SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar. I'm not going to waste time (and words) on any long openings; I'm just going to go right into it. I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, Eggman, etc.. They belong to Sonic Team. I don't own any Nanoha characters or anything from her series; they belong to Seven Arcs. Let's go!
-Flashback: Appx 26+ years ago-
[Mid-Childa: Location unknown]
[Time: Unknown]
[BGM: "Daijoubu da yo" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
It was a beautiful spring day on Mid-Childa many, many years ago. For Fate Testarossa, this was one of the many recurring memories she had of the way things used to be with Precia. The two were spending quality time together during a picnic.
The weather was a bit on the chilly side for the spring, but that was why the two were in long-sleeved attire. Precia had worn a blue long skirt with a purplish long-sleeved shirt. As for Fate, she wore a light-blue long-sleeved dress, which upon hindsight, was one of a few things she might've thought different when she compared to the dark pink, black and white attire. Her hair was styled different too; bluish green bows had tied up only a portion of her hair into tails while the rest flowed freely.
Not that this mattered to Fate at all. This memory was still precious to her because it reminded her of just how her mother used to be. The woman in mention was seated on her knees right next to a picnic basket. She appeared to be making some cute crown of sort with her hands. What drew the most amount of attention was that the woman had not a single hint of animosity, only kindness and gentleness that a mother could have when spending well-earned time with her child.
'Kaa-san… Yes, my kaa-san' Fate spoke of the woman in her thoughts in a reflective tone, 'She was always so tender… that was my kaa-san… the one who'd call my name so gently…'
"Nee, look! Isn't this really pretty?" Precia, as if on cue with the memory, presented to the girl who looked so much similar to Fate a crown of flowers. The mother's tone was so gentle, it was as if she loved this girl. There was one little oversight, the name Precia had said; "Alicia?"
'Alicia?' Fate paused with a startle. She was confused; that wasn't her name!, 'N-no.. Kaa-san.. My name is Fate..'
"Come closer" Precia held out her arms wide; inviting the girl into her embrace; again, the name was wrong for Fate, "Alicia"
To Fate's growing confusion; the girl who looked so much like her didn't pause. She didn't try to correct the woman; instead she leaned forward on her knees closer to the kind mother. Once in arms range, the woman kindly placed the cute crown of flowers on her daughter's head. Fate didn't know what to think, this was her memory, right? She certainly remembered everything; the cool breeze flowing through her hair, the crown of flowers placed on top of her head; everything.
"There, you are so cute.." Precia kindly serenaded the girl that was her daughter, "My lovely Alicia."
The beautiful Fate look-alike said little with that cute voice, but her smile spoke wonders. Happiness, this girl was almost in heaven as she giggled joyfully. The memory felt so right for Fate, even without the discrepancies.
-Flashback end-
[Uminari Seaside Park]
[Time: 5:59 AM]
[BGM: "Kinkyuu Jitai" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
'Well.. That's alright' Fate shrugged the memory's inconsistencies aside. With Bardiche, her ever so trusted device and partner, held in Scythe form; the blonde stared ahead at the white-clad girl that was her rival.
Determination was even further evident in those crimson eyes as the girl seemed to just do nothing for the moment. Her mind full of the more recent flashbacks of Arf and Precia while at the Garden of Time. Even though she was in apparent pain throughout all the recent memories; she still held love for that woman.
'Because I love my gentle kaa-san so much, I will…' The girl's thoughts trailed off as she took to the skies and readied herself in a battle-ready stance. This was one fight that she would give all that she had to.
[Opening: "Innocent Starter" Nana Mizuki]
Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar
Chapter 13
Memories That Lie Beyond Time
[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration L-Class Dimensional Cruise Vessel "Asura"]
[No BGM]
The Time-Space Administration should receive a ton of credit for their proactivity for the event such as what was about to happen on Earth. For the past few minutes prior to the meeting of Fate and Nanoha, a covert detachment of Bureau mages were sent down to the planet to set up Barriers and scrying sphere spells. They did more than just cover the park and the ocean bay; there was an older district next to the park that was also encased in the barrier. The district was rundown and abandoned for a long time anyway, and it would've been set for demolition.
The reason for this was to ensure that the two girls would have a lot of room to duke it out while at the same time keep civilians safe as they wouldn't be able to step into the barriers in the first place. For that same reason, the trio of Sonic, Yuuno and Arf were "led" away from the epicenter of the battle so that they wouldn't interfere.
Overlooking and reviewing the footage of the scrying sphere spells was Amy Limietta and Chrono Harlaown. As he watched the teen brunette sit down, the resident enforcer couldn't help but notice an ahoge of Amy's hair stick up from the back of her head like an antenna.
"Certainly looks like a battle has broken out" Amy commented, oblivious to the extra antenna of hair, "Good thing our crew spent a lot of time setting up Barrier"
"Yeah" Chrono, exercising plenty of willpower, let the extra antenna stand for another moment.
"But it is really unusual to allow that kind of a gamble" Amy said, once again as that little antenna of hair bounced almost as it if was alive, tempting the boy further to fix it.
"Well…" The boy started to say as he snuck what appeared to be a spray bottle into his right hand and started to shake it repeatedly, "It'd be best if Nanoha wins… but either way, it won't really matter in the grand scheme of things who falls first"
"While Nanoha-chan is buying us time during her match.." Amy turned a side-glance to the boy enforcer, not noticing that bottle in the right hand, "I was thinking that I should prepare the tracking system so we can see where the other girl will return to."
