SonicANIME2010 with another chapter for Sonic Adventure Lyrical Step... Who could this mysterious figure tailing Sonic and Nanoha be? Can they stop the Cradle from reaching its desired point? The decisive battle begins now!
-OP: "Massive Wonders" Mizuki Nana-
Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Step
Chapter 28
The Decisive Battle on the Cradle begins!
-Dimensional Space: TSAB Fleet-
-Insert: "The Order that must be protected" Dissidia: Final Fantasy-
Still three hours until the first fleet of ships could arrive to engage the Cradle, Admiral Chrono Harlaown was communicating with both his mother, who informed him of the uproars the Cradle has caused amongst the others in the fleets, but the delays were being handled by Advisor Leona, one of the three legendary admirals; and Yuuno Scrya and Fate's familiar Arf at the infinite library. The librarian was researching what exactly the Cradle was by looking through past records, doing so will allow him to provide intel for those fighting the Cradle, and to make sure no one gets blind-sighted by anything. According to Yuuno, there was a possibility that the Cradle was related to Al Hazard.. an ancient civilization, and a name that has never rang true to anyone in the Harlaown family. The most dangerous thing they found was that if the warship reaches orbit, where it can then receive the power of Mid-Childa's twin moons, increasing it's power drastically and allowing it to launch powerful bombs on the surface of the planet, just as predicted in the Saint Church. And to make matters worse, the warship would be able to engage in combat in dimensional space, and with it's full potential realized. The ship could be more than a match for the Dimensional Fleet. The only ways to stop the ship from reaching the orbit is if either A: the engines were destroyed, or B: the key, the Vessel, orders it to stop. Lindy reached the conclusion that if Jail was captured, the cyborgs controlling the Vessel could also stop. Arf had confidence in her master to capture the evil mastermind.
-Mid-Childa: Cradle: Exterior-
-Insert: "Knight of the Goddess" FFXIII-2-
The monstrous warship began unleashing it's own weapons on the mages under Hayate's command, most were pinned down and stuck. However, for some reason, the small shadow that tailed this group, the very same who was also keeping a very close eye on Nanoha and Sonic specifically, wasn't affected by either the ships own weapons or the gadget drones that seemed to pour continuously. But this small figure also went unnoticed by the entire fleet attacking. The warship's defenses either didn't detect this shadow, or outright ignored it. This gave the figure, whoever it was, an advantage of stealth.
Hayate gave orders to maintain a defensive formation. Aerial drones came pouring out in hundreds, an estimation of 900 at least! And they were heading for the city; the commander ordered her squad to take them all out before they could separate and head for the cities where innocents are.
Nanoha, Sonic, Knuckles and Vita flew around the warship looking for a way in to attack. The mysterious figure followed them from a safe distance under the cover of clouds.
"Captain Takamachi!" a mage reported in, "We found a way inside!"
"Great.. Hayate-chan?" Nanoha opened a communication with the mentioned commander.
"I heard.. Nanoha, Sonic, Vita and Knuckles can you go inside? I can handle the forces out here!"
"Hai!" Nanoha and Vita answered simultaneously.
"Okay!" Sonic and Knuckles followed suit.
The four flew up to where the mages reported as a way inside. Sure enough, there was a small hole blasted through the surface, big and deep enough for a small group to fly in. The four took it and descended into the Warship's interior. However, a small blind diversion got the mages to turn their heads for a brief moment, capitalizing on the blind spot, the small figure followed the group inside.
"Riot Force 6, Stars-1, 2 and 3 have entered the inner corridor with the guardian of the Master Emerald." Nanoha reported from the inside.
As they descended, Nanoha and Vita suddenly found themselves falling a bit faster, their flight spells were taking in interference from the ship's AMF. Sonic and Knuckles were not affected because their Extreme Gear isn't powered by magic while Shahra was safe inside her ring. They weren't the only ones either, the mysterious, small shadow also was unaffected by the AMF despite using a flight spell.
"An AMF?" Vita observed.
"All throughout the inside of the ship too.." Nanoha coated herself in a pink aura and with Vita, safely landed on the ground with Sonic and Knuckles landing with their Extreme Gears in hand. Tailing them from above was the mysterious shadow, again went unnoticed by the inside group. The lights on the ship finally revealed this shadow's identity as... Vivio!
