SonicANIME2010 here once again, bringing in another episode to the StrikerS saga of Lyrical Step. The plot continues and Jail's conquest begins, can he be stopped?
-OP: "Massive Wonders" Mizuki Nana-
Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Step
Chapter 27
Infinite Desires, the Cradle flies
-Jail's Hideout: Exterior-
-Insert: "An Undocumented Battle" Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy-
The Cradle of the Saints rose from the ground and took flight, this massive warship had an arrow-like structure to it's build, all the engines were located in the rear, the ship boasted the most powerful weaponry of it's time. And with Emerl linked with it, controlling it and the Master Emerald providing additional power because while the Gizoid was able to mimic the Saint King's bloodline ability to power the ship, it wasn't perfect, so the emeralds had to be used for back up power.. Still regardless, it doesn't take away from the intimidating power the ship possessed.
-Saint Church: Carim's office-
The leader of the Saint Church watched the massive ship rise to the skies through the feed established from her knight Schach's device.
"Knight Carim, this is what was in your prophecy.." Schach told her.
The yellow-haired knight gazed at her deck, "The dancing dead... the ship returning from the holy land under the king's direction. The ultimate physical weapon from the age of Ancient Belka. The ship of the Saint that rules heaven and earth...Seiō no Yurikago (The Saint's Cradle)"
-Arthra-
Carim established a call to Hayate on the ship in the communication room.
"This is the situation I wanted to avoid at all costs." Hayate said
"It's the Church's... no, it's my fault. My interpretation of the prophecy was insufficient." Carim sounded guilty
"It's natural not to know the future. It's not your fault or the Church's" Hayate looked at the screen in front of her that showed the Cradle, "Now, what do we do..." while she thought, Admiral Chrono contacted her.
"Hayate, it's Chrono."
-Dimensional Space-
At least a dozen warships were gathered together in space, their objective was focused on the Cradle. They were en route to Mid-Childa to deal with the warship.
In the ship that Chrono commanded, the admiral was talking to Hayate, "The TSA has judged the Seio no Yurikago (The Saint's Cradle) to be an extremely dangerous Lost Logia. The Inter-Dimensional Fleet is already on the move. The army is helping as well. Can Riot Force 6 move out?"
"Yes." Hayate confirmed
-Mid-Childa: In the Sky: POV: Numbers-
All of the active Numbers, including the newly instated Subaru, received a transmission from Uno.
"The link between the Gizoid and the Yurikago have been established." her first orders were to Quattro and Dieci, "Quattro and Dieci, switch with me inside the Yurikago.."
"Hai!" Quattro acknowledged while flying with Dieci to the warship.
Her next orders went out for Tre, Sette and Sein, "Tre, Sette, and Sein are to guard the Doctor at the base.. no doubt an attack will occur there.."
"Understood." Tre acknowledged and with Sette and Sein in tow, withdrew to the base.
"Nove, Deed, and Wendi are to go with Number 13 (Subaru)." Uno ordered.
"We're already with her." Nove replied back.
"The Yurikago will continue to rise to a level where it can strike the surface."
"If it reaches the point where it can receive the magic of the two moons and attack the surface, the Yurikago is truly invincible" Quattro chimed in over communication.
"Everyone on Mid-Childa will be our hostages. If that's our position then we can even deal with the TSA fleet" Tre added again over communication... and someone's a bit overconfident.
"Ano.. I do have one question.." Wendi asked over the channel, "What's powering the Yurikago?"
Silence was the response from the other cyborgs, Jail decided to explain this one from his hideout, "I'll tell you.. With the genetic DNA I acquired from the Shroud of the Saint King, stolen no less from the Saint Church ten years ago by a priest who was seduced into stealing it, I created a "clone" of the last Saint King, she was to act as the Vessel to activate the Cradle."
"She was to serve as our king.." Nove noted out loud.
"Demo, weren't we unable to reacquire the Vessel because of the interference of the blue hedgehog?" Wendi asked.
"Yes.. but we were lucky enough to get a substitute with the Gizoid." Jail answered.
"What is the Gizoid?" Wendi asked again.
"It was something I found a few years ago, I remembered it was something Professor Gerald was working on before our working relationship ended... I wasn't sure what it was because the dear Professor kept it secret from me, but finding out that it had the ability to copy other abilities I wanted to see if it could work with the Cradle.. And I remembered also that just about everything the Professor was working on also was fixated on the Chaos Emeralds we now have. Needless to say it worked."
Sein chimed in "Another question."
"Go ahead Sein" Jail granted..
