Nanoha StrikerS: Pursuit of Perfection 8

FwaTHUMP. FwaTHUMP. BMP BMP. The pattern continued as Soran thrust his thinly gloved fists into the punching bag. "That's good, Soran-kun!" Nanoha was holding the bag for him. "Keep it up, use your concentration to keep your strength under control. Hit the bag, don't punch through it."

Hayate sat on a bench with Rein, both in workout clothes, towels draped over their shoulders. "It's really an ingenious approach she's thought of to help him gain better control."

"But it's only because of the way he's built desu. Soran-kun's left arm is overpowered to start, so if he realizes his control of that is linked to his magical abilities…."

"He can ease his usage level."

The only boy in the room was sweating up a storm. A bead rolled into his eye. "Agh!" His left fist went forward, into and through the bag, connecting with Nanoha's cheek on the other side.

"Kyah!" She yelped as she hit the ground.

"Nanoha-san!" All three yelled as they went up to her.

"Ngh." She winced and rubbed her cheek as she sat up. "You'll have points docked for that, Soran."

"I'm sorry. A drop of sweat rolled into my eye and it stung enough for me to lose my concentration." He gripped his workout shirt's lower edge and tugged, ripping a long section off. He tied it on his forehead tightly. "It won't happen again."

"It's okay. I've been holding that thing for a good four hours now." The brunette wiped the sweat off her face and sat down. "Hayate-chan, can we switch?"

"That's why I'm here today." The punching bag reformed as Hayate got into position as Nanoha looked out the window to the lake the morphing field was sitting on.

"We've been at it for four hours?!" Soran blinked. "I could have sworn it was only one."

"By conserving your energy, your stamina doesn't decrease as quickly. Because you go full bore most of the time, your max operation time is usually two hours desu."

Soran began his exercises again. "So how long can the three of you go then?"

"My skills are high power, so I can't last as long as the others, but I'd say I can last around 12 hours if I have to." Hayate braced herself against the bag. "But I need to sleep for a good 24 afterwards. Nanoha-chan here holds the record."

"48 hours, 27 minutes, and 53 seconds. It's not a world record though."

"48…." Soran took another weak punch. "As expected of Nanoha-san. However, I would savor that record if I were you, because I intend to break it."

"I hope so, or else recruiting you would be a waste." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"You look like you went through a war." Teana said as Soran stumbled over to the cafeteria table.

"T…ten hours on a punching bag." He sighed as he sat down.

"Oh, so she ran you through that, finally?" Subaru put a bowl of salad in front of him. "I made it to six on my first try. Dressing?"

"Thousand Island, please." Soran nodded. "I smashed the bag seven times though."

"At that point the mental fatigue sets in. I'm surprised she let you keep going after five."

Soran looked down at his food. "I just realized that I can't grip my fork." He hung his head.

"I'll go blend it up for you, Soran-san." Caro took the bowl and padded off to the kitchen.

"A salad shake… mmm, sounds yummy." Erio made a gagging noise. He got a bunch of EWWs from around the table.

Caro came back with a tall glass of green liquid with a long straw in it. "Thanks, Little Princess." Soran winced and swallowed. "Ugh! Well it all ends up in the same place, so down the hatch!" He took an agonizingly long slurp that brought the shake down to the bottom of the glass. "Let's just hope I don't burp and find out what that tasted like." His cheeks puffed out. "Crap… nevermind." His tongue rolled out and he dabbed it with his napkin.

"Hey, how about this? If you were to invent one food, or food variation, what would it be?" Tea asked.

"That's easy, Tea." Subaru nodded. "Frozen Hotdogs."

Everyone paused. "Um… I think that's already around." Erio raised his hand.

"Not edible frozen hotdogs. I'm tired of having to cook hotdogs to eat them. I want to make a hotdog you can eat while it's frozen, right out of the box."

"That sounds really weird, Subaru-san." Caro spoke. "Frozen anything is very difficult to eat unless it's a popsicle or ice cream."

"Then I'll make a hot dog flavored ice cream!"

