut at its wings only for it to dodge, followed up by a few of his FLAME SLASH's at the dragon that didn't do much damage. Realizing quickly that going super close range was probably not the best idea in this case, Sora changed his staff into STORM MODE where he began to fire a bunch of his FLAMING BLITZ CRIEGE spells at it which seemed to do some damage. Lee, seeing that his brother seemed to have everything under control, continued to just hold back and watch the fight. Also, since Sora was also able to seal Saren Stones just as well as he could, he felt at ease enough to sit back in the air and watch the battle along with Lance.

Back on the ship, the rest of them were on the bridge, looking at a large screen in front of them that was displaying the battle. Amy was telling John to tell Lee to stop being lazy and go help, but John already knew that Lee had been asked to lay off and told Amy as such, "I can't, that would only make Sora mad. He hasn't had a chance to prove himself lately and Lee has been getting loads of fame and attention from all his recent achievements lately. After all the time and effort Sora has put into training to deal with the Saren Stones and frankly even before that, he wants some of that experience for himself and I can't blame him, and I am sure that he is as stiff as a brick from being on this ship for four days with nothing to do. He knows that he has to get stronger, and this is his way of showing it." In response, Amy just turned back to the monitor to watch the fight unfold.

Back at the sight of the battle, Sora had changed his staff into its original sword form again, using his more powerful impact spell, HEAT STRIKE FLAME, to deliver an absolutely massive cutting shockwave of flames to his foe which successfully seemed to cut the black dragon straight in half. In addition, where his magic had touched literally ignited into flames. The half with the tail was burned into ashes and blew away, but Sora knew it wouldn't be that easy as he witnessed the half with the head rapidly regenerate its missing lower body and with a quick spin in the air, pretty much blew out the flames. The Dragon proceeded to create a huge black magic circle in front of itself where it started to charge a super large sphere of magic, clearly about to unleash a powerful attack. To counter it, Sora was forced to charge up his FLASH FLARE CANNON, his most powerful ranged attack. They both shot their attacks at once, but it was extremely clear though to anyone who was watching which one was stronger as the black wave of magic tore through the orange one like wet paper and almost hit Sora. Luckily, he did a triple play with a shield, an aura and a special magic displacement field called HEPHAESTUS SHIELD that was a variation of a spell Lance had taught him a while back. With all three defensive spells in place, he only received a small part of the damage he would have taken otherwise. Unfortunately, that wasn't saying much for the actual amount of damage he received. He was shot backwards through the air from the impact and barely regained his ground before he noticed a smaller blast of black magic was coming his way. He dodged and flew back to where he was before he was hit before he noticed that it was going to fire its super attack again. That said, Sora knew he had no means of countering the attack head-on again, his FLASH FLAIR CANNON being nowhere near powerfully enough to stand up to the Breaker-class attack that the manifested Dragon was about to unleash, "Wait, breaker…"

Sora didn't have anything else to give, and so decided to bet it all on his new attack, despite it never having worked before. As such, Sora focused in as hard as he could as he started to form a huge mass of his flaming orange magic in front of him. That said, Sora could feel the strain that was required to keep his spell form, it was massive. The dragon though would not wait for him as it had finished charging up its wave of magic, firing it at Sora. In response, Sora was forced did the same with his untested Breaker. Sora's massive flaming orange wave met with a torrent of pure black in a massive collision, and for a second it seemed that Sora's was going to win, but then out of nowhere, Sora's spell just disappeared. It wasn't canceled or destroyed, it just broke apart, allowing the black Breaker to blow straight through, barely giving Sora enough time to just be able to dodge the incoming attack.

Sora though was now thinking he was out of options, believing that maybe he would be able to use his spell under pressure, but it had just failed spectacularly. Lee noticed this as well, he could tell that his older brother was on the verge of giving up and so was about to go in to help when, out of nowhere, he felt himself frozen in place, looking down to see two binds restrict his feet, and the magic comprising them were a very familiar dark gold. It was only a moment later that his father contacted him telepathically, "If you truly care about your brother, you WILL stay where you are and watch this play out." Lee didn't know what to do here, as given what he had seen, he couldn't believe that this was in any way a good decision, but he went along with it, not that he had a choice in the matter as he couldn't seem to get out of his father's bind.

