SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in the second part of the Little Planet arc. The first part went well; I was kinda worried it would look too much like my Night Sky version, thankfully it didn't. Let's keep that trend going in this chapter.
[Little Planet: "Collision Chaos" Zone]
[Local time: 0835 hours]
[No BGM]
After the addition of Alicia Testarossa to the party on Little Planet, the kids plus hedgehog and wolf familiars spent a good portion of around 10 minutes trading stories. As promised, Alicia would talk about how she ended up on Little Planet. Fate, albeit with a lot of understandable reluctance, had somehow managed to talk about her backstory, although she felt extremely self-conscious afterwards. Nanoha and Sonic had talked briefly about the Jewel Seed incident that brought them all together.
For Alicia, she had disclosed a brief retelling of how she ended up on Little Planet. As it turned out, just as the explosion from her mother's lab had engulfed the house, Alicia was caught up in a time warp of sorts and had woken up in the Palmtree Panic zone. At first, she was scared and understandably so, but as time went on for her she adapted to the new world's lifestyle and had taken to calling it her home.
Along the way, she had self-taught all of the spells she could think of and inherited from her family. She had utilized the technology of a zone known as the Wacky Workbench (in which she had promised to show them along their trip) to create a device, to which she gave the name "Lucky Star". Her drawback, though, was in her adaptation, she had trained herself in magic, but lacked any formal way of instruction that Fate had, so she was barely any better than Nanoha in that regard.
As she had finished her story first, she kept silent to listen to the tale of Nanoha, Sonic and how they got caught up in the Jewel Seed incident. In all honesty, she held nothing but respect for the white-clad girl and her familiar, and it wasn't just for the effort they had taken to reach out to their rivals. She admired their resolve and refusal to give in when others might've thrown in the towel. Their personalities, despite being so different, were so much alike in the way of morals. Alicia also couldn't stop herself from giggling at the cute moments the pair had made; from Sonic's reaction to his technical older sister embarrassing him to Nanoha's attempts of sneaking glances at Fate.
Speaking of Fate, Alicia had felt there was a reason why her new little sister was the last to recount her story. After hearing the story of her "clone", she couldn't blame her. She was also skeptical at first, but understandably so. It was only the agreeing nods from the other three that had cemented the truthfulness of Fate's story. Still, that didn't mean Alicia had liked the story,
"So let me get this straight." The smaller blonde stated, getting a slight headache from the massive amounts of info she was getting. "Fate is actually a "clone" of me, and was used to collect these Lost Logia known as "Jewel Seeds" in order to get to Al Hazard; and all of this was just because Mother couldn't get over my apparent death?"
"Yeah…" Fate was the first to speak in confirmation; her soft voice was backed up by the nods of the other three, "I understand if you don't want to believe me. You're hearing about your mother in a negative light."
"Our mother can be an idiot sometimes" The way that Alicia pluralized the possession was missed by Fate, but caught by the latter trio of the group, "Slow to catch onto things, I bet it's only recently that she remembered her promise."
"Promise?" the taller blonde queried, she could briefly remember the idea of one from the cloned memories, but they were still all jumbled up and a tad unreliable.
"Before the accident, she had asked me what my birthday wish was" Alicia could still fondly recall that specific memory, the peaceful picnic, "I embarrassed her by asking for a little sister"
Sonic, Nanoha and Arf were completely surprised by that sudden revelation. Fate, on the other hand, was confused and fearful. Confused because of the uncertainty behind that reveal, and fearful for being rejected; the confusion was recent, but the fear was present since she first saw Alicia.
"I'm going to have a little word with our Mother the next time I see her, if only to knock some sense into her, but there is one thing I'm grateful for." Without missing a beat, Alicia once again tackle-hugged the taller blonde and clung to her, "She gave me the most adorable little sister I could ask for!"
"Huh?" Fate was even more confused and even more self-conscious, "Y-you don't mind that I'm a clone? And a fai-"
"Finish that sentence and I'll introduce you to the Paper Fan Slash" Alicia quickly interjected, her left hand, which was caressing her taller clone's back, had brandished the aforementioned paper fan, "I don't care if you're my clone. I said I will make you my little sister, and I will."
