Valchirie Dell'Orizzonte
by firepowerblade2
Chapther 2: Noise and Disharmony
Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn! or Senki Zessho Symphogear.
Warning: Info dump
"Huh? Huh? Wait! What's happening to me?" asked Hibiki,l the change had come so suddenly that she could barely process what was going on.
"Onee-chan, you're so cool!" said the little girl, watching in admiration as the one saving her became a transforming magical girl right in front of her eyes! It was just like her favorite anime!
Rather than get distracted by the child's words, Hibiki hardened her resolve to save the girl, and began to sing. She reached her hand out to the girl and pulled he into her arms
That's right. I don't know whats happening, but the one thing I'm sure of is… I have to save her, right? With those thoughts Hibiki prepared to jump… just not for as high as she actually did, nor was prepared for falling all the way to the ground after over shooting her target.
As Hibiki landed, she looked up and saw the Noise falling after her with complete disregard for them selves. Keeping a tight but gentle grip on the girl, she dodged forwards, making sure that only hero own body was hitting the concrete.
Keeping the Noise in her vision, she saw that the turned their on bodies into projectiles to attack them. Hibiki tried to jump again and immediately losing control, she barely recovered in time to shield the girl as they crashed into a silo. Hibiki Grabed a bar as they fell and hung on for dear life before noticing the Noise behind them, it was the same giant type as the one Tsubasa had defeated the night prior.
As it raised its arm to take a swing at them, Hibiki launched herself back to the ground. Stumbling for a moment, Hibiki turned to the line of Noise behind her. One of them jumped at the girl to end their lives. Not seeing an alternative, Hibiki tried to back hand it. Rather than mutual death, it was only the Noise that was turned to ash.
I beat them? Thought Hibiki.
There was suddenly the sound of a motor running as Noise were thrown aside. As the motorcycle passed by, Hibiki recognized the rider a Tsubasa. Tsubasa proceeded to drive in to the larger noise and jump off before it hit.
"Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron."
"Don't space out. You'll die," said Tsubasa when she landed, "You stay here and protect her."
"Tsubasa-san?"
Having conveyed her commands, Tsubasa rushed towards the Noise and let her transformation take effect. Unlike with Hibiki, there were no machines suddenly growing or retracting from her body, simply the spear and a flash of light.
She pulled out a katana and transformed it a single edged great sword and then unleashed a slicing wave of energy.
Blue flash
The wave past right through the Noise, instantly reducing them to ash. Tsubasa then jumped into the are and unleashed many energy blades from the sky to impale the more spread out enemies.
Thousand Falling Tears
"Wow," Hibiki and the little girl could only watch in aw as Tsubasa took out the Noise one by one in a single hit, "I knew it, Tsubasa-san, is…"
Hibiki was interrupted when she noticed that something else had the girl's attention. Worriedly, she turned her head and saw that the giant Noise from before above them prepared to attack. Before it could though, it was impaled by the largest blade Hibiki had ever seen and standing victoriously atop it was Tsubasa.
Within the hour, Secton 1, the "public face," was isolating the area, helping survivors, and collecting samples. Hibiki saw that the a solider had gotten the girl she saved something to drink and knew that everything was alright.
"Um…" a voice spoke up, catching her attention, "Something warm to drink. Here."
"Oh, something warm to drink… Thank you," responded Hibiki, as she took the offered beverage. Taking a sip helped Hibiki to relax, which in turn triggered the change back to her school uniform.
Caught off guard, Hibiki would have fallen down and hurt herself if someone had not caught her from behind.
Turning and bowing, Hibiki thanked her rescuer, "Thank you very m-" Seeing that it was Tsubasa, Hibiki once more showed her gratitude, "Thank you very much!"
"Actually, this is the second time…" spoke Hibiki as Tsubasa turned away, "that you saved me."
"The second time?" Tsubasa questioned.
Hibiki could only grin at finally getting the idol's attention.
"Mama!"
Hearing the little girl's excitement, Hibiki tuned to see he being embraced by an older woman.
"I'm so glad you're safe…" the touching reunion was immediately interrupted a women in a uniform similar to the one who gave Hibiki the drink.
"Would you read and sign this consent form? This matter is is considered a national secret. To prevent information leaks, some restrictions will be placed on your actions and freedom of speech…"
Satisfied that everything was alright and worried about being in a similar situation, Hibiki decided that now was the time to leave.
"Well… I guess I'll be going, then."
… Only to find a line of men in suits with Tsubasa in the center blocking her way.
"We cannot let you go home yet, either," stated Tsubasa, not looking Hibiki in the eyes.
"Why?" asked Hibiki in confusion.
"You'll need to come to the Special Disaster Response Team, Section 2."
dispite her previous actions, Hibiki found herself put into handcuffs.
"I'm sorry about this. You'll have to stay with us for a while," spoke one of the men in the suits, he seemed much more expressive then his colleges.
