SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter of Lyrical Familiar. With last chapter's battle between Nanoha and Fate plus their respective familiars, how do I top that? Wait and see, here goes.
[Uminari City]
[Takamachi Residence]
[Local time: 0630]
[BGM: "kizuna, shinjite" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
Although it was like the start of any other school day for Nanoha Takamachi; waking up and washing up in the bathroom before getting ready to start her day, the young girl had a lot on her mind. Sonic was right outside the door, waiting for Nanoha to finish, but he, like his mage, had plenty to think about over the past few days as well.
"Sonic-kun?" Nanoha called out to her blue familiar as she washed her face in the cool water from the sink, "I've been thinking a lot about her lately."
"I could tell" the blue hedgehog let out a small sigh, his thoughtful tone was evident in his response, "Getting beat twice in that many run-ins will do that to you."
"Fate-chan had such deep beautiful eyes" the brunette reflected, remembering her encounters with Fate Testarossa, "She looked like she could've been the same age as us."
"There's something off about her; her and that wolf-lady familiar of hers" Sonic noted, shaking his head as he tried to come up with something to describe what he meant, only to fail in finding the words, "I can't explain it"
"Her eyes; they seemed so lonely." Nanoha replied back in their little back-and-forth exchange, "Sad and lonely.."
"You know we'll probably just clash with them again" the hedgehog noted, easily allowing his feelings to influence the tone of his transmission so Nanoha was able to note that he didn't like saying that, "If we see them again, we'll have to fight."
"I know that" Nanoha toweled off her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror, "But, there has to be a way for us to understand their feelings, and for them to understand ours."
Sonic fell silent on the other end; he had absolutely nothing that he could say to help her out on that matter. The rest of the morning was spent in silence and deep thoughts.
[OP: "Innocent Starter" Nana Mizuki]
Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar
Chapter 8
Feelings that can't be understood?!
[Seishou Elementary School]
[No BGM]
Sonic was busying himself redoubling his work ethic in his training with Yuuno and Miyuki, and he has done such since the first encounter with Fate. Something that has drawn concern among the two; and although they knew why, it frustrated them that, with the exception of Yuuno, they couldn't do a darn thing to help out. That same frustration was also present in Nanoha's best friends and classmates in school, Alisa and Suzuka. Only today, the frustration had hit the tipping point for Alisa Bannings.
"Give me a break already!" the dirty-blonde heiress slammed her hand on Nanoha's desk in that frustration, her raised voice drew concerned glances among the other classmates, "You've been zoning off into space since the first day at the hot springs, no matter what we're talking about"
"G-gomen ne, Alisa-chan" Nanoha apologized, weakly lowering her head to stare at said desk.
"Don't apologize! It doesn't matter if we already know why" Alisa continued on, letting her frustrated feelings loose. Thankfully, she had the right mind to stop herself right there and turn around before things really got ugly, "I need to take a walk. Let's go Suzuka-chan!"
"Alisa-chan.." Suzuka tried to call out to said dirty-blonde girl as she retreated quickly out of the room.
"It's fine Suzuka-chan.." Nanoha offered a weak smile to her purple-haired best friend, "It was my fault."
"I don't know about that.. but Alisa-chan went overboard.." Suzuka, despite knowing and understand full well why Alisa was upset and she would've been lying to herself if said feelings didn't affect her, but she was willing to give her friend the benefit of the doubt and act as the voice of reason, "I'm going to go have a talk with her."
"Gomen ne.." was really all Nanoha could say, but had to concede that her effort was on the futile side as she could only watch as Suzuka ran out after Alisa, "I made Alisa-chan angry.."
Out in the hallway outside of the classroom and near the staircase that went down to a lower floor of the school building, Suzuka made haste to find Alisa and try to talk to her. She finally caught up to the girl as she was walking down a flight of stairs.
"Alisa-chan!" Suzuka finally got in range of even being able to even talk to her; she called to the girl as she rested her arms over the thick railway that would allow those who were walking on the right side of the stairs to hold on to.
"What?" Alisa stopped mid-step and turned to face the purple-haired girl and made eye contact.
"I can understand why you're angry at Nanoha-chan" Suzuka spoke, "But you can't get angry over things like this."