-Flashback: Arthra: Prior to the attack-
Nanoha finished putting Vivio to bed in her quarters on the ship, with a kiss on the young girl's forehead, Nanoha promised to return safely for her and left. However, whether it was in her haste, or opinion that the young girl would remain on the ship during the attack, she left the door unlocked.
Vivio laid in her bed for a few moments as she thought to herself, 'Nanoha-mama and Sonic-papa are going to save Emerl-onii-chan, they promised.. demo.. I want to help too.. Emerl-onii-chan must be in so much pain.. I can't stand here when I can help..' The young girl left the room and ran into Amy Rose, who was in a bit of a haste to join the Forwards, she would have been in the helicopter with them had Tails not held her back to work on her Extreme Gear.
"Vivio? What are you doing out of your room?" the pink hedgehog asked
"Sonic-papa and Nanoha-mama are working hard to save Emerl-onii-chan.. Vivio wants to help too..."
"You know it's dangerous out there, right?"
"Hai... demo.. Vivio still wants to help.."
The pink hedgehog sighed "Go then... It'd be useless for me to stop you; I can tell you have a lot of resolve." she patted the young girl on the shoulder, "Promise Amy-oba-chan (aunt) that you'll be careful out there, ne?"
"Hai!" Vivio nodded and ran off. She watched Nanoha and Fate enough times in their training to learn a flight spell, in the midst of all the deployments, Vivio used them as distractions to sneak out of the Arthra and tail Sonic and Nanoha's group.
-Flashback end-
Vivio tailed the group on the inside. Her presence, was still largely unnoticed by everyone. Her flight spell was unaffected by the AMF of the Cradle, the reason for this and not being attacked on the outside was because the ship recognized her as the Saint King Olivie because she was her clone. To the ship, it was still normal for the members of the royal family to make round trips in and out of the warship so the defense systems ignored her presence, doing so gave Vivio the advantage of not being noticed by the cyborgs onboard. Vivio was unaware of her lack of detection by the ship, to her, she just thought that she was on a lucky streak. Though she was grateful that Sonic and Nanoha didn't notice her. She didn't want to reveal herself to them yet for fear of what they would do.
-Scaglietti's Hideout: Interior-
-No Music-
Schach, Fate and Shadow took on a wave of ground based drones, the explosions caused by decimating these were even heard outside.
Schach wielded her twin blades and made an assault, slicing and dicing every drone in her path with east, after loading a cartridge to boost her power, she continued.
Fate had Bardiche in it's large sword "Zanber Form". With this she sliced through drone after drone, after she faced down another wave in front of her she leapt and swung her sword, its reach was so long it pierced through the ceiling, bringing it for a downward slash, she destroyed the drones that were underneath the blade, the ceiling crumbles took care of the rest.
Shadow was having no issue either, with his spin-dashes and chaos powers, he proved to be far more of a match than the drones he encountered here. He finished his wave off with a Chaos Blast explosion.
"Hmph.. Weak.. Hardly worthy of our time." Shadow scoffed.
"Arigatou Sister Schach" Fate thanked the nun. Verossa's shadowy dogs came into sight.
"These dogs did their best in finding us this route" Schach patted a few on the head, "Let's keep going, until we reach Scaglietti" she held one of her blades to her side.
"Hai!" Fate agreed.
"Hmph.. Less talking.. more moving.." Shadow took the lead with the two in tow.
-Capital City-
- "Knight of the Goddess" continues-
Alto's helicopter, which contained the forward group of Cinque, Lutecia, Megane, Quint, Teana, Ginga, Erio and Caro; took some heavy resistance from some of the aerial drones.
"Gomen minna.. It's going to get bumpy! Hang on!" Alto told them from the cockpit, she managed to avoid the lasers the drones fired, however, the drones kept them pinned and unable to land.
The two drones rounded up to the front of the helicopter, they almost fired their lasers, but a pink spinning blur thrashed them both at the same time! The blur was revealed to be Amy Rose.
"Gomen minna.. I sorta got delayed back on the ship" Amy apologized over the communication.
"Arigatou, Amy!" Alto thanked her.
"No problem.. Let's continue on to the drop point"
"Hai.. minna, we're almost there, get ready!" the pilot informed her passengers.
"Hai!" everyone answered. The back hatch opened and Amy went in to explain the orders.
"We're going to participate in the counterattack at the city area. We'll work together with the ground forces and take care of the pesky silver hedgehog and the combat cyborgs... Ah.. no offense Cinque!" Amy explained.
"None taken." Cinque dismissed her apology.