"Why?!" Hibiki yelled as she was driven off. After a few minutes they had arrived at their destination.
"Why are we going to the school?" asked Hibiki in the car. It wasn't long before they were walking inside one of the major buildings. Feeling uncomfortable, she tried once more to start a conversation.
"This is the central wing, where the teachers live, right?"
instead of answering, they took her to an elevator and entered. The man in the suit brought out a hand held device and held it to a hidden scanner, afterwords the elevator door closed and a second reinforced closed as well. Finally several handlebars slid out of the floor. Tsubasa walk over to a set and grabbed on to them.
"Here. It's dangerous, so hold on" said the man in the as he directed Hibiki to grab onto the bars as well.
"Dangerous…? GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
once the elevator slowed down, Hibiki gave a nerves chuckle.
"That's enough friendliness," spoke Tsubasa as the elevator opened up to a much larger chamber that looked more like something from ancient ruins than a modern base. "Where we're going, smiles are unneeded." At that moment Hibiki knew to stay quiet.
About a dozen poppers went off as soon as they entered.
"Welcome to the last fortress of humanity, Special Disaster Response Team, Section 2!" proclaimed the man wearing a top hat.
"Eh?" was all that a confused Hibiki could say. The place twas decorated like they were celebrating a new coworker and not like a prisoner like Tsubasa did. Said girl was just sighing thinking that she should have expected this.
"Come on, smile!" said Ryoko as she approached Hibiki, "Let's take a photo together to celebrate!"
As Ryoko lifted her smart phone to take a selfie, Hibiki saw that she was still handcuffed.
"A-Assolutamente no… non voglio fare una foto in manette," objected Hibiki, slipping in to italian, "Sono sicuro che sara per sempre un triste ricordo. E non ho mai visto nessuno di voi prima, quindi perche conoscete il mio nome?"
"Hai un buon accento italiano," complimented Ryoko while Genjuro and the others looked.
Hibiki blushed in embarrassment, "Sorry, apparently I've been speaking it before I was adopted, anyways, how do you know my name?"
Filing the information he just obtained for if it became needed later, he answered her question, "Section 2's predecessor was a special organization created during WW2. Investigation is ourspecialty."
"Mhm." Ryoko agreed, steeping next to Genjuro while holding a familiar bag.
"Ah! My bag!" realized Hibiki, "What do you mean by 'investigation is our specialty?! You just looked in my bag! And without asking!"
having enough of her complaining, Tsubasa decided to release her, "Ogawa-san, take care of this." "yes," the man in the suite replied.
A moment later, Ogawa put the handcuffs on one of the tables.
"Thank you…" said a grateful Hibiki.
"Not at all. I do apologize," he returned.
Before any one else could speak up, Hibiki proceeded to go to her bag and rummage through it. Finding the chain that held her rings, she secured it to her waist.
Must be important to her. "Let me Introduce myself, then," the large man spoke up, "I'm Kazanari Genjuro. I'm in charge here."
"And I'm Sakurai Ryoko, known for getting things done," she finished, "Nice to meet you."
"Hello, there," greeted Hibiki, "Nice to meet you, Genjuro-san, as you know, I'm Tachibana Hibiki, I've been a fan of your sister for the past two years."
That statement rendered the whole room silent, "W-What? Wait, you're not ashamed that Tsubasa-san is only your half-sister are you?!" said Hibiki, appalled by such a possability.
"N-No! It's not like that!" he panicked, not expecting such a topic to be brought up. Unable to stand by while such a personal topic was discussed, Tsubasa steped foreword, "How the hell did you know that?! There should be only be records saying that he's my uncle!"
Not expecting this reaction, Hibiki took a steep back. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you a-and I j-just got a feeling that you were siblings."
"Tsubasa, that is enough," said Genjuro before turning to Hibiki, "I'm so sorry, we have… issues with the clan patriarch, please forgive her."
"No no, it was my fault for not knowing anything."
With the apology out of the way Genjuro gor down to business, "I'm sure you know why we've called you here. We'd like to ask for your help with something."
"My help?" wondered Hibiki before remembering her transformation, "Tell me… What was that?"
In response to her question Genjuro turned to Ryoko. Nodding, she walked to Hibiki and said, "before we can answer your questions, we have two requests. The first is that you don't tell anyone what happened today. And the other…" she then proceeded to pull Hibiki's body close to hers, "Would you take your clothes off?"
At that moment Hibiki's intuition was telling her that Ryoko motivation was fifty percent serious, forty percent teasing, and ten percent actual lust.
"But… WHYYYYYY?"
"I'm back…" proclaimed an exhausted Hibiki. An hour had past sense her examination and she just wanted to rest for the night.
"Hibiki!" said a concerned Miku, "Jeez, it's so late! Where have you been?"
"Sorry…" apologized Hibiki while lying on the floor.