"That's what annoys me so much!" Alisa huffed out, "Ever since that first day at the hot springs she's looked lost and troubled and we both know why. But there isn't a damn thing we can do to help her."
"I know how you feel and it bothers me too." Suzuka nodded slightly in agreement, sharing that feeling of helplessness, "You really like Nanoha-chan, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" Alisa admitted truthfully
[Rooftop of the school]
[BGM: "Kono hiroi sekai ni" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
The two made their way up to the rooftop level of the school building, where Alisa let her fingers grip softly against the chain-link fence that was more-or-less set up for safety purposes. Both she and Suzuka stared out at the cityscape view.
"Because she was there for me, I was no longer alone.." Alisa softly admitted as she looked ahead.
"Yeah.. it was the same for me" Suzuka shared that feeling
The two of them shared a flashback to how they first actually became friends. Alisa was a bit of a troublemaker and a bully while Suzuka and Nanoha were friends. When Alisa was a bully she had once targeted Suzuka and messed with her. Nanoha took exception, slapping the dirty-blonde hard on the cheek, leaving a small mark for Alisa to favor.
"Because she was there" Suzuka said in reflection, "The two of us were able to become friends."
[Classroom]
[No BGM]
The school bell rang to end the day and Nanoha stowed a textbook inside her bag, as she was about to stand and leave the classroom, Susuka called to her.
"Nanoha-chan, gomen ne" the purple haired girl apologized, though Alisa was still unwilling to look at their friend, "We both have music lessons today, so.."
"You'll be gone till later tonight, right?" Nanoha finished for her, knowing them, "Hope you have a nice time and do your best."
Alisa, still with her back turned, said nothing and walked on ahead. There was nothing either of the two could do but watch her leave. Nanoha had felt personally responsible for Alisa's frustrated feelings and wasn't so sure if there was anything she could do to make matters better.
"Alisa-chan.." Suzuka softly trailed off before quickly turning to face Nanoha again, "Don't worry, Nanoha-chan. I'm sure everything will turn our all right, so do your best too"
"Ah.. thank you Suzuka-chan" Nanoha smiled softly back
[En route away from the school]
[No BGM]
It was a rare occurrence, but Nanoha was walking home from school all alone. That much wasn't her fault though, both girls had things to do so she couldn't help that, but she was still troubled. If her encounters with Fate weren't on her mind, she had to also deal with the feelings of Alisa and Suzuka. She knew why they were upset, even if Suzuka was willing to help her out, but she was troubled, and there wasn't anything her two best friends could do to help.
'Now that I think about it... It's been awhile since I walked home alone' Nanoha thought to herself as she rounded a turn, pausing at a sign, 'I think I better stop somewhere; I don't want anyone to see my face right now.'
[POV: Alisa and Suzuka]
The two girls sat in the rear seat of the limo. Both of them stared out the windows with thoughtful expressions, blankly watching the cityscape pass by.
"When we all first met.." Suzuka reflected, "I was weak… Weaker than I am now and I couldn't say what I was thinking. No matter what anyone said or did to me, I could never stand up to them"
"And I was a terrible kid who thought only of herself…" Alisa added to that, "I was selfish and a bully. I always made fun of our classmates and joked about everything, because my heart was weak."
There was a brief flashback of the two girls, both a little bit younger, probably in kindergarten. Alisa had bullied Suzuka and had taken the purple-head's favorite headband away, keeping it out of arms reach.
"Because I was weak back then, I couldn't say what I wanted to say…" Suzuka stared at her skirt, "That it was really precious to me and for you to give it back to me."
"Even after you told me to stop, I didn't listen.." Alisa mirrored that motion staring down at her feet in regret and reflection, "because I thought that if I listened to what someone else had to say I'd lose for some reason."
Little did they know; Nanoha had also paused in her walk home and sat at a nearby bench to reflect on the same memory, contacting her familiar in the process to let him know what had happened and explain her relationship with the two. Their shared recollection brief reflection to that memory reached to Nanoha's intervention. The brunette probably came out of nowhere because Alisa didn't see her coming and by the time she did, the damage was done. The young Nanoha had slapped her hard; the stinging pain and red mark on the left side of her face, near the cheek and under her eye.
"What was it Nanoha-chan said back then?" Suzuka asked, thinking back to that day, it had seemed so long ago.
