Whew, it has been a long time but I am sorry for being gone for so long. Life caught up with me but I am back with a new chapter and like I said before, I did something a little different for the training and so I hope the chapter will be good. Hope you guys enjoy it!
*Disclaimer same as in the other chapters*
The Arthra is currently soaring through dimensional space after leaving both the Earth and moon. All anyone could see was darkness as well as some other lights, indicating that indeed the ship was not near any stars. Nanoha, Fate and Hayate were used to this sight, Shiro as well since he saw a part of dimensional space when he first stepped foot on the ship after his first big lost to Drav and the others like Yuuno, Chrono, Lindy and the other crew members were also comfortable with this.
However for a few seconds inbetween, Hitoshi would rub his eyes thinking that he must've been high on something but even he was used to it after a while. Although he muttered to himself. "Damn, this is some weird shit but after seeing what has happened so far, can't complain."
After that, he continued looking into the darkness until something caught his eye. Same went for Shiro as something appeared on the screen of the bridge.
The image was what could be only be described as a floating fortress almost like it was made for something very important. Then they saw other ships either flying in from the fortress or out leading them both to think that maybe this was the main TSAB HQ that Lindy was talking about. They got their answer in the form of the bridge officers pushing buttons and leading the ship to one of the open launch pads.
Once the ship docked, the group all left and walked inside the base allowing them to move their legs and Hitoshi to get a better look at the place. He sees a lot of people walking and talking while also spying even more tech zipping around the area. One look at this place made him whistle in surprise.
"This place looks pretty impressive." spoke Hitoshi leading him to turn and ask his friend. "Hey Shiro what are your thoughts on the base or are you still sulking?" He briefly turned to where his friend was only to see him acting differently. With stars in his eyes, Shiro was gasping, saying ohh and ahh. The others caught on to the young man's attitude, a little bit in shock. Reason being that like Hitoshi, they thought that would still be sulking about losing Gaia or in Lindy's mind something back home must have bothered him but now...
"Damn this place is awesome! How does the base operate in this space? The technology? It is very roomy and huge. This is where all of the ships are docked. Right Adimial Lindy?"
Lindy could only giggle at the young man and spoke. "Yes you are correct Shiro, the base houses other areas not just some docking bays. Just stick around and you will see some more cool places."
"That being said, I should get back to the library. I can only guess some of the staff must be worried that I have been gone for a while." Yuuno said, starting to walk to a different direction away from the others. However Nanoha with a wave told her friend. "Try to at least take a nap every once in a while Yuuno!"
The blond chief librarian could only nod with his back turned, thankful that no one could see his embarrassed face at the comment the auburn haired woman made. After that, Nanoha looked to the others and told the group. "We should get going too." allowing the group to nod, following her with Chrono and Lindy each walking back to the ship to check up on it and Hitoshi along with Hayate and Rein pushing Shiro away from the main area.
A few minutes of walking later, the three Aces, mini unison device and two men all arrived at a single door. Shiro could only tilt his head while Hitoshi was really lost. The dark haired man asked the trio of women. "So what is this place?"
"This, Shiro is one of many training area's stationed here at the base. Once the ship is being supplied, training will be our top concern." the white devil said with a smile.
Fate followed up by staring at the two men. "Since you two decided to stay and fight with us, you need to get up to sniff if you are willing to fight Ixia and his men." While Shiro understood this reasoning, Hitoshi could only scoff at what the blond said. Training? He does not need that even against that guy Drav. All he needed was his fists and his smarts and so he replied to the lighting mage. "Fate, thanks for the warning but I don't need training. I can fight just fine. Shiro I can understand but me I have had training since I was small thanks to my dad. So I will be fine."
Hayate then had an evil smirk on her face and teasingly told the long haired man. "Well yes Hitoshi but not in the magic department."
"Hayate..." Hitoshi glared back at the grinning girl but she counter attacks by adding in. "You know that is true. The people we are fighting will not be fighting the same way you do so this training is important. Plus you can use magic also so it is a win win."
"She does have a point." Rein spoke in agreement allowing Nanoha and Fate to say their piece. "As a safety measure you do need training in the magical arts Hitoshi. Please understand that we all need to be ready so we can't be too reckless."
Fate continues on with what Nanoha said. "To that end while Shiro is training to stay in the mindset, you have to do the same even with your own training method. Understand Hitoshi?"
And with that, Hitoshi realized, somewhat grumbling to himself that they were right. Seeing what the gang could do in battle versus what he did with his dad was different as that magic was very destructive. Not to mention that his best friend has been doing this for a good while and Nanoha and the others for years now. With that, he sighs and Shiro pats his shoulder allowing Hayate to say this.
