Hello everyone! Now I know once again it has been a while since the last chapter and I have been busy but to start up the new year, here is the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy!

* Disclaimer:same as always*

Lindy was currently sitting on her chair with Chrono by her side as they along with the bridgehands were trying to get a clear lock on the base. After they had left the HQ, the crew were hard at work inputting the coordinates given to them by Yuuno in an attempt to find the hidden base and after a few seconds, the Arthra reentered back on Earth's flight path and in it's way was the moon. One of the bridgehands turned to Chrono and reported the good news.

"Sir we have returned to Earth's space and have spotted where the base might be on the moon."

Chrono smiled and responded back. "Good work. Now stay on course and bring up the base on screen."

With a firm nod, the crew-member want back to work typing away allowing Lindy to smile and speak with Nanoha using telepathy to let her know that they have found the base and bring the others. Once she said that, Nanoha said roger and went to gather the others.

Speaking of which, they were currently walking en route to the bridge with Hitoshi stretching a bit since he just took a nap. Yuuno and Zafira tagged along with the others to be back up and in a matter of seconds, they all entered the bridge. However when they did, the sight on screen left them in awe. The screen was showing the moon like a normal view but with the added bonus of the outline of what looked to be a base on top of one of the craters on the moon's surface. To that end, the gang gasped with Nanoha and Fate holding their mouths, Hayate's eyes were widen along with Rein and Shiro had his mouth wide open while Hitoshi muttered. "Damn."

"I am shocked that the base was THIS well hidden." the mini unison device spoke still in shock as Yuuno replied back turning to Rein. "They must worked on this for quite a while. Maybe after they left."

Lindy stood up and nodded at the group, getting their attention. "That might be the case but for right now we know where Ixia and his group is so now it is time to plan our counter attack. Chrono, if you please?"

"Right." spoke the second Admiral as he walked to the center of the bridge and the group were standing next to each other, awaiting to hear the plan. Chrono clears his throat and starts the debriefing. "Now that the base is in front of us, we will begin the operation. The plan will start by sending Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Shiro and Hitoshi moon side by way of teleport. From there, the group will trek to the base's stronghold, taking out anyone in your way." Then the screen brings up digital pictures of Anna, Drav, Saika and finally Ixia himself. "We believe that Ixia's men will indeed stop you but deal with them accordingly and try to meet up as best as you can. Once you come across Ixia, that is when you should be ready to take him down. Be careful out there and no heroics."

"Yes sir!" responded the group leading them to salute and Hitoshi to half salute. After that, they ran to the nearest teleport to begin the plan. Yuuno and Zafira stayed behind with Lindy smiling at the group that was leaving wishing for their success.

Meanwhile at the moon base itself, Saika was running to Ixia's throne room in an attempt to tell him about what he found. But when he got there, he sees his old friend sitting on the throne with a solemn look. Every since the trip to Earth a few days ago, he locked himself in his office and only rarely did he leave. Maybe he was upset about Gaia being destroyed or perhaps it was something else.

'Whatever it is, I need to at least ask.' Saika thought to himself and then proceeded to question Ixia. "What seems to be the issue, Ixia?"

"What do you want to report about Saika?" spoke the man firmly forcing Saika to sigh and mutter to himself. "He feels upset." Then he composed himself and gave out his report. "Our sensors spotted a bureau ship circling around the atmosphere of the moon."

Hearing this made Ixia stare at his second in command with intensely allowing Saika to continue his report. "That is not all though. They also are currently spotting five signals that are en route to a nearby area just a few meters away from where we are. If I am to guess as to who the signals belong to, they may belong to Nanoha and her group." Then upon hearing that, Ixia chuckles which morphed into a cold laugh. The laugh made Saika step back a bit, feeling the power the laugh held and after he was done, Ixia stared at Saika but this time, the look was different.

"Is that so? They are a persistent bunch but I highly doubt that fool and his friend are joining. Regardless if that is the case or not is meaningless. We still need to prepare for our little friends from the bureau. Saika, tell Anna and Drav to get ready for battle against them and get as many machines up and running as possible to attack the group on their way here."

"On it, sir." Saika agrees but not before Ixia spoke with a cold tone. "And this time, there will be no holding back."

Red eyes widen in horror at what he just said. No holding back definitely meant that Ixia had no intention on losing. He already lost his research, once because of a mistake, then by a random person who refused to give it back and finally by his own hands. Hands gripping, Saika looks at Ixia and tries once again to tell his friend. "Ixia I understand but there needs to be a better way then..."