[BGM: "Namae wo yonde" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
" "Does that hurt?" " Alisa quoted word-for-word what Nanoha had said back then, " "The hearts of people who have their precious things taken away hurt a lot more!" "
"That's right" Suzuka recalled in agreement
[POV: Nanoha]
"After that, I got into a big fight with Alisa-chan.." Nanoha had summed up the story for Sonic to hear over the mind-speak, feeling a bit comfortable letting him in the know on that. She continued the story accurately, retelling how her younger self fought with Alisa. Neither of them giving in to one another; deadlocked in their struggle.
"Who broke up the fight?" Sonic asked, silently absorbing all of the reflection, all he could do was listen to her story.
[POV: Alisa and Suzuka]
Granted the two girls in the limo had no idea that Nanoha was talking to Sonic about their shared story. Arguably even if they did, they wouldn't mind it so much as they have come to accept Sonic as a friend quite easily.
"The incredibly quiet girl who decided to be brave.." Alisa reflected more, remembering when the young Suzuka shouted "STOP IT!" as loud as she could. Her sudden scream having put a complete stop to their fight, Nanoha and Suzuka just stared at her.
"Back then… that was because I was so desperate." Suzuka frowned a bit, her eyes building up the moisture, but not quite enough for tears.
"After that, we started talking more and more to each other, right?" Alisa, her gaze fixated out the window but at nothing in particular, asked.
"Yeah…" Suzuka nodded, "Just the three of us."
"So?" Alisa turned her gaze from the window to her feet, "What did you want from me, bringing up that old story?"
"You should know the answer to that" Suzuka gazed in her best friend's direction; causing Alisa to do the same and lock gazes together. Alisa looked at her for a second before she looked away and at her feet again.
"I understand that we'd probably only get in their way if we tried to help, but if all we can do is wait… then I'm going to just be angry while waiting!" Alisa said, with a frown, letting all of her frustrations vent out, "Angry at her sadness and pain; angry that she has to go through all of this, and we, even as her best friends, can't do anything to help her out."
"You sure are stubborn" Suzuka giggled lightly
"Hmph!" Alisa said no more,
[Takamachi Residence]
[Local time range: 1630-1700 hours]
[No BGM]
The late-afternoon sun had slowly started to set, painting the sky a bright yellowish-orange hue. It was around that time that Nanoha had returned home as she had finished that story in mind-speak to Sonic. She sat at her desk with her head resting on the table. She talked to Yuuno about the incident she had with Alisa while Sonic, who had already heard the whole story, lazily laid on top of the brunette's bed.
"I see.." Yuuno nodded in some understanding, "So you got into a fight.."
"That's not it" Nanoha declined that part, "Alisa-chan got frustrated because I kept zoning out."
"She's your best friend, right?" The ferret asked
"Yeah" the girl confirmed, "Almost since I started school."
The ferret hung his head, one of the few times where he'd say that informing civilians of what they do isn't the best idea in the world. Nanoha, feeling the need to cheer the Tutorial Ferret off, offered him a headpiece half of Taiyaki that she bought on the way home.
"Here, this is your share" she held it out and turned to face Sonic so she could offer him a large piece as well, "This is your share, Sonic-kun. Don't eat it on the bed please; the stains and crumbs are tough to clean up"
"Why would I anyway? I'm sleeping on it too" the hedgehog stood up and moved to a chair with a shrug. Not one familiar to the Japanese recreational snacks, Sonic unintentionally made a bit of a humorous display as he looked at the fish-shaped snack before taking a bite. He munched quietly for a bit before he could say anything about how it tasted, "Hey this is pretty good."
"Glad you like it" Nanoha's cheerfulness returned in full form as she smiled at the blue hedgehog. She then turned to face Yuuno, "I don't have cram school today, so we should be able to hunt for some Jewel Seeds until dinnertime. So let's do our best"
"Yeah.. let's" Yuuno nodded in agreement.
[Apartment of Fate Testarossa]
[No BGM]
It was around the same time at the shared apartment of Fate and Arf that the latter wolf-woman familiar lounged herself lazily on the couch and indulged herself in some of Earth's delicacies. As much of a delicacy canned dog food can be; but she was part wolf so the canine taste buds influenced that matter. Fate was nowhere to be seen.
