SonicANIME2010 here with another chapter to the Little Planet arc of Lyrical Familiar. Not too much to really go on about here, just a couple more zones and some more info about Alicia.
[Earth]
[Uminari City, Japan]
[Residential District, Harlaown Residence]
[Local Time: 0905 hours]
[BGM: "Kizuna, shinjite" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OST]
Lindy Harlaown was a woman of many talents; single (widowed) mother of one teenage boy, admiral of an inter-stellar military police, and quite perceptive with a good judge of character. However, none of these had come with the foresight to even think about how quickly her recently-established base on Earth would be tested.
The woman, along with her enforcer/son Chrono and the information expert/talented subordinate, Amy Limietta were situated in the small, but workable situation room that was designed from the Arthra's bridge. The room used to be an office suite, but the mages had spent the good part of last night converting the room to suit their official needs.
"Status update" Lindy requested of her information expert,
"All scanners are operational" The teen brunette replied, "And I think you already know how the communication systems are working."
"I still can't believe how things have turned out in the past hour" Chrono noted as he stood behind the resident tech, "Are we absolutely sure of the identity of our newest 'Ally'?"
"For the tenth time, I can't say for sure" Amy huffed as she felt a little annoyed over the young enforcer's repeated questioning, "Her story would appear to match up and her magic signature is similar to that of Fate's and Precia's, but she's a lot younger than what any of us would expect her to be.
"In addition, we can't verify beyond that unless we've run some tests" The brunette added, "And we can't do that unless she's here"
"Still, her presence here is quite coincidental." Lindy adopted a pose of pensive thought, "We arrest Precia Testarossa and close out the Jewel Seed incident, only to encounter the girl who could possibly be the missing biological daughter of that same woman on the very next incident."
"I'm not so sure I feel comfortable with calling this off as some big coincidence" Chrono admitted his own take.
"Perhaps this chain of events was prophesized" The older woman noted in thought, "I seem to recall a certain member of the Saint Church rising through the ranks with her skill for predictions"
"We can't seriously put too much stock towards that though" Chrono countered, "She said herself that the predictions were about 'as useful as a fairly accurate horoscope' and widely open for speculation."
"Perhaps, but she might be one of the parties interested in the report we file after the completion of this incident" While Lindy had concurred with her son's argument, she wasn't so close-minded as to dismiss the idea either, "Let's see how this one turns out."
"They're moving on" Amy interjected as she closely monitored the position movement of the deployed mages, "I believe this is the fourth zone their approaching"
[OP: "Innocent Starter" Nana Mizuki]
Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar
Chapter 19
Mines and Workbenches
[Little Planet: "Quartz Quadrant"]
[Local Time: 0910 hours]
[BGM: "Quartz Quadrant (Present)" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
The next zone was an aqua-colored mine full of technology. In the brief overview of the zone, Alicia explained that the machinery of the zone was designed to extract crystals, fittingly quartz crystals, and processed them on conveyor belts and platforms. Some of the quartz was to be transferred to other zones while the rest were just lying around.
The group of five stayed in a close formation with Nanoha, Alicia and Fate taking to the skies while Sonic and Arf stayed to the ground. The blue hedgehog ran in his usual finger-eight pattern, but had kept a solid pace that was slow enough for the others to keep up with, but still remarkably fast.
"I take it this zone was named because of the crystals here?" Sonic was the first to provide the educated guess to connect the dots, "The quartz?"
"Correct" Alicia confirmed the connection, "I've used this mine mainly for materials that I built my device from"
"What else did you build here?" Nanoha, feeling rather curious, asked an innocent enough question.
"I built a "lair" in the zone after this one, but I only use it for some of my more technological experiments" The shorter blonde shrugged, "It's not much, and the only big accomplishment I made was Lucky Star"
"Anything to watch out for here?" Fate asked, "Aside from the enemy robots, I mean"
"The conveyor belts are really effective and can change direction on a dime." Alicia noted, pointing to the mentioned contraptions, "We'll have to use them at some point too because these mines can get pretty narrow no matter which time zone we're in."
