SenkiZesshō Symphogear
Howling Song!
CH.1
The Strange Girl with Wolf Ears that Landed at School?!
"Speech" normal human/translation
"Speech" Symphogear activation or talking, private thoughts, and communication
"Speech" Gear attacks
..==..
The large ship rolled slowly as explosions broke down the hull as a battle raged inside and drifts closer to Earth. Inside a teenager girl sings as she fights with a pair of great swords that split in two, firing crimson beams of energy, and matches the howl of her voice with one last attack in a shape of two wolf heads as the ship finally explodes. A silver and blue blur flies toward the planet made from the song and armor of the girl that just destroyed a two mile long ship from another world.
"I'll make it! I have to make it or things are going to get worse!" The girl thinks as her armor starts to heat up more.
..==..
Lydian Private Music Academy is a spooky place at night. The students rarely stay after the sun starts to set, and that's mainly done for their safety. However, unknown to the normal person the school is also where potential candidates for using relics: Symphogear!
Not that you could tell with one orange haired girl with matching eyes as she shakes like a leaf. Of course, she wasn't the only one either. Maybe that horror movie wasn't a great idea after all?
Maria Cadenzavna Eve, Hibiki Tachibana, and Kirika Akatsuki were all near each other with Hibiki hugging Miku's arm. Shirabe felt a little guilty for making them all watch a horror movie about a school. Chris and Tsubasa at least put on a brave face, even if the blue haired sword wielder was jumping at shadows. The silver haired gunner wasn't sure to be on edge herself, or exasperated at everyone else freaking out for nothing.
What are the reasons they're at the school at night you ask? Two main reasons are as follows: First, there have been a lot of files being taken from the school. All of the files taken randomly out of the staff office computers around the school, and oddly food as well.
Second: The explosion in orbit didn't go unnoticed along with the object that fell from it three days ago. It shocked everyone when it broke apart over the city during a heavy storm. That night some of the students thought they saw someone with glowing eyes around sunset.
Which brings us back to the girls exploring the school halls near the staff offices right now, and later they'll check the kitchen with the food they left out. Just in case they put a camera up to watch the food and see who the food thief is.
Chris Yukine let out another sigh as a window rattles with a light breeze from outside. "Are you sure we can't have anyone else help with this, old man?" She asks into her comm as she checks the personal pad for the camera feed from the kitchen. "This would go a lot faster and whoever it is couldn't get past us so easy either."
"I sent Owaga to the other side of the school to help." Genjūrō Kazanari said from HQ where they were also watching the kitchen, and most of the school that they could. "If this thief didn't also turn off the security system in parts of the school I'd have a full team helping you. But we don't even have a picture to go by since the hard drives were crashed. That was when we knew we're dealing with a person."
"And that somebody that doesn't want to be seen at all." Miku said as the reach a large office for the teachers. She looks inside to see nothing but a computer still on. "Were any of the computers left on for us?"
"No." Elfnein said and her typing at the computer is barely heard over the comm. "It looks like the missing files were returned? That's very odd."
"Maybe whoever took them didn't need them anymore?" Hibiki offers in a shaky voice, and then hides behind Miku from a door creaking. "W-w-w-w-what was that?!"
At the end of the hall a pair of glowing aqua eyes were looking at the group, and red ears that belonged to a canine could be seen twitching in the shadows. Before Kirika could even scream in fear the shadowy form ran around the far corner of the hall.
"So fast." Shirabe says before running after the shadow. She lets out a yelp slipping on a snack cake on the floor and lands on her rear.
Chris was frozen in place till Shirabe fell and rushed to her side. Most of the girls snapped out of their shock except for Maria as Kirika shakes the older girl. Mainly to wake her up from passing out at the sight of glowing eyes in the dark. They hadn't expected to see the thief so soon, or that close either. Even when they ran off there was barely a sound from them.