"MGH!" Erio and Soran covered their mouths.

"Oh stop that! Soran-kun, if you can do better, then let's hear it!"

"Fine fine. I'd make a liquid soup that tastes like pizza."

"Oh God!" Tea winced.

"What the hell?" Erio shook his head.

"You've got to be off your rocker." That was Subaru's comment.

"I'm serious! Have you ever sucked on a pepperoni long enough that it tastes like a pepperoni pizza? I want to capture that taste in a soup form, tomato juice with a hint of cheese and a gleam of garlic bread. I could even make them chunky soups depending on what toppings they wanted. Everyone would love it!"

"I wouldn't."

"Me neither."

"I'd skip that in the soup isle."

"Sorry, Soran-san, but that just doesn't sound appetizing."

"Oh what do you all know? Ojou-chan, what would you make then?"

"Eh?" Caro blinked. "Um… well… you know how I lived on a nature preserve for a long time right? Shipments were few and far between, so I had to make do with some of the wildlife. So… I don't know if I should tell you."

"Come on, Caro-chan." Tea urged. "I want to hear what your wilderness training has made up for your meals."

"Okay then…. Crispy Cricket Bread!" Caro said dreamily.

Three sets of plates and silverwear clattered together. "I'm done." Subaru winced.

"Second that, Su." Soran rubbed his stomach.

"I've got indigestion." Tea also got up and followed the couple out.

Erio looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. "I'd eat it."

"You wanted to see me, Shari-san?" Soran walked into the tech lab, and the door closed behind him.

"Ah, there you are, Soran-kun." The long brown-haired woman had her back turned to him. "I'm just finishing the final touches on your devices."

"Finally! I've been feeling naked without them."

"Uuuuhhh. Uhuhu…." Shari's head lifted up as rainbow colored dream bubbles floated above her head, a drop of drool leaning out of her mouth.

"Oi. What are you thinking about?" Soran came up next to her and shot an annoyed look.

"Uh? Oh nothing, nothing. Anyway, it took a lot of doing, but we've turned Barrage into the main AI, and the others are all subsets. You custom built their code originally, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. Barrage, how are you feeling?"

"Output is fine."

"How about personally?"

"If I had fears, claustrophobic."

"I'm impressed, Shari-san. Even with my programming, I couldn't get them to do anything more than acknowledge physical and audible cues. Where are the others?"

"I modified them all so they can be stored inside each other. No more having to have a single keychain on each extremity. Even in standby mode, it's a single set of keys now." She pushed up her spectacles and motioned him closer. "I even have a mod on the keys so that they can adapt to fit the lock you press it in. Just in case you want to take Subaru somewhere… private?" She giggled.

"You… you really are a hopeless romantic, honestly. What if I suddenly decided to use this key to get into the armory or the Omega level clearance room?"

"Because you won't." She said confidently. "Soran, though you may still hate TSAB for whatever reason, I think even you realize that you're having fun in Nanoha-san's training. She may not say it all the time, but she's very happy with you and everyone as well. Watching you, interacting with you, and speaking with Subaru about you, I know you're not going to betray the trust that you've built here. That's a reason why I'm trusting you with the keys. You won't do anything bad with them, unless you and Subaru are doing it together." She stuck out her tongue.

Soran stood in the middle of the morphing field, currently shaped like a school gymnasium. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Barrage, you ready?"

"Always. Setup initialization. Get ready."

He tossed the keys into the air. "Barrage Zwei, SET UP!" The first key glowed and levitated in the air. The key stretched out and thickened into a metallic blue shooting staff. It opened three hatches and the other keys landed inside it. Soran's clothes transformed into his battle suit and barrier jacket, except for some slight differences. "What?" He grabbed Barrage and twirled it around like a bo staff before getting a better look at his clothes. The cuffs of his jacket were bright blue with yellow stripes, his boots had black and yellow stripes on it, and on the back of the jacket there was an image of six black feathers.