"The food they have here.." Arf, opting to eat out of a recently opened can of dog food with chopsticks, said in complimentary and enjoying fashion as her tail waved in approval, "Isn't all that bad!"
"Now then, let's check on how my little hime-sama is doing." the wolf-woman said as she stood up and half-heartedly left the emptied can of dog food on the already dirtied table. Arf really liked her dog food; she had multiple boxes and cans of the stuff all over the table. There was one box of dog treats that she noticed went untaken, "Oops, almost forgot about this."
Fate silently lay on her bed, facing the wall so her back would've been to Arf as she walked in. On the desk next to her bed was a full tray of a modest meal. Porridge that didn't look like it was touched at all, some pastries that might've been bitten into, but it was hard to tell, and a teapot with an empty mug, probably untouched as well. It was something that Arf had noticed, and it probably wasn't the first time she caught her mistress neglecting a meal.
"Haa.. you haven't touched your meal again" the wolf-woman said as she passed by and sat next to her mistress, softly patting the top of her head in the process, "That's no good, you have to eat."
"I had some of it.." Fate said, still staring at the wall, "I'm fine, so don't worry."
As the yellowish-blonde haired girl sat up on her bed, Arf was greeted with a disturbingly familiar sight that she hated to see. Fresh marks and cuts on Fate's back that looked like the product of a recent lashing with a whip. The marks didn't look pleasant and it was only the cloak that Fate wore all the time that prevented anyone from seeing those painful whip marks. Fate would never say anything about them though and her sudden question drew Arf's attention off the cuts and to her.
"Shall we get going, then?" Fate asked softly, "I've been able to determine where the next Jewel Seed should be. And I don't want to keep Kaa-san waiting for too long."
"Well.. because you're my master, Fate…" Now it was Arf who turned her back, unwilling to glance at Fate so long as she could see the whip marks on her back, "And because I'm your familiar… if you ask me to go, I'll go, but…"
"Oh, we can go after you finish eating, if you want." Fate offered, the open box of dog treats had caught her eye.
"Ah!" Arf turned to look at that green box with the smiling puppy on the front cover, busted! She quickly pushed it away and shook her head, "T-that's not what I meant. I'm worried about you, Fate. Using wide area searching magic uses a lot of your physical strength… yet you're hardly eating anything, and barely resting…and your wound isn't something you can take lightly either."
"I'm fine, because I'm strong." Fate closed her eyes, kindly appreciative of her familiar's concern. She clapped her hands, making her gloves appear to cover them, stood up and produced her cloak from probably a magic pocket dimension of sorts.
"Fate.." Arf could only watch.
"Now then, let's go" Fate quickly cast her cloak over her back, concealing all of the marks that were on her back, "Kaa-san's waiting for me."
[Midori-ya Café]
[No BGM]
While Nanoha and Sonic were out and about on their Jewel Seed hunt with Yuuno, the café was quite busy with the high school girls filling up the place. Shirou and Momoko calmly went about their business in running the café from the registers. The absence of their youngest daughter and her familiar wasn't hard to miss, but they both had trust in her ability to take care of herself and Sonic's own promise to keep her safe as well. The two also had Yuuno with them, and he had the most magic experience.
Meanwhile in the kitchen area of the café, Kyouya and Shinobu were washing the dishes. The latter girl had a bit on her mind and it had to do with the missing brunette. Even though there were no secrets with Nanoha, the recent events that had her down had worried Shinobu's younger sibling and her as well.
"Ne, Kyouya… about Nanoha-chan.." Shinobu asked her boyfriend, "Do you think that this magic job she's been is starting to become too much for her? She looked down the last time I saw her and Suzuka-chan's been worried about her too…"
"Yeah," Kyouya agreed, "She's been that way since our vacation to the hot springs.."
"I might be prying a bit too much, but I think what happened there may have hurt her confidence." The girl noted, offering a solution, "Do you think you could ask her to talk to me about it?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think she'll talk about it" Kyouya politely declined, though he was happy that his girlfriend was concerned.
"So I'm no good?" Shinobu paused and turned to face her boyfriend.
"Ah, that's not it! That is definitely not it." Kyouya calmly reassured her, "She probably won't talk to you specifically. We all know what she's doing out there, but I think that since she feels that since we aren't involved, we aren't the ones she should talk about this to. She'll only talk to Yuuno or Sonic."