Sora was desperate now. He knew that his new breaker spell was his only hope, especially after the Dragon, seeing how effective the first two had been, had defaulted to using its own massive wave attack repeatedly. Sora attempted his breaker three more times though, only to see them break apart before they even made contact. He was trying as hard as he could, but he wasn't making any headway. In fact, if anything, he felt that it was getting worse. In fact, the fourth time he tried to make it, it broke before the spell even finished forming in front of him. It was frustrating, especially since Sora, for all this failure, knew that he was getting close, but he needed just one more push. He gripped his staff tightly, focusing all of his power into this one final attempt as the dragon charged up another of its super attacks, the largest by far. Sora knew that he had to pull out all his power for this one, for the attack he was staring down was that strong, but he didn't know what good it would do now, as much power as he could summon, he had no way of forming it correctly to cast his spell. Sora was almost praying, "If only I could channel more power at once, more stable, more focused…" That said, he was shocked when his mental prayer was answered by none other than his own device, "Current action not possible for current mode, recommend using FireConversionDriver." Sora had no idea what his device just said, and he didn't know what this new function was, but he also knew he was out of other options, and so unsure what would happen he held his staff out, "FCD, IGNITE!" He started to glow bright orange, then a giant orange Magic Circle appeared underneath him as literal flames erupted around him, his power starting to skyrocket. His staff changed from his STORM MODE to something else entirely, a form he had never seen before staff which had a perpendicular handle half way down it and the head was bright, flaming orange. It looked like Lee's shooting mode staff except there were four points coming out at the base of the head. Also, on top of the U part of it, there was an O shaped part, perpendicular to the U part.

Sora pointed the staff out in front of him. A HUGE magical circle appeared under him, followed by a large sphere of orange magical energy gathering. It looked the same as before, but it was clear to anyone watching that it couldn't be more different. To start, it was a hell of a lot more concentrated and powerful than before, and on top of that, the charged spell had erupted in a powerful aura of flickering flames bordering on an inferno. And it didn't stop there, for the mass of power Sora was gathering was getting bigger and more concentrated by the second, so hot that even hundreds of feet up in the air, the plants in the forest below were starting to shrivel from the heat. In response, the black dragon increased the size of it's own attack, both breakers seeming to grow in unison, but this time, Sora knew he was ready, "VOLCANIC BREAKER!"

The Dragon fired its attacks off at the same time, causing the two massive waves of power to collide in mid-air. For just a moment, it appeared to everyone watching that the attacks were about equal, with neither one giving way, but then Sora's Breaker did something unusual, something that none of them had ever seen before. Despite the dead draw that the two spells were engaged in, and Sora having already poured all his power into the attack, somehow his spell's fiery aura grew as the two attacks continued to butt heads, becoming hotter and brighter as it did. Then in one moment, somehow, Sora's breaker just broke past the Dragons attack, completely overwhelming it completely, where it proceeded to slam into the manifestation directly with its full power and incinerated it, literally. The huge explosion that followed engulfed the area in smoke and superheated air, visibly browning the forest below almost instantly. Sora was dead tired, but kept himself conscious as he noticed a small blue orb with the Saren Stone falling out of the smoke. He prepared his staff to seal the stone with 4 large orange wings appeared at the base of the now storm mode head. FLARE STORM, "Saren Stone, number 12" Sora, "SEA-."

Sora never got the chance to finish his sentence, for just before he was able to seal the stone, he found himself hit from behind by a HUGE blast of yellow electrified energy that seemingly appeared literally out of nowhere from outside his periphery from a matching electric yellow magic circle. It was so powerful and sudden that combined with the damage that Sora had already taken, it forced him out of his transformed state, his device reforming around his neck and clearly damaged if the cracks on the marble were anything to go by. But at the very least it still held itself together as Sora grabbed it, protecting his invaluable partner as he hit the ground hard and fell into unconsciousness. Lee looked at who fired the blast, though he already had a pretty good idea of who it was. His suspicions were immediately confirmed when he saw a familiar looking mage with long blond hair with her black staff and cape and who was wearing am equally familiar black sleeveless skintight top with a white mini-skirt. Lee though was still initially so shocked at the sudden turn of events that for a moment he could do nothing but watch as Fate flew towards the Saren stone and prepared to seal it. That said, Lee knew he couldn't let her continue, especially not after what she just did to Sora, and so he charged over to her, sending a powerful golden blast towards the girl in order to get her to back off from the stone that was rightfully Sora's.