Sure enough, Alicia's words proved true as when Sonic and Arf had set foot on the first conveyor belt, they were almost thrown off balance as the belt was moving in the opposite direction of their trek, making it a fairly effective treadmill of sorts. Luckily, Alicia knew the way to control the direction of the belt. It was the increased speed from the belts that made the jump to the Past quite easier when they blurred past the sign.
[Quartz Quadrant –Past]
[BGM: "Quartz Quadrant (Past) Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
Much like the past of the previous zones, Quartz Quadrant's past was devoid of a majority of machinery, aside from a few useless conveyor belts. The color scheme of the caverns went from aqua to green, giving off a rather peaceful vibe. With the absence of most of the machinery, the view of the caverns opened up to a swamp and forestry area near the bottom of the zone.
"If it's not too much trouble, do you guys mind if I ask you something?" Alicia asked of the group; there was one nagging question she had bugging at the back of her mind since she joined up.
"Shoot" Sonic answered to the flying blonde, never breaking from his solid stride.
"What year is it?" The small blonde asked, quite seriously too, "I've kinda lost track"
"Uh…" Nanoha wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question, mainly because she wasn't aware if the Bureau or Mid-Childa had operated under a different calendar than her and Sonic's world, "I don't know if I can answer that"
"2006(1)?" Sonic offered, "Not so sure how you guys count years, but that's kinda what it is over here"
"0065(2)" Fate answered in clarification. She was, thankfully so, a little bit more understanding of the context, having lived a majority of her life by the same calendar.
"0065, huh… Let's see…" Alicia started to do the math in her head, "I was born in the year 0034, the accident that got me here happened in 0039… So I've technically missed…"
"26 years" Sonic finished the calculation as he noticed Alicia start to pause. While he didn't understand specifically the feelings of the smaller blonde, he knew it had to be at least tough to swallow, "Quite a long time, huh?"
"Yeah… a lot of time to miss... and not just for me" Alicia thought back to her mother in understanding, "Mother must've had it tough too. All that time, and even to this day, not knowing if I was still alive or not.
"Still, this doesn't mean I condone her actions with Fate" The smaller blonde levelled a serious gaze at the aforementioned taller blonde, unnerving her a little with the look, "I still am going to have a word with her when we meet again"
"At any rate" Sonic interjected, bringing the focus back to the task at hand, "I think we're getting close to the next transporter."
Sure enough, the robot-generating machine was on a crevice of one of the caverns. A quick swipe from Arf's claws did the trick of ensuring Eggman's hold over Quartz Quadrant was no more. Once again, the group made quick work of taking out the Metal Sonic projector as well before progressing on to the Future of the zone.
[Quartz Quadrant –Future]
[BGM: "Quartz Quadrant (Good Future) Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
The group landed in an underground utopia of a golden color scheme. The mining in this zone had ceased by this point and the darkness of the caverns was illuminated by the gleam of opulent towers. It was an absolute wonderland of quartz with futuristic domes that opened to a vast view of the mountains and forestry.
"Whoa!" Sonic pointed out the abundance of quartz crystals, "Check out all of the sparkles"
"This time zone has more quartz in it than any of the others" Alicia said with a grin, "Beautiful, ne?"
"Wow…." Nanoha found herself mesmerized by the gleaming of the quartz crystals.
"I feel a little bit jealous, Alicia-san" Fate admitted a little honestly, "You get to see these sights every day."
"Eh… it gets stale after a while" The smaller blonde shrugged, but she sent a smile at her companions, "However, now they have that nice feeling again because I'm sharing this awesome sight with new friends"
The trek was mostly straightforward, aided by the conveyor belts which were set to the general direction of the mage's travel. The forward progress had come to a quick halt, however, as a familiar foe was waiting for them.