"We modified your jacket to signify your team allegiance. You've noticed that Subaru and Tea have my cuffs, right?" Nanoha raised hers up. "The boot stripes signify you're also under Fate-chan, and the feathers signify Hayate-chan as well. You've studied directly under all three of us, so we couldn't agree to put you under a specific team, so you're officially the start of Section 6 Team Darkwing. We're planning on having the other forwards join you as they continue their training, but don't tell them just yet, we want it to be a surprise." Nanoha winked.

"I see. Thank you, Nanoha-san." Soran bowed to her.

"Now let's see what you can do with those upgrades of yours! This is a test program made to evaluate your endurance in a steadily more difficult situation."

"Yes ma'am! Commandcom, priority to Soran Berkt personal biometrics. Username: Dark Trinity! Run program in ten seconds!" Soran prepped his shooting staff in his hand as the countdown screen went off. When it reached zero, he stood there, waiting, waiting, waiting for the enemies to come. Suddenly a large shadow appeared, expanding below his feet.

"Above."

"Geh!" Soran kicked backwards as a large metallic structure landed where he once was.

"Eh?!" Nanoha gasped. "What is that?!" A white four point star hovered over the ground, a golden eye on each arm. It leaned forward and its two side arms bent so they touched the ground.

"Well this is new. Nanoha-san, I thought the enemies were going to be Gadgets."

"They're supposed to be! Soran-kun, be careful, something is very wrong!"

The creature leaned forward and opened two hatches on its back surface, shooting a shockwave at the boy. "Round Shield." Barrage said quickly and a magical defense circle was put in its path.

When it hit, it swept through the shield, destabilizing it. "An AMF Shockwave?!" The enemy hurled itself forward with its front legs, coasting on the antigrav on the back tip. "Kgh!" Soran swung to parry the blow, but the sheer speed sent him and the enemy robot flying into the back wall, pinning him between its left arm and head point. "You bastard!" He gripped the enemy's head with his strong left hand, swinging Barrage underneath and shooting multiple times.

"It's not even making a dent at point blank range!" Nanoha gasped.

Soran grunted as he pushed some room between the wall and the enemy. "Sonic Move."

He leapt into the air and flipped over, landing on the ceiling. "Then how about this?!" He charged up a stronger shot, coated twice in magical layers. "Double Variant Bullet!" Soran squeezed the trigger and the ball of energy hurtled towards the enemy's angled surface. BFWONG! It ricocheted through the wall. The star flipped over, all four of its golden eyes looking up at him.

"Shamal, Shari, Hayate! There's something drastically wrong with the program! There's some kind of enemy I've never seen attacking Soran on the first level!" It jumped, whirling like a shuriken. "Soran-kun!"

"Kiryu! Garyu!" They both popped out of his staff and extended into their shotel form. Garyu stopped one of the spikes, and Kiryu was raised up high, stopping the spin with the strength of Soran's arm. "Just what the hell are you?!" They broke away from each other. The HUD visor materialized over his eyes. "Thanks Barrage." He began to analyze it. "Transmit data to Nanoha's viewer."

"Armor rank, 20 points on the body? 25 on the tips?! Soran, that thing is a fortress, get out of there!"

"Don't think it will let me." He tried to fly to the side, but it kept up. "Nope, it won't let me."

"Oh yes it will!" Nanoha pointed to it and released a hundred balls of light. The enemy shimmered, and the attack blew through the roof. "Ah! Soran, I can't attack it! It's a part of the program which was set to your biometrics!" It rushed Soran again. "No!"

"Axtform." The two bladed devices combined into one double-sided halberd. Soran's foot landed on the enemy, and he flipped over, slamming into the back of it with the axe.

He pushed his full weight into the attack. "Come on, cut!" The panel he was trying to get through split open, tossing him backwards. A magical ring surrounded the opening and a ball of energy appeared. "Round Shield Triple!" The energy flashed right as the shields went up. "GWAAAAAHHH!" He was thrown back to the wall.

"Soran-kun!" Nanoha was beginning to freak. "Why? Why can't I do anything?!"