"I'm counting on you" The boy let the nuisance of hair tease him no more and sprayed a fluid from the apparent hairspray bottle on the ahoge of hair. Somehow having already snuck a brush into his left hand, Chrono ran the brush once downwards over the hair; not once did he allow his speech to leave the current train of thought, "Don't let her get away again."
"Of course! Leave it to me!" The girl turned to face the boy and look him square in the eyes; interrupting him before he could give a second thought of repeating the brushing motion. Perhaps that wasn't the wisest of ideas as that darn annoying ahoge sprung right back up again; this time noticeable by the girl, "Ara?"
"Ah…" The boy stared for a moment at the apparently semi-alive strand of hair. He attempted to reach out and help the brunette keep it in check but found himself blocked as the girl decided to use her own hands to stroke her hair and style the ahoge away.
[BGM: "Ketsudan no Toki" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
"Is it really okay not to tell Nanoha-chan?" the brunette asked in reference to another recent discovery that they had recently unearthed as early as this morning and withheld it from the girl in question, "About Precia Testarossa's family… and that accident."
"It'd be best if she wins on her own." Chrono approached the screen with the two girls featured begin their battle; a serious expression on the boy's face, "I don't want her to hesitate in the slightest right now."
[Earth]
[Uminari Seaside Park]
[Air Combat Zone]
[No BGM]
Meanwhile with said battle, Nanoha and Fate opened up with a round of high-speed physical clashes. The strategy behind their aerial clash was for either girl to gain an early advantage and create distance for the shooting spells. Simple, but effective if it worked for either girl; which, for Fate, she appeared to get that first advantage and knocked Nanoha downward. The white-clad mage only bounced once or twice off the water before regaining her flight stability, thankfully.
"Nanoha!" Yuuno, who had remained in ferret form for a moment or two, struggled to watch from the shared vantage point he had with Arf and Sonic. He had currently suffered a downside to his smaller form, he couldn't see much between the gated bars of the rooftop, "Damn, can't see that well."
"Shall I describe it to you, Tutorial Ferret?" Sonic, not one to let a chance of heckling the ferret boy slip by, turned to face the ferret with a grin, "Or would you like me to find you a box?"
"Heh heh heh heh!" Arf found that the lack of hands made it difficult to suppress her humor of the hedgehog's clever quip. For that, and many other reasons, the wolf changed her form to that of her wolf-woman self. Much better, now she had a better view of the action.
"I'm an idiot sometimes" The ferret boy, after allowing himself a moment of self-criticism, shifted to his human form and gripped the edge of the railing.
Arf and Yuuno continued to watch as Nanoha and Fate clashed in midair. There wasn't much that they could do; as it was a one-on-one match, there was a rule against outside interference. Despite that, they still couldn't help but feel for the girls as they watched.
[Battle: Nanoha Vs Fate]
[BGM: "Paradigm Shift" Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST]
Fate had initiated a chase of her white-clad rival. The pursuit took the two weaving between buildings and other obstacles. While Fate had the advantage of speed, Nanoha had advantage or two of her own in her flight control and strategic use of the buildings between the two.
"Photon Lancer!" Bardiche declared as soon as the two got to a straight-away in the pursuit. Within seconds of declaring so, a volley of lightning element lancers surrounded Fate's person; ready to fire. Unfortunately for Nanoha, she made the mistake of turning to face the black-clad blonde and gasped.
"Fire!" the girl shouted and sent the bolts on their way to the rival target. Fortunately Nanoha was lucky enough to swerve and avoid the majority of the shots and use the building up ahead of her as cover for the rest as she made an upward aerial climb.
Nanoha's fortune seemed to work in her favor again as the momentum from her aerial climb allowed her to get right behind Fate and initiate a pursuit of her own. If a pattern was to be followed, Nanoha probably would've used Fate's example and use a shooting volley of her own.
"Divine Shooter!" Sure enough, that was what Raising Heart had thought her master was going to do as well and a volley of the aforementioned shooter spell was already set up.
"Shoot!" the girl declared and sent the bullets at Fate. This was where her fortune ended as Fate was easily able to avoid the first volley.
An advantage that Fate had over Nanoha also included a bit of power as she was able to utilize Bardiche's scythe form and slash away another volley. There was a lone Divine Shooter round that remained from the volley, but Fate chose to ignore it and merely swerve to make it miss as she went to use Bardiche's scythe to engage in close combat with the white rival.
With as much effort that she could put out, Nanoha was able to intercept Fate's melee strike with a Round Shield spell. The girl must've known that Fate was going to ignore the last bullet because she was about to try and make the blonde pay for doing so. With Fate busying herself with Nanoha's barrier, the lone shooter round re-directed itself and went for a dead-straight charge for Fate's back.
"Thunder Bullet!" Unfortunately, as Bardiche's vocal declaration was of any clue, Fate was prepared for that.
"Fire!" With little delay between the declaration, Fate used her free left hand to pierce through Nanoha's Round Shield and impact the other girl point blank in the torso.
The impact served multiple purposes that Fate was trying to do. For one, she interrupted Nanoha's control of the lone Divine Shooter round, allowing herself to easily avoid the stray spell. At the same time, she used the impact to send the other girl on an uncontrolled crash course with an old building that was one of many obstacles. The impact had also generated a bright, yellowish explosion that came from the Thunder Bullet.
Believing that she had earned a moment or so to catch her breath, Fate ascended up to a rooftop within the barrier of the combat zone. Unfortunately for her, she was in for a major surprise when she found herself immediately soaring out of the way from a very powerful Divine Buster shot from the area that she had just knocked her rival to. The Buster may have just missed Fate, but it did take a small chunk from the rooftop she was just on, and that was just to show how close Nanoha was in targeting her.