[VS: Quartz Quadrant Boss]
[BGM: "Eggman battle" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
Doctor Eggman had waited for the heroes in a specific area. He waited for them from the safety of an indestructible booth with a purple color scheme. With a maniacal green, the scientist pressed a button and caused the forward-moving conveyor belt to stop, which also halted the forward progress of the heroes, much to their annoyance.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in" The doctor greeted the group with a sinister grin, "Like my little setup here?"
"Uh... what's the point of it?" The blue hedgehog asked in annoyance.
"Well first…" The doctor pressed a button on his console and made a wall of sharp spikes drop down behind the heroes. Another set of buttons pressed started the conveyor belt to rapidly drag the ground-based Sonic and Arf toward the spikes.
"No backtracking now. You're all mine" The doctor cackled madly as his lowered his console onto the ground, "How do you like that?"
"I'm so scared…" One could almost feel the sarcasm laced in Sonic's tone as the hedgehog was easily able to keep pace, he was sorely tempted to take flight, but he figured to give the scientist a bone, "You are aware of our flight, right?"
"Oh, I almost forgot" The doctor pressed another set of buttons which activated a set of fans from behind the wall. The fans began to rapidly pull air and threatened the airborne Nanoha, Fate and Alicia.
"I've done my homework this time around" The doctor grinned in self-satisfaction. The doctor went from satisfied to annoyance when he took notice of the airborne mages able to easily keep stride as well as their calmness in doing so, "Oh come on! Where's the fear?"
"Faced tougher" Fate shrugged and sent a knowing glance at her former rival's direction.
"Oh yeah!" The doctor shouted through gritted teeth as he pressed another set of buttons. This time he activated a mechanism that sent a crane out. The crane held what appeared to be a mine in its grasp, "Try this!"
The crane dropped the mine straight down onto the heroes. The mine was tricky for the aerial mages to avoid as they had to also battle the current while Sonic and Arf had to avoid the mine when it hit the ground. Fortunately, when they got passed it, it was only a matter of dealing with the conveyor belt and fan system.
"Still faced tougher" this time it was Nanoha who commented, though her innocence was still conveyed. She was not without her manners though, as she sent an apologetic bow in Eggman's direction, "Sorry, but you'll have to do better"
"You dare mock me!" Eggman took the rather innocent comment the wrong way. He was outright furious and it showed in his rapid operating of his computer, "I'll show you! I'll just crank this machine up to full power"
"Overload error!" came the ambiguously robotic noise from the console of the doctor's machine, "This machine will self-destruct in five seconds!"
Eggman, rightfully furious, gave his console one last slam before he turned tail and bolted on foot. The machine exploded just as the doctor made his exit. Everyone had to halt completely as the fans and conveyor belts stopped. Good move on their part too, because had they not stopped, at least one person would've had the embarrassment of tripping in the sudden shift of balance.
[Boss Neutralized]
[Jingle: "Round Clear" Sonic CD (USA]
While Sonic and Nanoha performed their usual victory dance, they must've inspired at least Alicia, because the shorter blonde decided to try her hand at it. As for Arf and Fate, they were still rather shy about it. When Sonic and Nanoha finished their little coordinated dance, they watched their new friend try her hand with curious eyes.
Alicia's own little pose of sorts involved the use of her paper fan. She twirled the fan skillfully in her left hand and made a few diagonal cross slashes at the air before hoisting the fan over her left shoulder and had her back turned to the others in a cool pose. The pose was cool, but Alicia's natural short size, clothing choice and overall cuteness gave off a cute rather than cool aura.
"Alright!" The short blonde said with a grin when she finished her pose, "What do you guys think?"
"Not bad for your first try" The hedgehog gave her a thumbs-up gesture, "If you want any pointers for the next one, come to me"
"Oh!" Fate's start drew a few glances. The taller blonde had found an orange-red Time Stone from the wreckage of Eggman's machine, "We've got another one now"
"3 more to go" Alicia noted as she approached her taller but technically younger sister and patted her on the back, "Nice work"
"Thank you." Fate's cheeks went an adorable shade of pink once more.
