Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than plots and OCs.
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World Divergence: Alpha - Nanohaverse
Transition 1
A/N : cross posted on my blog and FFN.
"Hasta la vista, baby" - normal speech
=I got lost in the road of life= - telepathic speech
[Dimensional Transfer] - device speech / spells
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...
"My betrothed, the Little Queen-"
Wait! What!?
"-Our wedding shall be held on your twenty-first birthday."
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0065 - December 25th
Harlaown Apartment
MC POV
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Several hours after the previous event, Lindy-san called me to said she want to discuss my payment.
Officially, that's it.
Unofficially, she was going to deliver a long sermon and several bureaucratic bullshit. All because what I had done in the entire operation.
Basically, an abridged form of a trial.
Nanoha (and, by extension, Yuuno) got a light slap on the wrist on their first insubordination in first season.
I was (physically) a 13 years old boy, not 9 years old girl. Naturally, the judgement of this matter would also different. Gender inequality, mental maturation, and whatnot.
And I did more than just one case of insubordination and insult. Plus the proverbial feud with soon-to-be-ex Admiral Graham.
Damn! There's no law that said mercenaries could not get punished.
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Three hours of convoluted speech later, I sat down exhausted at the living room. I was lost at words to describe what kind of lecture was that. It was so... Indescribable.
The porn equivalent would be, "I didn't know human could bend that way."
It was both amazing and horrifying at the same time.
"Well then..." Lindy-san began her next speech. "Next is your compensation for your share of work during this mission, or your keep, as you eloquently put it."
Perhaps 'keep' was not the right choice of word...
"I have contacted my superior and we have started the arrangement. However, because of your actions there are some... Complications."
Complications? I had a bad feelings about this.
"Let's see," she looked at the tablet in her hand, "excessive display of uncommon tendencies and quirks,-"
That's... Correct. I was a self-proclaimed insane.
"-use of non-conventional strategy and magic,-"
No question here. Nanohaverse might be a universe of mahou-shoujos. However, unlike common mahou-shoujo series, where the protagonist fought for love, friendship, and justice, the characters in Nanohaverse fought like it was a gunfight. A mahou-shoujo and gundam hybrid.
Or, like my interpretation : mahou-shoujo with DBZ flavor.
It's an universe where the top / elite characters adopt 'there's no kill like overkill' philosophy. Nearly all of them were able to fire magical beams of destruction. Or at very least, the equivalent of one.
On the other hand, I did a very different thing, not unlike Special Force unit. Granted, it was a poorly-done acting plus foreknowledge and paranoia. But, it worked.
"-questionable behaviors during mission,-"
Et tu? Was it 'running after the Hentai Kamen instead of helping Nanoha and Fate when the Book awaken' or 'dumping the three civilians and returning to the battlefield instead of protecting them' or maybe 'claiming Hayate-chan as my fiancee'?
"-insulting active officers-"
Gil Graham, Hentai Kamen Senior... As well as her and Chrono. The former case was justifiable (subjective opinion). This dude basically a failed Dumbledore ripoff. Greater Good and shit. It didn't matter for him that Hayate-chan would ended up dead (or worse, eternally stuck in border of life and death...), as long as the damned book is sealed.
The latter two were part of my assimilation program. I believed that as long as two people could speak to each other without using formal / polite speech, they're close enough. Either friends, comrades, or perhaps family in all but blood. And it just happen that insult speech was nowhere near polite.
Perhaps I screwed up a little bit too much?
Aaand her list went on for several more items. Including ones that I was sure that I had never done.
I really pissed her off, didn't I?
"... And therefore, my superior has decided to handle this case herself."
Wait. Wait. Wait. Roll back a little!
Superior? She had a boss? I did not register she said 'superior' at the first time. And boy, she did say her superior.
How the hell was that possible? I mean she's an Admiral (Teitoku). That's pretty much equivalent to a General, star-rank officer. An Admiral was essentially the very top rank in naval force, just below the Leader of State, the Supreme Commander. An Admiral command the entire naval force.
I did not remember any mention of her superior in anime. Just what the hell did I miss?
Let's think about it, shall we?
Exhibit A: she introduced herself as Admiral Lindy Halaown of TSAB Sailing Force, captain of TSAB ship Arthra.
Exhibit B: she commanded one ship, one vessel, the Arthra.