"Ah…" more stunned silence from Fate. Her surprised face turned an even cuter shade of pink when the smaller blonde decided to have a little fun and chaste kissed her on the cheek. Eventually, Fate settled for a small "Thank you…"
"Anyways, it's time to get back to saving the world and stuff" Alicia, surprising everyone again, swung her mood from the caring to the energetically cheerful, "Follow me everyone"
With barely a minute to allow the statement to settle in, the others took note that Alicia was almost out of sight before they ran on ahead to catch up. Needless to say, the current adventure had taken an interesting twist.
[OP: "Innocent Starter" Nana Mizuki]
Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar
Chapter 18
From a Tutorial in Chaos to Roll Tide
[Little Planet: Collision Chaos]
[BGM: "Collision Chaos ~Present" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
"Alright, everyone; this is the start of our adventure!" Alicia's enthusiasm was enough to brighten up the atmosphere, not that much of it was needed, "But first, I will go under the assumption that none of you know how this place works, so it falls to yours truly to give out a Tutorial"
"Tutorial…" Sonic giggled a little in amusement, a feeling that was shared by his attached mage.
"Am I missing something here?" Alicia, knowing an inside joke when she sees one, felt the urge to ask about it, "Something that could be shared with the rest of the class?"
"Nothing…" Sonic almost musically chimed out, "But the last person who gave us a Tutorial was a ferret."
"I can give the tutorial in nothing but my underwear and a set of fake ferret ears and tail if you want" Alicia swore that was a joke on her behalf, but the blushing reactions she got from 3 of the 4 plus were just priceless, "I'm kidding. Just follow me"
Having quickly shaken off the idea of pantie-clad ferret girl cosplay provided by the smaller of the Testarossa blondes, the group progressed through the zone. The bug-themed robots were a nuisance but easily dispatched. Alicia didn't need to give the other mages a tutorial about that. There was one thing that bothered her, though, but she kept it quiet until they arrived at the first major part of the tutorial, which was a sign that had the word "past" engraved on it.
"Alright everyone" Alicia gestured to the recently discovered sign, "Anyone know what this is?"
"A sign?" Sonic deadpanned.
"Not just any sign my dear novices. These are…" The shorter blonde paused for a moment, and made a cute little moment of trying to figure out the name of the sign, "Actually I don't know the name, but whatever, these are still special signs. They allow you to travel through time."
"Won't we need a flux capacitor for that?" Sonic cutely quipped, though only Nanoha got the joke.
"You just had to say that…" it took less than a few seconds for Nanoha to regain her composure, sending a half-hearted glare in her familiar's direction
"Meh" the hedgehog shrugged, "Couldn't resist"
"Moving on!" The impatience of the shorter blonde was eerily similar to the blue hedgehog, "Like I was saying, these signs allow you to travel through time. This sign, as its read, allows you to travel to the past of the current zone. The time zones are relevant, so you won't be able to travel further into the past or future at any time.
"There are 3 time zones for each main zone" Alicia continued, "Past, Present (which we're in) and the Future. Baldy McNosehair figured this out when he got here and had the smart idea to plant some weird devices that cause those robots to appear. I took out one of those in the Past of the Palm tree zone already, so we don't need to worry about that."
"So aside from making more robots appear here, what else do that do?" Sonic asked.
"Well they establish the old guy's rule over a zone. And the future changes to fit his image" The shorter blonde responded, "Take out the devices and he'll lose control. And the future returns to what it should be"
"Change the past, influence the future" Lindy Harlaown interjected over a communication channel from the new base in Uminari, surprising just about everyone there with her appearance, "I don't believe I've seen it in a literal context"
"Lindy-san" Nanoha almost jumped, she would most likely prefer that the woman refrain from scaring her, "How long have you been listening?"
"Since you arrived" The woman answered, implying that she had seen it all, from the arrival to Alicia's appearance. Lindy's attention shifted to the aforementioned short blonde, "Looks like the Bureau was correct in not assuming your demise."
"So the cute brunette, her hedgehog, my clone and her dog are all sent by you?" Alicia was quick to assume, drawing a cute blush from the aforementioned Nanoha. The short blonde had drawn the conclusion from assuming that the woman on the communication was an authority figure.