"So what's the next zone?" Arf asked, not that she minded the attention her mistress was getting; she'd just rather it not be at the expense of precious time.
"This way" Alicia said as she took point to guide the group to the next zone.
[Eyecatch #1: The Sonic Team logo and Nanoha logo combine on one side with the respective katakana, hiragana and kanji read out "Sonic the Hedgehog: Lyrical Familiar" over a blank background that was replaced by a cute little hilltop scene with Sonic and Nanoha leaning against one another]
[Eyecatch #2: Alicia is seen dragging Fate into a closet; appearing seconds later in a cute little cheerleader costume, and an embarrassed Fate, decked out in a matching uniform, behind her. A chibi version of Arf is seen hanging out next to the story logo nursing a nosebleed]
[Little Planet: Wacky Workbench]
[BGM: "Wacky Workbench" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
The Wacky Workbench was a weapons warehouse within a canyon under the rule of electricity. There were many diverse machinations present, ranging from hovering platforms to checkered floor that would flicker occasionally. The color scheme for the present zone included dark blue, cyan blue and purple.
"So this is where you built your device?" Nanoha curiously asked Alicia.
"Yeah, this place looked like it was designed to be a warehouse, and I used the electricity to construct my device" the shorter blonde replied, "I don't think I'll be able to do any of this again, because I only just made this device after several failed prototypes"
"You named your device 'Lucky Star'" Fate let her curiosity influence her line of questioning, "Was that intentional?"
"Yup, I'd honestly say Little Planet was what saved my life after that accident" Alicia answered honestly with a content smile on her face to show her gratitude, "It's been my little "Lucky Star", so I figure I'll name this device after it. That way I'll always remember what this world has done for me"
"Um… Anything major to watch out for here?" Nanoha asked as she gave a calculative look around the zone to identify some of the possible obstacles
"Watch your step when you're walking on the floor with the checkerboard pattern" The resident "guide" said and gestured to the aforementioned floor, "Especially when they flicker, because then they'll – "
"KYAAAAAAAA!" Arf's surprised squeal caught all attention and drew the humorous glances of everyone else. The large wolf familiar had suffered the embarrassment of taking a step onto the aforementioned floor as it flickered. The poor wolf was sent sky high up onto a higher platform.
"Send… you…flying…" Alicia could barely finish that sentence with so much of a straight face as it took her a lot of willpower to keep from laughing.
"Oooh" Sonic followed the trail of orange in awe and amusement, "She caught airtime"
"Uh Arf?" Fate called to her familiar as she, with everyone else in tow, flew up to the platform in which the wolf landed. The taller blonde couldn't help but giggle in amusement when she saw the wolf curled up quite cutely in some fear and shock, "Are you alright?"
"Fine… Just fine…" The wolf levelled a half-serious, half-embarrassed glare in the direction of her comrades. Why their amusement had to come at her own expense she had no idea, "Yes, laugh it up now"
"I was explaining how the floor works and if you stopped to listen this could've been avoided" Alicia noted, her tone was laced with amusement.
It took a moment, but the group of heroes, including a humbled and embarrassed Arf, progressed through the zone. Along with the bomb dropping robots and streetlight designed robots, they also had to contend with the air vents which threatened to freeze anyone that stepped under it. Luckily, Alicia had the ability to time the bursts and guide her comrades past the vents as they moved on.
The biggest issue with regards to the time travelling was the built of speed. With the bouncy floor and the freezing air traps, it was hard to build up speed through the "Past" sign. Fortunately, though, the pipe transfer systems made up for that and they were able to make the jump as the effects were starting to expire.
[Wacky Workbench –Past]
[BGM: "Wacky Workbench (Past)" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
In the past zone, the workbench was still under construction with the various platforms and support girders taking on a bright greenish hue. With the cranes for construction purposes located underneath them, the red colored canyons served as the peaceful backdrop. Despite a majority of the workbench still being under construction, the bouncy floors, freezing air traps and other various devices were still active.