"Very few of the forces have experience in dealing with the combat cyborgs or anti-AMF measures. So we will handle any and all of the major threats to them." Ginga added
"Then the counterattack line can handle the rest." Caro finished.
"Watch out... my imoutos have greatly improved since you last fought them... I think my presence there might get them to hold back because they all know me... But don't count on it.." Cinque warned them.
"If the gadgets and cyborgs get through the defense line, they can attack the HQ directly" Teana noted
"Our job, as TSA mages, is to protect the civilians. We can't let the enemy go through" Quint added her two cents.
"And if Subaru appears. We have to focus on her, her power is devastating..." Ginga noted.
"Okay! GO!" Amy signaled and everyone in the hatch deployed to the ground level. Ginga and Quint landed on their roller blades, Amy rode her extreme gear, Erio and Caro rode Friedrich (in his large mount form), Cinque and Teana went on foot, and Megane and Lutecia allowed themselves to be carried by their summon Garyu. They made their advance on the highway.
-POV: Numbers-
Otto observed the group heading for the others and reported to them, "Nove, Deed, Wendi, there's a group heading for you."
Nove's group with Subaru in tow followed their own path on the highway.
"You're right.." Nove replied.
"There's something different... they are attacking us head on." Otto added
"Sounds fine to me.." Wendi sounded chipper as she rode on her board.
Otto took another look at the group and physically paled... "N-nani?" she couldn't even finish her report. She was shocked speechless.
"Otto? What is it?" Nove asked, but got no response.
-POV: Amy's group-
-Insert: "Enemy Attack" FFX-
Caro looked ahead and gasped, Silver was about to engage the helicopter.
"Freid!" She directed her dragon to intercept the hedgehog, Lutecia, Megane and Amy followed her.
Teana and the others stopped and looked ahead to find a bombardment of pink spells heading their way.
"Watch out!" Cinque stood in front of them "IS Activate: Rumble Detonator!" she threw several daggers to intercept the blasts.
Teana jumped to a nearby rooftop, only for Deed to suddenly swing at her. The mage shifted Cross Mirage to its Dagger mode and engaged the cyborg in close quarter combat.
Quint and Ginga stood guard on the highway, Nove came at them hard and a bit recklessly, using the element of surprise, the cyborg managed to get a lucky shot that sent the two of them to the side of the rode.
Wendi tried another bombardment with her Aerial Cannon IS, the blasts took out a good portion of the bridge, doing so forced Teana and unknown to them, Cinque to a nearby building.
"Ginga! Quint-san!" the girl tried to get out of the building only for it to be blocked by a blue cube-like barrier.
"Too bad, we're not letting you get back together." Wendi and Nove approached the illusionist.
-With Ginga and Quint-
On the outside, Ginga and Quint looked ahead and gasped when they found Subaru, who stood emotionless and stoic, her eyes opened to glare at the two.
"Subaru..." both said at the same time.
-POV: Otto-
In the same area, Otto had Teana trapped in the building with Nove and Wendi, she sent orders to them, "I trapped the illusionist inside.. Nove and Wendi make sure they don't fight together, we divide them and conquer them.. Silver-sama.. the same goes to you." she sent to the hedgehog.
-POV: Silver-
Silver acknowledged the orders, he already had Amy, Erio, Caro, Lutecia and Megane following him, and knew full well that while they were following him, they can't help out the others.
-Inside the Building-
Teana crouched behind a post as she heard Wendi make her taunts, "How does it feel when you, a useless gunner, are all alone.. with no one to save you.. no blue hedgehog to bail you out."
"I'll make you taste the pain the hedgehog put Cinque through instead of that hedgehog... I'll make you pay.. painfully.. for her defeat and capture!" Nove barked.
'They have me trapped in their barrier.. Lightning squad, 2nd Lieutenant Amy Rose, Ginga, Quint and the other two are each trapped in their own difficult battles and are too far away... Everyone, change of plans, don't focus on defeating your immediate enemy, slow them down..' Teana sent her last thoughts as an order.
"Don't bother.. We're not here to capture you, so no one will be mad if we killed you." Wendi smirked.
'Blast.. They can hear our transmissions! Nevermind! Everyone focus on your fight!' Teana retracted
"You should focus on the fight you're in.. you're fighting us now.. Two on one.." Wendi smirked.
"I wouldn't have it any other way.. although your calculations are off..." Cinque dropped down from the second floor with her daggers in her hands, "It's two-on-two."