It had the desired effect, as while Fate dodged the blast easily, she was forced away from her price. She proceeded to floating up a bit until she was eye level with Lee, casually turning to him as she did so, "Hello Lee." Lee though was not in the mood for casual banter, he was angry, "What did you do that for! That was my brother you just blasted." Fate, "Don't worry, I only rendered him unconscious, nothing more. I made sure of it." Lee looked down to where his brother was, trying to extend his magic senses to try and get a read on his brother, and when he did, he felt himself sigh in relief. His brother's magic, it was there loud and clear, so he couldn't have been in too bad a way. Lee then turned back to Fate, still not quite calm, but his initial rage subsiding greatly, "But why did you do that." Fate, "Because, I needed the Saren Stone and if he had sealed it, I would have to fight him for it and that would only cause him more pain. I just wanted to get it the way easiest for everyone." Lee though couldn't accept her logic, "But that is just so wrong. Why do you need something so dangerous anyway?" Fate, "Because, someone close to me wants them, and I will do anything if it is for them." Lee, "But what about what you said when you came to talk. You then were already questioning whether or not you were doing the right thing. If that is the case, then tell me how you justify this?"

Fate looked at Lee hard, forcing Lee to do the very same, and in doing so, Lee could see it. Very, very deeply but hidden, a load of sadness from the girl he was facing, especially in her eyes. It wasn't like a normal sadness either, it was something much, much deeper, more profound than Lee could possibly imagine. Fate though did her best not to show it at all on her face, simply responding to Lee's question, "You should know that answer already. You told me after all. You said 'A good deed shouldn't require anything bad.' If you were telling the truth, then for trying to make someone important to me happy, there is no wrong." Lee looked at Fate, at the determination and sadness in her eyes. Lee knew that there was nothing else to be done, nothing else he could say at this point to change Fate's mind. Even through her sadness, her resolution shone strong. Thus he did the only thing he could think to do in this situation, raising Haruno in its staff form at Fate, "Then this is the only way. You fight with your resolve against mine and we'll see whose is stronger. You told me that the stones couldn't be taken, only earned. If that's truly the case, then by that logic, we should also be able to make a deal. The winner will get this stone plus a stone from the user. I know you have at least three."

Fate didn't need to speak to answer; she just pointed her staff at Lee, preparing for battle. Lee changed Haruno into its sword form, and Fate did the same, hers turning into a huge sword almost twice as big as she was. Without a signal, without a word, they bothflew at each other at the same moment. The Saren Stone they were fighting over for some reason beyond any of the combatant's understanding flew into the air as if to protect itself from the battle that ensued. The two stalwart young warriors collided many times at close quarters, but it was clear that Lee had the upper hand this time, his speed paying dividends as he was able to not only parry, but get a few clean hits on Fate, a massive surprise to Fate given that she normally prided herself on her own speed, but she knew where she was beaten, at least for now. Fate suddenly stepped back and changed her barrier jacket into something like a bathing suit, except that it had a belt and bits of armor, but in all cases it was clear that it was meant to be more aerodynamic, a trade of speed and maneverability at the expense of durability and defense. Fate flew straight above Lee, taking her sword and lifting it up into the air above her and started charging magic, a lot of thunderous magic. Suddenly, a yellow magic circle appeared under her and her sword, whose blade was started to glow brightly with the gathered power, "THUNDER RAGE!" Fate stabbed the sword into the circle, and out the other side, a huge torrent of magic shot out, like a solid column of thunder barreling towards its target, and it was fast. It was fast enough that Lee had to block, and so placed a shield above himself to try and counter it, but it was much stronger than he had anticipated, breaking through his defenses with ease. Luckily that gave Lee the split second he needed to dodge the worst of it, but was still a hard hit, it hurt pretty badly. Fate though didn't stop there, "THUNDER CLAP!" Charging Lee, she swung her massive energy sword like a fan, firing off a sort of electric whirlwind in front of her which hit Lee and sent him flying backwards. She was going to charge him again, but this time Lee was able to recover in time, already having changed his staff into SHOOTING MODE with magic charged and immediately fired off a SHINING BUSTER at Fate. That said, do his disappointment, Fate was able to block his buster easily.