'When we first met, she was just a novice with strong powers and little control… but now she's so different from before… so fast… and so strong' Fate couldn't help but feel impressed by the improvement of her own rival, 'If I hesitate again, I'll be beaten!'
Meanwhile, from Nanoha's perspective, she took that last spell from Fate rather well if she was still able to pull off a Divine Buster in that short amount of time. However, while she was more-or-less surprised by the Thunder Bullet spell; that still didn't mean that she was off the hook. She had her own luck, but it wasn't going to help her much longer.
"She is more advanced than you" Raising Heart cautioned her master from the naïve thought of underestimating the difficulty of the battle, "You won't beat her easily"
"We're using all of the wisdom and tactics that we have, but we have a trump card or two of our own" Nanoha said to the wise device; she wasn't about to stray from her own course, "All we have to do is hit her with all that we have, right?"
"All right!" It may have taken Raising Heart a bit of a pregnant pause or two to respond, but she was in agreement with her master, "Master!"
[POV Shift: Observing trio]
Meanwhile with the observant trio from the rooftop, many of their senses were at work. They could see the girls clash in air and hear the occasional trading of spells. If there was anything off about the scene, it would've been an odd smell. A smell of, butter and salt had confused the two, and it was joined by the sounds of munching to Arf's right and sure enough, she turned in that direction and almost gawked.
While their masters were out clashing against one another in a duel within the barrier; Arf's counterpart was eating popcorn. And to add to that, Sonic appeared to have brought way too much for him as the tub of freshly popped corn almost was as big as the hedgehog!
"Really?!" Arf stared at her familiar counterpart in exasperation; her hands were settled at her hips to match that exasperated body language.
"What?" Sonic countered with a shrug of his left shoulder and a munching of popcorn from his right.
"Your master's out there risking her lift in this all-or-nothing duel" Yuuno was almost in full-on rant mode himself, "And you're just standing there, eating popcorn?!"
"Why not?" the blue hedgehog shrugged and argued his reasoning, "For one: It's not like we can help them anyways, we're not allowed to. For two: I'm not content to just sit on my tail and watch. Three: How often do we get to see a great show like this? The action's getting good!"
"Ah.." Arf was actually stumped. Her counterpart actually brought a few fair points to the argument. They weren't allowed to interfere in the fight, and it's difficult to just stand and watch. On another note, that fresh scent of butter and salt was just too inviting for her and she held out her hand in hopes that her counterpart would share, "Care to share?"
"Huh?!" Yuuno gawked at Arf as he watched Sonic pass some over to the wolf with an obvious smirk on his face, "Arf-san too?!"
"Just give up.." Sonic shrugged, "I made too much for me, so someone's gotta help me make sure it doesn't go to waste"
"Fine… but don't expect me to like it" the ferret boy grumbled but relented to take his own handful of that freshly popped goodness. After tasting the corn, the ferret found the need to rethink his thoughts, "I take that back.."
"Thought you would" the hedgehog grinned and continued to multi-task in eating and watching the great battle.
[POV: Battle]
[BGM: "Crimson Blitz" Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII OST]
Whether they were aware of their familiar's snacking over their battle, which was doubtful, the girls continued their epic aerial battle of magic power and strategy. It was no secret that Fate had the advantage of advancement, power and experience over Nanoha, but that didn't mean that the battle was any easier. Nanoha made that fact for certain as she initiated a pursuit with Fate again.
Nanoha had opted to chase Fate for a multiple of reasons including the need to keep some pressure on the blonde. She did that in the form of mixing a volley of Divine Shooter rounds and sending them off to chase the girl. Fate, of course, used her speed and agility to easily avoid the majority of shots and the buildings to intercept the rest.
Fate had just as quickly run out of patience in being on the wrong end of the aerial chicken dogfight. With her speed and power, she once again forced Nanoha to engage in the high-speed melee clash again. Tactics changed for her again as she engaged in more shooting and melee mixed combat.
[Dimensional Space]
[Garden of Time]
[No BGM]
The Time-Space Administration wasn't the only party interested in the results from the clash of Nanoha and Fate. Precia had also watched the duel from her own scrying methods inside of the Garden of Time's throne room. She watched Fate and glanced back to the portrait that she had of when her daughter was a mere 5 year old.
Upon reflection of her current actions, not even Precia could doubt the pain that she had caused the poor girl, in spite of the hard effort she was given in return. In the back of her mind, memories continued to haunt her conscious. The pain that she caused was hard for even her to justify, yet she couldn't deny it.
[Earth]
[Uminari Seaside Park]
[Air Combat Zone: within the barrier]
[No BGM]
The memories of that accident were brought up to Fate's mind as she continued to fight. She remembered the bright yellow light from her mother's lab and her loss of consciousness. She remembered waking up in, what her time would've been, a few days, but her mother explaining it to be far longer than that. The kind, gentle Precia carried little Fate to her new room. She had promised to take the girl on a picnic or to the amusement park after the experiment. Fate clearly remembered comforting her mother with her lead, right, hand; shocking the woman for a moment. And there it was again, the name..
"Alicia…" Fate spoke softly, so soft that her rival was unable to hear her, 'N-no! My name is Fate!'
'Not this again!' the blonde shook off the repeated mention of "Alicia" in the memories of her mother. Name inconsistencies or not, she was still determined to win this battle and return to her Mother. Return the mother to the kind, gentle mother she used to be.