"The news was saying that the Noise appeared around here again."
"Yeah… But it's fime now."
Hibiki's attention was suddenly caught by the TV when the news switched to rumors ofhow Tsubasa might be switching labels to Metro Music.
For a moment, Miku was miffed that her crush was not paying attention to her before taking on a more serious look.
"Hibiki," Miku spoke up, getting said person's attention, "something weird happened in the dorms, when I walked it was like a labyrinth."
"What happened?" inquired Hibiki.
"When I entered the building, everyone else seemed to fad away," explained Miku, "after I took the elevator up I realized all the floors were labeled exactly the same. After I got off I saw that I couldn't see the top or bottom floors and all the name plates had our names on them changed to look like ours."
"Really? How did you get back then?" asked Hibiki, believing her despite not being presented proof.
"it wasn't easy, I figured that I couldn't trust my eyes and closed them."
"Wait, you mean you walked blind back to our dorm?"
Slightly sad at Hibiki not trusting her words, Miku tried to argue, "I know it's hard to beliv-"
"You're amazing Miku," interrupted Hibiki, "I knew you were a good match for the… ring? I knew you were…? Eh?"
Later that night, with only a dim light on and despite having bunk beds, Hibiki and miku layed next to each other. Hibiki reflected on the events of that day.
"Hey Miku…" spoke Hibiki, wanting to get Miku's opinion.
"Don't tell anyone what happened today." Ryoko's voice reminded her.
"It's nothing."
"It… It isn't nothing to me," said Miku, laying out her worries from the day, "I was really worried because you came home so late."
"I'm sorry," apologized Hibiki, "But thank you. You're the only one who worries about me." Hibiki turned her body over and lay a hand on Miku's shoulder. "You're so warm…"
"What's wrong, Hibiki?" asked a surprised Miku.
"Kohinata Miku e il mio sole," expressed Hibiki, "It's warmest when I'm near you. And that's the place I always return to. It's always been that way, and it always will be…"
"U-Um, Hibiki… I…" whispered Miku getting up her courage, only to hear said girl snoring. Turning her head, she confirmed that Hibiki was asleep, "Goodnight, Hibiki."
In another dorm, Tsubasa was taking a shower and yet couldn't forget how Kanade's symphoger was STOLEN by a nobody who can't even fight! As the water flowed down her slim body, memories of fighting the Noise with her partner flashed through her mind.
"As long as the two of us are together," said the memory of Kanade, "There's nothing to be afraid of."
She knew what the commander was planing, but she would never accept it. She would never accept Kanade's replacement!
"That Gear belongs to Kanade," Tsubasa said to her self.
Walking down the street at night, the man who had been watching Hibiki's first battle, having finished his observation of her.
"Seems like things are going according to plan on your end, Reborn," said a voice to his right. The figure was wearing a black cloak that covered most of their body and hid their true gender. The only distinct features that could be seen under the cloak were the neck length purple hair and a pair of purple triangles under where their eyes would be.
"Prima has made contact with Kazanari Tsubasa while protecting a civilian, even managed to take out a basic Noise just prior," explained Reborn.
"I see, I take it that she didn't know the Gear would protect her?" they asked. With touching the Noise normally leading to instant death, how she acted would give a glimpse into her personality.
"She kept running to keep the civilian safe, Mamon," confirmed Reborn, "the only time she touched the Noise was when she couldn't run anymore."
"It's Viper, anyways when I tested the creation guardian she showed no special abilities, training or even knowledge of flames or illusions. Despite that she was able to successfully navigate back to her dorm by simply closing her eyes and relying on her memories, I'd give her a passing grade."
Reborn nodded and turned in to a dark alley.
"Hey, while I'm glad to be payed for this job, what exactly is the end goal for all this? We could approached her two years ago and give her family a better life then what she had to go through, instead she experienced hell and now basically under the control of Kazanari Fudo… What happened in Val Verde?"
Reborn only smirked as he walked into a portal of ink-like darkness.
The next day after class Hibiki was thinking about the report on the Noise that she was just assigned to do over the next two weeks as well as waiting for a call Section 2.
"Bikky!" said one of her friends, Ando Kuriyo. She was tall with short beige hair and tyrian eyes. Next to her were Miku, Terashima Shiori, a girl of average hight with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes as well as Itaba Yumi, a short girl whose long brown hair was in twin tails and had green eyes.
"Wanna go to Flower?" asked Kuriyo
"Flower?" asked Hibiki, this was the first time she heard of it.
"It's an okonomiyaki place near the station," explained Shiori, "They say it's delicious.
"I have to do something else today…" Hibiki regretfully declined.
"The teachers need to see you again?" complained Yumi, "Your life's like an anime, you know that?"
"All right… We'll ask you another time," excused Kuriyo. Miku remained silent, feeling like Hibiki was hiding something.
"Bye, then." "See you." With that the girls left Hibiki alone in the classroom.