Their battle devolved into range combat quite quickly. Lee used his FLASH SHIFT spell, manifesting the blasts above them before firing them down, controlling their paths in order to make them circle around to hit Fate from behind, but Fate had a proportionate response of her own, "PHOTON LANCER, PHALANX SHIFT!" A bunch of yellow electrified spheres appeared around her which she used to counter Lee's. Lee though would not be discouraged, proceeding to use a new arrangement of spells in tandem, a two-part attack with his FLASH SHIFT and SHINING BUSTER. He started by making 6 sets of eight spheres in a circle rowing back. Then in the middle, he formed his Buster. He fired the first set of spheres, which circled around Fate. Then he fired his buster and all the remaining spheres to create a 360-degree attack that honestly caught his opponent off guard resulting in a solid impact. Fate dodged the spheres like Lee anticipated, but that left her vulnerable to take the full of his buster wave. The result was a massive explosion that created a cloud of debris making it hard to see through, though the results of the attack were obvious as Fate quickly fell out of the dust cloud and into the ground hard.

Unfortunately, while Fate was temporarily down, she was far from out as she got up just as fast to fight again, though she was clearly now angry at being bested and so charged up a hell of a lot more power than Lee had ever felt from her, "PHOTON LANCER, GENOCIDE SHIFT!" The sky was suddenly inundated with countless spheres of electric yellow magic energy, filling the area they were in so completely that they completely surrounded Lee, innumerably more than before. Their numbers were ludicrous, there had to be 1000's of them, and they were all stronger than her previous version of the spell, but that wasn't all. The blasts as soon as they appeared all started morphing a bit until they turned into something akin to arrowheads, each one with a spell ribbon around it, as if holding them back. Lee couldn't escape; he was surrounded on all sides. "SHOOT!" They all fired at once, leaving absolutely no empty or weak spot in the attack, and thus Lee was lost in the rapid electrified explosions of Fate's immense assault, each of the numerous blasts ringing out like constant rumbling thunder across the sky.

Fate thought she had won, but then Lee appeared above her out of nowhere. His staff was now a sword and he was coming down hard. Lee dispelled any of his aviation magic to put the force of gravity behind his attack, lopping on the speed enhancements from his sword form to push the force he was coming down with even higher. It was so fast that Fate had no time to even move. Lee made a solid impact with Fate's staff, Baradiche, in a massive eruption of force. Lee though immediately flew back to avoid a counter assault, but was surprised when he didn't sense one. When he looked back though, he saw that Fate's staff was cut cleanly in two, and on top of that he'd given her a shallow but large cut straight across her chest. Lee though was even more surprised though that she didn't look that much worse for wear as he saw her simply throw away the half of her staff without the head as if it meant nothing and took the other one in both hands with what was left of its shaft. Fate focused in quickly as she started to glow bright yellow, literal sparks starting to buzz around her, "FULL RECOVERY!" From the bottom up, a magic circle surrounded Fate and her staff, and to Lee's shock, whatever it passed seemed to heal, including Fate's staff. When she was done, Fate and her staff looked like the battle thus far hadn't even happened. Fate, "Good one Lee, you forced me to use my recovery, and that's really a one-time trick, but now I will go full force." Lee didn't know how to react to such an action, for it almost seemed like cheating, but there was nothing for him to really do except to prepare himself for round two.

Lee and Fate continued the fight, but it was starting to drag on too long. That said, this was partially on Lee, for as hard as the fight was currently, he did know that he had a way to break their current stalemate, but part of him was still holding it back. The few times he had used that power, the results had been quite literally cataclysmic, and he hadn't mastered its use yet. At how powerful his combination spells were, he feared that he wouldn't be able to hold it back enough, to control it as to not do anything he would later regret, for at his full power, he knew it would inevitably risk Fate's life. He knew that she wasn't doing this for a malicious reason, or at the very least she didn't believe it so, and thus Lee couldn't bring himself to use such potentially fatal force on her like that for simply trying to help an important person to her. That said, the moment this thought flashed across his face, Fate could somehow sense his hesitation, and for some reason, this made her visibly angry, "I'm fighting with my all on the line, don't you dare hold back!" She raised her massive sword above her, and super charging it with magic, she smashed it into Lee, who even though he blocked was sent flying backwards through the air.