"Yes, I am Lindy Harlaown, an admiral from the TSAB." Lindy nodded in confirmation, introducing herself along the way, "I sent them here to investigate this world and stop the nefarious plot of Doctor Eggman before he endangers lives not only on this planet, but potentially others."
"If you were listening in on our conversations before, why didn't you chime in earlier?" Alicia's was still skeptical, but nonetheless respectful towards this woman, "You could've said something earlier when we were trading stories."
"Part of this deployment was to test Nanoha-san and Fate-san's abilities to work together and adapt to a situation; I'm not going to hold their hand throughout the mission" The woman explained, "I had only called in with an update on Precia. They had just confirmed her arrival on Mid-Childa and should begin the process to get a trial together."
"Thank you…" Fate thanked the woman softly, ever so grateful to hear about her mother.
"Alicia-san, it may be much to ask of you, but I'd like to request your assistance in this current case" The admiral had figured that she didn't need to ask, but it was better to be air on the side of caution, "Will that be alright?"
"I was going to do it anyway." Alicia shrugged, "This place is my home, and I won't let anyone harm it. And if these guys want to help, orders or not, then who am I to stop them?"
"I figured you'll see reason" The woman smiled. "I look forward to meeting you in person, until then, I'll leave you all to your adventure."
The feed soon cut off from there. Everyone was left in silence for a slight moment until Nanoha queried on how to use the sign. The apparent guide wasn't quite sure of the specifics, but she noted that the signs were apparently run on speed. The faster the person or group that passed through the sign were, the sooner they'd make the jump.
"I think we accidentally used one of the signs already" Sonic noted, "Back in the previous zone, we were trying to outrun a pink hedgehog"
"She get to your patience too?" Alicia seemed to know who was being referred to, "I hauled her pink tail out of a pinch with a few of those robots earlier. She was going on about meeting some sort of prophesized destined one or something"
A brief silence fell upon the group before Arf reminded that they had strayed off topic from the situation at hand. A recurring theme, but nonetheless it was troublesome. With the combination of Sonic, Fate and Alicia's speed, the group sped through the "Past" sign and was engulfed in a flash of light that signified a time warp.
[Collision Chaos –Past]
[BGM: "Collision Chaos ~Past" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
They had appeared at around the same area of when they made the jump, but the scenery was vastly different. In the present, the zone had a casino overlooking the forest, but here the casino appeared to still be in construction. The forest seemed to perfectly mix with the construction, and with the big casino out of the way, there was a breathtaking view of a lake.
"Pretty…" Nanoha couldn't help but stare in awe and amazement.
"Never get tired of this sight either" Alicia voiced her agreement, "But the future here is really breathtaking, granted we kick the old guy's influence out first"
With that, they progressed through the zone; their progression was much more difficult as the past held a lot more robots. As Fate had alluded to earlier, numbers didn't win any battles on their own, and the robots were no exception and fell victim to the mages speed and abilities. In no time at all, the group found the target of their time travelling.
The robot generating machine was a rather complex contraption. It consisted of two metallic parts held between streams of electrical energy. The contraption was armored, but its defenses couldn't hold a candle to Precia's mechanicals if one was to compare, and Fate had a subtle one at that.
With the generator destroyed, thus nearly guaranteeing a good future, the four deployed mages had assumed it as high time to return to the present, but Alicia was quick to tell them otherwise. The short blonde had one other thing that bothered her and she had noticed there was one in the Palm tree zone as well so there was a high chance that one would be found in the casino.
The thing, rather object, in question, turned out to be a projector left behind by none other than Doctor Eggman. The projector displayed the same metallic look-a-like of Sonic stomping his metallic foot on a poor, defenseless animal. It was scary, no doubt, but also quite infuriating for some.
"Here I thought Eggman was low…" Sonic almost growled out, "But this is something else"
"I overheard the old geezer ordering his mooks to place one of these projectors in the past of every zone." Alicia's expression almost mirrored the blue hedgehog, "Apparently they were to inspire fear among the critters."
"How cruel…" Nanoha felt pity for the poor guys while Fate silently nodded in agreement.
"Well I'm inspired alright" There was almost a feral feeling to Arf's tone as she crushed the projector with a paw. She, like Sonic were animals, not just familiars and their kindred feelings were quite understandable, both she and the blue hedgehog were ticked, "Inspired to kick this old bastard's ass."