"Speaking of Sonic-kun" Shinobu said, mentioning the hedgehog, "How long do you think he'll be living here?"
"I don't think he plans on leaving anytime soon. He's grown accustomed to living here; even if he doesn't say much about it." Kyouya answered, "Miyuki said that she appreciates his work ethic and how well of a pupil he's been in learning our style."
"He's done a good job at the café as well" Shinobu noted in observation, "It took him a little adjusting but he took my advice and he's done well when he's working at the café."
"Well then… I'm sure we can trust them to work it out" Kyouya encouraged with some optimism, "There isn't anything we can do directly, but we can at least be her to support them; tell Suzuka-chan that and that should help."
"I see.." Shinobu nodded and returned to her dish duties, "I'll tell her"
[Uminari City: Downtown]
[Local Time: 1905 hours (appx 7:05 pm)]
[No BGM]
Their search had gone for a little over two and a half hours, but Sonic, Nanoha and Yuuno have come up empty so far. It was only a glance at a nearby video screen ad on a building that clued the trio in to how late it was and how little time they had before they were expected to return for dinner. After all that's happened in the day, the last thing Nanoha wanted was to worry more people.
"Ah.. we may be out of time." Nanoha said, taking notice of the time on that ad, "Sonic-kun and I need to get home soon."
"Don't worry about it" Yuuno said from his spot on her shoulder, "I'll stay around here and search for a little bit longer."
"You sure about that?" Sonic asked, "Think you'll be alright by yourself?"
"Yeah" Yuuno might've glared at the hedgehog if not for the slight tone of concern Sonic had, "You two can go home and have dinner with your family, alright?"
"Okay" Nanoha nodded and started to run off with Sonic jogging along with her to keep pace, albeit he could've easily overtaken her, he just chose not to. As Nanoha ran, a thought occurred to her considering the time, 'Alisa-chan and Suzuka-chan should probably be on their way home by now.'
Nanoha stopped her trek just before it reached a window display stand for a clothes shop. Sonic, sensing her halt, also stopped. He was about to ask when he saw the girl pull out her cell phone to check her e-mail. Much to Nanoha's dismay, she saw that she had received no new email messages.
"Anything?" Sonic asked, though he had a sinking feeling that he shouldn't get his hopes up.
"Nothing" the girl shook her head, closed her phone and pocketed it.
"Don't worry, they'll come around" Sonic attempted to assure his mage, "Let's head home"
Nanoha nodded and continued her trek again with the hedgehog in tow. Her ears did not miss him referring to her house as home, but she didn't pay it much mind, figuring that was just part of getting used to living with her family.
Meanwhile in a different part not too far away from where Nanoha and Sonic were running, Fate and her familiar Arf, who was in wolf form, landed on the top of a skyscraper. They gazed out at the city, searching for the Jewel Seed that Fate had determined was around the area.
"I'm pretty sure it's around here somewhere" Fate noted as she looked from building to building, "But I can only get a rough reading"
"Yeah, I can understand." Arf sighed, "Searching through a big city like this is a serious pain."
"This may be a bit heavy-handed" Fate said as she held up Bardiche, her device, "But I'll release a lot of magic power across this area and force its activation."
"Ah wait wait!" Arf quickly argued, "I'll do that for you."
"Will you be alright?" Fate asked in concern, "You'll be drained afterwards…"
"Just whose familiar do you think I am?" Arf would've sounded hurt; albeit the only thing that might have hurt would've been her pride.
"I'm counting on you then" Fate held Bardiche at her side.
"Well then…" Arf spread her arms and legs out in a preparation stance as if she was about to take a huge leap, only she stayed in place and focused hard. At her feet appeared a large magic circle similar to her masters only a slightly different color. From her position a large pillar of magic emitted and shot straight up into the air.
[BGM: "Ketsudan no Toki" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
The outburst of power quickly got the attention of Sonic, Nanoha and Yuuno and, from their respective different positions in the city, they watched as a gathering of dark clouds quickly start to cover the sky over the city. The clouds descended over the city and, while there was no rain, lightning struck down all over the place. While it didn't look like the lightning was anywhere close to any civilian in the city, Yuuno did not want to take any chances of that.
