Amount of hugs needed: 2276 [(6865+8417+7477)/10 - Round up]
Amount of hugs found: 480
Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.
The next morning she woke at her usual time, dressing herself quickly and quietly in her normal clothing before walking out of her room just before the clock chimed three times, making her way through the halls until she reached outside and continued to walk until the woods consumed her. Scrya-san wasn't with her this time, something that suited her after yesterday's fight with the strange girl, she had several things she needed to learn and make if she wanted to be able complete her job.
Her hand tightened around the handle of her sword as she drew it, a low creak heard as she did, roughly pulling Razing Heart off her necklace before slotting it into the metal and changed into her 'work' clothes with a flash of pink before beginning her practice. She wouldn't fail Scrya-san again, one failure was already too many marks against her and would only drag her name through the dirt.
The first and most important thing that needed to be addressed was her flight spell, she had to make it work otherwise she would never be able to match the other girl.
So with that simple thought in mind she set to work, blowing up on the first try before immediately setting up another try in the direction she was going. She went straight through that attempt, so another was made directly behind it, this one she managed to brush against for a second before it exploded, progress was being made towards her first attempt's lucky try.
Trying to flip around to present her legs towards wherever it was she was going to land was a good idea, however while she was rather good in physical education, she wasn't that skilled in acrobatics yet, so all she managed to do was send herself flying into a tree with the side of her chest taking the hit. A grimace worked its way onto her face at both the failure to right herself and continue, alongside the dull pain her 'endurance' spell couldn't block out completely. Immediately after gathering herself, she scrambled to a foothold and leapt down, another attempt of her spell conjured beneath her that immediately shattered…
That was progress, now it was behaving more like a solid surface rather than… something, she had no idea what to describe her prior attempts…
Pushing that thought out of her head as she stood up from the ground, she immediately got back to work jumping up and onto a platform, managing once more to stand on it for a moment before it blew up and sent her flying. Once more she set up another platform where she was going, only to shatter through it without remotely slowing, then through the next as well before landing in the branches of a tree, thankfully slow enough after going through the second to not hurt herself too much.
Again, she jumped from the branches to the ground below, another attempt made under her that exploded her straight back up, the attempt after finding amusement in sending her straight back down into the dirt. Picking herself up and giving herself a light dusting off, she took a deep breath to calm herself of her frustration before once more jumping up, and immediately got sent flying sideways through a tree.
Lying still amidst the broken tree as the severed portion fell half a meter from her, she took another deep breath to calm herself, then another before climbing back to her feet and walked back to the little, battered grove. Yet another breath taken before she jumped up again, landing on a platform that cracked immediately upon her touching it, two seconds passing before it shattered completely like most of them, the one made underneath giving the same results before she was back on the ground.
Now a fourth of the way through her usual count of attempts, a fact that she idly remembered for whatever reason, she stilled and let out the frustration slowly consuming her.
After what she assumed was about a minute she stopped, regular smile back in place, and proceeded to begin again, hopping onto a new platform that immediately cracked the moment she put her weight on it, shattering a single moment later and letting her fall. Another platform appeared below her, holding her for a short moment before sending her flying up again, the third platform taking the same amusement as one of the prior ones in sending her hurtling towards the ground.
This time however she managed to make a platform underneath her shortly before she would have hit the dirt, a rather loud cracking sound echoing out until five seconds later the platform broke. Her smile grew a bit brighter at the progress made there, it seemed that finally she was getting the hang of flight after so many attempts and time spent, and so motivated after that 'success' she hopped up to another platform, her smile brightening when it didn't immediately blow up.
Unfortunately for her however, her apparent success lulled her to a false sense of security, and she was sent careening into a tree, through it and into another tree, through that one as well before indenting herself into a third tree by an explosion that was much more violent than the previous ones. Even with that… accident and the dull pain shooting through her body, her smile was still bright as she pried herself from the tree…
Though upon looking down she noticed her sword wasn't in her hand, her smile dimmed before immediately looking up in a somewhat frantic manner, where she found it impaled through the 'carcass' of the first tree.
Her body, even with her 'endurance' spell active, ached as she forced herself to walk over and retrieve her sword from the tree. If there was one thing above all the others she was glad that her training with Otou-sama it was she had a rather… high amount of pain tolerance. Upon reaching her sword, she pulled it out of the bark with ease, taking care to look it over for any chips that may have come from the weapons landing. Upon checking it over and finding nothing thankfully, she made a strained hum of happiness before she walked back into the open-aired grove, beginning her training again with a short hop onto a readily made platform.
She counted four seconds before she was rapidly sent skyward by another concussive explosion. Cresting the treetops had her make another platform beneath her quickly, her feet barely touching it before she leapt off it and onto another one, her intuition failing her there as her first one cracked and shattered shortly before her second exploded sending her higher into the air.