"Nanoha-chan!" Hayate came up on screen. "Someone altered the program! I don't know how or when, but someone created a Gadget Type 4 in the system!"

"Shut it down! Shut it down, and hurry!"

"We've been trying, but it's not working!"

Soran dropped down to the floor. "Level Two Release!" Rainbow, Kiryu, and Garyu formed together on his left arm. "Burn you bastard!" He opened up the dragon's mouth, and flame poured from it. The star was enveloped by the flames. One of its arm tips shot out towards the wall and anchored, yanking the entire thing away from the fire. The other arm pointed towards Soran and fired. Soran rolled out of the way as the lance dug into the ground inches from him. He punched his dragon head forward, biting into the harpoon with his beam teeth. He gave an extra hard yank, and the starfish was pulled from the wall it was clinging to. "Encase this world in eternal ice!"

"Glacier."

Before the star could recover, Soran scooped the ball of energy onto Barrage. "Glacial…." He pulled the star in close. "BUSTER!" The energy ball consumed the star and solidified into a crystal. "I get him?!" He jumped back, away from the anchor.

The anchor tip released and retracted. The ice shattered as it flexed its limbs. "It's… invincible…." Nanoha stared in disbelief. "Z-Zaphila!" A window appeared. "Get down to the power room and cut it off! Hurry!"

"Nanoha, I'm sending Rein and Akito down to you!" Hayate spoke from her window. "I'm sure you know why."

"Ah."

Tea came up on another screen. "The forwards are heading your way too. We might not be able to fight that thing, but at least we can give Soran some support!"

"Unh!" The star did something new. It floated in the center of the arena and pointed all of its arms down. The eyes began to rotate on the tips and red beams began shooting out of it. "Soran-kun!"

"I already know!" He rolled away from one shot and kicked across the wall to avoid another. "Lightning BUSTER!" He found an opening and took an electrical approach. The attack stunned the robot, but nothing more.

"This is Zaphila, I'm at the power room. The override isn't working. Whoever thought of this trap was a genius. Permission to destroy the generator itself."

"Granted!" Nanoha said.

"You won't be able to do it without me." Vita was battle ready, running down the tunnels. "I'm en route right now. Tell the brat to hang in there."

"Nanoha-chan!" Rein and Akito flew up next to her.

"Thank God you're here! Akito, you've had experience linking up with male mages before, right?"

"Yeah I have. Oh, I gotcha!"

"Unh. Soran, try to get as close to us as possible. Akito will Unison with you!"

"I've never done a Unison though! Inferno BUSTER!" A beam caught the corner of his barrier jacket and sliced it off. "Damn it!"

"Just remember that I have fire elementals, and I'll handle the rest!" Akito shed her brown uniform to reveal her normal attire and covered herself in flames as she closed in. When she saw an opening, she pressed her hand to his chest. "Unison IN!" Soran's uniform colors shifted into the red and purple spectrum, his hair turning a light purple. The dragon head on his left hand roared as a puff of flames emerged and it stretched.

"Where'd you go?" Soran looked around quickly before dodging a shot.

"I'm right here. I'm inside you. I'm currently sharing my magical energies with you. What you feel, I feel, so do me a favor and don't get hit. If we do an attack, do it together, and we can get more power out of it. That's the way a Unison works."

"I see. What's with the dragon?"

"Dunno. That's the first time I've seen a device transform from a Unison. Care to test it out?"

"With pleasure. Okay you type four, get ready for an Akito/Soran combo attack!" They both said at the same time. "Grand Fireball!" The dragon's eyes flashed and it opened its mouth wide as a ball of flaming energy swelled. It continued to grow until it enveloped the entire half of the building the Starfish was in.

"That had to work!" Soran grunted.

SHLUK! "Agh!" They both grunted. A bloody trail in the air drew their gaze to Soran's side, clipped by the Type 4's anchor lance.

"RGH!" Soran's rage burned is he turned towards the Type 4, glowing hot, but still intact. His dragon clamped on the anchor rope tight. "Use the other arm, Akito!" He pointed the other into the sky.

