Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Crisis
Chapter 4: A Friend in Need
Xx~~*~~xX
"Well, it's obvious he stayed here for the night," Subaru stated as the pair finished cleaning up their own campsite. "Based on when the Scrya tribe said he took off, he only spent one night camped out before he disappeared. Which means he's somewhere close by."
Arf finished circling the campsite in puppy form. "I can't get a scent on him from here. He must have flown."
"Well, don't give up," she encouraged her companion. "He's an archeologist, right? He would be heading to check out some ruins or something. Now that it's daylight, we can get a good view of the surroundings, and maybe see what his destination could have been."
Arf returned to little girl form and thought for a second. "Now that you mention it, I did hear him mention something about ruins on un-administered planet 83, which is where we are. Something he wanted to check out more. But I don't recall exactly where."
"Can you think of anything else he might have said in relation to them?" Subaru inquired. "Names? Descriptions?"
"Hmmm..." Arf closed her eyes and concentrated. "The only thing I can remember, is that he mentioned the possibility of a lava flow covering the city, if it existed."
Subaru brightened. "That's good! Come on!" She formed a Wing road and started to climb as high into the sky as she could, the familiar flying right behind her. "Aha!"
"What did you find?" Arf asked, curious.
The rescue mage pointed. "There; that mountain range in the distance. If there's a volcano around here, then it has to be there, come on!"
Arf grew excited as they went. Maybe they would be able to find him after all!
x~~*~~x
"Sister? Hi, it's Dieci. Something came up and we won't be able to meet you for lunch today. We'll be home for dinner tonight, though. I'm very sorry!"
Ginga smiled; she did have a soft spot for being called sister, especially by them. "It's alright, you take care of what you need to. Father and I will see you tonight!"
Dieci bowed on screen. "Thank you, and I apologize again!"
The connection closed off, and Ginga returned to her desk work, smiling.
x~~*~~x
"This is..."
"..signs of battle," Arf finished for her, frowing. "Yuuno was attacked. I knew something like would happen!"
The pair hovered in the air, looking at the devastation that pockmarked the ravine below, then descended to get a better view.
"Well, the good thing is, it appears to be a distinct trail," Subaru pointed out as the pair followed it. "The battle moved down this particular channel, and then ended here."
"But this looks like a landslide!" Arf exclaimed, landing. "It looks like the entire ravine wall just collapsed. He could be buried under all that!"
"Mach Caliber, can you scan under that?" Subaru asked her device.
"Working..." it replied. "Unable to penetrate beyond 50 meters due to interference."
"What kind of interference?" Arf inquired.
"Unknown," Mach Caliber responded after a moment. "It appears to have anti-magic properties."
Arf despaired. "Then he could be trapped under here, and we wouldn't know!"
"You're lucky you have a combat cyborg with you," Subaru told her, grinning. "Anti-magic isn't a problem for me, but this could be dangerous. I could risk burying him even more if he's down there. Better stand back"
Arf nodded and jumped up to the top of the ravine.
"Mode change; IS: Vibration Shatter!" Subaru felt her cyborg systems come fully online, as she took her wing road up, then leapt from it, punching the ground of the landslide with full force.
Arf was forced to shield her eyes from the dust and debris kicked up. [Was it enough?]
x~~*~~x
Yuuno had just woken up when he heard the faint explosion. He recognized he was groggy still, but if there was an explosion, someone else could have come under attack. At the very least, someone else was around. He cursed himself that he was still down here; he knew he should have headed back up before going to sleep.
Switching back to human form, he broke into a run back up the tunnel. It was a risk; his human form used more oxygen and burned more energy, but it would also get him up there quicker. He hoped he could make it in time.
x~~*~~x
"Subaru, look out!" Arf shouted in warning.
From the large hole she had "dug" so far, the rescue mage had gotten the warning in time, putting up a barrier to block the energy beam that came out of nowhere.