Lee though didn't immediately retaliate, for looking back to his opponent, he saw the anger on her face now, and he understood. He was the one who suggested this fight, a fair duel with their goal, the Saren Stones on the line. Fate was strong, the hardest opponent he had ever faced, and to purposely do less than his best in this situation where she was laying her all on the line would not only be stepping on her pride and resolve, but his own as well. Thus, Lee steeled himself and focused in, "GLOWING BIND." To Fate's surprise, even from such a distance, four binding spell circles appeared on her arms and legs, keeping her effectively in place. Lee yelled up to Fate, "Fate, if this works, survive it." Fate didn't know what was about to happen, but her face paled all the same, knowing that she was about to get what she asked. Lee focused in hard, for he knew what he needed to do, and he knew how to do it, but he had never actually done it before, but he also knew that he needed to, right here, right now.

He made a large charged spell, PURE LIGHT BREAKER, appear in front of him. Then he focused on Sora, on his brother's newest, greatest spell, and his VOLCANIC BREAKER appeared beside his own. Not letting up his focus for a moment, Lee started to move the two spells closer together, the combined powers of him and his brother, "My brother's power…" It was at that exact moment that something seemed to click into place for Lee. He realized that the combination spell he was trying to create, it wasn't just his power, but the power of someone close to him, someone he cared about, and that he was butting their trust, their feelings, the very bond between them into the spell. Suddenly, the two spheres started to glow in harmony, pulsing in unison, and Lee knew that this time, it would word. Seamlessly, the two separate spells merged on contact into one, large golden sphere with an aura of flaming orange. Fate broke through her binds, but was held in place by pure awe. The power she sensed coming off of Lee's attack, it was beyond anything she had ever witnessed before, and from nothing more than that alone she was like a deer caught in the headlights. "Power of the Earth, the Power to shake even its very core, whose strength comes from the sun, Create a new unison and destroy that which bards my way." The sphere rose high above Lee, a flaming orange magic circle appearing above it, but it was weird. It was like the spell was somehow blanking out the sun and all other light in the area, eclipsing the entire region into darkness except from the light coming from the massive sphere of power that was Lee's attack. "PURE LIGHT BREAKER and VOLCANIC BREAKER FINAL COMBINATION ATTACK, BREAKER OF THE BLACK SUN, SHOOT!"

The sphere above Lee fired a huge wave of darkened gold, literally flaring with equally shaded orange flames, straight at Fate. It was strong, very strong, to the point that Fate went into a bit of a panic, hurriedly putting up every defensive spell she could manage in triple to defend herself, but it was no use. The massive wave from Lee just went through them as if they weren't there, striking Fate square on and shot to the ground, forcing Fate along with it, exploding on contact with the force of a meteor. Luckily, with the combined defensive prowess of Lance's barrier along with the dimensional level barrier John had his people put outside it, the explosion area from Lee's attack was limited to within them, but the crater that the meteoric attack had created destroyed any ground inside the dome, leaving nothing but a giant crater below where Lee was flying. Lance had got Sora out of the way during Lee's charge up so at the very least they was unharmed much to Lee's relief, glad his trust in his friend to protect his brother was not misplaced. Thus, Lee proceeded to fly down to the ground and looked around the area of impact, looking for any sign of Fate to make sure that she was at the very least not too badly hurt. Luckily, he didn't have to look too hard, for in the dead center of the crater, he saw a familiar electric yellow color, a tiny barrier with Fate clearly inside it. It was her last defense, probably put up as a last-ditch effort after her others had failed, and even with that, she was still unconscious. That said, Lee sighed after noticing that while strained, Fate was clearly breathing.

Lee's attention though was immediately pulled away from Fate as he his prize fall down from where it had been floating, the Saren Stone moving towards him as if to declare Lee the victor. In response, before Lee even attempted to do anything about it, Haruno pre-empted him, automatically shooting out a small gold ray at it without Lee having to do anything and sealed it right up. Haruno though wasn't done as his ever faithful staff and partner also shot an additional sealing ray at the cracked Baradiche, another immediately floating out of it that was also subsequently absorbed by Haruno successfully.

With his prize collection out of the way, Lee turned his attentions back to Fate, turning back to her yellow barrier, which was so damaged that all it took was a good whack with Lee's staff to break it. It shattered revealing Fate inside more clearly, allowing Lee to see definitively that his opponent was unconscious, heavily damaged and bruised all over, but she was most definitely alive. Lee though had to make sure, and so despite his massive exhaustion, forced out the dregs of his magic to apply some healing magic to her. It wouldn't be enough to wake her up due to his clear exhaustion, but he was confident enough that it should be adequate to keep her alive until she woke up. That said, to do so took literally all of his remaining power, to the point that after applying his spell, he felt himself drift off into sweet unconsciousness, but not before he could swear, he saw Fate's eyes start to open, but before he could be sure, he was out.