"Are you okay, Shirabe-chan?" Hibiki asked noticing another snack cake on the floor near the other door to the teach office area. "So that's what happened to the snacks I brought today?!"
Shirabe brushed off her skirt with a pout. "I'm fine and I paid for those too you know." She was mad more about slipping on the snack cake then where they seemed to have been the whole day. "What's down where the thief ran off to?"
Tsubasa shakes her head to clear her thoughts before speaking. "I think that's toward Tachibana and Kohnata's class. We should go after the thief!"
"Can we wake Maria up first?!" Kirika asks with a shout that snapped Maria out of it. "Never mind looks like she'd back, dess."
"GHOST!" Maria shouts hugging Kirika tightly, making the smaller girl tap out.
They faintly heard a laugh from the thief who heard Maria's shout surprisingly easy. This got Maria a little mad as she let go of the young blonde and bolts down the hall. The rest of the girls are quick to go after their teammate in case of trouble, or more snacks to slip on.
It didn't take them long to get to the outer hallway of the school that lead to some of the classrooms. They could just make out the figure with canine ears running in the shadows, but with the moonlight make out some color. The first things they took note of as they ran after the thief as a fluffy red tail and hair. It looked like a young woman wearing blue jeans, soft sole shoes, and a dark blue jacket. She ducked into a classroom that had been closed off to a month.
"I guess that's where she's been hiding, dess." Kirika said as the group neared the door to find it open. A quick look inside showed the girl wasn't in sight, and the far window was open. "Did she jump out?"
Hibiki shakes her head. "I don't think so. Our snacks are on the table away from the window." She says looking up to make sure they won't about to be jumped. Only to come face to face with the girl, and let out a surprised yelp from both of them as the mystery girl slipped, landing on top of Hibiki, Miku, and Kirika. This got the other four to pile on as well and end in a big dog pile.
Shinji Owaga gets there in time to see a comical dust cloud with the sound of the girls fighting. A red head with wolf ears crawls out with Shirabe from the bottom of the dust cloud. The read head looked to be in worse shape before the others got to her, and Shirabe looked little roughed up as well.
"I got her arm!" Chris shouts from the dust cloud as Hibiki let out a pained yelp.
"I got her hair!" Hibiki shouts as Tsubasa screams next.
The wolf ear girl glares back at the cloud and looks to Shirabe. "Should we tell them, little rabbit?"
"Stare." Shirabe says staring right at the wolf ear girl before they both smile. "We will in a bit. Your shirt is ripped and you've got some really bad bruises."
"I'm pretty sure one I broke a rib when I fell too." The wolf ear girl says rubbing her right side with a pained smile. "Guess I ran out of luck after five days of just surviving alone."
"Five days!?" Owaga and Shirabe shout as the wolf girl's tail wraps around her waist as her ears lay flat. She let out weak laugh before flinching in pain from her ribs with a very canine yelp. The other girls stop fighting and the dust clears to show them each holding either someone's arm, leg, or hair. If someone was fast enough it would make a great picture to tease them with.
Shirabe was fast enough as she also grabbed the pad Chris had been carrying and took a picture. "This one is going to print." She says with a smirk.
"You even joke like her." The wolf girl says with a sad smile. "I'm sorry for any trouble I caused, but I wasn't sure how to interact with anyone here."
Chris let go of Hibiki and Miku's arms as they let go of her hair. "Wait? You've been on the run for five days?!" She asks falling over as she gets clear of the other girls. "Does that mean you were on that thing in orbit?!"
"Before anyone freaks out farther, I have to ask one thing." The wolf girl says getting everyone to stop. "Why is no one asking how I'm speaking your language?"
"She's got a point." Miku says sounding very annoyed before pushing Tsubasa, Maria and Hibiki off her. "Did you learn it after landing here?"
"Nope, turns out we speak the same language by some galactic fluke." The wolf girl says with a half smile. "Guess I should give my name as well. I'm Artoria Redmoon. I'm a song warrior with my weapon Duel Fang."
..==..