[I gotta remember to thank Vita for the lessons,] Subaru thought to herself. [It just saved my bacon!]
Arf took off in the direction of the attack, shouting something about going to find the long-distance attacker.
Subaru used Wing Road to escape another explosion, that seemed to have come from a closer distance. Clearing the top of the ravine, she just managed to catch a glimpse of a figure jumping down into another section of it on the far side.
"Oh no you don't!" the cyborg mage shouted, putting her roller blades into high gear. But when she reached the other side, there was no sign of her assailant. "Now where did they go?"
She had no time to ponder, as another long range beam attack came her way, but upon dodging it, she was knocked off her wing road from below by another blast.
x~~*~~x
Chrono looked up from his conversation with his adopted sister as a red alert sounded. Fate's gaze locked with his.
Griffith's image appeared in a floating screen nearby. "Admiral, this message was just picked up on the general distress channel. Let me relay it..."
"This... Suba... under atta... need backup at...."
"Sorry sir, the message cuts out after that," Griffith added.
"That's Subaru's voice!" Teana exclaimed, jumping up from her meal nearby with Signum nearby.
"I'm headed to the bridge," Chrono informed him. "Griffith, pull up Rescue Battalion's records; where did she go? Set a course there immediately if you find it." He paused to give his guests a quick look to answer their unspoken question. "And yes, you all can come along. In fact, I'd appreciate it."
Teana nodded, giving a quick glance at Fate and Signum, who also nodded in solidarity with her. They sprinted off together with Chrono, their thoughts mirroring each other: Subaru was one of them.
"I have it, sir," Griffith came back. "Un-administered world 83. It's mostly uninhabited. It seems she was following up on a missing person's report."
"Who was it?" Signum asked.
"It says a 'Yuuno Scrya' in the report," Griffith replied.
Fate inhaled. "Yuuno!? Why didn't Subaru tell us? Who filed the initial report?"
As the quartet burst onto the bridge, Griffith turned to them, pulling up the file on a floating screen. "Apparently, it was your familiar, Ms. Arf."
[Arf?] Fate thought, confused. [Why didn't she contact me or Nanoha?]
Although she realized that she hadn't really talked with Arf in awhile. After the JS incident, they had settled into a kind of normal family mode where they didn't talk much. If there was a reason for Arf's decision, Fate had to admit she never would have seen it. She'd have to talk her, after this.
"What's our status, Griffith?" Chrono asked, sitting down in his command chair.
"We just departed TSAB headquarters," he replied immediately. "ETA: 20 minutes."
Signum glanced down at the young gun mage. "[We shall arrive in time]" she sent telepathically, sensing Teana's distress. "[Nanoha and Fate trained both of you well.]"
Tea turned and smiled, nodding. "[Thank you, but I know better than anyone, what she can do.]" She turned down to glance at Card-form Cross Mirage in her hand. [You better be okay, you big idiot.]
x~~*~~x
Arf flew low to the ground, in full dog form now. She hated leaving Subaru behind, but those long distance blasts were dangerous; she had to find whoever was doing it and take them out before the pair were picked off.
Fortunately, she had managed to calculate where they were coming from; part way up the mountain, on a ledge. Arf could just make it out, though it would be a minute or two before she could get in range to do anything about it. She would probably be seen, but if she could disrupt this person, then Subaru could finish digging down to Yuuno.
And it became obvious she had been seen, since the next long-range attack was aimed at her. But Arf was ready for it, and skillfully dodged it, switching to puppy form to present a smaller target.
Then the ground exploded under her, sending her careening across the top of the ravine. [Where did that come from!?] she wondered groggily. Shaking it off, she knew she had to keep moving: She was a sitting duck out here in the open.
Knives embedded themselves around her, force Arf to leap quickly, forming a round shield beneath her. Still, the explosions were powerful and sent her tumbling through the air. Someone else was attacking her, she knew now; someone who was purposefully guarding the long-range attacker. But in the back of her dazed mind, Arf felt that there was something about these attacks, but she couldn't quite pull up the information yet.