"I'd say "down girl" but then I'd be a hypocrite" Sonic, sure enough, was close to losing his short temper.
"It's already dealt with, let's move on before tempers really flare" Nanoha, mentally quipping to herself about suddenly being the voice of reason, somehow managed to calm the tempers of the resident animal familiars.
With all said and done, the group continued on through the casino zone. The robot numbers dwindled with the generator destroyed in the zone, but that didn't make for much smooth sailing. Time jumps were aplenty as they took a Future sign to the present and then to the future.
[Collision Chaos –Future]
[BGM: "Collision Chaos ~Good Future" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
The future, as stated by Alicia, was quite the sight to see. The zone was half-casino and half-utopia with the casino being futuristic and inviting. That said, a fair majority of the youth still felt they were too young for such a place. Alicia didn't, but there was no way the others of the new "party" were going to let her go in and waste time. That; and the short blonde may have been a little overly exuberant to showcase the casino.
Much like the good future of the previous zone, the casino zone was devoid of any robots, merely replaced by the cute, cuddly critters that called Little Planet home. With the lake from the past still visible, the mages whom haven't seen it could now attest for its purity and beauty.
From there, the trek was pretty much straightforward. The only real obstacle that proved to be troublesome was the apparent pinball design of the last area of the zone. Sonic and Alicia sure had a blast with it, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the group. Nanoha and Fate were both looking rather nauseous by the end of it, while Arf just didn't see the point.
The last part of the aforementioned tutorial "level", as Sonic had taken to calling it, involved the group stopping at a clearing. Rather, it was the blue hedgehog who had told them all to stop as they had arrived at said clearing. Arf and Fate both had a sinking feeling already considering the last time this situation came up, Nanoha all but said it.
"Pardon me, Cute Tutorial Girl." Sonic called to Alicia, chuckling a little at the new nickname he had coined the aforementioned blonde, "But I believe this is the part of the tutorial where we fight some sort of boss, no?"
"You have a point there, but I don't see anything set up here" The short blonde noted, "And Lucky Star hasn't picked up any other humanoids here except us. Sorry to disappoint."
"Odd, he almost always showed up in my first adventure." The blue hedgehog pondered pensively for a moment, "Same old thing; show up in a clearing with some boss-like robot contraption of his and I have to scrap it up."
"And he did the same in the last zone?" Alicia asked with some thought. Her answer was a nodding gesture from the others, which furthered her pensive thoughts, "Did he leave anything behind when you kicked his butt?"
"Well… he did leave this gemstone or something behind" Nanoha noted as she held out the aforementioned stone. She was completely blindsided when Alicia closed in on her and locked gazes, "Um…"
"Give it" Alicia held out her left hand, fully expecting the white-clad girl to hand over the gem, "Give me the Time Stone"
"Time Stone?" Nanoha was quick to recover from her brief moment of surprise. The others with her, aside from Alicia, were almost as confused as she was. She glanced at the gemstone she had recently produced from her inventory and allowed the gears to spin in her mind, "You mean this?"
"That is a Time Stone. One of the seven that allow this world its time travelling powers" The resident "guide" of Little Planet displayed how knowledgeable she was of her temporary home, "It is said that when one collects all of them, they will have control over time here."
"And how do you know that?" Sonic's skepticism showed briefly
"If you live here long enough, you'll pick up a few things" a simple shrug was Alicia's response. She produced a yellow version of the gemstone in her other hand, "Having one of these also helps"
The two gems gave off a subtle glow in recognition of one another, but that was all they did. The gems didn't seem to hold too much power on their own and while there was a slight power spike detected from the devices, there wasn't nearly enough to compare to the Lost Logias known as the Jewel Seeds. Sonic was silently grateful that these gems weren't as great as the Chaos Emeralds form South Island, otherwise there would've been a bigger chain reaction.
"I was eavesdropping on the old fart when he found out about these gems an hour or so ago" Alicia continued on, "His intention is to collect all of them to establish his rule over this world, convert it into something called "Eggmanland", then something about conquest. I toned him out after that."
"That's Eggman for you" Sonic shrugged, "All talk."
"That doesn't make him any less of a threat" Fate interjected softly, "Our mission is to stop him."