If she had been paying attention to the scenery around her, she probably would have been treated to quite a beautiful view of the city she lived near and the ocean beyond it. As it was, she was preoccupied making sure she'd impact the next platform she made to stop her from going any higher up and trying to figure out how to get down without severely injuring herself. And trying to stop herself from spinning, she may not get motion sickness, but it was very annoying to have to figure out what direction was what.
With a heavy impact, she rammed against the newest platform completely upside down, mentally giving thanks that this one was the more solid type instead of the fragile one, before she pushed off of it back towards the ground, leaving the platform to detonate behind her. Rapidly approaching the second platform, she brought her right side to bear before landing roughly onto it, her side taking the brunt of impact.
A second after the impact the entire platform cracked with an audible noise before shattering and forcing her to fall again, another platform made just lower than that one to try and give her a reprieve. The new platform cracked and shattered just as quickly as the prior one, but by the point it exploded she had managed to regain her breath from the hard landing and leapt off it back into the air.
The next platform she made and dropped onto was solid and unyielding, giving her a brief moment to catch her breath for a second before she leapt off and fell as it detonated harmlessly above her. Her next platform gave her a bit of respite as it cracked on impact, five seconds passing barely giving her enough time for her to get back to her feet. Just like before she leapt and was falling again for whatever time it was now, though this time she was just above the treetops, something that she felt relief for.
With the trees passing beside her now, she made a final platform that would hopefully see her safely to the ground, landing heavily in a crouch on it with an impact that jarred her entire body, before mentally counting the seconds as they passed by. At least, she did until she passed six seconds and the platform didn't send her flying or just break entirely, which left her incredibly confused as to why it hadn't.
She waited a short while longer just to make sure the entire thing wouldn't just collapse on her before gingerly beginning to stand up from her crouch, still confused why it didn't shatter. Taking a few steps to the side, she made another platform a bit lower than her current one before hopping over to it, the thing neither cracking or exploding as she expected when she landed on it lightly.
Realization quickly dawned on her before she let a vibrant smile break out on her face, triumphantly holding her sword up to the sky in what she assumed was joy. Finally, finally she had beaten her flight spell and was able to use it… probably. She hoped very dearly that there was nothing else in the future, barring something to do with swordsmanship, that needed her to put that much effort into, she'd have grey hair before she was twenty if that were to happen.
Taking a few moments after that… eventful bit of training to rest, catch her breath and come down from her exhilaration at finally beating her 'most fearsome enemy', she took the time to think of her next plan of action the moment she stood back up. Said plan being to think up some way to stand toe-to-toe with the other girl, which meant being able to actually hit her in the first place, in turn meaning she'd have to become faster than she currently was. Hopefully that was something that should hopefully come easier to her than 'flight' did.
While thinking of whatever would be used, she took to performing a portion of her prior training, mindlessly slashing really since she needed to think, it was a better usage of time than just sitting around and thinking anyway. It took much longer than her prior attempts to figure out how her new spell would work, but eventually she managed to think up something worthwhile enough to make an attempt with.
Taking a bit from her other two augments, notably just the locations of where to put her mana, she'd make her bones hollow like that of a bird's, something that would by itself make her bones brittler if not for her 'endurance' spell strengthening them. In addition to that, she'd be sending more mana into the muscles of her arms and legs to strengthen them, but the main idea behind the entire spell would be to reduce her weight instead of speeding her up.
…Now came the even harder part… figuring out how to test if it was working or not…
She didn't have anything on hand that could tell time, she hadn't needed to since Otou-sama always made sure that they were done by a certain time before. Now that she was on her own, she'd have to bring a watch out to keep track of time… wait… what even was time? And with that thought she immediately discarded her Barrier Jacket for her regular clothing, sheathed her sword while taking out Razing Heart before slipping it back around her neck before bolting back through the woods towards home.
Bursting through the trees she hastily made her way over to the house, slowing down to a quick walk just before she reached the corridor and making her way to her room. Quietly slipping in, she swiftly moved over to check her clock at the bedside, a silent sigh of relief leaving her as it read only a minute and a half before the next hour came.
With that crisis averted she set about changing into her school clothing, the light amount of noise finally waking up Scrya-san from his sleep as she was stripping off the bandages if the rustling behind her was any indication. Finishing her dressing after a minute, she set out to do her morning chores with Scrya-san following behind her rather closely before suddenly running up her back to perch on her shoulder.
The unexpected movement didn't gain any reaction from her, seeing as she somewhat expected it, so she moved on to her single chore this morning, sweeping each building in the compound, a long, arduous chore she didn't like doing. Haa… well, the faster she got it done, the faster she would be finished with her chores this morning and be able to get back to work making spells.
The next week passed by in silence, something that unnerved her greatly as neither the strange girl or any Jewel Seeds came up within the city or its outskirts. At least, as far as she could feel, there hadn't been any new Jewel Seeds appearing, though that didn't mean the girl hadn't collected some of the other Seeds.