"I'm going to ask a really stupid question here" Sonic, while he was in awe of the beautiful landscape, he was bugged by the fact that despite all of the technological advancements he's seen in Little Planet, the world was devoid of any other sentient life aside from Alicia, "Who's working all of this construction stuff?"
"It's all automated" Alicia replied simply, "From what I can tell, the power source of the planet's natural machines comes from the quartz we found in the previous zone's mine"
"Alright, let's see where that machine of Eggy's is this time" Sonic declared as he was about to take a tentative step forward. He would've done so, had he not been held back by Alicia.
"Wait" the smaller blonde urged, and gestured to the strip of electrical current in the background. The danger of the current wasn't probably needed to be said, but she did so anyways, "Watch out for these currents. They are highly electric and WILL shock the hell out of anyone who tries to cross"
Sure enough, the current started and the power of the workbench, even under construction was on full display as a few grasshopper-shaped robots and wasp-themed robots just happened to cross the current. They were electrocuted with no delay. It was quite the odd, but unnerving gaze. None of the mages or familiars wanted any part of that current generator.
The robot generator machine in this zone was a lot tougher to locate and it wasn't just because of the electrical currents or the bouncy floors. The group had to traverse through the tricky, but effective transit system in order to get to the specific machine. Eggman must've anticipated interlopers because he had made sure that this particular machine would be hard to find.
After the generator was swiftly destroyed by a sword swipe from Sonic's kodachi, the group went on to search for the Metal Sonic projector. Unlike the other machine of Eggman's, he had placed the projector in a far more visible and accessible place. It was done for the reason that the resident animals would easily come across it and feel the fear that the projector was supposed to carry.
Just before the group had decided to press on to the future, Alicia had one last attraction to showcase in the past. It took her a while to get to it due to the tricky placement and location, but the smaller blonde was able to locate a secret room in the workbench's past that had the statue of a beautiful angel.
"Pretty…" Nanoha admired the work of art in awe
"I found this here just recently. I think it's supposed to be some sort of a temple" Alicia noted, and gestured to the stone pillars that seemed to act as support, "I don't know its true purpose, but that statue has given me some ideas that I'd like to try out when I get the right materials."
"Idea?" Sonic glanced at the small blonde with interest, "Do tell"
"Ah, ah, ah!" The girl wagged her finger rather teasingly and cutely in front of the hedgehog's face, "A girl can't go revealing all of her secrets at once, ne?"
"She's got you there" Nanoha giggled softly in amusement.
Much like his pouting counterpart, Sonic had opted to pout in embarrassment for the rest of the current time zone. As humorously cute and entertaining it was to see similar looks on the faces of the familiars, there still was a job to do. With Bardiche, Raising Heart and Lucky Star to document the cuteness of Sonic and Arf's actions though, the scene would not go unforgotten as the group pressed on to the future.
[Wacky Workbench –Future]
[BGM: "Wacky Workbench (Good Future)" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
There was a serene peaceful feeling throughout the future of the zone. The workbench, which was originally blue and purple in design, had become an advanced, futuristic workbench with a pink and purple color scheme. All of the dangerous machinery and security systems were replaced with safer and more efficient technology. Evidently the design of the workbench had been suited for childish tastes as it was designed to appear more to be a toy land versus a weapons storage warehouse.
"Trippy color scheme" The blue hedgehog commented offhandedly, "But at least it's peaceful."
"Is this where we'll find your little lair?" Arf asked as she glanced at the shorter blonde with a neutral expression on her face, though it was hard to tell as she was in her wolf form.
"Yeah, but like I said it's not much." Alicia shrugged, "I only used it when I was performing experiments like making my device. Aside from that, I've been living just about anywhere, so I don't see much of a reason to show you guys"
"Fair enough" Nanoha interjected, "We're kinda working against the clock enough as it is, and the last thing we need are distractions."