"A forced activation spell?! Here?!" the ferret looked up at the sky and took on a serious expression and took off in a different direction, "This is dangerous! Hope I can make it in time."
"Sonic-kun.." Nanoha took one look up at the sky and back to her familiar. She quickly threw up her device and called forth its staff form and her Barrier Jacket, "The weather didn't call for thunderstorms."
"Guess dinner will have to wait then" Sonic shook his head and quickly shifted to his own Barrier Jacket and twin blades, "Let's go."
Meanwhile with Fate and Arf, the two watched as their activation spell went to work on the city, hoping it would bring up any sign of a Jewel Seed. Their efforts were soon rewarded as through that magic lightning, a bright, light-bluish flash of energy shot directly up into the air.
"Found it!" Fate saw it immediately.
"Fate.." Arf noted in caution, "It looks like they are here as well."
"Let's finish this quickly then" the girl nodded and held up her device, "Bardiche"
"Glaive form, set up!" The device declared in its mechanical male voice and its display showed the appropriate text, shifted into said Glaive form.
With Yuuno, he came to a point where he was close enough and began to focus his mana and energy into creating a wide-area barrier that would keep civilians, unless they were sensitive to the magic, from going inside and getting hurt. During that time, he saw fit to contact Nanoha and Sonic.
"Nanoha, Sonic" The ferret called to them via the mind-speak, "Can you see that activated Jewel Seed?"
"Yeah." Nanoha sent back, "I think"
"It's hard to miss a large pillar of light in the middle of a city" Sonic noted in slight sarcasm, "I think we're close to it."
"That other girl is pretty close to it too" Yuuno noted in warning, "Seal it before she does!"
"Got it!" Nanoha nodded as her device shifted to its cannon form. At the same time that happened Nanoha also noticed a yellow stream of energy shoot out from Fate's location aimed at the location of the Jewel Seed. With a gasp, she quickly countered and shot one of her own at the Seed. Both beams clashed and collided with the seed. As their spells collided, they made the seed levitate some ways and it's Serial Number, XIV, was revealed.
"Lyrical Magical!" Nanoha shouted out her magic incantation, hoping to seal it before Fate could.
"Jewel Seed Serial XIV" Fate called out as she prepared to seal it.
"Seal!" Both girls called out at the same time and within no time blasts were fired. They both collided with each other at the same time with the Seed still in the middle. The sealing spells reacted with the seed before dispelling. The Jewel Seed was left floating in the middle of the area inside a bluish sphere.
[BGM: "Daijoubu da yo" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
Nanoha, who was the closest to the Seed when she fired her shot, slowly walked to it. The memory of how she, Alisa and Suzuka became friends resurfaced as she walked. Back when Alisa was a bully with a weak heart, while Suzuka was too weak to stand up for herself. Nanoha remembered slapping Alisa hard and the fight the two got into after with Suzuka screaming as loud as she could for them to stop.
'When I first met both Alisa-chan and Suzuka chan, we weren't friends..' Nanoha reflected in her thoughts as she stared up at the Jewel Seed, 'Because we couldn't talk with each another. Because we couldn't understand each other. Alisa-chan got mad at me today because I kept feeling sad, and even though she and Suzuka-chan understood why, there was nothing they could do to help.'
"Yatta!" Yuuno said as he soon came up to Nanoha upon noticing that the Jewel Seed was ready to be captured, "Nanoha, hurry up and seal it!"
"Like we'll let her!" Arf's voice shouted from above the trio as the said wolf-familiar fell towards them, intending on letting gravity be her power and slam into the white-clad mage while she wasn't looking. Unfortunately the wolf was intercepted by a quick guard barrier by Sonic. The blue hedgehog didn't let her do that the first time so he had no reason for letting her try and succeed again. Nanoha flinched as she heard the wolf crash land into Sonic's barrier. The blue hedgehog let his own barrier crack apart so he could head-first tackle Arf to the ground and also letting Nanoha stare at Fate, who landed on top of a nearby light post opposite her.
'Because we both have the same goal… there might be no way we can avoid fighting like this… But I want to know!' Nanoha thought as she took a determined step towards the girl on the post, "Last time, we couldn't properly introduce ourselves… I'm Nanoha! Takamachi Nanoha! I'm a third grade student at Seishou Elementary School."