"Uh? Wait, do it together!"

"Sennen Housenka!" Barrage shot small impact fireballs like a machine gun into the Starfish. The power shook it in midair, but when the smoke cleared it was none the worse for wear. "Then we'll try for point blank then!" He rushed the starfish, the dragon head open. "Akito, full power to Grand Fireball! We'll take this guy down from a half an inch!"

"Y-yeah, got it! Full power!" Akito focused all her energy. "This is all I've got, Soran. If this doesn't work, we're screwed!"

"Kiryu, Garyu! Full power to beam fangs! Make sure you can punch through that armor!"

"Javol mein Furor."

A part of him filed away that he should get rid of that "mein Furor" part, but the rest was focused on the enemy in front of him. The beam fangs glowed white hot as the Starfish leaned forward, opening its hatches. "Shockwave, desu!" Rein cried out.

"Heh. Do you really think that trick…" The both of them grunted as Soran used Akito's plasma wings to dodge underneath. "would work on us twice?!" Soran flipped upsidedown and slammed the claws into the underbelly. The gunner hatch popped open, tossing out the beam fangs from the bulkhead. "What I was hoping for! Grand Fireball!" The raging orange sphere expanded inside the casing of the Type 4 as they all shook from the sheer power.

The Starfish suddenly closed its hatches around the sphere. "What?!" The enemy twitched as its armor glowed red hot. Nanoha and Rein checked the readouts. "It's a rebound! Soran-kun!" The main cannon opened up and a red and white ball of swirling energy fired.

"Engh!" A flash of black and gold leapt from the floor and the flat of a golden blade slammed into the unisoned boy.

The impact flung him deep into the side wall. "GuaCH!" They both gagged in pain on impact and fell to the floor. Akito canceled the unison and fainted into Soran's lap.

"Soran-kun, I'm sorry, but I had to do that to save you!" Fate spoke as the energy ball passed harmlessly through her.

"Kuso…." Soran grunted as he stood up. "That hit broke my cracked rib."

"Soran!"

"Soran-kun!"

"Don't give up, Soran-san!"

"We're all here with you!" The rest of the forwards had arrived, yelling words of encouragement at him.

Soran looked up at the Starfish, which was trying to find its prey. "I don't think Trinity Buster would make a dent in that thing. That leaves me with only one option. Everyone, I'm going to need your help! Kiryu, dagger." The left fang dislocated and he caught it with his right hand. The blade plunged into the mechanical arm, halfway between the shoulder and elbow. Ripping a section open, he reached inside and pulled out a golden cartridge with gearmark etchings and the number 8. "Nanoha-san, I need your bits. Caro, boost Tea as she uses her illusions. Subaru, Wing Road the entire building! Erio, you and Strada are going to give me a lift!" After placing Akito in the corner, out of harm's way, he dashed out to meet Erio as Subaru's wing road concealed their presence.

"Excellion Mode." Raising Heart spoke as her five bits appeared all around the enemy.

"Kerclyon." Caro crossed her hands. "Transfer my energy to Teana Lanster! BOOST UP!"

The magical circle beneath Tea's feet glowed pink as she squatted down, closing her eyes. "Illusion Clones… number five!" Five Sorans appeared riding atop Nanoha's bits. They started to move every which way.

"Everyone, keep it up! This will take a while to charge!" Soran stepped onto Strada and it cocked a cartridge, both he and Soran rose into the air. "I can't use my wings when I'm charging either, so thanks, Erio." The boy just nodded as he hung below. "Dark Trinity weapons, full limiter release! Maximum power!"

"Gillium Form!" All four said as they broke apart in midair. Barrage changed into a long golden red staff with a golden cylinder as a head, with air slats surrounding the barrel. Kiryu and Garyu surrounded the head with two bladed sides for wings. Rainbow jabbed itself into the staff and extended a stiff grip in two directions.