Aside from that, school went well in the last week before the short break, she managed to get to passing in her English and Japanese classes, just barely though as was common with her due how bad she was with the class. The other classes were aced with ease, though P.E. was brutal on the second to last day... Suzuka-chan was a monster when it came to dodgeball…
Regardless of that… it wasn't unpleasant but neither was it really pleasant… well she could just say it was fun as the word wasn't coming to mind, which was a true statement. Regardless of that, other than school ending for a while there wasn't much else that happened aside from her daily activities, she had gone out with Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan twice and done random things. Going to a café and talking, shopping or wandering around a park among a few other things, nothing worthwhile to remember or talk about really.
Making her newest spell progressed decently in the two days after she created it, managing to get the spell to work without most of the backlash it caused as a side-effect. She had learned the night that she'd made it that the damage that particular spell could cause if it was used poorly was much more painful than the other two augments. Strained muscles and cracked bones together was enough that her pain tolerance was at its limit, and something she would never want to experience again.
Thankfully she wouldn't have to deal with that issue much anymore, though having said that, the actual speed difference between her without the augment and with it and the others on wasn't as much as she had hoped it would be.
Other than her rather lackluster speed augment, she had only worked on two other spells, one more augment and her first shooting spell. The former of the two was the simplest spell she had made so far, all it was was mana coursing along her blade, which in turn just meant that she put her mana around the blade, simple and, beyond the initial explosion on trying it out, it worked well.
The shooting spell on the other hand… that was tricky, though nowhere near as tricky as flight had been. Her first instinct had been to make a single slash that was sent from the sword at an enemy while her newest augment was up, then she accidently discovered something that was just a bit better. Whenever her sword was swung with the augment up it left a vague trail of motes in its wake.
Seeing as it would just be a waste of mana to let those motes dissipate and do nothing, she set about trying to 'weaponize' them, which was much harder than one would assume. The trail left in the sword's wake didn't have enough mana supplied to it naturally to be utilized in the way she wanted, that was obvious by the fifth attempt, so she had to actively force mana into the trail to make the motes linger around her.
Unfortunately, while that allowed the motes to linger longer, they were then abysmally slow compared to before, let alone the other girl's spells, barely able to move a meter in a minute's time, and even if she'd use them in that state, they were too few to be worth any factor. The twelfth try alleviated the speed and numbers problem, not by much seeing as they were still slower than her walking slowly, all that had happened by then was the motes had gotten smaller, about the size of a baseball, and faster.
Each consecutive time she attempted the spell until the twenty-third and final try had the motes becoming increasingly smaller, to about the size of a golfball at the end, quicker and more numerous. By the she finished with the spell, she made out seventeen motes being made with every swing whenever she pushed mana into the trail, and eight whenever she didn't.
Yet even, with all the improvements and refinements to it she couldn't make them anywhere near as quick as the other girl's spells had been. So, she decided to move on from that spell on back to her original idea, though she kept the newer spell close to herself, just like her other spells she'd made, eventually she would try and find the correct place for it.
After the fight, and loss, with the other girl, Scrya-san had tried unsuccessfully to get her to rest and relax, annoying her into excluding him from the morning sessions, she'd have done the evening sessions as well if it wasn't insulting to do so. Though with the way he was continuing to try and reign in her training habits to what he considered 'manageable', she'd probably ignore him when it came to anything beyond the lectures and orders for the collection of Jewel Seeds.
Having said that, most of her new spells were now made, tested, and completed solely in the morning, for the reason of not upsetting him and not annoying her to the point it made their relationship more strained. He was a very nice employer after all, one she would like to work for again on some other job he needed done after this was all over with.
She was so lucky to have such a nice employer for her first job. From what Otou-sama told both her and Onee-sama whenever he did talked about his old jobs, it was rare for anyone to be 'nice', especially with the jobs that were normal for them. Most of the time employers didn't care about their hired muscle as long as the job was done, which she could understand with how the world was and them being unconcerned with people they didn't know.
Speaking of Onee-sama though, she, Onii-sama, Shinobu-san, Suzuka-chan, Arisa-chan, Falin-san and Noel-san had all set out to a hot spring a bit outside of the city. She'd been invited to go along by Arisa-chan, but she'd given the excuse… or was it a lie?… probably a lie, that Otou-sama had grounded her from taking any trips outside the city.
While Arisa-chan had been saddened by her words she'd said at the time, Suzuka-chan had narrowed her eyes slightly at her before she quickly gave them a promise that she'd go somewhere else with them whenever her 'grounding' was over without any complaints… Considering the devious smile Arisa-chan had the moment she finished giving that promise she had a feeling she somehow had messed up somehow…
That aside she had an actual reason for not going, the same one that had Otou-sama only driving them there and was coming home the moment they were in the building, but that reason was far too private to reveal to anyone other than her family.