With that said, the group trekked on through the peaceful toyland of a workbench zone. The bouncy floors gave quite the humorous show with the constant flickering and Arf finding herself on the embarrassing end of a fair number of unwilling bounces. Like the good futures of previous zones, the workbench zone was devoid of any robots, replaced by the cute critters that called Little Planet their home.
As the occurrence of a certain mad scientist had become something of a running theme, there was little doubt that he would show up again in this zone. The good doctor had once again made a habit of waiting for the group to progress through a certain point before blocking the way behind them.
"Well hello again my annoying little interlopers" The doctor had once again put up a sophisticated and sinister aura as he descended upon the group of five. His latest creation wasn't too much really, just a rocket he piloted himself that was armored up to the teeth with a drill head installed on top of the machine.
The old man had once again done his homework because not only was the path behind the heroes blocked by a wall, effectively trapping them. There was also what appeared to be a conductive spike on the opposite walls; they appeared close to the ground, giving an indication that if activated, they would most likely electrocute the floor.
"I have to hand it to you this time doc" The blue hedgehog grinned a little playfully, "You actually built something that "looks" dangerous."
[VS: Wacky Workbench Boss]
[BGM: "Eggman Battle" Sonic CD (JPN/EU)]
"Oh~ho-ho! Believe me my spiny blue annoyance, this machine doesn't just "look" dangerous, it IS dangerous" The doctor cackled madly as he activated the rear thrusters on the rocket, "Let me show you!"
With a simple flick of the wrist and a series of buttons pressed, Eggman launched straight up and dug a medium-sized hole straight in the center of the ceiling. On the surface, that didn't look as threatening, but, the sudden drilling caused large pieces of debris to fall at such a rapid pace. Were it not for the good reflexes, the mages and familiars would've surely been hurt.
To make matters all the more complicated, the electrical current started to warm up on their current floor and the bouncy floor was about to be activated. There weren't too many options available as the presence of the debris made it tough for the flyers to navigate through. Luckily, the group took notice of the fact that there were some of the heavier pieces of debris that could support the weight of an average person.
With the succession of the tactic, the group progressed to the next floor and took advantage of Eggman's pause to deal some damage in the form of a combined Photon Lancer courtesy of the Testarossa siblings. The rocket was armored enough to absorb most of the damage, but not without the cost of a few solid dents.
"Grr… So you figured out my little trap huh." The doctor gritted his teeth, "Well don't consider yourselves too lucky this time, with the hole in the floor here, you'll have less room to avoid all of the debris!"
Once again Eggman took his rocket drill contraption up into the next floor. His words rang true as the mages had the tough time of avoiding the debris as there was less room to move about in. To make matters more interesting, several rock spikes started to fall from the area in which Eggman drilled. It took all of the mages and familiar reflexes to avoid the spikes and heavy debris.
Once again, the bouncy floor, despite the huge hole in it, was about to be activated and electrified again. The time frame was merely seconds, but it was enough for the group of heroes to find a solid ground to work off of. They once again proceeded to the next floor; Sonic and Nanoha combined for a volley of the Divine Shooter to deal the damage this time.
"Gah! You little!" The doctor screamed in frustration as he saw the dents from the previous attack turn into complete tears in his precious rocket's armor, "I will make you pay!"
Another series of buttons were pressed and the rocket was sent into overdrive. Unfortunately this time, when the doctor launched upwards, he was stuck in the ceiling of the workbench. That only meant that there was no escape for the scientist though, as the mages still had to work around the sharp spikes and cluster of debris falling right for them.
Arf didn't even wait for the floor to start up before she took flight and clawed her way through the rest of the rocket's armor from one tear to the next. She must've ripped a few power cords or something because the rocket began to rapidly not only lose power, but the ensuring fight with gravity to keep it afloat.
"Nooooo!" The doctor cried out as his previous rocket exploded on contact. The force of the impact sent Eggman flying out of the zone.