As she pulled herself to her feet, she sensed something coming in and glanced up at a figure using the overhead sun as cover, coming straight for her. Arf tried to stand, but found her front right leg was hurt bad. She threw up a few chains as a last ditch effort to protect herself, but those were batted away.
In the single second before the figure's fist struck, the face of her attacker was visible. Arf could only manage to shout, "You!" in surprise, before her world went dark.
x~~*~~x
Yuuno gasped for breath, now walking as fast he could. He wasn't sure how much air he had left, but he hoped it was enough to last until someone could get to him. Then he stopped; he recognized the collapsed portion of the tunnel.
He had made it!
And what's more, although it could have been his imagination, he thought he felt a cool breeze. Could someone be digging down to him, and had opened up a crack to the surface? Yuuno dragged himself to the collapsed end of the tunnel and fell to his rear, his strength fading. His eyes were beginning to lose focus, and then his light ball went out, no more magic to sustain it.
As he closed his eyes and right before he passed out, a vision of a face appeared in front of him. "Nanoha...."
x~~*~~x
"Nanoha?" Arisa prodded. "Are you alright? You look like you just spaced out."
Her pony-tailed friend shook her head. "Yeah, sorry, I just had the chills for second. You were saying?"
"I was explaining about the device Suzuka made for me," she repeated, twirling the bo staff around. It's nowhere as complex as yours, but it's very lightweight and strong. The standard spear and staff ends are built-in, but I'm not so good with them right now. Suzuka included them both so I can practice using both."
She demonstrated by focusing her magic, causing one end of the staff to sprout the standard staff end most mid-childan mages used to fire magical blasts. Then spun it around, deactivating that side and growing a spear point on the other end.
"Sounds great!" Nanoha replied, smiling "And we're here, this is where I live now. Fate should be out for a few days, so we can make plans for the party."
Arisa shrunk the staff down to a small card and slipped it into her pocket, bowing as Nanoha opened the door to let her in. "Suzuka should be by a bit later; Shari and her had something to work on...."
She trailed off, noting that Nanoha had spaced out again. What was going through that girl's head now?
x~~*~~x
"Caro, are you alright?" Erio asked, giving the young summoner a little shake.
Her eyelids flickered then slowly opened. "Erio? What happened? Where are we?"
"We fell through the trees, but we also seemed to have fallen through the ground as well," he explained, pointing upwards with his right hand. Above, they could see the sky between the narrow walls of the narrow ravine hole.
"Where's Fried?" Caro asked, growing worried as she remembered. "Is he... ow!" She quickly grabbed her ankle after falling back onto her behind. Putting weight on it had been a bad idea.
Erio felt her ankle with his right hand. "Doesn't appear to be broken, so probably a bad sprain."
It was then that Caro noticed that Erio's left arm hung limply at his side. "Your arm! Are you okay?"
He turned to sit beside her, wincing a bit. "I'm not sure. There's pain whenever I try to move it."
"I'm worried about Fried," Caro said quietly, tearing up a bit. "I can't sense him at all right now. Being a dragon, he uses a bit of magic to fly, and it was almost like he had lost that back there. I hope he's still alive...."
Erio awkwardly patted her shoulder. "I'm sure he is." He placed his hands in his lap and lowered his head. "And I'm sorry about back there."
She shook her head, wiping her eyes. "No, you did what you had to. Now we just need to get out of here. Any ideas?"
"Actually, I think I have one, but it could be rough," Erio told her, standing up and bringing out Strada. "You'll need to hold onto me while I use Strada's boosters to fly us out.
Caro nodded, standing as well, being careful to keep all weight on her left foot. Erio had her put her arms around his neck.
"Hold on tight!" he warned her. "Strada, let's go!"