Mobile HQ S.O.N.G. submarine, Tokyo Bay
Two hours later
Genjūrō sighed after Artoria explained the reason for her both destroying a space ship and hiding at the school. The short of it is her uncle is set on taking over the planet with a huge ship, but first tested it on their home planet. The only reason she ended up on that ship before falling to earth was he tried to kill her with a big ass troop transport. He wasn't sure to either laugh or kill her uncle for sending her to them.
"At least we have a means of talking to any more ships that show up." Aoi Tomosato says turning to Genjūrō from her work station. "Still to think her uncle is this power mad and willing to do something this foolish. Artoria spook pretty highly of her mother dealing with him before getting out of range."
"Let's hope it's her that shows up to get her daughter." Sakuya Fujitaka says still typing away as his station. "Anything large enough to fire a two mile long transport with its own FLT is something I don't want to see, and that's even if it got here in just two days from with her blasting it from the inside."
"Add to that seeing people for the first time without ears or tails like her making it clear she'd have a hard time blinding in." Elfnein says with a yawn. "So hiding in the school to learn more made the most sense at the time. I'm just shocked she didn't get found during classes."
"The girl was very lucky till tonight, but I'd like to think it changed for the better." Genjūrō says rolling his shoulders. "Did you find out anything from her medical exam, Elfnein?"
The young blonde nods her head. "A lot and even got a look at her pendent. It's a lot like the Symphogear but with a slight twist." Elfnein brings up an image of the pendant with a screen of data rolling by. "It seems to have an AI that helps the user to some level. Artoria had to ask Duel Fang to be nice as she got cleaned up before I examined her. He's very protective of her, but did give me the data I requested."
"An AI in the Symphogear?" Genjūrō asks in shock. "Is that why you wanted us to let her keep it?"
"Yes. I was worried he'd do something extreme to find her if we didn't." The young blonde says switching to the medical report. "As for Artoria herself, she's comes up as human to a point. Most of the baseline like blood work, and x-ray show her to be nearly human. Until you get to her reflexes, sight, hearing, and the fact she has wolf ears with a tail to finish the look." As she spook the data and video showed on the main screen.
The most surprising was the video of Kirika trying to sneak up on Artoria to hug her tail, and missing as the wolf girl did a back flip over Kirika. Only to hug the blonde teen instead and ruffling her hair.
"That was after getting her rib back in place, and she had a little pain from the movement. However, she'll still a few months to heal properly." Elfnein explains. "I'll also be checking her again tomorrow to see if her baseline is higher after a good night's rest."
Sakuya blinked. "Speaking of sleep, Elfnein-chan. Who is she staying with tonight?"
"Hibiki and Kirika voted for a sleep over at Maria's place." Elfnein says with a giggle. "Chris didn't look to happy about the idea till Miku said it would be better to watch over Artoria."
"Oh, that's right! She doesn't have anything to wear either but the clothes on her back." Aoi says before groaning putting her hands over her face. "Not like we have anything for someone with a tail without getting her fitted."
"I already got her measurements to deal with that, plus a few pictures of her clothes." Elfnein says bring up the pictures. Normally this would be a little embarrassing or even awkward for the group. This time it wasn't seeing just how her pants alone buttoned at the top of the hole for her tail. "It's so simple a thing I'm shocked about it."
"Guess that solves one problem at least." Aoi says. "Still she's going to have to be fitted for some of her clothes to fit her tail. I'm not sure till she needs a dress, or…" She left her words hang there as the two man facepalm.
"Tsubasa said they would go shopping as a group to a few trusted places to help our new friend in the morning." Elfnein states as he closed the main screen. "I think Hibiki put it best, "Let's just sleep on it for now" is how I think she put it."
..==..
Maria hums softly as she brushes Artoria's hair, much to the sixteen year olds displeasure. It didn't help that Kirika fast talked her way into brushing the wolf girl's tail either. At the moment Artoria sat in just her underwear, a sports bra and panties, as her clothes were being washed again. Her silver pendant hung from her neck that is Duel Fang.