"C-C-Cinque?" Nove and Wendi shouted in surprise.
"Correct..." Cinque confirmed in all seriousness.
"You were captured!" Nove said
"Not quite... I threw my fight with the hedgehog... I wanted to be captured.. so that can be the cover for defecting.."
"W-why side with them?" Wendi asked
"For too long you've followed our creator's whims and orders without even thinking.. I'm putting a stop to that.. here and now!" Cinque readied her daggers.
-Scaglietti's hideout-
-Insert: "Out of the frying pan" FFX-
Shadow, Schach and Fate advanced through a hallway, there they saw many lifeless and incomplete cyborgs in development.. their female bodies inside these capsules.
"These are.. Bases for human experiments?" Schach observed.
"I think so" Fate agreed, "Playing with people's lives, and treating them as ingredients for experiments... This is the type of research he's done"
"His research is about to come to an end." Shadow said
A rumble ran out through the hallway, the shock knocked a round large gadget drone off a pipe and about to fall on the three, the mages and hedgehog tried to jump to avoid; while Fate and Shadow managed to avoid it, Schach was tripped by Sein, who came from under the ground.
"Sister!" Fate was about to help the nun when two bladed boomerangs soared for her and Shadow, nearly took their heads off had Fate not blocked one with Bardiche and Shadow knocking the other away with his chaos spear.
Schach knew that time was limited before that drone would fall, so she loaded a cartridge and pounded the ground where she tripped, narrowly avoiding Sein, but that wasn't her objective, she intended on collapsing the ground and descend a level down, and she did. The lifeless drone fell and filled the hole she made.
'Sister!' Fate reached mentally.
'Enforcer Fate and Shadow, I'm fine. I've captured a combat cyborg. As soon as I secure her, I'll meet up with you two.' Schach readied herself, her opponent was dazed momentarily due to surprise, she didn't expect Schach to do what she did.
"Understood.." Fate acknowledged. She and Shadow looked ahead to find Sette and Tre walking toward them.
"Fate-ojou-sama, Shadow-sama" Tre addressed them, getting grunts of frustration from them both, "Is your arrival here a joyous return? Or a rebellion?"
"Neither.." Fate swung Bardiche and held it ready for combat, "I'm here to capture a criminal."
"I was never on your side to begin with.. We're here for Scaglietti.. and if you get in our way.. the consequences shall be..." Shadow allowed a yellow aura to coat him, "Very... painful" he finished with a smirk.
-The Saint's Cradle: Interior-
-No Music-
Vivio watched from the shadows above as Sonic, Nanoha, Vita and Knuckles engaged several waves of Gadget Drones that were barring their path.
Vita tore straight through several with her Eisen in raketenform; with more in sight, she called to her device "Eisen!" "Gigantform!" the hammer shifted to the designated form, the red mage held up a large iron bolt "Kometfliegen" (Comet flyer) and slammed it with Graf Eisen, sending it into a wave and demolishing them like they were nothing.
Knuckles roared as he drilled through drone after drone, not even bothering to stop until he was done. "112.. 113.." he counted his drone take outs. He next slammed his fist into the ground and threw large pieces of the ground at others, "And stay down! 120!"
Sonic blast through his own wave with his signature spin-dash in addition to his Sonic wind. He barreled through each one as he counted "119.. 120.." He ended his count after ten more. "130!'
"What? 130? You're kidding!" Knuckles argued.
"Sorry! I counted fairly. And Blue Star's making it official too." Sonic shrugged with his device chiming in "Ja".
"Grr.. Vita! What's your count?" Knuckles asked
"119" The red mage answered
"We're combining our numbers now! So our score is 239." Knuckles declared.
"Fine by me.. Puts us in the lead against blue boy"
"Vita-chan, Knuckles-kun.. If you two are combining your scores then Sonic and I are doing the same." Nanoha landed after wiping out a mob with Divine Buster.
"I got 130 so far.. yours?" Sonic inquired
"130.. the same.. puts us at 260. So no we're in the lead" Nanoha noted
"Just you two wait! You won't be beating us in the end" Knuckles declared with Vita smirking and nodding in agreement.
Nanoha just shrugged... A transmission came in from a brown-haired girl in glasses.
"Assault squad, Riot Force 6, Stars-1" the brunette called
"Hai?" Nanoha asked
"We found route for the engine and throne rooms." The girl sent displays of a five tier map of the Cradle, the Throne room was located in the near front while the engines were located a few tiers down and in the back.