His device replied affirmative and the boosters engaged, taking them aloft after a few seconds. Erio sensed something wrong, though, as they climbed. Strada was weaving back and forth against his attempt to control it.
"Kerykeion, Boost up!" Caro must have sensed his troubles and their low speed, and was trying to help.
The added power was enough for them to clear the hole and land on the grass beneath the trees. Caro accidentally put weight on her right foot and shrieked, falling against Erio, who dropped Strada and grabbed her with his free arm, breaking her fall with his own. He groaned as his back hit the ground.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Erio!" she told him, embarrassed. "I do this to you a lot, I'm so clumsy!"
Erio chuckled, getting his wind back. "I'm used to it. We'll rest for a bit, and then go look for Fried, and get out of here, okay?"
She nodded, resting against him, but couldn't help feeling as if she were a burden to him.
"[Arf, are you there?]" Subaru sent telepathically, but there was no response. "[ARF!]"
She cursed as she rolled along the ravine floor as fast as she could manage. Her barrier jacket was smoked and torn in a few places, and probably wouldn't hold up to more of a pounding. Not to mention, her right leg was feeling a bit sore.
If they got Arf, then she was in trouble. She had come to rescue someone, and instead lost someone. She needed to pull this together soon, or she'd wouldn't be able to face herself in the mirror as a rescue mage.
And she had the worst feeling that she knew who was attacking her. Even if she was right, she couldn't figure out why. But for the moment, she had to focus on staying alive, as more energy shots were incoming.
Subaru gritted her teeth and braced herself.
x~~*~~x
"Time?"
"ETA: 3 minutes," Griffith replied to Chrono.
[Come on, come on!] Teana gritted her teeth. [Be alive you dumb cyborg!]
x~~*~~x
"Did you get her?" the first one asked.
"With that last shot, I think so," the second replied. "Have the others move in to check."
The mental command came to each of them: "[Withdraw!]"
"[Are you sure you do not want us to confirm destruction of target?]" the first questioned.
"[You don't have time, withdraw,]" the command was sent again, more forcefully. "[There is a TSAB ship inbound; I'll have to risk the loss of this, for what we've gained.]"
The two complied, and the group disappeared.
x~~*~~x
In his cell, Jail smiled.
x~~*~~x
Fate, Teana, Signum, and Agito faded into existence on top of the canyon walls.
"[Subaru, where are you!?]" Teana called telepathically.
Agito floated up high. "I've got her, she's this way!" She took off, the two mages and Belkan knight in pursuit, with Fate carrying Teana.
"That's strange, there's no sign of enemy combatants," Signum noted, Levantine out and at the ready. "Could they have withdrawn? Or did they accomplish their objective?"
"Subaru!" Teana cried, racing over to her fallen friend once they set down, rolling her onto her back from her side. There was blood on her face from a possible head wound, and nasty bruises on her side. Her barrier jacket was torn and burned all over the place. "Come on, you idiot, wake up!"
Subaru cracked one eye open and smiled slightly. "This is a switch; as I remember, it was usually me waking you up."
Tea leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling at her. "Shut up, you! You don't know how much you made us worry!"
"Are you okay?" Fate asked, sliding an arm under her. "Can you stand?"
The cyborg groaned, as Fate helped her to a sitting position. "I dunno, maybe. After that last attack, I thought I'd play dead. In my state, I thought I could do a convincing interpretation of it, at least." She chuckled, then seethed and grabbed her side. "Bad idea." Her eyes widened. "Oh yeah, Arf is probably in trouble, too. She was here with me when we were attacked. And we think Yuuno is trapped underground, but we were stopped before we could dig him out."
Fate's eyes widened. "Arf was here? No wonder I couldn't contact her. Do you know where she went?"
Subaru shook her head. "Sorry, I got all turned around after we started getting attacked. I think she was going after the long-distance attacker who kept shooting at us."