[BGM: "World's Collide" Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST]
Fate soon created separation from herself and Nanoha once again, this time she had a trick or two up her sleeve to try out. This was going to be it for her; her trump card of a spell. Focusing her power, she quickly generated as many lightning elemental lancers that she could come up with in one go, which were apparently upon the dozens. As Nanoha was taken by surprise from the sudden action, Fate capitalized on the girl's emotion and trapped her in place with binding spells of the lightning element
[POV Shift: Observing trio]
"That's a trap-type bind…" Yuuno noted in observation and noted the actions from Fate's side, "And… isn't that?"
"Fate!" Arf noticed it too.
"That's a lot of lightning bolt things…" Sonic dropped the tub of popcorn; eh he wouldn't mind the loss anyway on hindsight; too much butter and salt. His focus was on the white-clad girl that was his master. He quickly noted the tightening of the girl's grip and Raising Heart's pinkish glow, "Heh… doesn't look like she's worried about it…"
[POV Shift: Battle]
Lightning sparkled between the dozens of lancers on Fate's side of the battle. One of the many testaments and example of her pure power was the fact that she apparently didn't wince a bit from the output. No question about it, however, this spell was going to be all-or-nothing for the girl.
"Phalanx…" The girl softly declared as she raised Bardiche up high. Her soft voice and tone instantly raised in volume as she shouted "Smash her to pieces!"
Upon such a loud declaration, Fate unleashed her powerful Phalanx Shift of the Photon Lancer. The bolts rushed for Nanoha at a rapid pace that, combined with the bindings on said girl's person, would be sure for a direct hit. They were, if Nanoha's grunts from her bracing for impact were any indication. However, if there was one downside to the rapid-fire volley Fate was aware of, it was that not all of the numerous bolts would hit her target. She was well set up for that as well. She prepared to end the volley wave with one last finishing blow. The girl held up her left hand she combined the excess spheres from the phalanx shift into one large lancer.
"Spark.." Fate began the aria and threw the last lancer at the girl, "End"
The resulting impact created a huge explosion that, if not for the convenient location above the water, it might've caught a good portion of the town in its wake too. If any damage to property was done, it was to the long-forgotten buildings and ruins of said buildings. Thankfully, no civilians, they were more important, besides buildings can be rebuilt.
Once her spell was complete, Fate allowed herself to take yet another long and deep breath while Bardiche let out an excess of steam from the output. The girl continued to just float in mid-air and breathe; her exhaustion plainly evident from the workload she just put out. Her eyes were locked at the dust that her target was in; waiting to see the result of her metaphorical "home run ball".
The dust settled to reveal, to the surprise of all with the exception of a certain blue hedgehog, Nanoha; alive, conscious and, with the exception of her Barrier Jacket sporting a few cuts and marks here and there and the most damage to the left sleeve of said jacket, unharmed. Looks like Fate's home-run attempt was just short of the metaphorical wall.
"Can you move, Master?" Raising Heart queried to her master
"I'm good to go" Nanoha confirmed, holding out the aforementioned device in her left hand, "Raising Heart"
"Cannon Mode!" The device declared and once again shifted to the combined bombardment and sealing form mix.
[POV Shift: Observing trio]
[No BGM]
"HA HA HA! I KNEW IT!" Sonic was literally jumping for joy and had apparently, somehow changed outfits to a cheerleader outfit; skirt, shirt and all, themed to the pink, white, red and yellow tint colors of Nanoha, "I knew she was going to be fine!"
"This from the boy who accidentally dropped his popcorn before we could eat half" Arf commented off-handedly; and then nearly face-faulted when she noticed the choice of attire that Sonic somehow managed to dress himself in; "C-cheerleader?! How the?"
"Don't ask" Yuuno sighed in exasperation, knowing that with the hedgehog's predictability being comparable to a roulette table, "Just go with it"
"Actually…" Arf had taken a second look, noting that with the hedgehog's short size, hedgehog-like quills and spikes, he didn't look too bad; "He actually makes that outfit look cute"
"Let's go Nanoha! Let's go!" Unpredictable or not, Sonic showed how much he supported his slightly older sister figure with his enthusiastic cheering. He even went so far as to carry pinkish pom-poms that he somehow brought out of nowhere. Even on hindsight, he probably wouldn't regret or feel any embarrassment for the outfit; he wanted to support his master/friend/sister, "Go! Go! Nanoha!"
[POV Shift: Battle]
[BGM: "Crimson Blitz/Blinded by Light" Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII OST]
Unfortunately for Fate, she had her chance for the home run ball and came up short; now it was her rival's chance for such a feat. There wasn't much she could do for that matter either as the blonde girl suddenly found her hands and feet bound in place by wheels of pink mana. Nanoha's go-to binding spell, the Restrict Lock, had helped her against many Jewel Seed beasts and it once again helped her in this battle.
"A bind… but when… H-huh!" Fate had to check her own short term memory to figure out when Nanoha was able to set up such a feat as a delayed binding spell. It didn't take her long to realize it was when she, herself, was setting up the Phalanx Shift Photon Lancer. Had she been paying more attention, she might've noticed a flash of pink between her feet when she raised Bardiche up to send off the Phalanx Shift.
Unfortunately for her, she didn't, and she found herself on the targeting end of Nanoha's other go-to bombardment sealing spell, the Divine Buster. The familiar orb of pink magic energy was generated at the tip of Raising Heart's Cannon Mode.
"Divine…" Target locked on and confirmed, Nanoha had the poor Fate dead-set in her sights, "Buster!"