Having declined going to the hot spring and now waiting for Otou-sama to return, she was stuck alone with Scrya-san with nothing to occupy her for the moment. Training was… not particularly looking promising with Scrya-san there, at best she'd get a lecture from him about something that was possibly interesting, and there were no chores that needed to be done until the next day.
Well, with a lecture she'd at least learn something new and spend her free time until something better came along. A brief thought passed about what she would ask about, quickly coming to a conclusion before then wondering what Scrya-san would tell her about the subject. With a shake of her head amidst her unceasing walk in the grass, she looked over at Scrya-san before asking her question, "Scrya-san, what are Devices?"
Her employer jolted in surprise at the abrupt question, though he quickly went back to sitting down on the porch, still somewhat off-balance, and continued to watch her pace around. Before she turned her head back to watching where she was going, she saw Scrya-san nod to himself a few times, maybe to try and get himself back to somewhat composed before he started the lecture. "Umm, to start Devices are tools that mages use to augment their natural magical ability and to help them in the casting."
Scrya-san took a quick breath as she turned about in quickly alleviating boredom, continuing the moment after he let out the breath. "They tend to run the calculations faster than most humans, lowering the cast time for their users, as well as memorizing spells that are cast by mages and storing them for later use." …Huh, that was nice to know. If she could figure out if the device she used was doing that or not, and if it wasn't helping her she'd have to figure out to get it to work. "Most also tend to have certain programs such as a stopwatch, alarm, calculator, simple little things to aid in a mage's everyday life." … She stopped walking the moment Scrya-san said the first item that could be used from a Device, something Scrya-san seemed to notice since he didn't say anymore after, though she didn't see what he was doing.
Taking a very deep breathe, she started harshly berating herself now that she knew the little jewel around her neck was also a stopwatch, annoyance creeping into her from the information. If she had known that she would have had her 'speed' spell done a day earlier, meaning every other spell after would have been done earlier, possibly even managing to finish her other shooting spell by now…
Scrya-san waited for her to begin moving again before continuing on the moment she had stopped, he was getting to understand when she was paying attention after so long, "There are six types of devices that I know of, though I've only seen three of them in person, there are Storage Devices, Boost Devices, Armed Devices, Intelligent Devices, Unison Devices and lastly Hybrid-Intelligent Devices."
Scrya-san finished that long sentence with a drawn-out breath, taking a few seconds to properly get back his breath before continuing with a passion-filled voice, Scrya-san enjoyed teaching others about things. "Storage Devices are the most common in today's time, while not as good as several of other devices in terms of intelligence they tend to process spells faster than most of the others. However, they're normally not particularly… 'good' at doing things without someone directly guiding them, so they can't help their wielders with unexpected surprises."
Again, Scrya-san took a breath from yet another long-winded explanation, one she took advantage in thinking over the Device he spoke of. Razing Heart likely wasn't a Storage Device, it hadn't 'stored' any of the spells she'd made or made them easier to cast like Scrya-san said they did, which meant Razing Heart was one of the others.
"Boost Devices are an off-shoot of Storage Devices, specializing almost solely in support spells that aid the caster or one of their allies, those that dabble in summoning spells also tend to use them exclusively." At this point she went and sat down in front of her employer, having tired of simply walking around listening to him for the moment and waited for him to continue, mentally crossing off another type of Device that Razing Heart probably wasn't as she did.
"I only know of Armed Devices, though they are used by a few individuals that practice Modern Belkan magic, that is a lecture for another day Nanoha." She gave a quick nod in understanding before the ferret went back to speaking, "Their origin lies somewhere in Ancient Belka, another lecture for yet another time, and were primarily devices used in combat situations. From what little I know, they possess a bit more intelligence than Storage Devices, though far less than Intelligent Devices, and are more weapons than anything else."
A sigh was given as he finished that part, one she waited patiently for to end as her body silently swayed with a smile in place, taking in everything he said without issue. After a while of resting, Scrya-san continued with his lecture, only slightly winded despite the energy he was putting it. "Intelligent Devices are among the most advanced in terms of artificial intelligence the Bureau knows about an is able to make. The few I've seen have different personalities and think in different ways as well, which suits their wielders well."
She looked down at the black jewel at her neck, wondering what exactly its personality was, she didn't know what gender the device had, if it even had one, so she'd have to settle for 'it' until she heard the voice. "Having said that, they are fully capable of acting in the user's best intentions, you've been on the receiving end a few times now."
She gave another nod at that, she had never actively been using a spell to protect herself… come to think of it she would need to figure out how to set up or develop one at some point… that was something Scrya-san should be happy with teaching her compared to everything else. Returning to back to the world after that thought went through her head, she saw Scrya-san looking up at her, waiting a patiently for her to focus before he continued with the exact same passion he had at the start.
Scrya-san was a good teacher as well as good employer, even if he tried to continually keep her from the more strenuous parts of her training.
