SonicANIME2010 here again, bringing in chapter 2 of my new story. I'm sure there are plenty of unanswered questions from the previous chapter, they could be answered today, but the question is do those answers bring up more questions... one can only wonder.
Usual disclaimer is usual: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any characters or story elements from the series, they belong to SEGA. Same goes for Lyrical Nanoha characters or elements, they belong to Seven Arcs. I also do not stand to make any money off of this thing.
-Previously on Sonic the Hedgehog: Wind of the Night Sky-
"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic introduced himself before the narration began, "I had just finished restoring the "Tornado" and, to celebrate, I took the old thing out for a test flight from South Island to the City. Things didn't go as planned though, and I ended up crashing in the park."
"That's where we found him," Hayate took over, "My name is Yagami Hayate. We found Sonic unconscious next to the crashed plane. I couldn't just leave him there where he could get hurt further so we took him home."
"That's where I woke up… "Sonic took over for her, "She offered to let me stay with her and her... "family" at least until I could get the plane repaired. I had a feeling it was going to be a long-term thing, but it wasn't like I had any other options."
"Then one night, I tried to contact Vita-chan and the others and see where they were, but I couldn't reach them." Hayate took over for the last time, "I got concerned that they could've gotten lost or something, so I asked Sonic to go out there and find them."
"We weren't lost" This time it was Vita who began the narration, "Oh, I'm Vita… Anyways! Our enemies had us trapped in some force field thing, and we had to fight our way out."
"Our progress was less than satisfactory." Signum's voice took over, "Signum… Our enemies had upgraded their magic since last time, and we appeared to be in an inescapable bind…."
"That was at least until Sonic-san showed up out of nowhere!" Shamal took over for Signum, "I'm Shamal. Sonic just showed up out of nowhere, and was almost immediately ambushed by a pair of mysterious masked men."
"Those guys... or girls, were going on about how I was going to be a sacrifice for this Book thing" Sonic took over, "Whatever it was, I certainly wasn't about to let the creepies have their way."
"The blue thing suddenly powered up!" Vita exclaimed from her point of view, "Then he turned into this ball thing and wrecked the crap out of them! No really, he did!"
"His power surprised us all…" Signum took over for one last time, "He then took out the containment field that we were trapped in."
"We were able to escape, but that blue boy has a lot to answer for!" Vita narrated from the last time, "Such as how the hell he was able to do all of that, and what is he capable of."
"Signum and the others are a bit suspicious of him." Shamal narrate for her last time as well, "I hope they don't do anything drastic."
"This is shaping up to be one heck of an adventure from the start" Sonic was the last to provide a narration, "Sonic the Hedgehog: Wind of the Night Sky is about to begin."
[OP: "Eternal Blaze" Mizuki Nana, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's OST]
Sonic the Hedgehog: Wind of the Night Sky
Chapter 2
The Promise & Christmas Eve (Part 1)
[Uminari City: Residential District]
[Yagami Residence]
-time: 8:50 am-
[No BGM]
The Crimson Iron Rider, Vita, was a young girl of many talents, but patience was not one of them. Immediately after breakfast concluded, dishes were done, and Hayate went out for some grocery shopping, the little redhead made her move. In the backyard of the house, she glared daggers into the calm hedgehog's head. Sonic, for his part, calmly laid on the roof, simply content to watch the clouds in the sky.
"Oy, hedgehog!" The grumpy redhead glared at him, which at this point, was a normal thing for the girl. Vita wanted answers from the hedgehog, and she wasn't going to let him get off the hook, "You have a lot to answer for from last night, so start talking!"
"So noisy…" Sonic looked at Vita with a half eye-lidded deadpan expression. The blue hedgehog seemed to consider her order for all of five seconds before he made his decision, "I don't feel like it right now, ask me later."
"Tell me!"
"No way~"
"Tell me!"
"No way~"
"You will tell me!"
"No, I won't!"
"Yes, you will!"
"No, I won't!" at some point during the conversation, Signum had approached. She seemed somewhat curious about the humorous exchange between her comrade and their houseguest
"Yes, you will!"
"Yes, I will!" The hedgehog quickly replied with no change in his tone or delivery, though Signum could've swore that she saw his eyebrows waggle for a brief moment. She only hoped that the Iron Rider didn't fall for the psychological trick.