Exhibit C: she had a superior.
From there, we had two possible scenarios. Two hypothesis.
Hypothesis A: Her actual rank was a Captain (naval Captain, equivalent to army Colonel), and Admiral was just a common form of addressing anyone who command a TSAB ship. She commanded only one vessel and report to any star-ranked officer that was her direct superior.
Hypothesis B: Her actual rank was a single-star Admiral (one-star naval officer, equivalent to a Brigadier General), and therefore report to four-star officer or the Supreme Commander. She commanded small number of vessels (which all but one were not deployed in NA#97).
Riiight... This could lead to migraine. I'll just put these thing as one of translation problem and chose option A. No need to think anything else until proven otherwise.
"Great," I said with fake enthusiasm. "So, when will I need to meet this superior of yours?"
"In about seven days," Lindy-san answered.
"Huh? That long?"
"Not really," she half-denied, half-admitted. "All of us will depart to TSAB main office for different agenda. I need to give a complete report and do other duties, my crews will need to perform maintenance on Arthra, Hayate-chan and her knights will get a trial, and you will have an interview with the Director (Chief of Staff) of TSAB. In the mean time, you can have a Christmas Vacation."
I raised an eyebrow, "You mean 'we', as in plural form of first person pronoun."
"No. Not really," she shook her head. "It indeed should be 'we', as in I could have a little vacation after finishing my paperwork. However, due to the actions of a certain someone-"
She narrowed her eyes at my direction.
"-my paperwork has increased by a significant amount."
I winced, "Sorry..."
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"...that William's solution worked. It seems that the dummy program has been accepted by the Book of Night Sky," came Reinforce's report.
It was around early afternoon when I faced the black-clad, silver-haired, red-eyes female. The newly named Reinforce, master program of Book of Night Sky.
Correction, both of us were engaging discussion with Lindy-san, Chrono, and Amy.
"I have run some checks and the results were satisfactory. As long as the dummy program occupies the slot, the regeneration of the corrupted Defense Program has been halted indefinitely," she continued.
Several floating screens filled with charts and other data unknown to me came as her proof.
"So..." Chrono said, "the monster will not be returning this time?"
"As long as the Book remains physically intact, the Program would not return," came her affirmative reply. "Should the Book gets destroyed, so will the dummy program. If that happen, the Book will immediately resume the regeneration of the Corrupt Defense Program.
Lindy-san sighed in mix of relief and slight frustration. An action mirrored by Amy.
"I hope you will take additional measures to ensure that it never happen," Lindy-san said.
"It's a temporary solution," Reinforce replied. "That's why William suggested that we seek other professional help to properly fix the tome. However, since this the solution he offered is an indefinite temporary, we are not in a hurry to repair the Book. The said professional might have not born yet.-"
Some grimaced at that answer. It was both relieving and terrifying at the same time.
"-But rest assured. I will do my best to ensure the safety of the Book," she continued. "I will also prepare its substitute for my or my master's use."
Yeah, it's just the matter of time until she join the ranks and enter the battlefield. All of us here knew that.
"We will do our best to assist you in your task," came Lindy-san's diplomatic response.
Yeah, diplomatic alright. But the meaning and intent were no less true. We need to minimize the risk of that Book getting damaged. Its next incarnation might not as supportive as the current one.
"That being said-"
Lindy-san narrowed her eyes at me.
"-I would like to know how could you came with that solution, Will-kun?"
All eyes directed at me. Oh joy... Another interrogation session.
I took a deep breath before answering, "First, I'd assume that you're not accusing me for breaking law or doing any illegal activity.-"
Their face turned into 'WTF are you talking about?' But they hesitantly nodded.
"It's actually just simple deduction. The Book of Darkness, or rather Book of Night Sky, was extremely powerful, like a cheat code. No one, not even the most psychopathic individual, would willingly make a doom machine that would kill him, something so powerful and set it to destroy everything. Destroy enemies? Yes. Destroy everything? No. Even those psychos need living and place to live. Therefore they would rather build either something capable of preventing destruction or something capable of destroying and rebuilding anew, according to creator's wish."
Cue raised eyebrows.
Of course that theory was nowhere near the truth. Hell, even I would have to wash my mouth for sprouting that bullshit. Some homicidal ones would rather end the universe if he could do it.
But it could not be helped. I did need some forewords to explain things.