"Scythe Form" Bardiche declared while Fate kept silent, forcing Nanoha to take a defensive stance
'Why does she have such lonely eyes..?' Nanoha questioned as she stared at Fate, noticing that lonely feeling in the latter girl's eyes. She watched as Fate took the scythe-form device and rushed her. Raising Heart declared and automatically cast the Flier Fin spell to allow Nanoha to dodge while Sonic busied himself with taking care of Arf.
[Elsewhere]
Outside of the barrier in the middle of the city, Alisa and Suzuka just finished up their lessons and were about to head home. Suzuka, wanting to give Nanoha the heads up, typed up an email message to send.
"Sending a message to Nanoha?" Alisa asked the girl
"Yeah, and I got a message from onee-chan." Suzuka replied, "She talked to Kyouya-san about Nanoha-chan and he told her that even though we can't do anything to help her out. We can cheer her on and give her moral support."
"He did, huh.." Alisa pondered that thought for a moment, adopting a cute thoughtful expression as she felt that it might've been a good idea. Quickly though, noticing Suzuka's giggle, she huffed and turned around, "Hmph!"
"Stubborn Alisa-chan" Suzuka giggled and sent the email message to Nanoha about their update, also adding that they're cheering for her all the way.
[Downtown Uminari City]
[Fate/Arf vs Nanoha/Sonic]
[BGM: "Yuzurenai Omoi" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
As Nanoha and Fate clashed with one another in streams of pink and yellow respectively, Sonic and Arf clashed with each other in a different area though one within sight of their quarreling masters. Both mages and familiars that clashed had an equal matchup as neither side gave in to the other. Arf felt a little bit frustrated at how despite being warned, Nanoha and Sonic still tried to get in their way.
"Why? Why don't you just stay out of our way?!" Arf shouted in frustrated to her blue counterpart as her clawed paws clashed with his blades, "Didn't you guys get the message the first time?"
"Getting in someone's way is just what I do best, Moreover.." Sonic trailed off and took a slight sniff, almost gagging a bit as he pushed the wolf back, "What in the world did you EAT? Dog food?! Your breath stinks of it!"
"Why you little… " Arf, feeling just a tad angered by the hedgehog's insult, roared and fired off a volley of Photon Lancer Multishot bullets; all of them shot at close range, making it almost impossible to avoid them all if her target tried. Sonic, utilizing his speed and experience as it was definitely not the first time someone has tried to shoot at him close range, avoided a majority of the rounds before using a defensive Protection barrier spell to neutralize the rest.
"Yeah, I get that you're a wolf or something in that family, but you have a human form. Try having a gourmet meal every once in a while.. Dog food... meh.." Sonic rushed in and used his swords to attack. While the majority of his blows were blocked, he managed to make contact on grazing blows. And as he fought her, the blue hedgehog couldn't help but notice that something was a bit off with Arf and on their next stalemate pause, he held up to ask her about it "Are you okay? You seem a little bit drained or something"
"I used up a little bit more strength than I wanted to in that forced activation spell" The wolf admitted though she shook her head in an attempt to refocus and not let her fatigue get the better of her, "But don't worry, I've still got enough to deal with a newbie like you"
"Bring it…" Sonic smirked and went right back into combat again.
Meanwhile, Nanoha and Fate were deadlocked in another evenly matched duel. Neither of them could seem to get the advantage. Whenever Fate managed to use her speed to get behind Nanoha, the latter girl would use her Flash Move spell to do the same. Nanoha, playing to her strength, utilized a volley of her Divine Shooter spell rounds to attack but they were well defended against with Fate's Defenser.
The Jewel Seed, almost as if teasing either of them to try and take it, flickered as it floated in place. The two halted a small distance away from each other and had their devices pointed straight ahead.
"Fate-chan!" Nanoha suddenly called out, commanding the other girl's attention with her voice.
The sudden call stopped Fate from doing anything else for the time being. It was only when she was sure that Fate's gaze was locked on her and that she was able to hear, that Nanoha would try and reason with her with words.
"You said nothing would change just by talking…" The girl began, "But I'm sure there are things we can't communicate to each other without using words! We might not be able to do anything about competing with each other like this… but I can't stand fighting like this without knowing anything about you!"