The Starfish gave up trying to determine which Soran was the real one, and began attacking indiscriminately with its eye beams. A stray shot pierced the Wing Road Soran was hiding under, and Strada dashed to a new location. "Whew. I don't think it saw us."

A dark red HUD Visor cast over Soran's eyes as he gripped his new weapon. "Hatch open." Barrage opened a slot in the staff and steam was released. He put the bullet in and shut the lid. "Load, Number 8."

"Loading 8." Barrage cocked the shot. Two black wings spread backwards from Kiryu and Garyu, covering the shooting barrel to halfway. Then they and the cylindrical portion of Barrage began to rotate.

Soran closed his eyes. "Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa."

An alert came on Rein's screen. "Eh?! This power reading… I've never seen it this high from Soran-kun before desu! What is he doing?!" Another alert. "Agh! The Type 4!" All four of its arms curled forward and stretched further than they normally did. They glowed bright red on the tips, and the center hatch opened, and it began focusing its energy into one point in the center of the glowing tips. "It's going to wipe out the entire field desu!"

"Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa." The Gillium Form barrel rotated, its sweeping black wings becoming a blur as the rotation speed increased. "Pa…" Soran spit up some blood that trickled down the corner of his mouth. "gua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa." The type four sent a giant AMF shockwave throughout the building, and all of the other mages distractions disappeared. Erio and Strada fell to the ground, but Soran remained, hovering. With the view unobstructed, his visor locked onto the enemy. The air slats shone bright white in Barrage's barrel as the Type Four turned to bear its weapon down on Soran. "Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa." Soran opened his eyes and stared down the creature, taking a hold of both grips. "Feel the wrath of the stars. PAGUA SUN FAIRE!"

The wings locked up and the four devices and Soran hurtled towards the opponent. Everyone in the room gasped as the world stood still. He dove through the center of the energy field and into the core. Suddenly he was outside of the core, on the ground, looking over his shoulder. The starfish began to fold in on itself as a small black ball, crackling with black and purple lightning, drew it in. Metal squeaked and squealed as the enemy's armor compacted, the black ball grew larger, swallowing it up completely. Then it began to shrink, pulsating violently as it did so. Then when it was no bigger than an atom, it exploded with a force so powerful that everyone but Soran was blown to the walls.

"Program terminated." The commandcom echoed through the building.

Soran fell to his knees and coughed, blood spilling onto the floor. "Damn it! To think I had to use number 8!" He flipped over and leaned back against the wall. His devices returned to standby form at his side.

"Soran-kun!" Subaru rushed him, and he suddenly found himself covered in kisses. "Thank God you're all right!"

The others came up to him at different speeds, Nanoha the fastest due to her long legs. "Soran-kun, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. Something went horribly wrong with the program."

"It's not your fault at all, Nanoha-san." He said as he wiped his bloody mouth off with his cuff. "Besides, I'm more concerned with why this happened."

Fate stopped in the middle of the gym and picked up a gold bullet casing with the number 8 on it. "This is…."

"Nanoha-chan." Hayate's system window opened. "All systems seem back to normal. All the lockouts and overrides have disappeared as well."

"It looks like it had self destruct codes." Shari called from her seat in front. "When Soran-kun destroyed the sprite, it destroyed the evidence too."

"So should I still shut down the power?" Vita's window appeared.

"Yes please. We should keep everything powered down just in case something remained that we need to clean out."

"You got it." Both of their screens blipped out, and the morphing field just became a flat panel floating on the water.

"So there's no evidence left at all then? Other than this broken rib that is." Soran hissed.

Fate walked up to the group and showed the casing to Soran. "What is this, Soran? Is that what you used?"

"It's a family heirloom. I'd like to have it back."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to look into this thing first." Fate closed her hand around it.

"That's going to take a while, considering everything that just happened." Soran took both Subaru's and Nanoha's shoulders and stood up with the help of both. "Someone just tried to kill me after all." All of the forwards bit their lips and shared looks of fear at each other.

"Soran-kun…." Nanoha was stunned at his blatant statement.

"And I'd bet money that whoever it is will try again."