"I would have never guessed Miku to be the one to spill something." Artoria says with a little pat on her banged ribs. "At least it wasn't a repeat of the dog pile." She joked.
"It's also your second shower in the same day too, dess." Kirika points out. She wasn't mad that Shirabe helped Artoria wash since she couldn't reach her back without pulling her broken rib. "How do you keep your fur so soft? Is there some trick to it, dess?"
"Nothing really, other than a normal wash with soap and warm water like with my hair." Artoria says with a frown as Kirika hugs her tail. "I don't use anything fancy like others would. The slightly rough look is good on me. And could you please not hug my tail, Kirika? It's a little rude to do that without someone's okay."
"Aawww, but it's so fluffy and soft." Kirika whined as she let go of the red head's tail. "You let Shirabe-chan hug it without your okay on the way over."
Artoria blushes a little as she looks away, only for Maria to gently turn her head to face forward again. "She reminds me a lot of a friend from home and a fellow song warrior. All she's missing are the black fur rabbit ears and salt/pepper tail to be Fran." She explains making Maria stop her brushing. "What is it, Maria?"
"You called Chris a kitsune as well before we got here." Maria points out as she gently pokes around Artoria's ears. She wasn't sure how to brush the fur or the hair around said ears. "Does she have a fox counterpart she reminds you of too?"
"Yeah, a real tomboy named Silva, and she is a lot of fun to be around." The wolf says with a smile as she reaches up and gently runs her fingers over her ears to smooth the fur. "The things she can do with her guns and magic are just as scary too."
That was all Maria needed to hear to really get an idea of the world Artoria comes from. She wasn't sure to ask if she had a counterpart the wolf girl would know of, or about this magic either. Instead she goes with something closer to normal.
"So, is she like you and Fran as well? Using a relic I mean." Maria asks gently working a knot out of Artoria's long hair.
"Yeah, but it's not because any of us wanted to fight or anything like that." Artoria says as Maria returned to brushing her hair. "It was a jab at her aunt for trying to steal the relics in the first place. Silva's parents found them on a dig and she brought Fran and me over to see them. We had no idea at the time we would end up with armor and weapons."
"Sounds like a lot of family problems." Maria deadpans.
"No family is perfect, Maria. Some just have more greedy family members than others." Artoria says with a sigh. "Well, I could use some food and I think I've had enough being brushed as well." She got up and heads for the door of the bedroom.
Maria throws a shirt to Artoria. "At least put this on before walking out there. It'll feel better at least."
"Fine." The wolf girl says pulling the t-shirt on and opens the door. "How are the snacks coming?" Artoria sniffs the air for a moment. "Isn't a bit late for cooking something?"
Shirabe and Miku wave from the kitchen area as they cook a little. "We thought you'd like something more than snacks after all this time. So we're making a light dinner for you." Miku says as she flips a few pieces of bacon over.
"You didn't have to go that far for me, girls." Artoria says with a light blush. "You could have saved it for breakfast." She walks past Tsubasa, Hibiki, and Chris already dressed for bed on the couch. "Besides, it looks like most of you are pretty tired as is."
"We still haven't figured out where we're all going to sleep." Chris says from the couch with a yawn. "We've got to keep an eye on you after all." She smirks at Artoria who rolls her eyes.
"I can sleep on the floor in front of the couch, or the couch itself. Then you all can sleep around it to make sure I don't run off." Artoria points at opening the fridge and getting a bottle of water. "It's not that hard of a plan to come up with, girls."
Tsubasa glares at the wolf girl. "What if you jump over us to get away?"
"I've got nowhere to go and it would be a very bad idea for me to be running around in my armor. Let alone the fact I've got a busted rib." Artoria says as Shirabe puts the omelet she was cooking on a plate with rice. "Besides, I gave my word to your commander I'd stay near you girls. I'm not about to break what little trust has been shown already."