"Ignoring the Old man, the High Council, who are they? Weren't they the ones who supported the Artificial Mage project that brought Zest back? You don't think they have a plan of their own, do you?"
"Regius and the High Council both have the same hope. The peace and security of Mid-Childa and the dimensions. For that reason, Regius remained obsessed with the discarded Combat Cyborg plan, and the High Council with the relic weapons and Artificial Mage plans. They're shouldering a rather large contradiction; they're willing to sacrifice innocents to maintain the peace."
"I'm confused..." Sein said
"Yup.." Wendi added.
Sein voiced her worries, "Anyways, I'm worried that they'll get mad at us, because they're our sponsors and we ignored them in calling up that huge Yurikago (Cradle)."
A chuckle escaped the doctor, "I've made sure that they won't. Don't worry about a thing. Go have fun. When you're done playing, come back to our new home, the Yurikago." Jail ended his call.
'I don't really get what the Doctor's saying as usual.' Sein sent out mentally.
Wendi added from her location 'Well, we don't really have any hopes or dreams. We've just gotta do what Uno says.'
'That's right..' Sein agreed.. then thought to herself "Then again there's one more thing.. the woman who made that priest steal the Shroud of the Saints.. who was she?"
-TSAB High Council-
Somewhere in this massive base, lay the mentioned TSAB High Council.. Who have been using Regius as a tool, they were furious because Jail overdid it.. They were his sponsors, and they were not too happy finding that Jail activated the Cradle without them, they had ambitions of their own.. A dictatorship, even though they themselves couldn't "Rule" per-say anymore.. there were three of this council.. the only thing left of them were their brains in life support... A rather humorous sight actually... the three who were calling the shots for Regius.. were three brains in jars... Now they still wanted to protect the TSA, and their regrets were that if Zest was in better health, they could use him as an observer for Jail.. In their chats they waved off a female maintenance worker who "claimed" to be there to perform their daily maintenance. They were a bit frustrated at the interruption because they were discussing in a conference Zest.
The maintenance worker performed some daily checkups on a small terminal in the middle of where these brains were stationed. She asked if they seemed worried, but the High Council told her it wasn't anything for her to be concerned about. She was there because she wanted to be... Little did the High Council know that while their time was coming... it was going to come a lot sooner than they think.
-Dimensional Space-
In a direct contact with Chrono, Midget Crowbel, one of the Legendary Admirals, talked about the founding of the TSAB, how it was this High Council that established it. Officially as far as Crowbel knew, the High Council gave her and the other two admirals leadership of the TSA and the system, but the Council established their own system to maintain watch. The aging yet still active Admiral voiced that while Regius can be a bit violent, he still protected the peace, and she couldn't believe that he was involved.
-Arthra-
Hayate opened a conference to all the active members of Riot Force 6 who were gathered in the meeting room, Signum and Blaze listened in from their flight, to where is unknown but they still acknowledged their presence.
"No matter what the reason, the High Council and Regius tried to use Jail Scaglietti, but they ended up being used instead, and betrayed. I don't know how much about whose plan, or who was behind what, but now the massive ship is in the sky and combat cyborgs and gadgets have appeared in the city, threatening the safety of the city. This is the truth. We must stop them." Hayate said from the communication room.
In the meeting room, Fate nodded and addressed the rest of those gathered, "The HQ fleet is heading toward the Yurikago, and all other squads are cooperating to deal with the combat cyborgs and gadgets."
Nanoha took her turn, "But there aren't many mages who can handle a high-level AMF battle. We will split into three groups and help in all fields." The conference was dismissed.
Erio and Caro caught Fate just as she was leaving.
"Fate-san" Erio called to her.
"Oh.. Erio, Caro, you're in a different group. I'm sorry I can' be there when it counts" Fate knelt down and placed her hands her squad's faces in kindness.
"No.. its not that" Erio said
"We're worried you might face Scaglietti alone." Caro was concerned.
"Daijobu, Inspector Acous, Sister Schach and Shadow are with me. So I'm not alone." Fate hugged them both at the same time, "So do your best. Both of you."
"You too, Fate-san" Erio acknowledged
-With Signum, Vita and Rein-
Rein talked to Signum about Zest and Agito, "The knight and red girl might show up again.."
"Knight Zest and Agito... Major Nakajima has already told me about them.. I do have my own plan for them.. but I'm going to require your (Rein) and Blaze's assistance." Signum replied.
-With Nanoha, Sonic and Vita-
The three addressed the four forwards (with Ginga in Subaru's spot) as the four were about to drop into their designated drop area to assist the forces on the ground, their targets were the Cyborgs going after the Ground HQ.