"I agree with my adorable little sister" Alicia gave an agreeing nod, grinning a little at the flushed reaction she got from the taller blonde, "Baldy McNosehair already has a head start on us though, he's got the other 5 Time Stones"
"And we'll probably have to fight him for them" Arf huffed in annoyance, she was starting to feel impatient over sitting around in one place for too long, "We've wasted enough time here already. Where's the next zone?"
"Tidal Tempest" came Alicia's reply as the aforementioned short blonde had caught the underlying tone of impatience. Far from offended, she was actually in agreement and felt her excitement rise up. Eager to continue the adventure and take any opportunity to get to know her new "little sister" better, Alicia turned to take point again, "This way"
[Little Planet: Tidal Tempest –Present]
[BGM: "Tidal Tempest ~Present" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
Out of the group of youth who had admired the scenery of the labyrinth-like zone, only Sonic had less-than pleasant thoughts about the zone. The striking resemblance of this zone to that of the also underwater Labyrinth Zone on South Island had the poor hedgehog curled up against a nearby pillar, absolutely refusing to go down the ramp that led to the first submerged region of the zone. His female companions found the scene quite cute and funny, including Nanoha, despite understanding the reasoning for the fear.
"Uh…" Alicia, despite finding the hedgehog's antics cute and had to exercise all restraint she had to keep from gushing over said cuteness, felt concerned, "Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah, just give him a minute" Nanoha giggled a little, "This zone kinda hit the familiarity mark a little too much"
"This isn't the first underwater labyrinth he's been in?" Arf, while finding her counterpart's actions cute, felt there was no way to compare with that of Fate's cute moments.
"Labyrinth" Sonic muttered somehow coherently, "South Island… can't swim… sunk like a rock"
"Well, have no fear, my blue friend" Alicia, energetically shifting her mood to a heroic one, "I have the means to make sure all of us get through this zone safely"
"Really?" Had Sonic not have had a moment of aquaphobia his tone would've been laced with more skeptical sarcasm than it had.
"Of course" Humility was definitely not one of Alicia's strong points, but she wasn't an overconfident sort either, at least not without something to support the confidence, "I have been practicing a spell for this area."
"A spell?" Fate's curiosity was gripped, as was Arf's, "What does it do?"
"I can create bubble-like barriers that will allow breathing underwater" Alicia briefly explained, "Not only that, but they'll allow those in the barriers to execute physical attacks without risk of breaking. I've tried them myself, so I would know. On the downside, these barriers are so sensitive; so much as one strike would take it out."
"Should we ask how you practiced that last detail out?" Arf couldn't help but ask.
"This world is too peaceful to have any real threats to practice off of" The blonde shrugged, "I had to improvise somehow."
"Sonic-kun, you shouldn't have to worry too much about the water now" Nanoha nonetheless addressed her familiar with a serious glance, "We put you on a strict diet for more than just your health and training. Maybe you haven't noticed, but you've been losing a lot of the unhealthy weight and fat that came from all of those chili dogs"
"Yeah, and I was finally able to swim thanks to your help back at the pool" Sonic nodded, though his tone also noted that there was another pressing issue, "The other problem is being underwater kinda saps the heck out of my speed"
"Well it would if you kept trying to run instead of swim" Alicia countered ever so instantly.
"Oh yeah" even Sonic had his moments of embarrassment and this one showed in a light pinking of his cheeks.
"Lucky Star?" Alicia called to her device, "The spell please"
"Aquatic Defenser Multi-target shift" The gun in the girl's left hand declared, the voice it held was so familiar to Bardiche that some could've considered it to be the brother of Fate's device.
In no time at all, the five were each encased with bubble-like barriers. Alicia, with amusement and some pride in her features, watched as her companions walked around a little to test the mobility of the barriers. Sure enough, the barriers would move as they did, and when Sonic and Arf made practice melee swipes, the attacks would pass right through the barriers without them actually breaking.
"These barriers have an aquatic element" Fate noticed, to her own confusion, "I thought our family's element was based around lightning."
"I tried making a photon variant of this specific barrier" Embarrassment was evident in Alicia's features as she said this, "But for some reason it added a magnetic element, and that kinda got awkward in testing..."