"Totally different directions!" Nanoha observed.
"Figures... a massive warship like this, they can't have the engines directly underneath the cockpit." Sonic noted
"Oy.. Hedgehog, what do you mean?" Vita snapped
"I mean that in a massive offensive cruiser like this, putting the engines right below the helm is the equivalent of suicide. I've thrashed enough airships to know too.."
"Sonic-kun... why didn't you tell us this before?" Nanoha asked
"Because I thought this ship would be different, many airships have different designs.. trying to compare them in terms of experience is like asking me to compare Flying Battery to the Egg Carrier. And this ship is far too old for me to guess the layout of it.. This ship is nothing like I've seen before."
"In any case..where are the assault team members?" Nanoha asked
"We're gathering them from every place we can get.. But it'll still take forty minutes.."
"No way around it, Stars-1 and 2 will split up" Vita said to the lady
-Insert: "A Brief Respite" Dissidia Final Fantasy-
"Hai.. we'll get your support to you as quick as soon as we can." the transmission ended
"Vita-chan!" Nanoha said
"The engine and Emerl in the throne room...Just stopping one of them may stop this, and it may not. And while we're standing here things are getting worse outside"
"Demo, Vita-chan, you've already expended so much energy." Nanoha argued.
"That's why Knuckles and I are going to the engine room. You and Sonic should be the ones to save Emerl"
"Demo!" Both hedgehog and white mage argued.
"My place is with the Master Emerald. It has been in my clan for generations and I will protect it til I die." Knuckles cut them off
"This is what Eisen and I are best at.." Vita held out the hammer, "Destroying and smashing. The Knight of the Iron Hammer, Vita, and the Black Iron Count, Graf Eisen. There's nothing in this world that we can't destroy." Vita began to walk with Knuckles following her, "We'll destroy it in a second, rescue the big green rock, and come back you both up. We'll finish this and meet up with Hayate out front" Vita and Knuckles disappeared from sight.
"Yeah.." Nanoha nodded.
"Come on.. let's go save Emerl." Sonic told her.
"Hai..." The hedgehog, mage as well as Shahra went off in the direction of the throne room. High up from the shadows, Vivio tailed them, her presence, still unnoticed by anyone.
-On the Exterior-
Hayate read word of the Stars split up to deal with the engines and throne room, and she hoped that they would be safe. While she was still hard at work on eliminating the drones outside.
-City: POV: Teana and Cinque-
-Insert: "Challenge" FFX-
Teana and Cinque were locked in combat with the two combat cyborgs. However, something was noticeably off about them. When it came to fighting Cinque, Wendi and Nove pulled their punches a bit. They were unsure about attacking her, and this also applied to Teana, though they still didn't let either of them win. They were just merely playing defensive. Teana kept them at bay by distracting them with her silhouettes and shooting, while Cinque took to her offensive with her exploding daggers.
Wendi and Nove were not fooled by Teana's silhouette trick, as the roller blader found it predictable, "You'll have to do better!" she slammed Teana with her foot and sent her a good distance away.. however she was left open to a counterattack by their former comrade. The eyepatched cyborg sent dagger after dagger, seemingly out of nowhere, and their explosions forced Nove back. Wendi managed to save her sister from any more damage with her board.
'I'm doing the best I can to endure these two in a closed environment like this.' Teana thought to herself, 'I can't rely on Cinque all the time, I have to try to survive until a team can come and destroy this barrier!' Teana thought as she ascended with her gun as a rappel. Her thoughts were cut short when Deed came down and sliced with her energy blades. An explosion occurred.
"Deed!" Wendi acknowledged
"Otto's orders.. the illusionist will be a problem if we can't handle her.. It also pains me that we have to fight Cinque.." Deed explained, noticeably blood dripped from her blade.
From the side and thankfully out of sight, Teana hid with Cinque, her ankle was bleeding from the cut Deed just inflicted. "Gah.." she softly grunted in pain. "To think they'd hit my leg."
"Deed's here too.. This doesn't look good.." Cinque stuck with the illusionist as she analyzed the situation.
"Three combat cyborgs.. as well as the gadgets.." Teana thought out loud, thankfully not loud enough for the enemies to hear, "Maybe, this is impossible." However that train of thought was put to a hold as she suddenly thought of Subaru.