[Boss Neutralized]
[Jingle: "Round Clear' Sonic CD (USA)]
The post-victory battle cheer was celebrated with Sonic and Nanoha's usual dance. Alicia had followed suit, only this time she twirled her handguns between her fingertips before she stowed them away much like a cowboy (or cowgirl) in the old western shows. The biggest surprise though, was that Fate and Arf had felt a little bit of inspiration to try it out, they probably would've admitted that it was just so they wouldn't feel left out afterwards, but it was a start.
The taller blonde was shy about it at first, but she eventually settled with a skillful twirl of Bardiche before placing the device in a resting position at her hip. Arf had let out a loud, but not deafeningly so, howl before she scratched at her fur a little bit with her rear paws.
"Not bad for a start you two" Sonic complimented, "I think next time, or at least by the time this is over, I'll have a fully coordinated dance for us all."
"D-don't get too many ideas, blue boy" The wolf familiar said with a tsun-ish ton to her voice, "I was only doing this because Fate wanted to give it a try."
"Whatever floats your boat" the blue hedgehog shrugged a little bit in a dismissing fashion, for him, the thought mattered more than much else.
"Guys, look!" Nanoha interjected as she opted to do something productive in searching through the wreckage of Eggman's latest failure. Her efforts were rewarded greatly as she held out a dark blue Time Stone, "Pretty..."
"That's five for us now" Alicia grinned in satisfaction as they were once step closer to kicking Baldy McNosehair off of Little Planet for good, "We're getting closer now!"
"Eggman realizes that too" Sonic noted with a frown, "This one wasn't exactly a cakewalk."
"We should be careful from here on" Fate cautioned as had soon realized just what the blue hedgehog had meant, "I think he's starting to get desperate, which means we could be facing anything now from here on."
"With the five of us teamed up, there's no way we'll lose" There was a certain air of confidence in Alicia's tone as she said that, "Whatever happens, if we all have each other's backs and trust, things will go along just fine."
"Heh…" Sonic kept a confident grin to match, "I'd like to see what Eggman throws at us next time!"
Little did Sonic or the others know that despite their victories, they still have to contend with Eggman's second-in-command; Metal Sonic, who would be waiting in the wings. Can the heroes keep their confident spirits up, or will the battle against the metallic menace prove to be their last?
[To Be Continued]
[End of Main Chapter]
[Omake: Size Matters Not]
Sure, by all technicalities given, Alicia was technically the oldest between her and Fate. Thus by all contexts, she would be considered the older sister. Though if anyone weren't told otherwise, they might've assumed it was the other way around first.
"I've done my math here guys, and technically I am the oldest girl among us right now" The smaller of the blondes admitted with some pride, "I doubt I'll ever act the my technical age though, it wouldn't be fun right now"
"I don't know if everyone's going to think of you being the older sister though," Nanoha noted innocently enough.
"Oh?" Alicia was intrigued, "And why is that?"
"Well…." The innocent and cute Nanoha found herself quickly struggling for a way to put the word gently. Quickly enough, the brunette had to bite the bullet, "You're shorter than the rest of us here"
"Short?!" for one reason or another, the smaller of the Testarossa siblings had also the more volatile of tempers and unfortunately for Nanoha, she found herself quickly on the wrong end of such a temper, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORTER THAN A MINISKIRT?"
'I didn't even say that' Nanoha deadpanned in thought.
The pain of the shorter older sibling… never remind them of that fact, least you want to come out of it alive.
[Ending: "Little Wish ~Lyrical Step" Yukari Tamura]
[End of Chapter 19]
Author's Notes:
(1): This is going by a speculation with the calendar on the Nanoha wikia. Some evidence has linked a conversion of the Mid-Childan calendar and the year in which the Jewel Seed Incident occurs would've been in 2006, which makes sense due to the original series launching in 2005
(2): This is following the Mid-Childan New Calendar. Why they have chosen this format is beyond me.
Little bit of trivia, quartz crystals are used in watches and timing devices. I found this out while I was typing this chapter. Pretty cool eh?
As usual, read and review... constructive reviews are always a positive as I'd like to see how I'm improving