"Say no more" Sonic, having found his spirits lightened, saved the short blonde from further embarrassment. He took second point right behind the blonde as they started down the incline that led into the water.
Five splashes later and the mages plus two familiar were inside the water. Sonic was ever so grateful for the swimming lessons courtesy of Nanoha, Arisa and Suzuka, because were it not for them, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with the other four whom had better swimming skills.
Though the water did sap some of the speed, the group was still able to progress quite quickly through the first part of the zone. The pipelines channeling water through them were quite useful in the quick progression. The only real issue was building enough speed through the first Past sign. Thankfully the assistance of Nanoha's Flier Fin, combining with Sonic's fast legs doubling as propellers added to the natural high-speed from the other trio and they were able to burst right through the sign into the past.
[Tidal Tempest –Past]
[BGM: "Tidal Tempest ~P" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
The past was much more different from the present. The environment, untouched by mankind or machinery, consisted of dark caverns with the lower water level. As the water level was lower, the waters were much darker, but not in the malevolent context. Around the caverns were stone pillars and, oddly enough, the water pipes from the Present.
"We know our job here" Alicia said as the group landed, "Find the generator and destroy it."
"Watch out" Sonic cautioned as they started once more, "Eggman's robots are probably gonna try to stop us"
And run interference the robots tried to do. Eggman's selected theme of mechs for the Tidal zone strayed away from the bug themes of the previous two. Aside from the occasional dragonfly and insect-themed robots, the ones in the underwater cavern labyrinth included the aquatic theme crayfish and crab shaped mechs.
Thankfully, the dragonfly robots were above the surface so that, while they were more effective that way, the effectiveness worked for the mages two as they didn't have the water slowing them down in some areas. Soon they found the robot generator in question. The contraption was above water, which might have indicated Eggman's reluctance to hide it underwater.
Not that the placement mattered anymore, the generator was swiftly dealt with and the robots that spawned from it were destroyed in the chain reaction. It was the destruction of the recent generator that clued Alicia into what Eggman had used for the power source of his robots. While she was quite dazzled at the sight of seeing Little Planet's flowers bloom so freely, part of her wanted to know why.
"I see these flowers all the time back before the old guy showed up" Alicia, still refusing to even refer to the mastermind with his name, pondered the familiarity, "But lately they've gone missing and here they are again. Any particular reason?"
"Maybe because he's using the flowers to power up his machines" Sonic offered honestly, he wasn't trying to be rude or anything, just plain honesty, "The last time he used animals from South Island."
"That fat old…" Alicia soon found her mouth clamped shut by, surprisingly enough, Fate. The move was probably a good one, as the shorter blonde was most likely about to shout off a few expletives and such that would've broadened the vocabulary of the others more than it should have.
"Alicia-onee-san, calm down" The taller blonde, most likely out of instinct and to the surprise of the others, accidentally referred to her "original" as an older sibling. She probably didn't realize the slip for the moment, as she was focused on calming the high octane spirit of her original down, "We can beat him up later, and you're going to scare your comrades."
"Mou…" The shorter blonde pouted when her mouth was released, preferably before she had the idea of licking said hand. As fast as her temper could flare, it just as quickly quelled to pouting and internally hating Eggman's guts. A small smirk appeared on her face when she recalled what Fate just called her.
"Say…" Alicia's grin grew a bit wider in mischievous joy, "Did my ears deceive me or did you just call me 'Onee-san'?"
"A-ah…" Fate instantly flushed an adorable shade of crimson as she tried so hard to justify herself, "Um… I d-didn't mean to… I was just trying to calm you down and… and…"
"My adorable little sister is already learning!" Far from offended, Alicia was almost ecstatic. Her feelings may have come from the fulfillment of her childish, selfish desires, but they were genuine enough for the others, "Pinch me, I must be dreaming!"
"That can be arranged" Sonic cut in, sure his patience for the mushy and somewhat cheesy moments was vast due to spending a few months as the familiar to a girl prone to some of those moments, but even he had his limits, "We'll have plenty of time for this when we're done kicking Baldy Nosehair's fat butt off Little Planet."
"Fine…" Alicia relented with a somewhat overdramatic sigh of defeat.