-Insert: "A Brief Respite" Dissidia Final Fantasy-
"Daijobu, I'm sure you can do it, Teana!" she suddenly heard her partner's voice and was given a memory of Subaru's bright smile on a sunny day. Teana suddenly looked around as if to find the source of the voice. Her actions peaked Cinque's curiosity, but she chose not to say anything.
Another flash memory made her picture Subaru sitting on her bed hugging a pillow with that cheery expression "Teana's strong, I'm sure you'll be okay." Teana hugged her knees close with her eyes closed.
Another memory came to her mind, another bright and sunny training day with Subaru excited "Let's both do your best, Tia.."
"Why... why am I thinking of her even now?" Teana asked herself, barely within earshot of Cinque
The last one was of Subaru with her hand out to Teana, "Let's go.. to make our dreams come true." The flashback made her lift her head up with a serious expression. Her determination was restored.
"Cinque.. Let's go!" Teana declared, her courage and resolve strengthened.
"Hai!" Cinque agreed with some silent respect for her comrade's resolve.
-Outside-
-Insert: "Blinded by Light" Final Fantasy XIII-
Silver was not having a good day, not only was he outnumbered and outgunned by Amy Rose, Erio, Garyu and Caro in the close range, he was also getting some trouble from Lutecia's daggers and Megane's support spells for the ones on the ground. Caro mixed in her support spells with her fighting training from Knuckles and proved to be quite formidable. Each time he tried a psychic blade, Caro would slam him from behind and set him up for Erio to swipe at him with Strada and Garyu to kick him over to the pink hedgehog, who seemed quite the hammer-happy one.
Garyu and Amy teamed up to put the hurt on the hedgehog, with her hammer and the insect humanoid's fighting skills, Silver was shut down before he could get any attacks.
The Lightning duo themselves also put the pressure on, with Caro giving support to herself and her partner, their offensive was just brutal.
The Alpine duo were given the reins of Fried since Caro went into close quarter combat, the younger one sent magic daggers at the hedgehog, and they did their trick in setting him up for more close combat punishment, and with their support spells also boosting the teams, Silver was outdone.
"Silver, wasn't it? Why are you doing this? If your reasons are not harmful to innocents we can help!" Amy tried to reason, but got no sale.
Erio shifted Strada to the rocket form and slammed full speed into the hedgehog, and with his momentum, he grounded the kid.
The others followed suit and landed, where they got a stare-down stalemate on both sides, although it would be clear that Silver was in check.
-TSA Ground Forces HQ-
-No Music-
Signum figured that Zest would go after Regius and that she'd have to deal with Agito and her flames when she unisoned with him, so she enlisted Blaze's help in subduing the two. However before they could confront the knight, they first went directly to Regius's office, to confront him about his corruption with Jail and the High Council.
"Gomen, Blaze.. I know you'd probably be better off working with the blue hedgehog, but I had an idea I wanted to test with you. It involves your ability to directly control flames." Signum apologized as they walk through the halls of the HQ.
"It's nothing Signum-san... you figured that with Agito and her affinity for fire that bringing me along would even up your chances of a fair fight. Besides, I feel like we can do better as our own team" the cat assured her.
"The same goes for me.." Signum noted
"Ano.. Signum, Blaze.. look ahead" Rein pointed in the direction, to what appeared to be Auris, Regius's assistant, entering his office.
"Haven't we seen her?" Blaze asked.
"Hai... at the entrance.. going the opposite way we were!" Signum called Lavatein to its sword form and Blaze created twin flame daggers. The three went over to listen in before making any confrontations.
'Signum.. normally in this type of scenario, Sonic makes an entrance with some quote..' Blaze sent to Signum mentally
'In his absence I suppose it would be appropriate for me to fill in..' Signum agreed
Due of the numbers, under the guise of Auris, managed to make it into the office of the old man, who was unaware of her until it was almost too late. She dropped her guise to reveal her true self to the man before she intended to kill him with her claws.
"The High Council is no longer in power... they've said their final "oyasumi" (good night).. and now its time for you to say it too.." Due smirked sadistically and raised her claws up ready to end the general's life.
However, before any blows were made, Signum's voice rang from the entrance and echoed in the room, "Ladies and Gentleman, the story you're about to see is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent."
-Insert the theme song of the correct classic TV show that quote belongs to-
Signum and Blaze approached the combat cyborg, the woman's sword was held in a threatening manner while the cat allowed her hands to be covered in flames.
"Another combat cyborg.. and confessing to murder... You're under arrest.. make any attempts and we will use force" Signum warned.