"Because of that, due to Hitoshi's skills, I called in some extra help." Before the two men could ask who this 'help' was, Fate walks to the door, opens it, the group all walked inside and on the center was something the guys did not see coming.
In the center of the room was a man with rough white hair, a bit of a wild look, darken skin along with some gauntlets on his arms as well as a blue shirt and with grieves at the bottom of his legs. Finally his eyes were slanted with a red tint and to round it out, he had a tail and what looked like wolf ears atop his head.
The two men were surprised with Hitoshi rubbing his eyes while Shiro wondering just who or what is this man? However, the answer came in the form of Hayate with a bright smile waving at the wolf man. "Hello Zafira!"
"Master Hayate," spoke the man now known as Zafira as he stares at the others. "it is nice to see you all again. Rein, I hope you are doing your job well."
"Hold up did he just call Hayate master?" asked the young man beside him and Hitoshi who just held his head to reply. "Dude I am just getting used to her having REIN with her, But a wolf man...Damn."
"Of course I am Zafira. Nothing will happen to Hayate when I am around." the unison device replied but with a scowl on her small face. Then Nanoha turned to the direction of Shiro and Hitoshi and told the two the following."I guess you two are in shock. Well we should get introductions out of the way. Shiro, Hitoshi this is Zafira."
Hayate with a proud smile added in. "One of my loyal guardians." and after that, Nanoha continued on. "And Zafira, this is Shiro Nagase and his friend Hitoshi Ichimoto."
"Sup." Hitoshi said leaving Shiro to bow and replied with a shocked tone. "An honor to meet you, Zafira."
Zafira grunted and nodded a bit allowing the white devil to nod in Fate's direction causing her to walk to another part of the training area. From there, she explains to the men their plan. "Now that everyone is better known to each other, I will now explain how the training will go this time. Since we are on a literal time crunch and we finally found Ixia's base, we don't have that much time to train you both. So to that end, we will train you for a week, this week to be precise and in that week, Shiro will get the groove of fighting back and Hitoshi will learn bit by bit about magic. Once Fate gives Shiro a training sword, we can start." With that, the two men responded with a firm nod and upon being given a practice sword, they stood in one spot.
Nanoha, Hayate and Rein were standing away from the practice field while Shiro was gripping his sword and Hitoshi readying his fists. Fate had already transformed into her barrier jacket with Bardiche in hand and Zafira much like Hitoshi readied his fists as well. The four were awaiting a signal from the white devil and with a wave of her hand, she spoke.
"Begin!"
It starts with Zafira running up to Hitoshi who blocks with both of his arms and then leading into a few kicks. The wolf guardian would later counter what ever the young man did and it usually worked although it does end up resulting in the two having a merry go round of blocking, counter and attacking. Hitoshi would smirk feeling pretty damn good about fighting someone around his playing field while saying. "You know for a wolf guy, you are pretty strong."
"I could say the same to you. Whoever trained you must have been strong." Zafira spoke leaving Hitoshi to winch a bit but still continue on with fighting. And on the other side, Fate was firing yellow projectiles at Shiro who was dodging as many as he could but if the blasts got too close, then he uses the Tri-shield to block some of the attacks. After that, the blond mage would come in hot forcing the young man to use his practice sword in defense to block the incoming attack. This struggle of blocking, defending and countering went on for a few minutes and as far as the two men were concerned everything was fine and the training was running smoothly. However that quickly changed once two factors occurred with the first being Fate instead of firing at Shiro, she changed her sights on Hitoshi and fired some shots at the young long haired man.
Shiro gasped and was making a mad dash to Hitoshi's location hoping to get to him in time. Unfortunately for him, Zafira went into his line of sight, punched him in the stomach so hard that he soared in the air and landed next to Hitoshi.
"Shit, Shiro!" yelled Hitoshi running to lift his best friend out of the area, but before he could, Fate was charging some plasma lancers and started firing them at the two men. Hitoshi was shaking Shiro awake and just in time he did and when he saw the blasts coming at them, he brings up a tri-sheild using his left hand hoping it would help increasing their odds. But then all of a sudden, many pink shots surrounded the young men all around and before they could even respond or plan an effective attack, the shots combined with the lancers, blasted the two thus making a dust cloud. As it clears up, it shows both Shiro and Hitoshi unconscious and knocked out ending the training program.
Nanoha could only sigh at she knows damn well what will happen and to the surprise of no one, her best friend glared at her. She crossed her arms and told her. "Nanoha what were you thinking? Me and Zafira had it under control. There was no need for you to blast them both."
"But Fate, this is necessarily for their training." Zafira spoke after walking to the group. "It is very needed considering we do not have a lot of time on our hands."