"Forse sono Maledetto," complained Hibiki. As she turned to leave the classroom she saw Tsubasa at the door.
"You need to come to headquarters with me again." As soon as she got close to Hibiki, she placed handcuffs on the shorter girl again.
"Wh-Why?!"
"Okay, time to announce the results of yesterday's medical check!" proclaimed Ryoko, "There's still some stress from your first time, but basically, nothing's wrong with your body!" Along with her explanation, a hologram on the wall displayed Hibiki's picture along with information that she couldn't make heads or tails of. They were in the command room.
"Basically, huh?" said Hibiki while rubbing her wist, they were still a little sore form the handcuffs.
"Yeah… that isn't what you want to hear about, is it?" asked Ryoko.
"Please tell me about that power!" requested Hibiki.
In response, every one turned to Tsubasa who brought out a red stone pendent from under her shirt.
"Ame no Habakiri," stated Genjuro, "It's the first relic, and it belongs to Tsubasa."
"Relic?" questioned Hibiki.
"Relics, you see, are products of heretical technology, referenced in legends across the world, and impossible to make today," explained Ryoko, "Most are found in ruins, but time's passage has badly damaged them. And ones that still hold their former power are very rare."
at this point Genjuro took over, "The Ame no Habakiri is one of these. A tiny fragment of a blade."
Ryoko continued, "The only key to releasing and amplifying the tiny amount of power left in it is a wave that vibrates at a special frequency."
"A wave that vibrates at a special frequency…" repeated Hibiki.
"In other words, a song. The power of song activates the relics," revealed Genjuro.
"Song?" processed Hibiki, "That's right… When it happened, I could feel a song in my heart."
"Mhm," acknowledged Genjuro.
Ryoko continued, "When the relic is activated by song, it turns in to pure energy, and it's reconstituted as armor. The anti-Noise protectors that you and Tsubasa-chan wear are Symphogears."
"But not every song, or just anyone's song, can activate the relics!" objected Tsubasa, clearly upset over something. For a moment no one spoke until Genjuro got up.
"We call the few who can activate the relics, and wear the Symphogears, 'adaptors,'" he continued, "That means Tsubasa. And you."
Genjuro was expecting Ryoko to answer any questions that the young girl may still have and identify herself as the creator of the Sakurai theory, Did examining Hibiki-kun change something?
"But I don't have any relic," pointed out Hibiki, "So why…"
A new image appeared on the screen that she could actually understand, after all, this was an image she had seen many times the past two years.
"You should know what this is," pointed out Genjuro.
"Yes…" responded Hibiki, "That's form when I was hurt two years ago! I was there!" That statement caused Tsubasa to turn to For the first time that day.
"Hundreds of tiny fragments," Ryoko started to explain, "impossible tho surgically remove because they're too close to the heart. Our investigations showed that this shadow you see comes from fragments of the third relic that Kanade-chan used, Gungnir. They're something Kanade-chan left behind…"
Unable to take the revelation, Tsubasa could only stagger out of the room into the hallway.
"Haaaa, Tsubas left before I could get to the truly important discovery," complained Ryoko.
"I knew it, you usually don't hesitate when you have a chance to brag," said Genjuro.
"That sounds like her," said Sakuya.
"I can't deny that," agreed Aoi.
"I only met her yesterday and yet that still sounds correct," commented Hibiki.
Ryoko could only give and embarrassed grin at the comments and move on to the main subject.
"ANYWAYS, I already told you that there was nothing majorly wrong with your body right?" she asked Hibiki.
"Yeah…?" was the hesitant answer.
"While that is true, there were mutations in your brain that only had a positive effect on you."
"Mutations?" asked Genjuro.
"Yes, as I'm sure most of you know, the fact that humans only use less then 10% of their brains is just a myth. Most of the time it depends on which of the five senses are being stimulated." explained the scientist.
"Is it different for me?" asked a worried Hibiki.
"Yes, rather than some of the senses being stimulated some of the time, all SEVEN senses are being stimulated constantly," Ryoko revealed.
"S-Seven!" gasped Sakuya.
"I've heard of a sixth sense, but a seventh sense?" wondered Aoi.
"Ryoko-kun, please explain," requested Genjuro.
"As you probably already know, the sixth sense is a phychic power, but unlike other phychics her abilities are restricted to purely receptive so she is more likely to identify ghost possessing and receiving mental calls for help then lifting a building or bending a spoon," explained Ryoko, "As for her seventh sense, to feel gravity fields."
"What? So she can sense the Earth?" asked Aoi.
"Actually anything with a physical presence can produce gravity, but let's ask someone with first hand experience," suggested Ryoko as she turned to Hibiki.
For a moment Hibiki panicked, unable to explain an ability she was barely aware of before taking a thoughtful expression.