"No, you won't and that's final!" Sure enough, Vita did and sealed her own defeat in the humorous argument.
"Have it your way~!" Sonic leapt off the roof with a cheeky grin of his easy victory. He walked past both of the two, undeterred, and went inside.
"Ah…" Vita could only stare ahead, speechless, "What just…"
"He tricked you," Signum stated the obvious, even she couldn't hide the humor from her tone, "He played you with reverse psychology. You were so bent on arguing with him that you didn't realize that he did that."
"Eh… whatever," the loli shrugged a bit grumpily, "Still, he wasn't cooperating with me."
"That's because you tried to force it out of him." The older, wiser woman noted with a neutral tone, "Let me handle it from here. The last thing we want to happen is for you two to clash in a more violent way."
"I suppose you're right." The girl started to head inside again, "I'll be in my room."
[Living Room]
[No BGM]
Sonic let out a loud yawn as he leapt onto the couch and kicked up his feet lazily on the coffee table. Truthfully, he wasn't all that bothered by Vita's interrogation attempt, the resulting exchange was humorous to say the least. Signum calmly sat down next to him with a stoic, unreadable expression on her face.
"I think I told Vita just a few minutes ago that I didn't feel like talking," The hedgehog regarded the woman with a bit of an odd glance. He had a feeling as to what Signum's motives were, but he had to make sure.
"I'm aware." Signum slid something between herself and Sonic, "I would ask that you look at this."
The object in reference appeared to be a large brown hardcover book. The cover of the book had an odd emblem of a large cross in front of a circle in the middle and a matching trim. On the spine of the book, the same odd emblem was featured.
"What is it?" Sonic asked, somewhat curious. The book had given off something of an ominous aura.
"The source of Hayate-ojou-sama's pain, the reason why we were fighting last night," The woman had an internal struggle to keep her stoicism up; it wasn't easy for her, "This is the Book of Darkness."
"That name is familiar," The blue hedgehog thought out loud as he took the book in his hand to look at it up close. His memory suddenly had a flashback to his battle with the masked twins last night, "Oh yeah! Those creepy guy, girl twins were saying I was going to be a tribute to it."
"They must have intended for the Book to absorb your Linker Core." Signum's stoic expression almost faltered in a brief hint of anger, "The Book of Darkness is able to absorb the Linker Cores of other beings. In fact, it has to in order to be able to store magical information as pages."
"Linker Core?" Sonic, understandably so, was a bit curious at the new term, "What is that?"
"It's an organ that works to link and manifest magical energy within you." Shamal answered that question as she walked in. The medic had carried a tray with a few glasses and a pitcher of tea with her and set it down as she sat on the other side of the hedgehog, "Everyone has one."
"Magic…" the hedgehog pondered the term for a moment, unsurprised, and more curious than anything, "You mean for spells and that stuff that you see in anime these days?"
"You're catching on quite quick, Sonic-kun. It's similar, but different. Our magic is more combat-based than what you're probably used to seeing on TV," The pale-blonde medic patted the hedgehog on the forehead as something akin to recognition for his intelligence, "Although it's not wholly based on combat; we moved your airplane to the backyard with my 'Mirror of Travels' spell."
"And the masked individuals you fought last night had used magic to disguise themselves." Signum added in reference to the twins that had attacked Sonic, "For whatever reason…"
"I think it was to hide from the Bureau. The Enforcer seemed to recognize them." Shamal added, basing her thoughts off of the reactions from the enforcer male when the twins' disguise had dropped, "They seemed tough too. It's amazing how you were able to beat them like that. You have a lot of potential there, Sonic-kun. If you'd like, we could train you in our magic."
"No thank you~!" Sonic shook his head in decline; his decision was likely already made, but he felt it a bit polite to let Shamal finish what she was saying before he gave his answer, "No offense to you guys, but I prefer to do my own thing."
"I see, that's fair. You proved last night that your style can be quite effective. We don't need to bring you out of that comfort zone," Shamal seemed to have anticipated her answer as she was hardly surprised, "Speaking of which, would you mind telling us about last night?"
"I don't see why not anymore," The hedgehog shrugged in response. Signum and Shamal had given him some of the answers that he was curious about, so he figured there was little harm in telling, "I've got pretty long story."