"I've never seen a Unison Device, and to be frank I don't expect to no matter how much I may dream of it, such is their rarity and the fact that no one know how to make one in current times. What little I can tell you about them is that they are essentially a Device given human form that were created in Ancient Belka. Other than that all I can do is assume." She nodded her head as he paused, just from his description alone, Unison Devices seemed to be extremely difficult to make. And whatever Belka was, given it had the moniker 'Ancient' attached, it was probably long before now, and as with everything, things and people died and were lost to time.
Again she returned to her employer, this time ending her thoughts as he finished regaining his breath and letting him continue without wasting any time. "Neither have I seen a Hybrid-Intelligent device, which I don't rightly know what those are. All I understand of it is that it is the closest thing that the Bureau has made to a Unison Device, and even then, that's just a rumor that floated among the archaeologists I've talked with."
"For all we know, Ancient Belka could have made their own Hybrid-Intelligent Devices." Scrya-san gave a shrug as he finished speaking, letting her know when he was done as he made no effort to continue the lecture. She gave one last nod before standing back up to her full, rather meager height, stretching her limbs for a short bit while ruminating on the two likely types of Devices that Razing Heart could be.
Stopped her thoughts as she faintly heard something from the front, signaling that Otou-sama was back, though she didn't move a muscle to go in that direction. Instead, she watching as Scrya-san let out a yawn before starting to pad back towards her room, waiting until he was out of sight before walking towards the forest.
She needed to work on her spells a bit more… maybe make something to protect herself with before she headed to bed for the night.
She barely heard the chime of a new Jewel Seed as she wandered through the trees, the noise just louder as whatever Razing Heart whispered whenever she was using it. Considering that the sound was that low in volume… she probably had a long way to go before she was anywhere near where the Jewel activated.
Well… at least she had started moving before she made that realization, somewhere above the just above the treetops to the point of almost brushing against the leaves, going as fast as possible with the aid of her 'speed' augment and her platforms. Her 'endurance' spell was off, it slowed her down and right now given the likely distance, she needed to go as fast as possible to make sure she was there before the other girl.
After what felt like a minute of her bounding along her platforms with a brief brush against the leaves below, a simple, if completely dangerous, idea came to mind. A single bound after the idea came was given to think on it before she went through with it stepping onto the next platform, its face angled towards her destination. With a pulse of mana, she forced it to explode and sent herself flying towards where the chime of the Jewel Seed had come from.
While that method was certainly quicker than just running along her platforms, she forgot one slightly important fact, her 'endurance' spell was off.
That single instance resulted in a miniscule wince of pain directly after she detonated the platform beneath her, feeling something off about her leg that was disregarded before switching on her endurance spell just before she landed on the next platform, slamming into it and giving another wince of pain. 'Endurance' was turned off for three steps across the new platform, then put up again for the next before she was 'flying' again.
She repeated those actions two more times before settling for running across her platforms, a few steps more seeing a corona of light shining into the sky a bit farther ahead further inside the forest. The other girl had already beaten her to the Jewel Seed…
Her smile drooped slightly as she let the platform fade from under her and fell through the foliage towards the ground, a random branch ripped from its tree as she crashed through it by complete accident. It didn't matter much to her other than a slight jarring since she had 'endurance' spell before hitting the ground with a thud and immediately bolting towards where the other girl was supposed to be.
It took only a short few seconds before she was close to the end of the trees, her smile back to its natural 'setting' just as she was about burst from the woods, a platform readily made and pointing ahead that she stepped on.
A clap of noise and shattered mana sounded before she hurtled out of the trees, her eyes taking in the barest of detail around her before finding and focusing on her foe walking away without an ounce of worry or care. She took a step on something wooden before continuing the charge, sending her straight at the other girl's back with her pink-coated sword singing through the air poised to impale the girl in the back.
A brief moment passed before her blade was caught on something, jerking her to a stop and making the attack fail, the girl continuing on without a care off whatever they were on, while her eyes started to refocus off the other girl. Her eyes moved from the other girl to whoever was blocking her, her feet leaving the ground and moving up as she vaguely heard the words "My, my…" uttered in a woman's voice.
Whatever else was said was tuned out as she brought her feet up and placed them just in front of the orange light blocking her, making a platform between and pushed off with an explosion.
There were two sounds she heard, a yelp that probably came from the woman that she barely heard, and quite clearly the shattering of magic ringing out above everything, though she paid both little heed as she flipped to try and get back to an up-right position, landing on the wood surface with a light stumble. Her balance was addressed quickly, before she instantly sped forward as fast she could through the dust made.
Or rather she would have had a hand not caught the back of hakama and thrown her back across the bridge, this time she just slid back for a few meters, one of her hands trying to grip against the wood before she stopped just from momentum running out.