"It's like I have a map that I can't actually see in my head, even when I go someplace new I know every path and room no matter how hidden or forgotten they are. When I sense people and objects it's like I'm looking at them though a blurry lens, I can tell they are there but it's impossible to get any details. The one exception is when they have multiple moving parts, I can tell you how many parts they have, how they move and how to take them apart, putting them back together is another story though."
"Whoa," said Sakuya.
"You said that all of Hibiki-san's senses were constantly stimulated, is that how she knew the commander and Tsubasa were siblings and how can she handle the influx of information?" asked Aoi.
"I-I never noticed anything back then I swear, I only felt like they were siblings," Hibiki tried to explain.
"She's not wrong," mention Ryoko. Everyone turned to her in surprise. "That much information can't be processed by the conscious mind, her subconsciousness on the other is more then capable and manifesting the results as a type of intuition," she reviled.
"Ryoko-kun," spoke up Genjuro, having remained quiet until this moment, "as interesting as this is, how is this connected to the changes Sakurai Theory?"
Ryoko's grin got wider, as to be expected of Genjuro.
"That's a good point and to be honest it there is no direct connection but I feel like I need to bring this up in case it's an evolution in response to the phonic gain she produces, whats more I have identified something that counter most of her advantages," Ryoko replied.
Genjuro was confused by the statement, "Counter her-"
"The Noise," interrupted Hibiki.
"That's right," Ryoko confirmed, "Their amorphous bodies don't give the signals that living creatures and machines would give and they don't have any real minds to read. With how specialized one would need to be, I'm guessing the Noise were originally designed to eliminate such people and reduce their numbers."
"I get that you've uncovered something big but could you please get to the main subject," requested Genjuro.
Ryoko blushed in embarrassment at getting sidetracked.
"Ahem, two years ago at the Zwei Wing concert, we tried to activate to activate the relic, the Armor of Nehushton, as another way to combat the Noise," reviewed Ryoko to get Hibiki up to speed, "but when we started infusing it with energy, an unknown phonic gain gathered all of it to a single point before hand and completely bypassed all the resistances the armor had. This resulted in the relic absorbing too much energy and going out of control. I think you remember the rest.
The explanation of what happened back then gave Hibiki a bad feeling.
"The source of that energy, that phonic gain, was me wasn't it?" asked Hibiki, "I was the one who messed everything up and got Kanade and most of the audience killed by the Noise!"
"You weren't the only factor that day!" boomed Genjuro's voice, "Had we been aware of the possibility then we would have been better prepared, besides, afterwords our investigation revealed that the safeties had been sabotaged to fail after a certain amount of time, the disaster would have happen regardless if you were there or not, all you ultimately do was throw the timing off from a realistic point."
"Genjuro-san," was all Hibiki could say.
"If it wasn't for you we wouldn't know there was a trator," he admitted.
"Moving on," said Ryoko, "thanks to her, I have vastly more insight into how phonic gain works." She raises a remote to the screen and brings up a diagram. On it were fifteen circles, inside seven of them had a letter 'A' inside of them followed by a number going from 1-7, seven more had a similar format but with a 'B' instead and the last of them was marked as 'G8.'
"first off, I have confirmed fifteen types of phonic gain from examining Hibiki-chan's body,"
"Amazing, she has so many types," commented Aoi.
"Actually, her body only has three," interjected Ryoko causing everyone to look to her in surprise, "the phonic gain forms a psychic network between the different types ant individual people's subconscious minds.
"So the reason you brought up her her enhanced senses was…" began Sakuya.
"… Was to make it easier to understand my findings," Ryoko finished for him, "I noticed that there was a pattern to how they connected." The circles with the 'A's' all gathered and became connected to each other with lines.
"These are Phonic Gain Set Alpha, they are the ones that all relics draw power from, with the exception of alpha one, as long a one or more people provide the right balance of phonic gain then a complete relic will be able to permanently connect to said network and maintain its output," she revealed.
"You make it sound like relics are literally powered by…" interrupted Sakuya only to trail of at her grin, "human bonds, seriously?"
"Seriously. Anyways Set Beta seem to connect to the earth," the nods with the 'Bs' moved to a similar pattern to the first set, "this resulted in what we know as lay lines."
"That in total accounts for fourteen types," commented Genjuro, "But the fact remains that that there is one left that clearly implies that there is a third set."
"I will get to that soon," Ryoko returned, "but first I need to explain how the phonic gain interact with each other."
She turned to the screen and enlarged the image of the alpha one and beta one nods. "Two of the phonic gain Hibiki-chan produces are the first of each set, the alpha can be used to activate any relic, but for the Symphogears while she can activate them, she won't be able to use them to their full potential, especially with the gungnir inside her body and not knowing it's nature when she first transformed."
"The beta set is… a mystery to me, I can't find any relic that directly use them."
The diagrams on the display moved to align with each other, lines going from each of the alpha nods to each beta nod that shared their number.