Or to divert their attention away.
"The Book's history and her," I pointed at Rein, "behavior during battle was so strange. And book is meant to record not destroy. Therefore I concluded that the Book was broken. Some idiot must have tampered the Book and thus resulting in its broken form."
A nod here and there along with some mutters.
"It wasn't until I got absorbed by the Book that my conclusion was proven correct. That being said," I turned to Rein, "did you aware of what happened with people who got absorbed?"
She nodded, "Yes, vaguely. They who got absorbed would experience living in illusion of a perfect world, which is unique from a person to another."
I nodded, satisfied, and continued my explanation, "Well, let's say due to my unique circumstances,-"
Some rolled their eyes
"-I ended up in a place where I indirectly learned about the Book's state (actually I already knew and Luna just confirmed it). From there, I just decided to make a temporary fix after a little contemplation. Think of a mythological beast of gluttony that lives only to chew and swallow,-"
Cue raised eyebrows.
"-put something he can't chew, and the entire process would come to halt. Well... I just finished the dummy program, uploaded it to the Book, and proposed to Hayate-chan," I finished flatly.
Cue bulged eyes.
*cough!* "That's an interesting answer, Will-kun. Your and Hayate-san's relationship aside, it's quite amazing to make something in that short amount of time."
I chuckled, "Lindy-san, while I am no expert at Belkan device programming and making that one was my limit, I would hardly call such thing amazing. The source code of that dummy program was barely thirty lines long."
"What!?"
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0065 - December 25th
Tsukimura's Residence.
MC POV
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I sat inside a huge mansion in Uminari that afternoon.
Two short females, Nanoha and Fate, roped me to join them and their friends, including Hayate-chan. Not that I complained.
And I finally learned that Suzuka was the one with purple hair. While Arisa was the one with blonde hair.
However, the awkward mood between each everyone of us persisted.
Of course it would be hard for them to casually talk to me. What I did last night and this morning were still fresh in their mind.
Several moments later, as it was obvious that none wanted to spend the entire evening there, we moved to veranda. The tea and confections that were served managed to reduce the awkward mood. Then we began to trade stories.
First, came Nanoha and her stories of adventures. Starting from how they found Yuuno, the Jewel Seed incident several months prior, the final battle in Garden of Time (Precia's floating castle), and finally the Book of Darkness Incident that ended this morning.
Fate's turn came next, and she told us her stories. Starting from the same Jewel Seed Incidents, her relationship with Precia and Alicia Testarossa, and Precia's purpose to collect the said Lost Logia.
Then came Hayate-chan's turn. Her stories weren't much, since she had little knowledge about many things the Wolkenritter did behind her back. But it gave us a whole new perspective about this entire ordeal.
And finally came my turn.
"Let me re-introduce myself. My name is William Thunderion, but call me Will. I am Shinobi-of-all-trades, a freelancer / TSAB Contract Mage who is currently waiting for my share of payment-"
"Hee? No more 'I got lost on the road of life', eh Will-kun?" chirped Nanoha.
Fate snickered.
I glared at them halfheartedly, "Oh, shut it, Pigtails! You too, Sparky!"
Snickers from other audiences.
"Sparky?" came Arisa's voice. "I can understand that Nanoha is Pigtails. But how come Fate is Sparky?"
"Umm... Perhaps because she uses lighting-based magic," Hayate-can answered.
More snickers and pouts.
*cough* "Where was I again? Oh yeah, TSAB Contract Mage. And, as for this morning, fiance of one Yagami Hayate."
Hayate-chan blushed in deep red color. Fate and Nanoha put strained smiles. Suzuka and Arisa swooned.
I told them the abridged version of my history, with more redaction compared to what I had said to Lindy-san. Basically history of Potterverse and my five years of Hogwarts. There were some disbelief on certain parts of my story. Then came my part involvement in the recent mission, which basically a mercenary / Contract Mage against Hentai Kamen, Berserk Rein, and NatchWal. And finally, I ended my story with one sentence.
"...and at the end, three mahou-shoujos," I glanced at those three, "managed to defeat the real Final Boss with power of love, friendship, and justice."
Two snickers, two groans, and one smirk.
The conversation,including teasing, continued for some time until Suzuka voiced a question.
"By the way, do you know why did we got trapped inside the... Barrier?"