Getting up from her crouch at a somewhat sedate pace, she finally took in the woman protecting the strange girl… that clothing was not decent, not from what she'd been told or seen… A white shirt that looked too short for her, pink… they looked like shorts… red garters near her ankles, black gloves and shoes and two short black capes, one from her shoulders and another at her waist behind the… shorts… though the strangest part about her, was the jewel in her forehead, fox tail and ears…
It said something about her that the first thought she had when she saw those was '… Of course the fox-woman is going to get in my way, every animal loves to mess with me…' That said, considering how many animals messed with her, she figured it was a valid thought.
As the dust cleared, she saw the other girl had stopped at some point during the quick exchange, looking over her shoulder with cold red eyes that ignored her and focused on the fox-woman. She idly heard the fox-woman and the girl talk to one another, well more like the fox-woman talked and the other girl agreed, though she did hear "Don't be reckless…" from the other girl before she took off into the trees, the fox-woman cracking her knuckles before getting into a stance.
"It's been a long while since I got to fight someone, so I'm not going to bother fighting you too seriously. Still, I'm not going to go easy on you kiddo, though I'll make sure you don't die." The woman's eyes glinted and her smile turned feral like an animal's, it didn't really bother herself to see it on another person, though she did tense in preparation as the woman finished. "You really shouldn't have got in our way, kiddo." That last part was hypocritical… though she wasn't about to say anything.
Regardless she paid that no mind, walking forward with her sword pointing down, little motes of mana drifting up from the metal, until she was only a few meters away, at which point both she and the fox-woman sped forward towards one another. A punch directed at her head was ducked under, with a retaliatory slash scraping along another orange shield popping into existence, a second slash directed to the woman's side dodged with a cocky smirk before she was forced to jump back to avoid being swept to the ground with a kick.
Her opponent gave her no respite, chasing after her and throwing three quick punches, the first and third barely dodged while the second managed to graze her chest, thankfully not enough of a hit to hurt her, before a fourth was sent at her prompting a reply in kind. Both fists hit one another, and even with her 'endurance' and 'strength' spells active she barely held against the other fist, a feat that apparently wasn't something the fox-woman was expecting given the slight shock she had on her face. The fox-woman got over her surprise quickly before throwing a kick came into her side.
She braced as much as she could, yet that single solid hit was enough to almost go over her pain tolerance on its own, sending her through the railing of the bridge into the water below. She would have been in the water if not for a hastily set up platform breaking her fall and driving the wind out of her lungs. Immediately upon getting her breath she trusted her instinct and rolled back, narrowly avoiding the fox-woman slamming into the river where she just was in a plume of water, though the she didn't let the rising water to impede her.
A stab through the water found its path blocked by something, so she allowed it to scrape along and off what she assumed was the shield, the mana trailing behind her sword reshaping itself into motes sent into the 'shield' with a simple thought. They wouldn't do much individually, but with the sheer number up above descending, and the amount she was gradually sending into the shield with each swing, it was bound to break eventually.
She managed four more swings at the fox-woman before the last of the water fully collapsed back into the river, allowing both her and the fox-woman to see one another and trading a feral smile and a calm one. Dilated eyes met her own with just a hint of glee and annoyance for a moment after, the moment ending as the woman's shield failed from the fifth blow of her weapon and some large number of motes causing the older woman to leap away.
In a near complete reversal of before, she chased after the woman as another shield was made just as she swung again at her… the amount of shields being thrown around was getting quite aggravating, especially since she wasn't getting through them quickly… Considering she was getting nowhere with trying to overpower the shield, yet another thing she'd have to address at a later date, she changed her strategy and feinted into attacking the shield again.
The moment before she hit the orange shield however, she exploded the platform keeping her above the water, sending both water and herself into the air and momentarily blinding the woman and likely surprising her again. Immediately following that action, she flipped herself to point down and slammed against another platform before immediately exploding it as well to send her over and past the shield.
Her sword lashed out as she passed by, nicking the woman somewhere, where exactly, she had no idea due to both the water and moving far faster than she was used to. Skidding along a platform just above the water's surface, she used her sword as a momentary anchor to twist her back to facing the fox-woman before leaping straight back at her.
No shield was made this time, a move that momentarily caught her off guard and caused her to be hit with an uppercut to the chest, a gasp leaving her before she was sent upwards into, through and over the bridge before landing back in the river.
She managed to catch herself just before she hit the river surface, the platform readily made catching her before shattering and sending her into the warm water, narrowly avoiding the woman crashing down where she would have been had the platform not shattered. Her sword broke through the surface and nearly impaled the woman a few seconds later, missing her target but causing the fox-woman to dodge away from her.
Quickly surfacing she took two gasps for air before leaping aside to avoid the woman again, another exploding platform sending her back onto the bridge railing, a hand reaching the wooden rail and pulling her up. Once on it, she turned around to face the fox-woman before kneeling down to sit on it, legs resting over the wood while staring down at her current foe. It was easy to tell that simple action aggravated the fox-woman far more than anything else so far, it showed in what little remained in the smile turning to a deep scowl.