"Just the pertinent details from last night's events will do." Signum requested formally; while she would be lying if she wasn't a bit curious about the story, she knew that it could wait, "Specifically, what was that power you used?"
"Well, if you read any books on hedgehogs, you would know that we have the natural ability to curl up into a ball for defense." Sonic started his explanation with a little bit of exposition regarding his animal species' natural ability, "I just happen to have the ability to add a little 'spin' to it."
"And your speed?" the swordswoman inquired, "Where did that come from?"
"To be honest, I don't know. I've had it for as long as I could remember. Maybe I was born with it," Sonic answered with an honest shrug, "Lucky me, huh?"
"Probably, and it makes sense that some of your power came from that speed." Shamal added; though she swiftly realized that there was another question to answer, "That still leaves the power boost unanswered."
"That was the result of a ring," the blue hedgehog answered slowly with an awkward scratch of his head quills, "Those are kind of complex."
Signum's sharp look showed that she was not deterred and Sonic couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved. As best as he could, he started to explain. The rings were mysterious objects from his islands that would grant an immense amount of power to the user for either a set duration or until the energy was burned off. Sonic wasn't sure how the rings were made, but he had found a device that seemed to be able to generate them.
As it turned out, it was the device that had caused the catastrophic malfunction in the Tornado. It had fried the transmission and engine and left both beyond any idea of repair. Sonic was stuck in Uminari until he could repair it. He hadn't mentioned that tidbit in his initial examination of the Tornado; just the results.
"This device you mentioned," Signum pressed Sonic on the topic of the machine, "How does it work?"
"If I heard right, it's supposed to draw energy from the air or something and then convert it." Sonic answered to the best of his knowledge, "But it's kind of finicky on when it wants to work. I just plug it in, press a button and pray it works."
"So, last night was a matter of luck?"
"I wouldn't say that. I don't -need- rings to tap into my speed," The hedgehog was quick to argue that point, "They are a big help, but it's not like I need them to survive or something."
"Nevertheless, I think it's best for you not to intervene in our matters anymore." Signum gave Sonic a look that suppressed any retort he would've made in response, "Our rivals are resourceful; that dome you shattered was meant to trap us. They're quick to adjust to adversity, so it's unlikely that you'll be able to have a repeat of your feats last night. If only for your safety, I would like to ask you to stay out of our fights in the future."
"I can take care of myself" The hedgehog argued with a bit of an offended huff, "I don't need babying."
"Sonic-san, please listen to Signum." Shamal was quick to jump on Signum's side, understandably so, "We've faced them before, and they got better since then. If you try to fight them, you could get badly hurt and that would make Hayate really sad."
The hedgehog fell silent after Shamal supported Signum's argument. He also thought back to his fight with the mysterious twins last night. They seemed to be confident in their abilities and power and even though he overmatched them with the aid of a ring, he couldn't help but think about what could've happened if he didn't have that ring with him. In addition, after his battle with Eggman a few weeks ago, did he really want to join in another fight of that magnitude again? The conclusion was reached in his mind before he even realized it.
"Alright, you win." Sonic reluctantly relented, "I'll stay out of your fight."
"Thank you." Shamal softly stroked the hedgehog's head quills again. She must've stroked a pressure point, as the little blue blur let out a soft coo-like moan, "You're a good kid, I can see why Hayate trusts you."
"Ah… heh… heh…" The hedgehog could only let out a weak chuckle in bashfulness.
"Our mistress is also, far as we know, unaware of our activities." Signum strayed them back onto the point, "It would be best if it stays that way."
"I won't tell her, I doubt she'd believe if it came from me anyways." Sonic said, his tone suggesting that he would abide by Signum's request. He quickly sent her a pointed look of his own, "Just answer me one question, why are you doing this?"
"Because we have to…" Vita answered solemnly as she walked in and took a seat next to Shamal. She shot the hedgehog her usual grumpy look, "The Book is hurting her…"
The Wolkenritter explained to Sonic, in further detail, about their mistress's condition. The girl was paralyzed, but the Book of Darkness was making it worse as it fed off her Linker Core. Only the cores of other mages would sate the hunger of the Book. While she had requested and made the Wolkenritter promise that so long as she was the master, no one was to be harmed, they felt their hands were forced. They would've been content to live the life of peace if not for the Book's parasitic nature.