Signum opened a screen communication to Chrono. "We found Subaru, and she's alive but hurt. She'll need medical attention but I don't think it's too serious. We are going to commence searching for Yuuno and Arf. Let us know if you see anything from up there."
"Roger," Chrono replied. "We'll teleport her aboard."
The Belkan knight closed the window. "Teana, Subaru will be taken care of in the ship. We need to search the area. There still could be enemies around."
Tea nodded, still looking at Subaru. "Leave us to clean up your messes."
"Hey, I-!" She didn't get anything else out as Fate stepped away and the cyborg was beamed up.
"Chrono just sent me the coordinates of where it looks like Subaru and Arf were digging," Signum informed them. "Subaru just confirmed it. But there's anti-magic minerals in the rocks, and the Claudia can't detect if anything is down there."
Fate took a hold again as they took flight, a short hop to the hole Subaru had started to dig. "It looks like Subaru had gotten a good head start before they were attacked."
"Ah," Signum replied in the affirmative. "But how are we going to finish it? Your attacks might bring the whole thing crashing down on Yuuno, if he's down there. My sword is no good for digging, either."
"I can do it," Tea declared confidently, bringing out her guns, and blasting herself up to the top of the ravine wall with thruster flare shots. "Cross Mirage, Beam Mode, Full Power!"
As Fate and Signum made some distance, they watched Tea's guns change, the barrels growing longer. The gun mage then snapped them together, end to end, and rested the end of her shoulder. A scope popped out of the side as she rested her right eye against it. Cross Mirage looked more like a high-powered rifle; or a bazooka.
"Beam Mode, Full power, Ready!" The device chirped.
[I hope I don't hit you, Yuuno,] Teana prayed internally as she took aim downwards, then fired.
Instead of a bullet, an orange lance of energy erupted from the barrel, striking the bottom of the hole and began burrowing deep, vaporizing the dirt and rock in the way.
"I see," the Belkan knight said out loud. "She combined the guns to produce a strong cutting power. She's grown much from her training. You have a skilled partner."
Fate could only nod.
"Go," Signum told her. "I'll stay with Teana. Go find Arf."
The golden-haired agent looked up, determination written across her face, nodding again. "Thank you." She took off to the sky.
"There, I think that does it," Tea announced, cutting off the beam, breathing heavily. "Cross Mirage detected that he hit a pocket. But getting through those anti-magic minerals wasn't easy. Agito, do you think you can go down the hole and check?"
The winged unison device smiled and nodded. "Leave it to me!" The hole turned out to be just big enough as the little creature flew down, head first. A minute passed, then: "I found him! He's unconscious, though."
"Chrono, you've been listening?" Signum called, and was rewarded when a window with his image opened.
"Yes, but we still can't get a lock on him," Chrono replied. "We can just barely detect his lifeforce, now that Tea has opened up a hole through the minerals."
"Agito, can you unison with Yuuno to boost his life signs enough for a lock?" Tea shouted down the hole.
"I think so," she shouted back. "It's harder with those unconscious, but I'll try."
"That did it, we've got a lock, teleporting him aboard!" Chrono announced.
"Good," Signum said, relieved, then turned to the gun agent. "Why don't you return to the ship for now to check on those two. Fate and I can fly, so we can search for Arf."
Teana turned to her and bowed, as if to say "Thank you."
x~~*~~x
The cup of tea slipped from her hands, hitting the ground and breaking in two.
"Nanoha-chan?" Arisa asked, concerned. "What is it?" Her friend had just received a text message, that seemed to disturb her greatly; she was just staring at the floating screen. Receiving no response, Arisa stood up and went around to see what it was about.
She gasped as she read the short message: "Nanoha, this is Subaru; Arf currently missing, but Fate and Signum are continuing to search. Yuuno is unconscious and possibly in a coma. I'm sorry."
Xx~~*~~xX
Author's notes:
Chapter 4 cleanup rewrite complete. Sometimes I wonder how people managed to read through this with the mistakes and badly worded phrases, heh.