With only a slight tug of Raising Heart's trigger to signify her action, Nanoha fired the Divine Buster at Fate. Fortunately for Fate, the firing of said spell had cancelled the bindings on Fate's arms. That action allowed the girl to try and intercept the Buster with a Round Shield spell of her own.
"She should be at her limit too… I should be able to endure this!" Fate thought out loud as she tried to hold off the Buster with her gloved left hand and Round Shield. She knew the reasons why she could've held off the Buster as well. Having a Familiar or not, her rival still wouldn't be able to match her in terms of power and experience. That and the girl had to fight off the spell that she had just pulled off.
It came at a cost of most of her left glove and the cloak on her back, but Fate was able to outlast the Buster. The girl allowed herself to sigh in relief, but found it short-lived as she could feel a strange, almost uplifting feeling from the magic around her. It was almost as if the magic energy from the environment was being drawn upward and into the sky.
A pink light from a higher altitude and a look upward confirmed that detail. Way up high into the clouds, Nanoha floated in place, at the tip of Raising Heart was yet again another orb of pink mana, only this one seemed to be growing even further in size as she was drawing power.
[BGM Insert: "Tsudoe, Hoshi no Kagayaki ~Starlight Breaker~" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the MOVIE 1ST OST]
"Starlight Breaker" Raising Heart chimed out the declaration of this new spell, or was it a new spell? It gathered energy at the tip like the Divine Buster, but it held a different name for a reason.
"Collect the unused magic that we've scattered around and bring it all together." Nanoha said as a large, circular ring of pink magic energy surrounded a wide radius around the orb of which the magic energy was being gathered up. It was purely awe-inspiring; this girl was literally drawing all of the excess energy from the battle; the same energy that might've been overlooked as just leftover energy from their high-powered duel. The overall area was saturated with the magic, so it was a lot to gather.
"A magical focused attack…" Fate was left in awe and she couldn't help but stare at the feat
"This is my final ace in the hole…" with a flick of her device, Nanoha manipulated the gathered magic orb to increase in size until it was almost 2/3 of the actual diameter of the pink ring surrounding the energy orb, "Raising Heart's "wisdom and tactics"!"
Like a heart that was beating, the gathered magic seemed to thump as it almost bounced off the ring that was able to hold it in place. One could almost feel the magic in the air as the magical energy was almost anxious to be released.
"Try this on for size." Nanoha declared as she pointed the tip of Raising Heart at the center of the orb, but didn't make any physical contact with it just yet, "This is all that I have! Zeryoku Zenkai!"
For Fate, it was a lose-lose; there was no way she could interrupt the spell this late in its preparation; and there was no way she'd be able to cover enough ground even with the speed of her flight to avoid the spell's bombardment range of effect. That didn't mean that she was about to take the spell like a sitting duck, however. In a last ditch effort of defense, the girl sent out a string of magical shields of her lightning element.
"Starlight Breaker!" Nanoha declared and finally struck the massive orb of power. The orb itself exploded and unleashed a powerful bombardment beam in that pink hue. As the blast blocked her line of sight, the girl couldn't see so much, not that she needed to.
The Starlight Breaker had engulfed almost the entire battlefield inside the barrier in the pink light. The only thing that anyone might've seen from the outside was the small string of shield spells that, for maybe a second or two, kept Fate from harm. However, those shields stood absolutely no chance from the sheer force of power coming from the Starlight Breaker; and Fate found herself seeing pink in no time and fell victim to the almighty blast.
[No BGM]
The explosions from the Breaker did plenty more than just affect the oceanic battlefield. They blew up debris, rock and etcetera; anything that had the misfortune of being between the bombardment spell and the barrier that the Time-Space Administration mages spent so much work in setting up.
When her spell had run its course and the metaphorical dust settled, Nanoha took a huge breath and could feel almost exhausted as Raising Heart let out excess steam that the device built up from the massive spell. Despite her own moment of exhaustion, there was one thing, or person, that Nanoha was worried about, her rival. She could see what appeared to be an unconscious body of black, pink and yellowish blonde, fall down into the water.
"Fate-chan!" Nanoha shouted as she rapidly descended into the ocean and quickly caught her unconscious rival in a, perhaps fittingly so, heroic bridal carry.
With her load safely in hand, the white-clad brunette soared up onto a nearby shoreline. Once safely out of the water, Nanoha laid Fate down on her back and patiently waited for her to regain consciousness. There was little delay as the blonde girl had slowly regained her senses and consciousness. A small watery cough was the only clue Nanoha would need.
"Huh.." Slowly, but surely, Fate opened her eyes; her crimson eyes locked on with the purplish blues of Nanoha. That was one of the few clues that the girl needed to know what had just happened; she had lost, fair and square.
"I'm sorry… Are you alright?" Nanoha asked softly and apologetically, her primary concern was the condition of her rival as she helped the blonde sit up, "Can you stand?"
Silence, Fate didn't say a word as she just floated. What could she have said anyway? She lost to a novice. A fight that she should've won, but she didn't. All of her memory and determination, and she came up short? Her mother would not be pleased.
[Dimensional Space]
[Garden of Time]
[No BGM]
Precia had seen enough; she had seen the entire battle from start to end. Fate had disappointed her once more. There was no question in the woman's mind that could deny Fate's hard work and her best effort. The reality of the matter, however, was the results; and there was no fruit to Fate's labor.
"That's enough. Fate…" Precia stood up and walked to the center of the large throne room, "I'm done with you"
Once again, the woman had opted to take matters into her own hands. She'd be the first to say, however, that she wished the results were different. Self-preservation was among a few of the reasons behind that chain of thought as she had to focus her power into another dimensional attack.