Fate and Nanoha looked at each other in confusion. Hayate-chan kept silent.
I hummed and five sets of eyes directed at me.
"I don't understand the exact mechanics myself," I began. "But from what I gathered, that was a Belkan-style spell meant to keep non-magicals outside. They would not aware of what happen inside, either by sight or sound."
Three mahou-shoujo nodded at this minimum explanation.
"Wait!" Arisa stood up in Ace Attorney style and slammed her hands on the table. "You said 'to keep the non-magicals outside'. Does that mean we can use magic too?"
Three mahou-shoujo glanced at each other, unsure what to respond. Then their eyes directed at me.
I raised one eyebrow, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Umm... Well... You..." Nanoha stumbled on her words.
"What she trying to say is," Fate took over. "You usually have insight for these kinds of things. So..."
"Hmm..." I tried to impersonate the thinking pose of a certain Ancient Chinese philosopher, which failed due my lack of beard. "Why don't you let them hold your devices? A device can measure someone's magic potential and accept or reject his/her as user."
Nanoha looked sheepish and scratched back of her head, "Um.. I kinda... left Raising Heart at home."
I glanced at Fate.
"Same here. Amy-san is currently looking over it."
Hayate-chan.
"Mine is currently being held by Reinforce."
I sighed and closed my eyes for a few seconds. Opening my eyes, I looked at Nanoha and Fate.
"TSAB is a military / law enforcement organization. Temporary member or not, you two are currently part of it. And thus, you are expected to maintain combat awareness, because A: something might happen, and B: better safe than sorry. At least one of you should have your device ready on your person. Therefore, should you encounter something beyond your ability, you could either retreat with movement / transport spell or request reinforcements or extraction."
Holy shit! I practically mouthed a borderline bashing, no matter how true that argument was! Nine years-old weren't expected to be able to do that.
The two looked crestfallen.
"Ah, forget it," I hurriedly said, waving it off. "You're still nine and have not received any military training yet. There's no way you could have known about such thing."
"And you have?" this time Hayate-chan asked her question.
I snorted, "Me? Nope. Due to events happened in my previous world, I just accustomed to maintain healthy amount of paranoia and CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" I barked the last one while channeling Mad-eye Moody, one of the top Aurors in Potterverse.
Five girls nearly jumped back from their seat while the cats scrambled in surprise.
The awkward mood lasted for a few moments until Suzuka spoke, "Ano... About Arisa-chan's question..."
"Aah... Sorry about that. Do I have your permission to perform a scan on you two?"
They nodded and I raised my right arm and commanded, "Eyaruu."
[Matrix Scan]
A wave of mana washed over the duo as Eyaruu performed the scan. The two shivered a little. After a few seconds two floating screens came into view. Each screen displayed various data of either girl.
"Hmm.." I hummed while reading the data.
"Well?" the energetic blonde pressed.
"According to the scan result, you two certainly have active Cores, or Linker Cores as TSAB called them. It's the metaphysical organ that generates and stores mana, and in turn enabling mage to cast spells. However, neither of you possess significant amount of mana level."
Basically squibs in Potterverse term.
"Damn it!" Arisa swore.
Yeah, learning that you have something as incredible as magic was euphoric. Learning that you don't have enough power to use it was reversing the euphoria by 180 degrees. That fact hit her hard. And Suzuka definitely felt the same way despite not voicing it out.
"I believe that either the constant presence of Pigtails-"
"HEY!"
"-or Sparky-"
*grumble* *grumble*
"-around you two these days was the cause of your Cores becoming active. Well... just activating them and nothing else. Sorry."
The mood did not improve much... Until Nanoha asked a semi-important question.
"Umm... Will-kun. What about my sister?"
Everyone blinked.
I blinked twice.
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A/N: Uh... Yeah... I decided that I should stop writing on fixed length. Limiting each chapter to around ~2.5k words is just stupid. So, from this point onward, the chapter length will vary. How long? Dunno, it could be as short as just 2k or as long as 5k, depending on my muse.
On another note, Lindy is not OOC, no matter how she act similarly like Danzo (Narutoverse) to the MC. She behaves differently from canon is simply because of MC-related headache. Simply imagine Archer and Rin (Nasuverse), he's hell bent on riling up Rin, while our MC does it to everyone. She'll warming up on him in several chapters. After some agreement of aspirin... And perhaps alcohol.