"We won't be able to help you from this point on, we're in a different group" Sonic told them
"Demo, close your eyes and think about your training." Nanoha told them, when they (with the exception of Ginga) did as told she continued "The basic skills you've repeated over and over again... Your special skills that you've polished... The defense training where you were hurt. The formations you've repeated until your whole body hurt. The mock combats you did with us over and over again until you were barely able to stand" seeing the Forwards grunt a bit got Nanoha to tell them, "You can open your eyes now." when they did she continued, "Well I don't know if I can say it, but it was tough."
A few giggles and chuckles were the response..
Vita weighed in "You've all done well to come this far."
Nanoha added, "The three of you are all stronger than anybody- though I can't really say that yet."
Vita and Sonic smirked with their arms folded.
Nanoha continued, "Demo, I trained you to deal with anybody in any situation. The power to protect what you must protect, the power to save what you must save, the power to stand up in face of a desperate situation. After how hard you've worked, you have all of those things. The time you dreamed and longed for and did your best together, the time you put all the that effort into no matter how painful it was, it won't let you down."
"Its the ability to overcome a desperate situation that makes a Striker." Vita added
"Hai" Erio, Caro and Teana acknowledged
The door behind Sonic, Vita and Nanoha opened to reveal Cinque in her new apparel along with Quint and surprisingly Megane and Lutecia.
"We're all going too." Cinque told them.
"Zest is down there.. we're going to help save him." Quint said.
"Let him know that his sacrifice wasn't in vain and that we survived." Megane added.
While Lutecia had something else in mind. "I'm not going to let myself be outdone by the midget."
"OY!" Caro was comically ticked off, "Sonic-san!"
The mentioned hedgehog chuckled "Nothing wrong with a friendly rivalry I seem to recall when Knux and I were starting out in the Bureau one of our deployments was against the drones and we had a little contest to see how many we can get. Trying to one-up each other.. We met up at the end, his final count was 143.. Mine was 142 but I noticed that one of his was still moving, it was one he was sitting on so I stepped on the head and counted it as 143.. He said it was already destroyed but I argued it was twitching.. He said it was twitching cause it had one of his shovel claws imbedded in the center."
"Yeah.. Then I told you both to shut up and return to base.." Vita added
"You were jealous because your count was barely 100" Sonic argued back, getting some grumbles from Vita.
Nanoha cleared her throat, which got both to stand at attention, "Much better.. You four can go with them.. Everyone's dismissed.", after that was said, Teana, Caro and Erio left.. leaving only Ginga behind.
"I'll go on ahead." Vita dismissed herself, Quint remained but Lutecia, Megane and Cinque followed the three forwards.
"Sonic-san" Ginga started.
The hedgehog spoke "I know you're probably worried about Subaru, but.."
Ginga interrupted him, "No, that's not it.. I know I will have to face Subaru in order to save her, but I'm worried about you.. I heard about what happened with Emerl in the past on your world.. How you had to fight him back then.. and you have to fight him now too.. I'm worried for you both.."
"Arigatou... Ginga.. demo, I'll be fine.. I know I'll have to face Emerl again... but this time I'm not alone.." Sonic replied.
"That's right. I'm going with him." Nanoha said
"Me too." Shahra added from her ring.
"It'll be different this time.. I promise.. now go with the others." Sonic ordered.
"Hai!" Ginga saluted and dismissed herself.
-Exterior of the Arthra-
-Insert: "Sonic Speed Riders" Sonic Riders OST-
The hatches from the hanger of the Arthra opened and dropped the helicopter that had the Forwards and their group in. Signum, Blaze and Reinforce Zwei launched off and flew in a separate direction to initiate a gambit that the swordswoman had planned. Announcements ran throughout the ship to open the downward hatch for the Captains and Sub captains to fly out from.
Seven flashes of light flew from the hatch, in colors of Light blue, two red, one black, one yellow, one silver and one cherry blossom colored. The mages in flight were the captains and vices, Nanoha, Fate, Sonic, Shadow, Vita, Knuckles and Hayate.
The blue hedgehog had excitement brimming his features as he held out his right hand "Blue Star! Extreme Gear! Level 3!", "Ja!" came the reply. Sonic's airboard materialized with the two blue attachments. Landing square on them in a regular (left foot forward) stance, the hedgehog rode behind his captain.
Shadow called forth his own extreme gear, which was a black airboard, taking a goofy foot (right foot forward stance) he also took to following his captain.
Knuckles had a different gear to his, a motor-bike, taking the seat, he pounded his fists together in excitement "Let's go!"