Lance and a now conscious Sora arrived to find Lee a few moments later, solidly unconscious on the ground, but to their confusion, Fate was mysteriously nowhere to be found, even though they could have sworn that they felt her magic there a moment ago. That said, they didn't have time to dwell on their mysterious foe, for there was work that had to be done. Sora quickly picked Lee up, giving Lance space enough repaired the area with his MAGICAL RESTORATION, lest the results of their battle become public knowledge, something that was decidedly not a good idea given what they could imagine normal people thinking if such a massive crater appeared in the middle of a famously cursed forest. In any case, after Lance was done restoring the area as best he could to its previous condition, Sora called up to his father telepathically to bring them back to the ship. It only took a moment for them to be teleported back onto the ARTEMIS. Sora meanwhile quickly used his authorization to connect a portal door with the medical bay, where the ships head doctor and John were already waiting. They put Lee down on one of the beds, and upon doing so Sora collapsed onto the one next to it, not quite unconscious but still tired, sore and aching from his own fights and Fate's blindside. The medic team started a joint magic healing circle around the two of them, but it was clear that just their magic alone wasn't going to get the entire job done. Sora already had an overly large magical capacity, but it still paled in comparison to the raw amount of magic Lee's capacity granted him. Even if all the doctors ran themselves bone dry focusing entirely on Lee, it wouldn't have been nearly enough. Luckily, with the ship's new equipment, they were able to make up enough of the difference to give both brothers proper treatment, and so but a few hours later the two regained consciousness.

Lee, "So how was I this time?" After Lee and Sora woke up, they had wanted to know what happened afterwards. John though just laughed and took out a piece of paper. "Let's see here. Total destruction radius, a good ten kilometers of deforestation. Number of mages who fainted from amazement aboard my ship, allegedly two. Number of worried parents and friends, 7, that could be a new record Lee." Everyone laughed at the joke until John cleared his throat, "To be realistic, you fired an attack with a 2.1 billion power level. And the strange thing is that according to reports, you don't have any damage to your Linker core. It's probably getting used to all the stress by now like any other muscle would, but I take it that you finally have control over your combination spells then?" Lee nodded, John, "Splendid Lee, good for you. I guarantee that will help you in the future." Everyone went through the now almost pre-rehearsed routine of congratulations and sob stories of worry and amazement.

After another hour, they said Lee was okay to leave the bay but to take it easy and not use magic for another few hours. During that time, they went back to the room and just lazed around talking on the couches. To give credit where credit was due, Lee told them all about Sora's battle, thought they had all seen the entire thing in a screen, including Lee's part, but it looked like Sora liked to hear the admiration so he continued. He told them how Sora had finally used the attack he invented and how impressive it was. They talked about the battle for a while and afterwards, but as the doctors predicted, Lee felt his exhaustion once again set in and decided to go to sleep early, even though it was only 7:30. Though healed, he was still wiped and no one blamed him. Sora though felt fine to stay up a bit longer, no doubt the sleeping habits of a hard-working college student giving him the edge there, but was still sore and so just watched TV, and surprisingly, he noticed got the same channels he got at home. Meanwhile the rest of them decided to do some training before bed as it was still a little early for bed.

Long after the rest of them had fallen asleep, there was still one of them awake that night. Nanoha sat alone in the living room area, looking at footage of the battle again on her own, a worried expression on her face. She hadn't liked what she saw today, not one bit. It wasn't just Fate, who was already strong, but even the Saren Stones themselves were growing dramatically more powerful. The first one they encountered probably would have barely registered as an S ranked entity, but they had grown. Lance was right in what he theorized to her, the longer they sat the stronger the Saren Stone's manifestations would become, to the point now that Nanoha couldn't safely say that she could beat them anymore, not at the rate she was going. She knew that at this point, it was wrong to continue hiding her true strength, especially from her friends, but she still felt hesitant all the same. It wasn't even that much of a secret anymore to be honest. Most of them had already all but asked her directly about it at this point, but they had also been kind enough not to pry when she more directly deflected the issue. They were good friends, and she didn't want to lose them, which was at this point the biggest reason for her secrecy. That said, it was getting to a point where not using her full powers could cause her to lose them anyway, and then it would truly be her fault. It was a dilemma without a good answer. Lance had said that they could trust them, and Nanoha believed that they would accept her at this point regardless of her strength, especially given how strong they had gotten themselves, but in revealing that power, she knew what would inevitably follow. It was likely that John, given his position, might already know, but more than that she was worried about her friends. What would they think of her if they found out not only what she could do, but what she had already done…