"You just wanted to live peacefully, but stuff you couldn't control changed that." Sonic nodded in understanding, "In a way, I can kind of relate."
Curiously, Vita did ask for elaboration for some reason, but the hedgehog turned her down and started to head back outside. Apparently, he felt he had talked enough for one day. The other knights were content to leave him be; he had already given the answers to the pertinent questions they had for him.
[Dimensional Space: Earth's Orbit]
[Time-Space Administration Investigative L-Class "Arthra"]
-Time: 12:50 pm
[No BGM]
The Time-Space Administration investigative spaceship, codenamed "Arthra", resided in orbit over the planet Earth. The vessel was large and sleek with a silver and gray color palette for a paint job. Due to its large size, it had a large capacity; at least enough for an army of 50 or so humans. Vessels like the Arthra were mainly used for patrols and investigations of disturbances on other worlds in the Sea of Dimensions.
Within the office of the warship's commander, a woman sat at her desk. The seemed appeared to be in her mid-30s and had quite the attractive figure. She had teal eyes and matching hair that was tied up in a long ponytail and long bangs. There was a gap in between her bangs over her forehead to reveal four light green markings on her forehead; likely birthmarks of some sort. Her attire consisted of a long, navy blue overcoat over a white collared dress shirt with a dark blue tie, pressed slim-fitting slacks that flowed into her dark blue high heeled shoes.
The woman, Admiral Lindy Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration, looked calmly at the gathering of Chrono, Alph Fate and Nanoha. A video screen was behind her with a loop of the battle Sonic the Hedgehog had with the Liese Twins. If she was bothered by the recent development, she didn't show it on her face. She took a small sip of tea from her cup before addressing the others in the room.
"So, we appear to have a new party to deal with in this case" Lindy said, her gaze fixed on her son, Chrono, for the moment "Interesting, isn't it, Chrono-kun?"
"Y-yes" Chrono, somewhat a bit awkwardly, replied; it was sort of understandable, having one's own mother as a direct superior can do that, "Everything happened so fast, there wasn't much we could do."
"Yes… this new player certainly made an impression." The teal haired admiral observed as she turned to look at the screen for another minute. "Not only did he destroy the Overpressure Force Field in one strike, but he also overpowered the high-level familiars of a ranking Admiral in the Bureau."
"The Liese twins are formidable experts in their work. I learned from them." Chrono added, his expression thoughtful, but a bit concerned, "To see them overpowered like that, and then beaten…"
"He was able to boost his power in a way similar to the Wolkenritter, but it felt more potent" Fate added softly, she drew the comparison from memory and past experience, "Although it didn't seem to last long."
"It seemed to be fading." Nanoha said, her voice and tone soft as if through concern for some reason, "But he took off before we could be sure."
"The little runt said that he'll 'Play with us some other time'." Alph let out an indignant huff with her bit of pertinent information, and she wasn't above letting her own feelings be known, "I think he was too scared to fight us."
"He could also have something to do with the Wolkenritter" Fate softly offered, drawing gazes on her. She quickly explained her reasoning, which seemed valid, "They were quick in making their escape after he destroyed the force field."
All eyes went to Fate Testarossa for a moment after that conclusion. It wasn't like they were disagreeing with her on it, but to draw a conclusion that soon. Nanoha, though, seemed to space out for the moment. She had kept awfully quiet after Alph had spoken; only Lindy had noticed the brunette's expression and body language, however.
"At any rate," Lindy cleared her throat to bring the attention to herself, "We can't be sure until we hear what the Liese Twins have to say."
"Excuse me." A youthful male voice said as the door slid open, "But I don't know if that's possible yet."
The voice belonged to Yuuno Scrya, a young human boy of about nine years with sandy brown hair and green eyes. His attire consisted of a light beige cloak over a green and white tunic that was fastened with a brown belt. Underneath the tunic was a black and beige trimmed t-shirt with matching fingerless gloves. His shorts were beige and his legs were left bare outside of medium length socks and simple shoes.
"Ah, Yuuno-kun" Lindy addressed the new entry rather kindly and warmly, "Do you have an update on the twins' condition?"
"Yeah, and it's not good" Yuuno answered with a down look, "Their condition is stable, and it doesn't look like it'll worsen, but they haven't woken up yet. They sustained serious, possibly debilitating injuries and the medical staff isn't sure when they'll be able to recover."