Hayate looks at the two boys and said her own piece."We all don't know what will happen once we go to fight Ixia and the others so whatever Nanoha has planned, we can be sure that it is good for their training."
"We have been over this before but you know the way I train people. You also know that those two will not give up and are willing to take that risk." Nanoha smiles at Fate and says. "Just trust me a little bit more and I promise this will go into their heads and then they will be ready."
The blond mage turns to the fallen men and then back to her friends and with a heavy sigh, she decides to trust the others. They were right in the fact that time was wasting and they had to get the guys ready including Hitoshi who was just starting. At that point in time, Day 1 for training ends but the next few were going to increase in how rough it would be.
Within the next couple of days, Shiro and Hitoshi were consistently training with Zafira and Fate, each day more difficult then the last. When it was just the four of them, it was fine. A bit difficult on Hitoshi's part but still doable. However every time they would think they were safe and anytime they were getting closer, out comes many pink shots leaving them defenseless and blown up. This annoyed Hitoshi something fierce while Shiro was also getting frusrated. The two understood why she did this but the big problem was their reaction time and how fast they could respond back. This made them gradually get used to Nanoha's training but it was just a little bit and by the end of most practices, the two would be exhausted. Step by step, things started to click and on the final day, something happened.
Within the training room, Hitoshi was stretching his arms getting himself ready to go while Shiro was deep in thought. He holds his sword as he does this, thinking back to the past few days.
'We were able to understand how to fight Fate and Zafira normally but then Nanoha would pop up and shoot us down. From there, we got a bit better and manged to get a grip in fighting against 3 people but something is missing. What is it?'
He closes his eyes in deep thought only for Hitoshi to come and slap him in the back, making him lost his focus. He smiles and said. "Come on Shiro. Let's run though Hell one more time. Or do you have a plan?"
"No not anything," Shiro sighs but not before glaring at Hitoshi. "I would have a plan if you did not break my focus! You know I hate that."
"Shiro Shiro Shiro, you should know that taking too long is nice but not right now. Now let's go deal with..."
Before Hitoshi could finish, the short haired man snaps his fingers and had a grin on his face. He stares at Hitoshi and then whispers to him. "Hitoshi, if you can believe me then I think I have a plan. And I think you were thinking what I was thinking."
"Oh? Well don't just hog it, tell me man." and then Shiro told Hitoshi his plan and with each detail as well as each factor, Hitoshi grinned more and more. Oh yes the two had an idea.
After the brief brainstorming, Nanoha raised her hand and the final day of training went on in the same format as usual. Hayate and Rein were watching intently noticing that the two have slowly improved what with Shiro dodging as much of Fate's attacks as possible and Hitoshi attacking Zafira in an attempt to not give him an opening anymore. Plus when they switched to styles, Shiro would attack the lighting mage and Hitoshi would dodge any of Zafira's punches although to change things up a bit, he would do back flips to keep up with the momentum of his dodging. Even Nanoha was watching the spar go on and was impressed with how it was going so far. Only this last moment would prove if the two were ready.
Once he was back in the dodging game with the bonus of Fate shooting at him, Shiro thought about what he told to Hitoshi and in a split second, he looked at Hitoshi. Time seemed to stop for a bit, allowing them to silently agree to put their plan into action for the big surprise. With that in mind, the plan started.
Zafira readies another punch to attack the long haired man as Fate was about to strike Shiro again. But just when the two thought it was going to be the same as the other sessions they had, they were wrong. In a split second, Hitoshi grabs Zafira's incoming fist and spun him around a bit which gave Shiro enough time to surprise Fate by saying. "Shot Barret!" allowing him to shoot at the lighting mage, shockingly her briefly for a few seconds. Then both Shiro and Hitoshi ran pass each other and the sword mage was fighting the slightly shocked Zafira and Hitoshi punched the lighting mage in the stomach. This little moment shocked the two trainers but truthfully, they smiled.
Rein was confused and so she asked both Hayate and Nanoha. "Wait what did they do?"
"They switched their targets," spoke Nanoha with an all knowing grin."when the moment appeared before them to switch, they had to learn what their opponent's could do in a fight. After that, while repeating to fight Fate and Zafira for the past few days, they are able to get a decent idea on how to change and work together."
"Meaning that they got the flow of fighting many enemies in this time frame and the element of surprise." finished the brunette leaving the mini unison device to get the two boy's plan and to see the training to it's conclusion.
Back at the site, Shiro and Hitoshi were busy fighting their different foes as Nanoha was ready to fire again. Fate and Zafira jumped away leaving the white devil to fire her pink shots like before. Only this time, now Shiro jumps in between Hitoshi and the pink shots raising his hand.