Otou-sama had said before that people tended to be worse off when they got frustrated with someone… she wondered if that was true? That was a thought and experiment for another time, when there wasn't a job that was important.
Seeing as the woman was seemingly content she took the moment to rest and finally speak once to her opponent, using a… polite tone, considering that the woman was fighting evenly with her, "You're doing a lot better than I expected, at least better than the other girl did when we fought in close-quarters. Then again, she hit very hard with her ranged spells, so I guess that makes up for a lack-luster melee…" She shook off her musing quickly before she looking back down at the woman, who appeared to be a cross between angered and… it may have been pride or it could have been joy… she had no idea, she wasn't good with specific emotions…
She waited a few moments before receiving a reply, the fox-woman being a bit angrier than whatever the other emotion was judging by the lower tone and scowl… maybe… "You're not even close to my Master's strength kiddo, and I haven't been taking you seriously in the slightest. I don't want to upset her if I end up accidently crippling or killing you. Understand kiddo?"
… Well, the other woman managed to annoy her slightly with that, but she put that down shortly after, if she wanted to underestimate her, that was completely fine by her… Then again for all she knew about the fox-woman she could be a lot stronger than her… not a good thought to think. Disregarding that she returned her focus to the woman, eyes narrowing slightly before returning to normal as she gave her short reply to the woman's words, "I think I can handle anything a fox throws my way."
A complete and utter bluff after last week's fight, but the other woman didn't need to know that… and she was now angrier for some reason, talking was done apparently. And with that observation she slipped from the railing back to the water, the woman smashing through the railing and bridge on that side with a single punch, a snarl heard clearly over the destruction above. "Fox? Fox? I'm a wolf you little-!"
… She didn't look like a wolf-woman, her tail was orange with a white tip and fluffy, so unless she showed why she called herself a wolf she would remain fox-woman. That little musing of hers stopping the moment her feet touched the platform covering the river, immediately detonating the platform and sending her towards the shore. Where she was supposed to be was obliterated by the woman as she smashed through the remains of the platform, sending a plume of water straight into the air as she jumped back, carrying her further away from the furious woman.
The other woman charged through the plume with a speed that she hadn't show yet, making her twist around an extremely fast punch that barely missed her own shoulder. She swung her blade diagonally in response, only to miss completely and get her legs swept out from under her before being punched in the chest again, coughing once and feeling something wet dribble from her mouth before being sent flying.
Another platform stopped her from being sent into the trees, her back smashing into it, before she made it explode her up into another platform, the woman's next punch passing harmlessly beneath her as she did. She received no respite, as she got a knee pressed into her chest again, much less powerful due to her height though still enough to send her the platform.
Faintly she felt something crack through the pain, before a new punch sent her flying into tree, and then through the tree… with an aching body and several winces of pain, she stood back up as the top part of the tree fell at her side. Given she wasn't being pummeled into the ground and the woman was both waling away and had her back to her, the fox-woman was seemingly confident that she had put her out of commission with that…
She didn't know whether to be grateful for the overconfidence or angered at the dismissal… she settled for both.
… After this, she'd have to train herself harder than she was prior, especially since apparently trees were her hardest hitting weapon out of everything and she could barely lift the things and throw them… That and she wasn't physically good enough to keep up with either of her known opponents, and none of her spells were aiding her enough to really help her out.
Regardless, she wasn't doing the same thing as last time, picking up the fallen trunk with as little difficulty as she could manage, taking two steps forward and hurling her impromptu weapon straight at the back of the woman. This time she said nothing to warn her foe, pulling her blade from the ground just as the fox-woman felt something wrong and looked back, the tree smashing into her heavily with splinters flying from the impact before what remained of the 'missile' careened into the river.
Motes scattered around behind her as she took step after painful step, her free hand rising to her face to wipe off some blood trickling down from her mouth before falling back to her side, the other woman rising a bit shakily from the ground before turning her head around to look at her, a grimace set in place. If there was any consolation in this fight, they were both injured, to what degree she had no idea but they were. But given the way the fight had been and the way it was continuing to go, alongside the fact that the other girl was long gone… there was no point in continuing.
"What is it with you and throwing trees at people kiddo?" The question was sudden, unexpected and said with no small amount of pain, but was a good question regardless from another person. She looked back at the woman, finding her positioning herself back into a stance, even with pain in her form and no small amount of anger. She didn't give a verbal reply to the fox-woman's question for a moment, letting the motes surrounding her fade away before pulling Razing Heart from her sword, her 'Jacket' disappearing in pink light to reveal her normal clothing as she did, while returning her sword to its sheathe.