"If they aren't able to talk, then their master should be able to help." Chrono looked back at his mother with a serious look on his face, "He's on the ship somewhere. I can locate him and-."
"No, Chrono-kun. That won't be necessary. I will deal with Admiral Graham." Lindy interjected softly, though her authoritative aura was still strong. The way she spoke left little room to argue, "I need your focus on locating the Book of Darkness' master. Find the Wolkenritter and try to get them to listen to reason."
"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone present saluted her. Some of them were more subdued than others; especially Nanoha, much to Lindy's concern.
"Is something wrong, Nanoha-chan?" The admiral asked, expressing said concern on her face, "You look troubled."
"E-eh? Oh… y-yeah…" Nanoha rubbed the back of her head a bit nervously, "It's about the blue hedgehog… I think he's from the South Island archipelago… if I'm right, that might explain a thing or two about him."
Upon the request for clarification from Lindy, Nanoha further elaborated her point. The South Island archipelago was said to have certain animals or creatures that have evolved to the point of being anthropomorphic and gain special abilities. These abilities and power were then exploited by a mad scientist; identified as Doctor Eggman in the news reports.
According to the news, Eggman had launched a devastating attack on South Island several weeks ago. He set up a base on South Island and captured most of the island's inhabitants and converted them into robots by putting them into mechanized suits. Not only were the animals trapped in the robotic suits, but their power was also used to energize the robots. The mad scientist had announced to the world his campaign for conquest, but his base and operations were destroyed not too long after. Officially, the base was destroyed due to an explosion, but the investigation had yet to conclude.
Where Nanoha's conjecture filled in was if the hedgehog was from South Island, he likely was caught up in the mad scientists' plans. Rarely have there been any interactions between the humans and the animals of South Island. Eggman's campaign and heinous actions, while unforgivable by human standards, possibly could've set the tone of unrest and mistrust for future interactions with the humans.
"If this is true…" Nanoha concluded her tiring, wordy explanation with concern in her tone, "Then he might've been spooked when we surrounded him."
"That's a very well thought out point, Nanoha-chan." Lindy smiled warmly at the girl. She felt impressed by the youth's thoughtfulness, "We should take caution next time we see him. With what he was able to do to the Twins, and a feeling of uncertainty with humans, I'd hate to see him as an enemy."
"Understood!" The gathered collective spoke in unison once more.
"Good," The woman kindly dismissed them with a wave, "Dismissed!"
The mages and one familiar swiftly left the room and went on with their assigned duties, leaving Lindy to her own thoughts. Truthfully, the admiral was a bit concerned about the hedgehog's interference. The actions and unknown motives presented a major problem, one that the Bureau may not be able to deal with yet.
[Uminari City]
The following days after that eventful night went by rather peacefully for Hayate, the Wolkenritter and their blue hedgehog houseguest. Everyone had sort of returned to their normal ways, though that night had, undoubtedly, changed how the hedgehog was viewed by Hayate, most definitely for the better. The Wolkenritter had simply tuned him out most days and let him get on with fixing his plane.
Sonic had developed something of a routine for most days. Once every other morning or so, he'd go out for a long run after breakfast. He always took a different route on each run, but with his speed, they lasted no longer than an hour. Signum and Shamal had used this to their benefit. They had the blue hedgehog remember where certain key locations, specifically Uminari City University Hospital, were. They had him do this so in the event that Hayate needed to go to the hospital and both were unable to take her, he'd be able to do so. If the hedgehog had any reservations about it, he didn't voice them.
For the Wolkenritter, things were a bit difficult in their progress of filling the Book of Darkness. The Bureau had seemed to make it their objective to undermine any attempts of progress in their goal. The knights had, understandably, figured that the Bureau would've done such as they had to harm others to gather their cores. It was their most recent spat with them on a desert world that had further complicated things.
Nanoha and Fate, respective rivals of Vita and Signum, had, repeatedly when able, questioned them about the blue hedgehog from that one night. Both knights had swiftly denied any knowledge of Sonic, but they had serious doubts that either mage bought it. The questioning did bring up something interesting for them to question the hedgehog on later. Regardless, for Signum, it was yet another reason why the blue hedgehog shouldn't be involved.