"That is an order Saika." Ixia flatly told the man as he continue on. "We WILL win this time and I won't let the bureau stop me. If they want a fight, then they will have one."

The way Ixia said that made Saika nod in agreement and with a heavy heart but now a steeled will, he goes to tell the two about the plan and to get the drones ready.

Currently on the moon's surface, five lights appear revealing them to be Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Shiro and Hitoshi all landing on the moon. All they saw was a bare wasteland of rocks, craters, a handful of stars in the night sky and far away was the Earth. However, in the distance lay their target, the moon base.

"Woah, this is so cool. I have never been on the moon before." Shiro spoke in awe leading Nanoha to nod and also comment. "I agree with you there. This is our first time as well. Feels so much different from home."

"Yeah, really different." the blond mage spoke allowing Hayate and Rein to nod in unison. But Hitoshi was very lost about something and so he crossed his arms to ask the oblivious question:

"Ok now I have to ask because this is bugging me but, can any of you guys answer me as to how the hell are we breathing in freaking space!?"

That very question made Shiro's face pale like a ghost and from there, was about to freak out. He was so scared that he would die on the moon and rightfully so until Nanoha saved the day by answering the question. "About that Hitoshi, Yuuno explained this to me. Due to Ixia hiding on the moon and making the base, Saika would have made a breathable barrier to not only protect the base and make it invisible but also to make it possible to breath in space. At least as long as we are on the moon."

"Wait really?" Shiro asked allowing him to blow a sigh of relief while saying. "Thank god. I did not want to die here."

Then Hitoshi roughly pats his best friend's back forcing the girls to giggle a bit before going back to business. Fate looks in the direction of the base and spoke with the others. "The base is up ahead. We should get moving."

The gang all agreed and were about to take the first step on the moon to reach the moon base and complete their mission. Unfortunately that would not be the case as before they could even take said first step, something was coming at them in the distance. Once it became clearly, it was revealed that what was after them were in fact drones only a sizable amount and a mix of level 1 and 2. The very sight made the group stop and readied themselves for whatever trouble was lurking. The machines all landed one by one and prepared their guns ready to fire. Before they started firing, Nanoha, Fate, Hayate and Shiro all used their low level shields to protect themselves but only for a few seconds.

"All right I think now would be a good time to transform." Hitoshi told the others as once the machines stopped firing, Nanoha nods at the group who respond by raising their devices in the air. Nanoha, Fate and Hayate each said.

"Raising Heart, Bardiche, Reinforce set up!"

Shiro followed suit by raising his arm and yelled. "Reginleif, set up!"

Then each of their colors shinned bright briefly blindly the machines and Hitoshi. As the lightshow dimmed down, the Three Aces all have their barrier jackets and signature devices and Shiro was also decked with his only some differences were made.

Now the barrier jacket was a vest with broken long tassels on the back, the back of the vest mimicked a hood, broken lines colored neo were all around the base and pants and shoes were also added in with the same design. The sword was a katana like before only now it felt complete like it really belonged to Shiro and finally on his left side was a sheath but what seemed to be cartridges around it with one already in the sheath's bottom.

Shiro was shocked by the change and had questions but chose against it and readied himself. "OK everyone these machines are in our way. We have to get rid of them and make our way to the base. Let's move!"

"Roger!" yelled Fate, Hayate and Shiro and much to the inner rage of Hitoshi all prepared to attack the machines in front of them.

From there, the fight starts off with Nanoha zooming in the air, firing shots at some machines that were in her flight path. Meanwhile, Fate was dashing on the ground, slashing her fair share with her energy scythe and Hayate was nimbly dodging but also firing a bit when she could. As for Shiro, with the training he had as well as the brush up, he was slashing a few amount of machines and destroying them. It felt like being reunited with a lost friend and the young man could not feel anymore happy to help his friends. So the fight was going well for four of the five mages but there was one hiccup. Shiro looked in Hitoshi's direction and saw something that scared him:he wasn't transforming. Instead he was busy dodging as much of the shots as he could but that was all he was doing. Fate spotted this and yelled. "Hitoshi what is wrong?"

"I can't transform like you guys right now!" the long haired man yelled in frustration leading Hayate to giggle. Then she yelled. "Did you try coping us?"

While still dodging, Hitoshi glared at the airborne woman and spoke. "Hayate, I tried that but nothing happened. So what should I do because being shot at would suck."