[Earth]
[Uminari Seaside Park]
[POV: Observing trio]
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" Final Fantasy X OST Remaster]
2 Familiars and one Tutorial Ferret boy were among the first to notice the sudden forecast change as the clouds rolled in to cover the early-morning sun in a dark wisp. Another storm was brewing; another unnatural and uncalled for storm. The foreboding feeling alone from the clouds was drastically noticeable.
"I can feel magic in the clouds.." Yuuno said with a slight gulp
"Precia…" Arf needed only one guess to figure out who was behind this storm, "That woman…"
"This wasn't in the forecast" Sonic added with a smile that took a lot of effort to force out, "And I didn't bring my umbrella.."
[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration L-class Dimensional Cruise Vessel "Asura"]
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" Final Fantasy X OST Remaster]
To say that the sensors of the Asura lit up like a Christmas tree wouldn't have been an over exaggeration at this point; because the upcoming storm of magic had once again wreaked havoc to the ship and her crew once again.
"Photonic magic detected!" Amy declared as her computer made the alert and connection to the familiar foe in record time, "It has the same wavelength as Precia Testarossa!
"Incoming dimensional strike on the combat zone!" the teen wasted no time in alerting the group of civilian assistants on the ground, "Nanoha-chan, Sonic-kun, Yuuno-kun."
[Earth]
[Uminari Seaside Park]
[Air Combat Zone]
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" Final Fantasy X OST Remaster]
The familiar bolts of purplish lightning struck the seaside park and the combat zone within. The magical storm of Precia Testarossa's wrath had come to strike yet again. The storm made the whole area unsafe, including the little rooftop vantage point of the familiars and Tutorial Ferret.
"We have about two seconds to bail here, guys!" Sonic was the first to take to the skies after he shifted to his Barrier Jacket in record time, "To the skies!"
"You don't need to tell me what to do!" Arf, for lack of the better verb, barked at the hedgehog counterpart but nevertheless, she didn't need to be told twice and was able to escape before any lightning could strike their location.
"Oy, wait up!" Yuuno was the lone straggler and he managed to take flight of his own just before he could've been grazed, let alone hit by the lightning.
Nanoha couldn't do much for the moment as she watched Fate seemed to show little reaction of surprise to the sudden storm. But if that lone feeling deep in the back of her mind was correct, the storm wasn't about to let Fate go without striking her.
"Fate-chan!" the brunette tried to call after her rival and take flight to stop her from being struck like before.
"Kaa-san…" the blonde looked up to the eye of the storm and watched the magical lightning flash about. Sure enough, like last time, she was engulfed by a flash of purple light and fell victim to the powerful lightning storm.
"Fate-chan!" Nanoha had tried to grab the girl with as momentum that she could gather, but alas it was in vain as she took another shockwave blow and was forced back, "Aaah!"
Ever the persistent one, however, Nanoha boosted her flight speed via magic and was able to catch Fate in the bridal-style carry just before the poor, barely conscious girl could've landed in the lightning conducted drink.
The nine Jewel Seeds, the very same ones that Fate had wagered in her bet; were instantly caught up in the storm and brought back to Precia's lair.
[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration L-class Dimensional Cruise Vessel "Asura"]
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" Final Fantasy X OST Remaster]
"I've determined the origin of the magical energy!" Amy Limietta was quick to calculate and back trace the source of the magic behind the dimension hopping storm, "Spatial coordinates… confirmed!"
"Transfer coordinates set" informed one uniformed tech from the cockpit of the cruise patrol warship.
"Infiltration unit, move out through the transfer port." Admiral Lindy's orders were swift and just. She was not about to let Precia get away with another dimensional disturbance this time around.
"Your mission is to take Precia Testarossa into custody" the woman's voice was heard through the sound system of the ship, well into the dimensional gate launch pad; where there was already a group of battle-hardened mages ready to go.
[Dimensional Space]
[Garden of Time]
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" Final Fantasy X OST Remaster]
"Intruders detected!" The Garden of Time's security system was quick to detect the sudden influx of Bureau mages intruding on the premises, "Many intruders are in the garden!"
Precia was overtaken by another bloody coughing fit. She knew full well that it was the price to pay for her workload in the spell she had just cast. However, she was not about to throw in the towel and give in so easily with the
"It's… not over yet…" the woman, despite struggling slightly to do so, stood up and wiped the blood from her lips. Despite her struggles, she was still able to limp her way back onto her almighty throne, "I have to keep my promise to my daughter…"
[Dimensional Space]
[Time-Space Administration L-class Dimensional Cruise Vessel "Asura"]
[No BGM]
With multiple devices, plus a scrying sphere spell cast to record the live feed of action; Lindy was able to receive live reports of her infiltration team's progress into the Garden of Time. From their report, they had just secured the first platoon entrance.
The door to the cockpit berth opening clued the woman to stand and approach the group of five that had just arrived from Earth. With civilian clothes for all except Fate, who was dressed in a simple pair of sweats and silver handcuffs on her wrists; Nanoha, Sonic, Yuuno, and Arf had brought Fate to see the Admiral.
"Good job everyone." Lindy had no shortage of positives to say for her helpers. Really, she was growing to like the trio with every day. The woman was not about to be rude to her new guest either for that matter as she addressed Fate with a kind, but polite tone, "And it's finally nice to meet you, Fate-san."
Fate had nothing to say once again, merely looking down at the slightly cracked surface of Bardiche's standby mode. Her silence was mirrored with Arf's own silence. Neither of the two had much to say; given the circumstances, it was hard to blame them.