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Author's Note:

Ok… Long chapter. I apologize that this one is coming in after over a week of silence on the release front. There was a mix of things, including me losing about half the editing progress to a power outage (my fault for still using a desktop without a battery backup I guess) as well as a three-day weekend vacation where I couldn't do anything story related, not to mention that this was a HUGE chapter to edit. That said, to set fair expectations, I will say that unlike before, there most likely won't be as rapid a release cadence as there had been before, if for no other reason than the chapters are getting longer and thus take more time to go through, but it shouldn't be near as long as it was this time hopefully.

Also, as a friend pointed out, I have one more reason to apologize to any who have already read up to this point, and that is that I made a mistake on my side with roughly the first 15 or so chapters in that I released the OLD edited versions instead of my newer ones. They are still from the revised story, so thematically and plot wise you don't need to worry about that, but this meant that they weren't fully checked for grammar, spelling, tense and tone consistency and other basic editing sanitization. As such, I will be doing quiet chapter updates to those chapters in the near future, and will post in an author's note when they are all done. That said, for a comparison, I'll be releasing the fully edited chapter 1 at the same time as this chapter, so you'll probably notice the difference immediately if you read through it.

And finally, my take on the events of this chapter. It's a doozy, so much so that I won't even begin to go over everything that it encompasses, for to do so would take the entire length of this chapter (in other words, just read the one I already wrote and don't make me do it a second time). That said, the highlights for me are that Sora got some solid screen time, which I am glad for since I felt that he was being neglected lately and deserved some solid character development which I believe got delivered here, as well as a solidly epic fight between Lee and Fate which I feel establishes Fate as a significant foe, easily able to keep up with someone as powerful as Lee until the end, as well as giving her some fresh development that she needed since e as the enemy, Fate's story time is obviously limited and so I feel the need to develop her character as much as possible when I get the chance. And finally, the epic "wink wink" foreshadowing I put there at the end, and so while normally while I'm against spoilers, anyone who doesn't expect Nanoha to get some serious story beats in the very near future either has been failed epically by yours truly or isn't paying enough attention, so look forward to that.

Also, on the subject of the "Magic Resistance Training", while from the writer's perspective, it was an easy kind of powerup device that seems to come out of nowhere for the sake of the story, plot wise I actually think they make a lot of sense. It was designed in such a way to not so much strictly make them stronger, but to more aptly be able to use the immense power's they already had properly. Remember, almost all of the group had only discovered their magic for a very short period of time and grew up knowing nothing about it. Even if Lance and Nanoha gave them the best crash course they could, in terms of the bare bones of actually just harnessing magic, they are all effectively self-taught. I liken it to the same logic that I used to explain how General Lindy was able to bring out the abilities of the Kaiten children a few chapters ago, sometimes its not a matter of quantity, but quality, especially if you already have the quantity, or in this case magic. Thus all the Magic Resistance Training did was give me a way to have John efficiently train the newer mages to use their magic properly in a concise time frame, and in doing so assume their actual power levels when using their powers correctly.

And finally, I feel the need at this point to mention something that many of my friends at this point confused themselves into believing in this story, and so I wish to make clear. While this normally counts as spoilers, I want to say, directly, right now, that under no circumstance will there be any shipping of the Lee/Fate variety. That is not to say that there will be a void of possibly romantic relationships in this story, but if or when its included, it won't be an in-your-face kind of thing. It will be subtle, for while there's nothing wrong with those kinds of story elements, I don't feel that they need be a central point in the plot I am developing given that it's about a whole group of friends and family, and so the dynamics between them are already reasonably established, and that as this is technically mostly aligned to the battle-shounen genre, romantic plots often take a back seat. That is not to say that such relations and plots can't shift or appear in the future, but that I won't force them either. If they aren't organic, I don't want anything to do with them.