Nanoha thought for a bit and remembered how it was when she first used Raising Heart and from that idea, while firing some more shots at a few machines she told the man. "Hitoshi try to think about what you want your jacket and device to be. Just trust me."

Hitoshi stared at the white mage's back with a very confused look and was about to ask what the hell was she talking about until from his blind side, a machine appeared close to him and was about to fire at him. It was then in a last ditch effort, Hitoshi was about punch the machine and he screamed with all of his heart and soul. "Damn it! I am not dying here! You better be right Nanoha! Burning Sun, set up!"

As if his earring heard his call, it shines bright sliver, covering both him and the machine. After that, the light dims down and in it's place was Hitoshi wearing his barrier jacket, device and next to him was a pile of scrap metal. Now the jacket was a vest only this one was designed like a martial artist's vest along with pants all colored sliver. Instead of shoes, he had metal soles and for the device they were high tech gloves with sockets around them armed with some cartridges. He looked at his hands and with a feral grin, he yelled with punching his fits together.

"Hell yeah!"

And with that, he rushed at a few machines that were by Shiro's side and punched them while granting a smile from Shiro, Nanoha, Fate, Hayate and Rein from inside Hayate glad that Hitoshi finally got it.

With Hitoshi joining the ranks, the fight got smaller and smaller for each machine they destroy. During the fight, it became like a dance of death ranging from Nanoha and Hayate shooting, Fate and Shiro slashing and Hitoshi smashing as the scrap pile just kept being bigger and bigger. For a while, many of the machines were being crushed by the five mage band and within a few minutes, there was no more machines left and everyone sighed with Nanoha, Fate and Hayate landing next to the guys.

Hitoshi was grinning. "Man it felt good crushing those damn things."

"Glad to see you were able to transform, Hitoshi." Shiro smiled leaving Hitoshi to give his friend a thumbs up. "You are too not bad yourself. I can definitely see Nanoha's training bare fruit."

Then Nanoha smiled at the two and spoke. "My training works and you two are both doing well." The two men smiled and the white mage said while looking at her friends. "Now we should go on ahead and got to the..."

But before she could finish her sentence, more machines soared in the air and were coming closer. Normally this would not be a problem if it weren't for the fact that there were way more machines then the first time. Seeing the massive force. Hitoshi clicked his tongue and groaned while Shiro spoke in an annoyed tone. "Damn, how many of them are there?"

Rein replied while stepping out of Hayate for a bit. "I don't know Shiro but my guess is there may be more after this wave." Fate grips Bardiche and told the others. "We have no choice in the matter. We will just have to get rid of them the same way we did the others."

Everyone readied themselves for another fight, prepared to take down the new wave until a voice called out to them.

"Guys!"

The group turns briefly and what they saw was the sight of Yuuno, Zafira and Chrono all appeared in the same spot where they were. Yuuno saw the machines and then focused his sights back to the others. He spoke to them. "You guys can go on ahead. We'll take care of the machines in your way."

"Yuuno are you sure you guys can really handle this? I mean those are a lot of robots." Shiro asked while Hayate, being a little bit concerned also questioned. "I would question also because Zafira is here. Are you really..."

Zafira had his answer all given out in the form of setting his fists in front of him in a fighting stance. "Master, we will be fine. Don't count me out just yet. You still need me as a guardian."

"Not to mention Admiral Haralown did request this of us which is why Zafira was with us on the ride back to Earth and why she will stay behind on the ship. Now enough talk, get going!" Chrono said all while summoning Durandel and grabbing it all ready to fight the opposition in front of him. Now Hitoshi wanted to stay and fight along with the guys but a shake from Nanoha's head said otherwise and so she said while looking at her friends. "All right everyone, while Yuuno and the others are busy with the drones, we will push forward. Let's go!" And from there, the others nod and they started running leaving Yuuno and the others behind.

With their friends giving them the push forward, they make their way to the base with the intent on capturing Ixia and his men once and for all. And it will be a successful capture this time.

So now we are at end game or the official beginning of end game. Now that Hitoshi learned how to transform and Yuuno along with Zafira and Chrono are busy with the ambushing drones, the gang will go and enter the base to capture Ixia. With this, the fights will start up next time and I will try my best to make them as entertaining as possible. To that end, I am thinking since we are near the end of the arc, I may post a chapter once a month but we will see what will happen within those months. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter as well as had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, let me know if there are any hiccups, spelling mistakes or anything I can fix and see you all next time!