Their progression through the past of the underwater labyrinth zone was straightforward; much like the one in Collision Chaos, baring the slight delay in making sure the Metal Sonic generator was destroyed. The robot resistance dwindled some more, though there were still a fair amount from the initial invasion.
As it was a recurring element, the time travel signs were important to their trek. They had jumped once again to the present. There was another delay in the adjustment to the higher water level, but still the jump to the Future was taken with no other pressing issue to address.
[Tidal Tempest –Future]
[BGM: "Tidal Tempest ~G" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
They landed in a fully operational, turquoise aquarium with many plants kept in hydroponic cases. The environment was mechanized, but much like the previous zone's Good Futures, it was a positive kind of mechanical. The four who hadn't seen this zone before had to take a moment to take in the pink polka-dotted ground design as it was rather disorienting.
The team progressed through the zone a bit. The biggest issue thus far was navigating through the corridors, but it was only a small delay in the long run. As they went through, Sonic was hit with another feeling of déjà vu. Eggman had taken to the "catch me if you can" approach with the underwater Labyrinth zone. Sonic was not so confident that Eggman had developed a sense of originality last time. Sure enough, Eggman had made his appearance in the middle of one of the caverns.
"Really Eggman?" Sonic grumbled out as he and the four with him stopped and confronted the doctor, "Can you get less original?"
"Ah, there you are" Eggman's tone suggested that he was almost expecting the group to confront him, "I was waiting for you to show up"
"Why am I not surprised?" Sonic asked somewhat in annoyance.
"I believe you have something that belongs to me" The doctor glared at the group, not really caring for the new addition of Alicia Testarossa as he was more focused with the items he was looking for, "Rather, two things, the Time Stones"
"Like we're going to just give them over, Baldy McNosehair" Alicia spat out, glaring at the doctor in barely contained fury.
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" Quick for a temper tantrum, Eggman returned the glare with one of his own, "I was going to ask nicely, but now you've forced my hand."
"So you wanna rumble?" Sonic challenged with a smirk, "I was about to ask if we should just skip the dialogue."
"I'll deal with you, but not here" The doctor had the good sense to look around and analyze the environment, "This area is far too constrained for us."
With that, the doctor turned tail and fled through the caverns. Needless to say, he was pursued by the mages. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't taken in mind the fact that he was dealing with mages with the affinities for shooting spells. That mistake had weakened his aerial motorbike far more than he had intended. Still, he was able to make it to a clearing underwater.
[VS: Eggman]
[BGM: "Battle" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
As soon as Eggman stopped, he pressed a button on his console. The motorbike was surrounded by a total of 16 large bubbles. The idea behind the shield was so that neither Sonic nor his allies could land a hit without being forced to breathe in air and also be repelled by the bubble bursting.
"O~ho-ho-ho-ho!" The doctor grinned almost manically, "Let's see you hit me now."
"This may actually be a problem" Alicia admitted with a grunt, "Our Photon spells will be counterproductive with the water."
"Not to worry" Nanoha sounded overly optimistic, most likely rightfully so, "Sonic-kun and I can take care of them."
"Divine Shooter!" Raising Heart chimed in agreement as Nanoha ascended up into the water until she was almost eye level with the man.
"Do you really think you can take…" Eggman's confidence slowly started to drain as he took notice of the 16 pink spheres that surrounded the pre-teen girl in white, "me… on… oh crap"
"Shoot!" Nanoha declared with a thrust of her left hand. Normally her limit on the spell was 5 or so with control. However, as she was allowed to sacrifice power for numbers, she could easily control the spheres she created.
The volley of the Divine Shooter was unleashed at such a rapid pace that left Eggman with no room to even attempt to dodge. One by one, each shooter round had cancelled out the bubbles that the mad scientist had created for his own protection. As Nanoha had intentionally underpowered her Divine Shooter to increase her numbers, the rounds had dissipated upon impact with the bubbles.
"H-hey!" Eggman slammed his console with childish rage.
"You're up. Sonic-kun!" Nanoha declared to her familiar as she descended, passing the metaphorical baton to her familiar.
"Got it!" Sonic grinned in response as he ascended up into the water until he was within the melee Cross Range with the doctor's motorbike. The only real drawback was that he couldn't swim that well, but all he needed to do was use his feet to keep a solid float in the water.