Sonic and Arf continued to clash with one another. In no time they were deadlocked again, oblivious to the stalemate in between their respective mages.
"Originally I was gathering the Jewel Seeds because Yuuno-kun was searching for them… because Yuuno-kun needs to gather and return them to where they belong." Nanoha continued on, "But now I'm gathering the Jewel Seeds on my own free will! I don't want to put the people around me or my city in danger! That's… my reason for doing this!"
"…" Fate fell silent, quietly absorbing the girl's words. Deep down she could feel the latter girl's honest feelings in what she said and was unsure about if she should say anything, "I.."
"Fate!" Arf shouted out, dragging Fate from her thoughts. She, and Sonic who had stopped fighting when there was a clear stalemate in all of the action were on a rooftop almost underneath the two, "You don't have to tell anything to people who are just acting nice to you in a strange neighborhood… and are probably just trying to use you anyway!"
"Oh come on! Acting?! Really?! She's being completely honest with her! I know that because I feel the same way!" Sonic cut off Arf from whatever she was going to say next. In no way was he going to let this go by without getting a chance to have his words heard, "Coming here; I didn't have too many friends and no family, and my home was almost destroyed a month ago. It was by complete coincidence that I met her and yet she saved my life out of the goodness of her own heart. Now I have those close to me who I can call friends and family. Listen to her!"
What Sonic said may have confused Fate further, but Arf was more stubborn than that. She turned and growled viciously and protectively to the hedgehog before she went on.
"That doesn't matter right now!" The wolf shouted, "Our main priority is the Jewel Seeds!"
[No BGM]
The aforementioned Jewel Seed was still there, right below the two mages. Flickering multiple times as if taunting either of them to try and take it. Fate immediately descended downward, hoping to snare it in her Device's grasp before Nanoha could. Nanoha had other ideas on that matter and followed suit.
For that moment it seemed as if time stopped. Arf, Sonic and Yuuno all watched in shock as Nanoha and Fate had locked devices with one another. Only this time the Jewel Seed was right in the middle of the two. No one had any idea what was to happen next. Only the sudden cracks, both visible and audible on Raising Heart and Bardiche could've been heard or seen before it all happened.
The energy built up between the two mages and the Jewel Seed suddenly erupted in a huge, massive explosion of light and energy that engulfed both mages. Nanoha, unable to do anything, closed her eyes screamed out loud as the light caught her while Fate could only shield her eyes and grunt as she was also caught up in it.
[Elsewhere]
[Time: appx 1945 hours]
Just as they were about to get in the limo and head for home, Alisa and Suzuka both stopped and turned to look in another direction, particularly downtown. Neither of the two knew why, but they almost could feel that something bad has happened and their friend Nanoha was right in the middle of it again. Oddly enough, as quick as that feeling came, it soon left them.
"Alisa-chan.." Suzuka asked the dirty-blondehead, who had just about entered the rear seat of the limo, "Did you feel that just now?"
"Yeah, I don't know what it is, but something happened" Alisa nodded, shaking her head as if trying to figure out what she felt, "Check your phone, maybe Nanoha sent something."
"Hai." Suzuka nodded and flipped open her phone to check for any messages. Unfortunately, she got the same display as before; she had not received any messages from Nanoha. She stared at that screen for a few moments, "Nothing.."
"There's nothing we can do right now anyways, we'll just ask her tomorrow" Alisa, although she would've been lying if she said she wasn't concerned and hated that helpless feeling, sighed with her hand on her hip, "Come on, let's go home, I'm starving."
"Hai" Suzuka took one last glance in that same direction before joining Alisa in the back of the limo. The butler who had held the door open for the two heiresses shut the door and the limo drove away.
[To Be Continued!]
[Ending: "Little Wish ~Lyrical Step" Yukari Tamura]
[End of Chapter 8]
Author's Notes: Uh oh.. oh boy.. what happened here? What happened with Nanoha and Fate? The Jewel Seed just… something.. what happened?! CLIFFHANGER! Ain't I a stinka? Anyways, opinions please! Let me know what you think of this chapter. I didn't want the story to be completely one-sided from Sonic's POV. I was going for full coverage including how everyone else was dealing with the whole magic schtick. And how I formatted some of the dialogues here.. And there's still plenty of things to note here.. Fate's wounds, what could've caused them?