However Due had other plans, once she killed Regius she would do the same to Zest, and to her, the three arresting her were in the way.. and thus she sought fit to kill them. Her sadistic personality evident as she licked her lips hungrily, the cyborg lunged at the mages with her clawed hand ready to strike, however she didn't get the chance, she suddenly found a blade piercing through her heart. Signum stabbed her with Laevatein. Her death was swift yet just.
"Signum-san... she didn't' have a chance at this close range, why?" Blaze asked
"She must've thought she could have... Now onto more important matters" Signum glared at the general, "You're not off the hook, we are placing you under arrest."
"What crimes?" Regius barked
Signum, Reinforce Zwei and Blaze all simultaneously deadpanned "Too many to count" the respective mages placed Regius under binding spells and reported that he was in custody.
"That's step one... Next is Knight Zest." Signum noted
"Agreed.. Let's go" The three took off.
-Outside the HQ-
Zest and Agito caught sight of the Ground HQ, their objective was for Zest to visit Regius, however, they soon found their path barred by Signum, Blaze and Agito.
"Mister! It's them!" Agito pointed out.
Signum and Blaze had their eyes closed for a brief moment to allow themselves to focus on the situation at hand. Their expressions stoic and serious, they opened their eyes and stared the knight down.
"Are you TSA Knights?" Zest asked of them.
"TSA, Riot Force 6, Signum." the woman introduced herself
"TSA, Riot Force 6, Blaze the Cat" Blaze followed suit.
"I was part of the City Defense.. which would make me your kohai." Signum added
"I see.." Zest acknowledged.
"Are you here to destroy the Ground HQ like the other combat cyborgs?" Blaze asked
"No.. I'm just here to pay my old friend Regius a visit.." Zest declined.
"Is that for revenge?" Signum glared
"And he's already in custody to stand for his crimes.." Blaze added
"My reasons are not so simple as to be put into words.. I ask you both to let me pass." the Knight held his halberd against them.
"If you don't put it in words, I won't allow you either way." Signum drew her own sword. Lavatein loaded a cartridge and for a brief second, a flame ran across it, noticeable only to Agito.
Blaze tossed away her overcoat to reveal her barrier jacket and took a stance against Zest, "Neither will I... if you're intention is to harm him then you shall not pass us." her hands blazed for a split second. Again catching Agito's attention.
"Huh?"
"What is it, Agito?"
"Nothing!" the small unison device flew in front of the knight, "Babbling isn't how knights do things!" She then unisoned into Zest.
"Knights or not, this means we're fighting for pride instead of just talking!" Reinforce Zwei unisoned with Signum. The knight's hair turned into an even lighter purplish-pink color and the red parts of Signum's outfit turned purple.
"Shut up, cross midget! I, sword fairy Agito, for justice and my friend Zest, come forth with flames in my hand!" Agito light her fists, which in turn coated Zest's device in flame.
"I, the Blessed Wind Reinforce Zwei, as member of the TSA, will stop you!" Reinforce shouted back, on the outside, the blade of Laevatein was coated in flames as well.
"Let's go, Blaze.. Remember our plan." Signum charged in.
"Hai" Blaze coated her fists and body in a flame aura and rushed in with Signum. Zest also charged and the three clashed.
-With Quint and Ginga-
The two stared down their younger sister, their first hopes were that Subaru could remember who they were so they didn't have to fight. It was for naught, Subaru scanned them over coldly, and got into a battle stance with the revolver gears on her fists spinning.
'This isn't good kaa-san... if she uses her IS, it'll be painful.' Ginga sent to her mother.
'Hai.. remember, we're not out to destroy her or wound her badly, we just want to knock her out.. hopefully that'll break Scaglietti's hold over her.'
'We haven't faced her in a real battle before...' Ginga and Quint both had their respective purple and blue belkan triangles at their feet to indicate they were about ready to fight.
"We will save you, Subaru!" They both declared.
-Saint Cradle: Route to the Engine Room: POV Knuckles and Vita-
Vita roared as she slammed Eisen into a large gadget, destroying it like it was nothing. And Knuckles took out his own with a spiral knuckle attack.
The red knight shifted Eisen to it's regular hammerform "We're almost there.. And I've still got a few cartridges left" she informed her temporary partner and held several cartridges for her device.
"Good, we're making some progress. Who else want's a fist and hammer platter?" the red echidna challenged, but before they could move ahead, suddenly, a clear blade pierced through Vita's chest!