"However, each one is able to link to each corresponding alpha phonic gain that, if it was working properly, would allow humanity to achieve mutual understanding and instantly create philosophical weapons." Hibiki and the others simply looked confused at Ryoko, "I will explain the effects after the relationships." That made them hold their questions.
"Right now the screen shows what it's like for individuals who only have one type of phonic gain," she pointed out, "And here the default for when multiple types are in one body."
The diagram changed once again, the alpha 1 nod and the beta 1 nod merged together and the resulting nod was marked G1 and then from it and the lines linking the paired nods came more lines that connected with the G8 nod.
"The circles that representing my uh… phonic gain are merging and becoming part of the same set as that G8," realized Hibiki.
"Set Gamma," stated Ryoko, "after comparing the data I gained from you I know she has the alpha three and beta three phonic gain but no gamma three, thus I've concluded that G1 and G8 are the only naturally occurring parts of the set."
"Naturally occurring?" asked Aoi.
"In other words gamma two to seven can artificially be created," perceived Sakuya.
"Correct," confirmed Ryoko, "thanks to the network I know that anyone who has alpha one and beta one act as main terminals and gamma one can, under unknown conditions, can fuse compatible phonic gain into part of the gamma set."
"You said 'fuse under unknown conditions?'" Inquired Genjuro.
"Yes, while the existence of the psychic network is still new to me I was still able to analyze her three strongest connections," continued Ryoko. Once more the display altered, alpha two and beta two combined into gamma two, alpha five and beta five merged into gamma five and then, along with gamma eight, lite up.
"I'm connected to three people?" asked Hibiki, that matched with the number of rings she doesn't have.
"Yes, although I have noway to identify them," admitted Ryoko, "But I have noticed that they help to relive the stress on your mind."
"So in short," spoke up Genjuro, "Hibiki-kun's presence can raise the number of potential adapters as well as the base power levels."
"yeah, now let move on to the final bit of info," said Ryoko. With that Hibiki, Sakuya and Aoi sighed in relief at finally getting to the end.
"Earlier I spoke about mutual understanding and philosophical weapons," reminded Ryoko, "the mutual understanding is just what it says, you can understand others with out verbal communications. I believe this is the united language lost when the Tower of Babel spoken of in legend was destroyed."
"It's not working properly, right? Is there something wrong with humanity?" asked Aoi.
"No actually, I've noticed that there is external interference making such communication difficult if not impossible, it will take some time to find it but I have found records of something similar: the Curse of Balal."
"Is there anything else we should know?" asked Genjuro.
"indeed, there are actually two more discoveries I've made," answered Ryoko, "Firstly, I found a form of genetic memory being suppressed by the curse, I found it by comparing Hibiki's information with other people that she is the only person without the memory."
"Then… I'm defective?" worried Hibiki.
"YOU ARE NOT DEFECTIVE!" yelled Genjuro, "We don't even know what is in the so called genetic memory, if it truly something needed then we might be able to replace it after lifting the curse."
"Genjuro-san," said Hibiki, for just a moment he reminded her of how her father used to be before the Zwei Wing concert.
"Okay, we still have one last fact to go and this one is related why she doesn't have the memory," interrupted Ryoko. With every one's attention back on herself she proceeded to the last detail.
"My final discovery is the confirmation of philosophical armament, weapons that have gained special abilities from the beliefs of the people. With the curse in effect the process would take hundreds of years, otherwise Hibiki-chan's phonic gain would allow her to create them instantly."
"This is hard to belive but for you to bring it up must mean that Gungnir…" trailed off Genjuro.
"Yes, Gungnir is a philosophical amament," confirmed Ryoko, "Although I can't Identify what its ability is, it is definitely behind the Hibiki-chan's loss of genetic memory."
"Are you serous?" questioned Hibiki, she was having trouble believing that she could be at the center of all of that. Felling that that everything was finished she decided to bring up the question she wanted to bring up ever sense her first visit.
"Um…"
"What's wrong?" asked Genjuro.
"Can I really not tell anyone about this power?" asked Hibiki.
"If anyone learns that you have the Symphogear,," he responded, "even without the new information, it might endanger your family, friends, and those around you. It could put their lives at risk."
"Their lives?" repeated Hibiki, moments of when she spent time with Miku flashed through her mind followed by a blurry image of a girl with white hair.
"What we're trying to protect isn't a secret," explained Genjuro, "It's people's lives. Would you please keep this power a secret, so that we can do that?"
Ryoko took over at this point, "We want you to understand that the power you possess is that great…"
"Humanity cannot defeat the Noise," continued Genjuro. "If a human body touches a Noise, it turns to sand and blows away. And It's impossible to damage them. The one exception is a girl wearing a Symphogear. As head of the Japanese government's Special Disaster Response Team, Section 2, I'd like to request your help again. Tachibana Hibiki-Kun, will you use the power of the Symphogear you have to help fight the Noise?"