"I see." Tsubasa says a little impressed with Artoria's will to honor her promise. "I'd still feel better if you let one of us hold onto your pendent for the night."
"Yeah, that's not happening sword girl." A male voice as Artoria's pendant glows through her shirt. "I'm not leaving my lady's side unless it's for her medical check. Only then it's either Shirabe or Elfnein I'll trust myself too."
"That's the other thing that's messing with me." Chris says as the glow fades. "Your gear talks!"
"So does Silva and Fran's pendants, Chris. I'm more surprised your gear doesn't speak for itself." Artoria says pointing to Duel Fang. "He helps by watching my back when things get really crazy in a fight, and explains things like other relics to us."
"I do miss giving those classes with Blood Claw, and Luna Arrow. It felt great sharing so much about the past." Duel Fang says as Miku hands Artoria the omelet with rice and bacon. "That looks awesome girls. It should help my lady heal up a lot over night."
Hibiki jumps to her feet in surprise. "You can see it?!"
"He scans the area around me all the time to keep me safe, and it's really high detail." Artoria says as she starts to eat. "This hits the spot. Anyway, his scans are no different than seeing is for us."
"Oddly I feel safer just knowing he's watching out for you." Shirabe says putting the few dishes in the sink to be washed in the morning. "It means we're safe too as warning you means we'll be warned too."
Maria starts putting out futons as Kirika moves the coffee table. "I think that's enough for tonight ladies. Our guest gets the couch because of her ribs being hurt. So, we'll take the floor around her."
"This couch is big enough for two people to sleep on." Kirika says with a mischievous grin. "I vote to sleep with her to make sure she stays put!"
"Shirabe, would you mind spending the night with me please?" Artoria asks getting a gasp from Kirika. "I don't think I'd get any sleep with the blonde nekomata hugging my tail all night."
"I'm not a cat, dess!" The young blonde teen shouts with her dess sounding more like a hiss.
"Tempting as it may sound to just mess with Kiri-chan, I'm going to pass." Shirabe says with a grin. "I might hug your tail all night too."
"At least you're honest about it, Shirabe." Artoria sighs putting her plate in the sink and helps get the couch ready to sleep on with Hibiki helping her. "Thanks, Hibiki. I've never had a broken bone before so I'm surprised at how limiting it is."
"No problem." Hibiki says with a grin as she points to the wolf girl's ears. "Just tell me one thing please."
Artoria smirks. "I sleep like anyone else, and my ears are soft, Hibiki. But you can't touch them or my tail either. I've kind of had enough of being petted today." She says looking at Maria with a knowing grin. "Not that I mind having my hair brushed."
Maria coughs into her hand blushing. "Yes, well I might have over done it a little." She admits as Hibiki sighs as Artoria pats her shoulder. "We should get some sleep now as we have full day tomorrow."
The girls all got in the futons with Miku and Hibiki sharing one near Artoria. Chris takes the spot in front of the couch with Shirabe and Kirika sharing a futon at the other end of the couch. Tsubasa and Maria each took a futon to finish blocking the wolf girl on the couch after turning the lights off.
"You girls are either protecting me or still not trusting me." Artoria mutters looking over the edge of the couch to Chris. "Don't you think so, Silva?"
"So, I remind you of someone too? Tell me she at least looks good." Chris says grinning.
"If you don't mind a six tail kitsune tomboy being the gunner I know?" Artoria asks with a grin with her eyes glowing again. She flinches as Chris freaks out a little. "Sorry. The glowing eyes are normal back home."
Chris blinks as that bit of information sinks in and gives a grin full of mischief. "I can hardly wait to learn more. Goodnight furball."
"That's Ms. Furball to you vixen." Artoria says with a smirk equally full of mischief before lying down to sleep.
..==..
Write's notes.
My first steps into a much bigger world of trouble. I'll be posting up the other chapters after a while and I hope you all enjoy this story.