"Grand Tri-shield!" he yelled and the upgraded version of the shield appeared in front, blocking the forward shots and within that very small window, just when the other shots were about to surround them again, Hitoshi screamed. "Now!" Then he in a very strange move, punched the ground and a small reside of what seems to be a familiar energy popped up from his fist as it launched him directly at the white devil ready to punch her winning the match. From that act alone, Nanoha got what she wanted and with a warm smile spoke.
"Stop." and with that, the training finally ends.
After finishing up, even though Hitoshi really wanted to finish the fight but still understood the meaning behind it, the two were silently awaiting the results of the training program with bleated breath. What seemed like a never ending wait the two gets their answer one form or another. Nanoha, Fate, Hayate and Rein all smiled while Zafira left a quick thumbs up to confirm that they got through the training.
"We...we...we did it. We actually did it." spoke Shiro while looking at his hands but shifts to a happy smile while Hitoshi smirked and dusts his hands off. "Like there was any doubt. We kicked ass."
The blond woman spoke to the two men. "You two have done really well in the training. A very big improvement."
"I will admit that Hitoshi did give me a run." Zafira said, leading Hitoshi to reply. "Well maybe someday you and me can have a fight. What do you think Zafira?"
"I would welcome it Hitoshi."
Rubbing his hair, Hitoshi decides to ask a question. "So now that this was over, what now?"
As if on cue, Rein floats next to Shiro and Hitoshi with what looked to be a white box. They were very confused and wondered what was in the box until the little unison device with a smile opens it. Inside it were two objects: a bracelet with a green diamond crystal in the middle and a single sliver earring.
"What are those?" Hitoshi asked but Shiro's eyes widen at the sight of the two objects and spoke. "Wait but they aren't...are they? Please tell me you guys are joking?"
The answer he and Hitoshi got was a smile for both Nanoha and Fate as well as a grin from Hayate and a smirk from Rein. They confirmed it:these were they're new devices.
"Ah I see you are about to be given your new devices." spoke a voice who was entering the room and it was none other then Yuuno walking to the group. As he reached them, Shiro asked the young librarian. "Oh Yuuno what are you doing here?"
"I am here to explain about both of your devices." Yuuno cleared his throat and began explaining to the two men. "These two were both designed with your strengths in mind. Since Shiro used Gaia before, he is getting the handle on using a sword and Hitoshi is more better at using his fists. So with the information we got from both Shiro's training as well as the training you both have done here, the RD department took that data with Rein overseeing it and made both of you new devices." Then he looks at the green bracelet and continues on. "Obviously they cannot recreate Gaia to 100% how it was when he found it the first time so they remade it and designed specifically for Shiro. So Rein if you please?"
"Gotcha Yuuno!" Then the unison device brings the box over to Shiro and Hitoshi and said. "Because of that, Hitoshi the earring is yours and Shiro I don't even need to tell you which one belongs to you and they both have names. Hitoshi yours is called Burning Sun and Shiro say hello to Reginleif. Take very good care of them."
The two reached out for their devices and Hitoshi puts his on his left ear while Shiro puts his on his right wrist just like where Gaia was. The two men each had a reaction with Hitoshi raising his fist in the air and Shiro tears up but immediately rubs his eyes trying to be cool leaving the girls to giggle, Yuuno and Hitoshi to chuckle and Zafira to sigh a bit.
From then, it was time to get back to business so Zafira told the others. "Now that the training is done, we have to prepare to storm Ixia's base on the moon."
"Right, seeing as the ship should be ready." the auburn haired woman spoke turning her attention to Shiro and Hitoshi. "Now I know you two are most likely annoyed by this question I am about to ask but just in case: are you ready?"
"Hell yeah I am ready Nanoha!" Hitoshi responds by punching his fist with an open palm. Then Shiro with a look of determination said. "Let's go take Ixia down."
'Looks like I was worried for nothing. They are ready.' thought Nanoha and Fate and with that, the group decides to go back to the Arthra and wait to launch out of the TSAB HQ. After a couple of checks in the system, the ship was now ready to set a course. It's destination:the moon base.
So Shiro and Hitoshi have completed their training, got their devices and the others are now ready to attack Ixia's base. Now we are approaching the final battle or at least the road to the final battle. What I mean is I am happy to announce that for the next couple of chapters(leaning on four or five) they will all be on the moon meaning we are close to the end of this arc as well as some special things that will happen during those battles and certain people who will participate. However after the final battle, I do have plans for an epilogue which will officially end the arc. I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter to the best of my ability and as always if there is anything missing or things I can touch up, please let me know and be seeing you guys next time!