After a moment of thought Hibiki answered, "I can save people with my power, right?"
"Mhm," Genjuro and Ryoko gave a positive answer.
"All right!" finished Hibiki.
As Hibiki entered the hallway, she found Tsubasa turn to her.
"I'll fight!" she told Tsubasa, "I'm new to this, but I'll do my best! I'd like to fight with you!"
Hibiki held out her hand, but Tsubasa turned away.
"U-Um, I'd like to fight together…" repeated Hibiki, only to be interrupted by the lights going dark and an alarm going off.
"Noise is materializing," reported Sakuya.
"Tell Section 1 we'll take care of this matter," ordered Genjuro as Hibiki and Tsubasa entered.
"Materialization point identified. Displaying coordinates," said Aoi as she brought up the info, "A distance of two hundred from lydian?"
"That's close," comented Genjuro.
"I'll go stop them," declared Tsubasa, she ran off to deploy to the battlefield. Watching Tsubasa run off, Hibiki decided that she couldn't just stand there while there was trouble and started to follow.
"Wait! Your still-" objected Genjuro, only to get interrupted by Hibiki.
"I can help save someone, right?" she asked, "you can't fight Noise without a Symphogear, right? So I'll go!" With that she continued to leave the control room.
"She knows it's dangerous," complimented Sakuya, "but she's fighting to save people. She's a good girl."
"Is that really true?" questioned Genjuro, "She hasn't been training since she was young, like Tsubasa. A girl, who lived a normal, everyday life until only a sort while ago, risking her life in battle, just because she was told it could save someone. Isn't that twisted?"
"In other words, she is just like us…" commented Ryoko.
Tsubasa had just arrived and was standing in front of the Noise. Said Noise melted and fused in to a larger Noise who hard two lages six frills and an actual mouth. As it roared, Tsubasa began to sing.
Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron.
Tsubasa a launched herself foreword as the Noise sent its frills spinning at her, she easily dodged and deployed her leg blade to slice all of them as they turned to follow her. As she landed, she enlarged her sword to deal the final blow only for Hibiki to land an awkward flying kick at the Noise knocking it off balance.
"Tsubasa-san!" Hibiki called out.
Annoyed at the unneeded and unwanted help, Tsubasa jumped. Her irritation increased as she noticed Hibiki was smiling like she was enjoying a game. She swung her sword and launched a blue energy slash cleaving both the Noise and the street below it in half, causing and explosion.
Blue Flash
When she landed she turned to look at the aftermath.
"Tsubasa-san!" called Hibiki, running up behind said girl, "Right now, I may slow you down, but I'll do my best! So… Please fight with me!"
"Yes," said Tsubasa, "You and I… Let's fight."
"Eh," said Hibiki in confusion, only for Tsubasa to point her blade at Hibiki.
The members of Section 2 could only watch as Tsubasa turned her blade on Hibiki.
"Wh-What are they doing?" asked Genjuro.
"Oh, to be young again!" joked Ryoko seemingly unperturbed by the situation.
"Where are you going, Commander?" asked Aoi as Genjuro headed to one of the lifts.
He was about to answer before all of a sudden something that resembled an inky darkness erupted and covered all the exits.
"What is this?!" he exclaimed.
"I-It's showing up on the sensors, It's phonic gain" reported Sakuya, "looking it up in the new data… It's Gamma Eight!"
This had caught everyone off guard, they had only ever seen phonic gain when it was manifested as a Symphogear or used in an attack. Seeing it in it's pure form without a user or relic was unheard of.
"Sakuya-kun, keep observing Hibiki-kun, Aoi-kun analyze the phonic gain if I can't break through." Genjuro ordered, he raised his right fist and thrown a punch at the darkness that sealed the lift he was going to use. Instead of being blocked he pased right through… and came out of the darkness on the other side of the room.
"The phonic gain acted like a portal!" exclaimed Aoi.
"If Gamma Eight can connect two point like that, then the user could be anywhere, maybe even on the other side of the planet," worried Sakuya.
"Don't get distracted, keep gathering data," Genjuro reminded them, "Ryoko-kun, did anything like this come up in your findings?"
"No, this is beyond what I found, but it proves that someone has already started to research phonic gain before us and knows our location as well."
Genjuro simply looked at the screen. He didn't know if they were friends or foes or even what they were after, what he did know was that they couldn't have planed for Tsubasa to fight Hibiki and they wanted no one to interrupt them.
"That isn't what I meant," said Hibiki, while trying to deescalate the situation, "I want to fight beside-"
"I know that," Interrupted Tsubasa.
"Then why?" the younger girl asked.
"Because I want to fight you," answered the idol, "I cannot accept your existence. Kazanari Tsubasa would never allow herself to fight alongside you. Ready your Armed Gear, too. That will mean you're prepared to fight. If you insist on wearing the Gungnir Sympogear, the mighty spear that pierces through anything, then ready yourself!"