"Oh…" Defenseless, Eggman could only sit there and watch as his blue hedgehog bared the twin kodachi blades, "Double crap…"
"Can you swim?" The hedgehog asked rhetorically as he wound up and sliced straight through the motorbike with his twin swords. The bike was literally sliced in half horizontally, separating the half that had Eggman on it from the bottom.
"AAAAAAAH!" the sudden force of the cleaving created a small explosion that was powerful enough to send a screaming Eggman sky-high and well out of the Tidal Tempest zone.
[Boss Neutralized]
[Jingle: "Round Clear" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
Sonic and Nanoha coordinated a cute little victory dance as the water level started to lower. The two finished with matching grins and "v for victory" signs with their hands as the water leveled lowered to the point where it was just at their feet. Their actions, while cute, drew a curious glance from Alicia.
"Okay, I'll bite" the shorter blonde let the curiosity influence her, "The poses are cute, but what's the point of them?"
"It's absolutely customary to have a victory pose after a boss beating" Sonic answered without missing a beat, "That and music! But we're still working on that"
"Yeah…" Nanoha felt her cheeks heat up briefly in embarrassment, "I don't want to rely on my cellphone again"
"Hmm…" Alicia absorbed the new information and allowed her mind to do some work. Perhaps she could try to coordinate something like that with her new little sister. A quick glance at Fate's direction clued the shorter blonde into the idea that her sibling had watched the victory celebration with growing curiosity.
'This could be fun…' a mischievous grin had found its home on Alicia's face once again as she watched.
"Found something!" Arf interrupted the musing when she searched the wreckage of the downed Egg-mobile and found the cyan blue Time Stone in its wreck. The wolf held the gem in her paw with interest. "Is this one of the Time Stones?"
"Yeah" Alicia snapped out of her phase to confirm the familiar's question. She didn't quite feel like wrestling the wolf for the Time Stone this time. In fact, she probably felt that she owed the other girl she tried that to an apology, but decided to let that non-issue sit for a while.
"3 down" Sonic counted out, "4 to go. Not bad"
"I'll say" Alicia nodded, "We're making a pretty good team so far."
"Still have a long way to go" Nanoha noted, "Let's continue on"
With 3 of the 7 Time Stones secured, the heroes were off to a great start to their adventure. As Alicia gets used to having new friends and comrades to help her out, Fate was slowly getting used to the idea of having someone to call a sibling. Will this quickly-formed friendship last or blow up in smoke? Only time will tell.
[To be continued]
[End of Main Chapter]
[Omake: Alicia's Test]
Alicia Testarossa had silently listened to the retelling of the Jewel Seed incident, including the rather adorable moment of friendship that bloomed between Nanoha and Fate. She was quite open-minded and had a feeling that the friendship had romantic potential; however, before she could confirm such a feeling, she had to be sure of something.
'If Nanoha's going to be so romantic with my little sister, I have to make sure she'll fit the criteria' Alicia thought to herself as she closed in on the white-clad mage, starting intently at her, 'She must pass my test before I bless her as a potential sister in-law.'
"Um… Alicia-san?" Nanoha politely asked, quite confused with the shorter blonde's close proximity with her, "Is something the matter?"
"Hmmm…" Alicia scrutinized the form of the brunette in white. Cute, polite on the first impression, the blonde was impressed first. A glance in Fate's direction had confirmed to the shorter blonde that Fate had a fondness for the girl in question as well.
"Alright! You pass!" Alicia declared loudly. Surprising Nanoha and Sonic completely, while Arf and Fate had a lingering idea what the context behind the shorter Testarossa blonde had in mind. Sure enough, the suspicions were confirmed when Alicia declared even louder, "You can now be my Sister-in-law!"
"EH?!" Nanoha and Sonic gawked while Fate felt her face go crimson in the thoughts.
'Oh here we go…' Arf grumbled in thought.
Does every Testarossa female wish to see Nanoha bedded or married?
[Ending: "Little Wish ~Lyrical Step" Yukari Tamura]
[End of Chapter 18]
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I kinda got sidetracked with my new game... Lightning Returns... plus parents were in Hawaii for a business thing my dad had… lucky punks! So my time was even more limited, but here it is now. Another update! Oh! References galore here.. can you name them all? Sports, movies, you name it.. GO!