"It'd be unbearable for her to watch her mother's capture" Lindy turned to face the viewing screens once again, kindly sending a request to Nanoha in mindspeak in the process, 'Nanoha-san, please take her to a different room."
"Hai!" Nanoha complied and gestured to the blonde in her light grasp, "Fate-chan, if you'd like. I can take you to my room…"
Fate's silent refusal came as she slowly approached the viewing screens, recognizing the location of where the dispatched group of mages had successfully advanced to. It was almost too easy if some were to think of it in one way, nevertheless, the target had been found.
There she was, Precia Testarossa, seated almost casually in her chair. She was leaning slightly onto the right of said chair and might've been expecting the group of mages. Was she really about to let them take her in so easily, or was it just a ploy to lure them into a false sense of security.
"Precia Testarossa" the male officer mage in charge of the group addressed the woman with a large audience onboard the Asura watching closely, "You are under arrest for violations of Time-Space Administration Law, as we have suspicion of attacks against Administration Bureau vessels."
The woman under apparent arrest appeared almost bored of overly formal tone that the Bureau mage took in addressing her. The only sign that she had shown any emotion was when a small detachment of mages separated from the main group and rounded past her chair and into the hallway behind her.
The mages stumbled upon what appeared to be an old lab with test tubes and such. That wasn't the true shocker for the group and the audience on the ship. The biggest surprise laid right in the middle of the lab, and it was on full display for all to see. Nanoha and Sonic were shocked instantly.
Floating in a chamber of strange liquid and kept in almost pristine condition was what appeared to be another Fate? The girl looked so much like Fate-chan; same body, same hue of hair, if there was ever a difference between this girl and Fate, it would've been the lack of cuts or scars on her body, because her skin was void of blemishes and the like. Needless to say, Fate was shocked speechless.
"What the…." One mage in the laboratory room tried to identify the presence of the girl, but found his voice suddenly halted as he was grappled and thrown aside by Precia.
"Don't you dare come near my Alicia!" The woman said to the mages in a cold, but protective tone and with nary a second thought to her mind; she unleashed a powerful lightning spell and struck down several of the mages at once.
"Alicia?" Fate said slowly, recognizing that name once again. The same name that her own mother had called her in her memories.
"I don't know if we'll ever be able to reach Al Hazard with just nine Jewel Seeds" Precia spoke to the glass almost as if she was trying to talk to the apparently lifeless girl floating inside it, "But it's fine… I'm going to end this.
"I'm done with this time I've spent since I lost her…" Precia continued on, and either by accident or purposefully, let one more confusing bombshell drop, "And I'm done treating the puppet I made to replace her like a daughter"
Fate was absolutely startled once again. A puppet? Was that what she was? A puppet? But how; wasn't she Precia's daughter? She had all of her memories and remembered them like they were yesterday. But to find out from the mouth of the woman herself that she was just a puppet? It was unbelievable.
"Are you listening?" Precia's question was directed at Fate, almost as if she knew that the aforementioned girl was inside the room watching it all happen, "I'm talking about you, Fate.
"I went to all of the trouble of giving you her memories... but you are only identical to her on the outside." The woman offered a simple explanation that should've been easy for Fate to understand, the memories were just a gift in her creation, "You're useless and utterly worthless, my little doll."
"At the time of the first accident," Amy Limietta couldn't help but let a few tears escape her eyes as she offered the official explanation that she had unearthed. As helpful knowledge can be, it can also hurt, "Precia lost her biological daughter, Alicia Testarossa.
"There was a magic reactor meltdown caused by lapses in safety management and Alicia was caught in the blast." Amy continued on, reporting the results of her research with a heavy heart, "Or so it was apparent. Alicia's body wasn't found in the wreckage of the home. The Bureau investigated for all that they could, but had to presume the girl dead.
"Ever since then…" the girl went on about what Precia's new goals were and how they were linked to Fate in particular, "Precia's research has focused on the creation of artificial life, more advanced than that of Familiars.
"The name "Fate" came from the name of the research project that she had spearheaded" Despite the shocking truth that the revelations brought up, the report seemingly did not have an end, "The cloning technology used in Project Fate had also included a transcription of memories."
"That's right… That's exactly right…" Precia confirmed the truthfulness of everything that the brunette teen had reported, "But, it never helped bring back what I lost. Imitation life is just that. An imitation.
"Alicia was much kinder than you when she smiled." Precia turned to face the scrying screen and addressed Fate directly once more. Her attitude may have started to annoy one particular member with Fate, but it wasn't like she cared, "She was selfish too, but she always did as she was told"
"Stop it…" Nanoha tried to plead while her familiar's annoyance over the woman's tone seemed to grow. It took all of Nanoha's own willpower to keep Sonic's temper in check, but she knew that it was only a few ticks away from going off.
"Alicia was always so kind to me" Precia spoke almost lovingly and desperate about the girl behind the glass. She dropped another bombshell and said the words that would probably break poor Fate's heart, "Fate… you aren't my daughter. You're just a failure of mine. I don't need you anymore. Go wherever you want and get out of my sight!"
"Onegai!" Nanoha tried to plead with the woman to stop such saying vile and cruel words to a young confused girl while poor Fate looked just like her heart was just broken. As Nanoha pleaded, Sonic's temper had reached the metaphorical strike two, "Stop it already!"
"I'll let you in on a little secret, Fate." Precia either had finally given way to her insanity or found that she hadn't hurt the girl enough mentally to go with the physical scars, "Ever since I created you, I have always hated you."