-Saint Church-
-Music continues-
Carim sat in her chair watching the mages take flight, "Ability limiters for Riot Force 6's Vice-Captains, Captains and Commander are now completely released." a blue magic circle appeared in front of her, "Hayate, Signum, Vita, Nanoha, Fate, Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, please be safe.."
-In the sky-
"Do your best everyone" Hayate encouraged in flight
"We'll handle this as quickly as possible" Fate added
"Leave it to us!" Nanoha announced.
"I hope that Yurikago's insured.. Cause it's gonna be scrap metal when we're through with it!" Sonic said with a smirk, "
"Hmph. Scaglietti has no idea who he's dealing with." Shadow said
"Time to reclaim the Master Emerald!" Knuckles added.
-Saint Church-
"Limit Release!" Carim pushed the center of the glyphs, making a red aura when it was pushed.
-In the sky-
The streams of Nanoha, Fate, Hayate and Vita gave off a flash of light as a sign that all their limiters were released.
Nanoha, her mage rank now rising to S+ shifted to her Agressor mode of her Barrier Jacket, she held Raising Heart high and called out "Exceed Drive!","Ignition" Her device flickered and shifted into its' yellow spearhead form also shifting Nanoha's jacket to a white dress outfit. With Sonic in tow, she formed up with the others.
Fate flew up beside her, "Nanoha?"
"Fate-chan..."
"Both Raising Heart's and your limit break, the Blaster Mode. I'm sure you won't listen to me if I tell you not to use it, so I won't. Demo, onegai, don't overdo it."
"I'm also worried about you, Fate-chan.. Your limit break is extremely powerful, but also very dangerous and puts a lot of stress on you to use."
"I'm fine.. Daijobu" Fate looked ahead.
Nanoha sighed "Fate-chan's as stubborn as always..."
The blonde turned to her friend with a light blush "And you're always doing dangerous things..."
"I'm an aerial mage. Doing dangerous things is my job"
"Even so, you do too much! I... do you know how much we've worried?"
"I do. I know very well how much you've worried about me. So I'll come back safe today. I'll come back safe and happy so we can take care of Vivio."
"Okay" Fate nodded.
"Oy.. oy.. you both done arguing like a married couple?" Sonic asked from behind them.
"How appropriate." Both mages turned to stare at Sonic
The hedgehog let out a comical gulp, "Anyways.. shouldn't we separate now? We all have our own destinations to go to.. and lots of drones and cyborgs to send to the junk pile"
"Let's do our best" Nanoha and Fate fist pumped each other softly. Fate broke formation with Shadow in tow, her destination, Jail's hideout.
Sonic grinned in anticipation as he followed Nanoha to take formation with Hayate, Vita and Knuckles
"Say, Sonic, what's say we have another contest.. how many drones we can take out.. Bonus points for the combat cyborgs up there." Knuckles offered.
"Sure.. I'll take that.. anyone else?" Sonic asked
"Like I'm going to be outdone by two animals!" Vita smirked.
"Vita-chan, you're going to have to beat me in that contest too" Hayate teased.
Nanoha added "I'm participating too. Now, let's go!"
The group flew off to engage the Cradle, little did they know however, that they had a small shadow tailing them in their flight, who could it be?
-Sky over Mid-Childa-
Alto flew the helicopter that had Ginga, Teana, Cinque, Megane, Lutecia, Quint, Erio and Caro in, the group ready to engage the cyborgs and drones in the city. Ginga was driven by her resolve to save her sister. While Cinque was driven by the determination to save her sister from their creator.
-Nanoha's group-
With the resolve to survive and return to Vivio in waiting, Nanoha and Sonic with their group caught sight of the massive warship, after doing so, they boosted their speed and flew in to engage the Cradle, again unknown to the small shadow tailing them
-Jail's Hideout-
-No Music-
Scaglietti watched his plan unfold safely from his lab.
"Doctor" Uno approached him
"Ah. Uno, you're back."
"Tre, Sette and Sein have returned and we're all ready for a counterattack" she reported
"I've asked Silver for assistance as well, he'll be helping us" Jail noted and put on a display of Silver flying with Otto.
"Zest is also taking his own route.. it's very unusual."
"When she's done with her current mission, Due will head for the ground HQ to perform her next duty." Jail noted with a smirk.
-TSAB High Council-
-No Music-
It was a devastating sight, two of the three brains of the High Council were sliced from their jars. The last one was shocked greatly.
"Why? Why?" the remaining brain voiced from it's capsule.