"Ugh!" Vita gasped as blood dripped from her wound.
"Vita!" Knuckles called to her.
The red knight turned her head to face the attacking unit, which was the elusive Type-IV Gadget, this one completely different from the rest, it resembled an insect somewhat, not only is the blade razor sharp, but also the drone was equipped with stealth technology.
-Insert: "Time of Judgement" FFX-
The stealth wasn't active and Vita was clearly able to see the unit, and something clicked in her mind. This unit is the same type that ambushed and injured Nanoha 8 years ago. A fierce rage filled the knight, with a loud roar she crushed her attacker flat with Eisen in gigant form, however the explosion sent Vita to the ground in pain and bloody from her wound. Her hat was also tossed aside.
"Vita! Daijobu?" Knuckles asked in concern, in his haste, his hat seemed to join Vita's at the side, though both went largely unnoticed by the red duo.
"I'm fine!" Vita coughed up some blood, "So.. it was your friends that took out Nanoha back then..." The knight stood up, her eyes seemed to lose a sparkle in her fit of rage.
From the distance more and more of the Type-IVs came crawling to bar their path. Their presence and numbers seemed countless for the two.
"Here they come!" Knuckles got pounded his fists together and had a stone-cold glare ahead.
"Now I'm mad... Come on Knuckles... I'll destroy every last one of you!" Vita half-screamed, half-roared as she charged head first with Eisen in Gigantform, her rage seemed endless. And to follow suit, Knuckles charged with her, angered that these drones had the nerve to cheap shot his temporary partner.
Will Sonic, Nanoha and Vivio be able to reach and save Emerl before the warship reaches orbit? What will happen about Ginga and Quint's fight against Subaru? Will Teana and Cinque be able to defeat Wendi, Nove and now Deed? What is to come of Fate and Shadow and their efforts of capturing Jail? Will Blaze and Signum be able to defeat Zest? More battles are to come but one thing can be certain. Time is running out for the TSAB.. The Cradle will Reach Orbit in 2 hours and 16 minutes!
-End of Main Chapter-
-Omake: Hayate Strikes Again!-
A few days prior to the big deployment, Hayate invited Cinque and Vivio to her office where she convinced the two to cosplay as cat-girls.. The brunette really went at it with the cat-ears and tail in addition to the outfits. Vivio was a bit confused, but Cinque blushed quite a bit. She couldn't deny how cute they both looked.. despite the embarrassment. Hayate sent them out to walk the halls of the ship. Most of the crew found the sight a bit cute. They were stopped by Sonic, Nanoha and Fate.
"Vivio? Cinque?" Sonic was taken aback.
"H-hi.. Sonic-papa." Vivio stuttered a bit, unsure of what they think.
"Why are you wearing that?" Nanoha asked..
"Hayate-oba-chan told us that we'd look cute in it.." Vivio replied.
Cinque stuttered out in embarrassment, "H-hai.. Now I know we can't let Sein and Wendi near her.."
"You two can take off the outfits.. we'll go settle things with Hayate." Fate told them. The three power-walked to their brunette friend's office... the two girls went to change into normal clothing.. anyone on the ship might have heard several blasts and comical pained screams elsewhere. Vivio and Cinque met up with the three later
"Much better... alright, who's up for lunch?" Sonic asked and everyone went to lunch..
In Hayate's office the whole place was thrashed like a tornado went through it, and Hayate herself was a mess..she wasn't so much in pain as she looked like someone put a pan over her head and banged a spoon on it. The commander looked just dazed from everything.
-Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari-
-End of Chapter 28-
A/N: Hooooo boy Vita's ticked... 2 signs of Vita in one of her royally ticked off states.. Her hat is off and her eyes get this dark glint.. then again Nanoha just becomes emotionless or deadly serious when she's in one of her "White Devil" moments. There's a challenge! I made a classic TV show reference! Find it! And what's up with Silver being taken down so easily? For one, his only strong point is the ESP.. shut him down on that and it's open season. So, if it looks like the group fighting Silver isn't gonna get much action, oh they will... they will... Gotta give props on this one, reading the reviews, White Hunter managed to guess who the mysterious shadow was, and it is indeed Vivio! Notably Due was thwarted in her attack on Regius... Now that was me wanting that jerk to get his karma officially.. not with some psycho cyborg killing him.. and killing Due was canon.. I didn't really care for her anyways...More twists will come later on...