"R-Ready myself? But I…" hesitated Hibiki, "I don't know what an Armed Gear is. And I don't know how I can ready it, when I don't know what it is!"
Tsubasa lowered her sward, but Hibiki simply knew thatl nothing was resolved. Walking away the bluenet continued speaking her mind.
"You're playing out here, on the battlefield, as if it were a game. What… What did Kanade give you?!"
She then jumped into the air and threw her sword forewords, it proceeded into a giant blade several times her own height. Immediately the idol launched into a flying kick boosted from the thrust of her leg blades to reach her sword and accelerate its decent.
Heaven's Dragon Scale
This seems like a good opportunity, thought Reborn, he had been observing Tsubasa's battle to assess her qualifications as a guardian. So far her skills with a sword were more then enough, but it seemed that the incident two years had drained her joy of singing. She would most likely end up as Fudo's puppet if nothing was done.
He turned to his companion, a figure whose form was covered in a black cloak, top hat and red cravat around their neck. Wrapped around their head were bandages that kept their identity a secret. The only thing that helped to identify themselves was a walking cane that they would still need for a couple months. Despite being completely covered their fidgeting showed they wanted to join the fight. Especially when Tsubasa pointed her blade a Hibiki.
"Calm down, I thought Bermuda taught you better these past two years," Reborn told them, taking aim with a sniper rifle, "Now, will you make sure no one else will interfere?"
The figure nodded and raised their right hand and from a ring came an inky darkness. Noticing that they started, Reborn pulled the trigger.
BANG!
Eh? Time seemed to slow down for Hibiki as she felt a burning sensation in her forehead.
I was shot? She realized. She set her fading sight on the giant blade heading to impale her body, I only wanted to be her friend, if only I could get rid of her sword then maybe we could talk. From the burning came immense pain and energy, yet she felt like she was invincible.
"REBORN! She yelled, her face had taken on a fierce appearance and had a flame coming from her forehead, "I'll get rid of Tsubasa's swords with my dying will!"
During all this, the sword that was heading to her was grabbed by Hibiki just as it was about to hit, resulting in her getting pushed back eight meters. Once she had solid footing she exerted her newfound strength, breaking the blade into several chunks and making Tsubasa fall to the ground.
"Ghaaaaa!" yelled the idol as she barely righted herself before landing. When she looks up at Hibiki she could only gasp in shock at how she looked.
"Ta-Tachibana?" Hibiki face was contorted in a fierce expression and had fire coming out of her forehead and looking at her ready to break every bone in her body.
"Tsubasa," spoke up Genjuro over her headset, "those flames coming from Hibiki-kun's head are her phonic gain in condensed form inside her body." That certainly surprised her as she took a stance with a new sword.
"TSUBASA-CHAN!" yelled Hibiki as she charged forewords. Tsubasa tried to swing her weapon only for Hibiki intercept it with a punch and shatter it. Tsubasa attempted to jump back but found the blade on her right leg was pined under the shorter girl's foot and was soon crushed beyond usability. As soon as the remains became lose enough, Tsubasa jumped away, only for the blade on her left leg to be grabbed by Hibiki and soon shared its partner's crushed state. Falling on her back from being grabbed by Hibiki, Tsubasa had only one action that could save her.
Thousand Falling Tears
Hibiki let go of Tsubasa's blade to focus on the countless ones falling towards her, the bluenet put some distance between herself and her foe. She produced another sword and turned to face the next attack… only to be caught off guard as Hibiki continued destroying the blades.
"What is she doing?" asked Tsubasa, "She won't be able to defeat me if she only…" A thought occurred to her on what the younger girl was trying to achieve. Hibiki finished with the blades impaled in the ground and turned to the idol, said girl glared at her and instead throw away her blade.
See the older girl throwing away the weapon Hibiki calmed down, her face took on an exhausted but satisfied expression as the flame extinguished it self as she fell unconscious.
"Hmmm, so rather than being force to fight she instead focuses on destroying any weapon that can be used to fight, following her original wish to not fight," commented Ryoko. They had viewed the entire conflict and were able to see the projectile that had changed Hibiki. "Although it seems she doesn't have complete control of that state, it looks like it could be safe to be researched."
"Her energy levels have jumped to match a superb song and yet that same energy is reinforcing her body to endure the strain!" revealed Sakuya, "If we are able to replicate this effect then then we would be able to remove the harmful effects of the Symphogear."
Staring at the screen, Genjuro could only remain silent as Hibiki's appearance brought up memories of Nanimori. Collecting his thoughts, he gave out his orders.
"Don't forget, the change was only triggered because there is a way to bypass the Symphogear's defenses," he warned, quieting down the other people in the room, "Also, we need to make sure what happened remains classified, especially from Kazanari Fudo."