The woman who was the "maintenance worker" approached the last brain with a weapon that had her thumb, index and middle finger inside razor sharp claws, "It's not good for you old folks to work so hard." with a bloodthirsty grin and a sadistic aura about her, she licked her claws, "It's time for you to say, "oyasumi" (good night)"
"You're Jail's-?"
"The genius you found, created and raised. With the knowledge of a lost world and infinite greed within him, the pride of Al Hazard. Development Codename: Infinite Desires. Jail Scaglietti. The moment you created him and gave him power, your fate was sealed. No matter what chain you put around his neck, or what prison you put him in... A power you cannot master will bring about your own destruction" the woman held out her hand, ready to strike and end the life of the last brain. As she did so, her disguise dropped, revealing her true appearance, donned in the same uniform as the rest of the cyborgs, her hair a yellow color and eyes green. She was known as Due, the very same deep cover mole in the TSAB created by Jail. And also the very same woman who seduced the priest into stealing the Shroud of the Saints that created Vivio.
Due had a very sadistic smile as raised her clawed hand high.
"Impossible! Impossible!" the remaining High Council member shouted.
"Oyasumi-nasai..." Due sliced down, destroying the life support capsule that the brain was relying on to survive.
-In the Sky where the Cradle flies-
-Insert: "Knight of the Goddess" Final Fantasy XIII-2-
Groups of mages under the command of Riot Force 6 initiated their attack on the drones guarding the cradle, all of them desperately looking for a way in.
"Mages! Group into formation. We're going to take out the smaller units!" Hayate ordered while using her own spells to attack the drones.
Vita and Knuckles double-teamed a wave of medium sized drones. The red duo completely crushing them in half without even breaking a sweat, determination and strong resolve powering them.
"Look for a way inside! Assault Squad! Report your position!" Vita ordered as she and her partner took on more drones.
Nanoha blasted a group with a Short Buster spell, quick to fire, and not too powerful, but enough to wipe out a wave. And Sonic, not to be outdone, wiped out his own wave by bursting through them with his spin-dash. He took place at Nanoha's side on his airboard.
"Enemy group 7 destroyed." Nanoha reported, "Sugi!" (Next) she shouted with a vicious snarl to emphasize her resolve.
-Cradle: Throne Room-
The gizoid sat there, emotionless, Dieci and Quattro guarded him. Electricity ran throughout the room once again and shocked the robot.. to no visual effect.
-Dimensional Space-
Chrono and the TSA fleet were en route to Mid Childa to engage the Cradle, however they were three hours away. So the Admiral hoped that the forces can last long enough for the cavalry to come in. Chrono sat and watched as the mages engaged the drones all over the Cradle. The next three hours will prove to be interesting.
-End of Main Chapter-
-Omake: Vanilla and Cream's sweet shop-
So to boost morale amongst the members on the Arthra, Vanilla and Cream decided to give away free candy and other sweets like cookies or cupcakes in a small room stand where they cooked them.
Sonic was there, chatting up the mother and daughter rabbit combo, "Nice idea of giving away the sweets. They're a big hit with everyone.. some are coming for seconds.. So you got your work cut out for you"
"Arigatou, Sonic-san" Cream bowed.
The hedgehog just stood around watching as others were given some sweets.. What really got his attention was a very familiar silver-haired girl.
"Cupcakes, onegai" the voice rang more bells, it was none other than Cinque.
"Cinque..." the hedgehog chuckled
The girl turned to face the hedgehog, "Nani?"
He pointed to the mentioned cupcakes she got with more chuckles, didn't say anything, just snickering.
"I love sweets!" Cinque defended her choice.
"Nothing wrong with that, just surprised seeing this side to ya"
"Not all of us are emotionless tools, you know."
"I noticed.. I thought I could hear a surfing song while what's her name. .Wendi? Faced off with us.."
"She is rather hyperactive and mischievous.. then again so is Sein, she's the one that dives in and out of stuff.. Those two together.. at our base I recalled them going on a grope-fest.. the others didn't like it too much.."
"When we save them, we have to make sure that Hayate is not even within five feet of them.. if they team up with her, no girl is safe."
"Agreed."
-Ending Theme: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari-
-End of Chapter 27-
Author's Notes: and here we have even more plot development.. and the introduction of Due.. Yes in her first appearance she does kill the High Council.. who established the TSAB all those years ago.. She's one of the older ones and is almost as cruel and sadistic as Jail can be.. Will she get her karma due? Wait and see.. Anyways, yes deep down within that stoic attitude that Cinque has is actually a bit of a girly girl.. Rather cute side to the girl.