She didn't give the woman's question an answer, it wasn't like she even had one in the first place, instead she turned around and began heading off back towards home, her parting words being simple enough and were accepted without any further conversation, "I have nothing to gain from further fighting, go home to your Master and rest, you did your job well. Next time though… I'll beat you and your Master and get the Jewel Seed."
She heard a pained chuckle a few seconds after she said that, a "Whatever you say kiddo." caught a moment after the laugh before she faded back into the forest on the long journey home, idly getting lost in her musing again. … Fox-woman was good and loyal to that girl, such a shame they both were interfering, she had the feeling they would get along rather well if that wasn't the case, ha… She'd have to ask for a name next time as well, from the both of them and not just the girl.
Hopefully they wouldn't die or force her to kill one or both of them… the moment the job was done she had no reason to fight either of them, and it wasn't like she hated them or anything, they were only in her way and could be dealt with nonlethally… hopefully…
Her walk came to a stop as recalled where she was, or rather, where she was near… the other reason she hadn't wanted to go to the hot springs in the first place… she really didn't want to, but it was a promise so she'd follow through regardless… even if she really didn't want to… So, after turning back towards the river, she walked to it before turning again to follow the stream, not making a sound beyond the crunch of leaves under her feet as she passed innumerable trees until she came upon a cliff and a large pool the river fed into.
She paid no attention to that or the calm tranquility the place held, her eyes were on something overlooking the water, a little stone marker nestled near some trees, a few flowers laid at the marker's feet… Okaa-sama's grave marker… The moment she laid eyes on it sadness welled up in her, and fittingly the sky let tears fall from its few clouds down onto her in response to the emotion, even though it was only a coincidence, it would let her grief be known even now.
Taking a breath, she quietly went up to the grave and knelt down, laying her sword at her side and closing her eyes, another breath taken before her eyes opened again and she finally said something, "Hi Okaa-sama… It's been a while since I last visited you… A lot has happened since then, Otou-sama's been training me just a little harder than before, and I'm making less mistakes."
She stopped for a moment, her smile sad yet bright as she talked to the grave marker… Okaa-sama maybe would hear her here, this was her grave after all. Her talking continued after a moment, her eyes closing as she talked to Okaa-sama. "I'm nine now… and I started third grade with Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan… Otou-sama's also getting me a sword soon for doing so well in training, he was so proud of me. Onii-sama and Onee-sama are doing well, they came and brought you flowers earlier today, Onii-sama is worried about me and Otou-sama, but we're doing fine."
She stopped for a moment and took a breath, a 'tear' running down her face ignored as she took another breath before continuing with the same sad yet happy smile, "I also got my first job, my employer's name is Scrya Yuuno, though I just call him Scrya-san. He's a nice person, teaching me new things that I can use later. He also gave me a little tool that I've come to enjoy greatly, I don't know if it's a girl or boy so I have to use 'it' to describe the tool. Its name is Razing Heart, and it likes to whisper to me, I hope sometime in the near future I can hear its voice."
Her talking paused for a moment as she remembered something, the sadness retreating for a moment as pure excitement went straight through her body, her voice tinted with it as she began again. "Oh yeah. Okaa-sama, magic is real and I'm someone able to use it! I've made a few spells already, though one fought me all the way throughout making it, kind of like language did and still does…" Her posture lost the excitement quickly, replaced with the solemn sadness and happiness that she had before as the next words came.
"I… also met another girl recently, someone that has gotten in the way of my current job… she can use magic and has and has beaten me twice already… something I'm not proud to say… However, I think I like her. She's quite pretty and she has this woman that acts like her bodyguard, both of them are nice and not unwilling to fight for what they need to do… I'd like to be acquaintances in the future whenever my job finishes…" The next words she spoke were quieter, not really meant for Okaa-sama, but something she felt needed to be breathed out. "Hopefully they will want to as well…"
More 'tears' fell down her face and clothing as she talked about things she wished her mother would comment on or reply to… and finally she let out a silent sob before whispering, "I miss you Okaa-sama… I wish you could see me, and hold me. I wish you could meet the pretty girl and her fox-woman… I miss you… I miss you…" At that point she 'broke down', repeating the last three words several times over for a good minute, coming to a stop before picking herself up and preparing to leave, stopping in place only to look back with a sad smile and give parting words to the grave.
"Bye bye… Okaa-sama…"
She made her way straight home after turning around and leaving through the woods, using the platforms to make her way over the forest quickly and without incident, eventually coming to stop in front of the compound's gate. Once there, she silently walked through the halls to her room and opened the door, taking care to make sure Scrya-san wouldn't wake as she entered, and promptly went over to her bed, laid down and covered herself in the few blankets she had before falling asleep.
A simple dream of her playing with Okaa-sama was the only thing she saw that night, a happy and sad dream where Okaa-sama could see her smile and have fun.
Fun fact: It took Nanoha 220 tries to successfully complete her 'flight' spell. She is that terrible at flying.