That was it, Fate's heart had been broken. With a sudden gasp of surprise and shock, she had dropped Bardiche from her right palm. The yellow tringle gem that was Fate's lifelong partner and device seemed to fully represent Fate's own state perfectly as the front shattered into pieces. Fate's own consciousness was shattered as well as the girl lost any life to her eyes and fainted on the spot.
"Fate-chan!" Nanoha was quick to catch the girl before her body could've taken any more damage. It took her a lot of her own emotional strain to do so, but the girl was able to keep her familiar from losing his cool; instead she made him focus on a more pressing matter; Fate-chan's life.
"This is bad! Look at this!" Amy suddenly reported the numerous amounts of dimensional disturbances from the Garden of Time, "I'm detecting several magical signatures within Precia's compound!"
The activity from the signatures turned out to be a sudden mass influx of mechanical armored soldiers each being summoned by Precia's own magic. Everyone watched in shock, even Sonic, who had his share of robotic encounters. The blue hedgehog had seen robots based on animals and contraptions, but nothing like mechanized soldiers that Precia had conjured.
"All magical signatures are above the class A rank" a tech informed as he tried to isolate the number of signatures detected, "Sixty… eighty! And they're still going up!"
"Precia Testarossa!" Admiral Lindy had finally broken her own silence and addressed the not-so-kind woman herself, "What in the world are you up to?"
"We're setting out on a journey… a journey to Al Hazard!" the woman might've had a slight insane twitch of her eye or both as she released the capsule, which contained her apparently real biological daughter, from the containment field and levitated it back to the Throne Room, where the nine Jewel Seeds that Fate had collected for her floated in place.
"I'm going to use this power to make the trip and take everything I lost back!" The woman declared her plans for all to hear, "And I don't want anyone to interfere with my plan!"
With her own power, the woman forced the activation of the nine Jewel Seeds. If one was enough to cause a dimensional disturbance, then even a fraction of the 21 seeds collected were for sure about to cause a few quakes of their own. Needless to say, the Asura's sensors and alarms went haywire. Forget Christmas, this was a huge enough of a chain reaction to make Chernobyl look like a picnic!
"It's a dimensional quake!" Lindy was the first to shout out her orders to the crew, "Activate the dampeners!"
"The nine Jewel Seeds have activated and are getting stronger!" a sandy brown-haired man with glasses befitting a tech persona informed the admiral.
"Maintain transfer distance" The admiral's own level-headedness was put to the ultimate test with this major crisis, yet she held her own, "But maneuver evasively if you detect any feedback!"
"Understood!" The rest of whatever the technical staff had to say was lost on Nanoha and Sonic as their concern was for Fate. Almost for dear life and much like a friend should do, Nanoha held onto Fate in a tight hug while Sonic made it a group hug by almost clinging to Nanoha with Arf joining right in. Under different circumstances, this would've been a cute picturesque moment, but not now.
Chrono Harlaown sprinted down the hallways of the mighty warship, hoping to reach the gates and get himself down there to the Garden of Time. His storage device, the mechanical S2U held in device form in his right hand's grasp; the enforcer knew what he had to do and was willing to sacrifice his life to stop the woman.
'The ancient land of forbidden technologies and magicks, Al Hazard' the boy thought back to all that he had heard about the mysterious land from what he had gathered in the historical texts, 'Does she really think she can recover what she lost there?!'
Precia's cackling madwoman laugh echoed not only throughout the Garden of Time, but also through the v berth cockpit of the Asura. Needless to say, it rubbed a particular blue hedgehog the wrong way, but no matter how much he wanted to; Sonic was not about to do anything just yet. At least, not until his sister and master had run out of her own patience.
The girl in question knew what she had to do, that determined look on those purplish blue eyes stared right into the light-green eyes of her hedgehog brother and Familiar. Knowing what she was about to do next, Sonic stood up and let Nanoha do so right in front of him.
"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" the brunette sent the question to the blue hedgehog, already knowing full well the answer.
"Game on?" the blue hedgehog offered with a slight smirk of excitement.
Either her familiar was rubbing off on her, or its was truly how Nanoha felt as she matched Sonic's smirk with one of her own; and she still never lost that cuteness in her face as a bonus. All that was left for her to do was to answer her familiar's own question.
"Game on"
[To be continued!]
[Ending: "Little Wish ~Lyrical Step" Yukari Tamura]
[End of Chapter 13]
Author's notes: Oh… my GOSH! I really think I outdid myself with this chapter! My goodness, I have never felt so confident about my work like this before. I really think I hit the nail hard on the head because of what I did for this chapter. Not only did I use footage from the original series episode this was based on, but I mixed it with what the actual 1ST MOVIE had used. Regardless, I have to say… I could go over this part of the Nanoha story as many times or as many ways that I can, but I still can't get over Fate.
For those who don't know, Project Fate was known in the Nanoha-verse canon as being an illegal project used to create artificial mages and forms of life with only the blood or DNA of an original copy to use as a base. Fate was arguably the first "real" success of said project as she was a clone of Alicia Testarossa. However, despite the perfect memories and the nearly flawless likeness that Fate held resemblance to Alicia. There was one little detail that painfully reminded Precia of just how close she came to the perceived failure. Alicia was left-handed; Fate is right-handed. And at the time Fate woke up, that was the only difference between her and Alicia.
Now, if some of you may note, I left a little hint or two in the dialogues from this chapter. One is the humorous reference to a movie, while the other is a bit of a bombshell within a bombshell plot twist. Can anyone find it? Go on; give it your best shot. Reviews, comments, what have you.. lets' put your mind to work and find the little references and stealthy bombshells in this chapter's dialogue.