[Yagami Residence]
-Time: 8:05 pm-
[No BGM]
With dinner eaten and dishes cleaned up, Hayate, Sonic and the Wolkenritter retired to the couch for the rest of the evening. The mood was peaceful and relaxing. The hedgehog normally would've kicked up his feet on the couch, but he had been scolded, rather cutely, by Hayate for his manners before; he'd rather like to avoid that again.
"Sonic-san," Signum suddenly spoke up, addressing the blue hedgehog, "Would you mind if I asked you about South Island?"
"Hmmm?" Sonic looked at her a bit weirdly before shrugging in response, "Eh, go ahead."
"Several weeks ago, the island came under attack by a man identified as "Doctor Eggman"." The knight stated informatively; her tone and expression stoic, "You were on the island when this happened, were you not?"
"Oh yeah, I was definitely there." The hedgehog confirmed with a not-so-subtle heat to his tone, "I had the best seat in the house for Baldy McNosehair's plot."
The nickname that Sonic had for the scientist, while humorous, did little to distract Hayate and the Wolkenritter from the main clause of the answer. Sonic would soon feel the gazes on him focus more as the gravity of what he had said sunk in. He could see the concerned frown on Hayate's face and the raised eyebrows of Signum and Vita as they took it in much sooner.
"W-were you…" the brunette gulped over her words; understandably shocked, "Were you captured?"
"Nah. That was the second-best seat." Sonic shook his head. He took in a breath before he followed up, "That was "given" to my critter friends from the islands…"
With little delay, the hedgehog told the others the story from his side. The media was correct in just about every aspect of Doctor Eggman's scheme except for how it failed. Sonic filled in the blanks with the simple declaration that the explosion was his doing. He had launched a simple one-hedgehog wrecking crew of Eggman's operation and dealt a blow so fast, the doctor didn't know what had happened until it was too late.
He had come to the island via boat from his birthplace, Christmas Island, numerous times to visit the critters. Everything was peaceful until the day the island fell under Eggman's darkness. When he arrived, the base was built and nearly all of his critter friends had been abducted and turned into robots. Understandably so, the hedgehog was upset and with his power, he knew that he had to do something.
From zone to zone, the hedgehog chased down the mad scientist, destroying every robot, freeing every critter that he could. The chase had taken Sonic from lush green hills, lava-sunk ruins and pinball-themed urban jungles to a sunken labyrinth and a roller coaster like city. His own campaign ended in an astounding and destructive victory at Scrap Brain, Eggman's base of operations.
The whole story, at least to Hayate humorously enough, sounded like a plot to a best-selling video game, but the details that Sonic had provided had swayed the skeptics. It also helped that Sonic had paused the story, multiple times, to answer questions about the individual zones that Hayate or the others might've had. Oddly enough, Scrap Brain wasn't the proverbial hardest of zones for Sonic; it was the Labyrinth, much to Vita's amusement.
"You had more trouble during the underwater zone?!" The gothic redhead could barely hold her amusement, "You're the fastest thing any of us had ever seen and you're saying some water got to ya?!"
"Oy, cut me some slack," Sonic deliberately shot the girl an annoyed look; "I can't swim and I sink like a rock. Not to mention I can't run fast in water."
"I read somewhere that hedgehogs are normally good swimmers," Signum chimed in, despite her stoicism; she couldn't help but be amused by the irony, "How odd."
"This hedgehog didn't get the memo!" The blue boy threw his arms up in comical frustration.
"There, there." Shamal patted the blue hedgehog on the head to try and ease his disgruntled feelings, "We all have our own weak points. What matters is that we're aware of them so we can work to improve."
"If you stay with us long enough, I think we can help you with that." Hayate offered, "Swimming lessons and maybe a diet..."
A long sigh from the hedgehog had immediately alerted to the wheelchair-bound brunette that she might've touched a nerve. Sonic patted his slightly chubby and round belly for a bit more emphasis. The realization had quickly set in and Hayate fell into a comical panic. The hedgehog wasn't alone in the weight issue either as Shamal had also fallen silent. For the kind Hayate, even she wasn't immune to the innocent insensitivities of the touchy subjects.
"S-sorry, Shamal-san, Sonic-kun!" The brunette apologized profusely with her hands waving in a comically humorous manner, "I didn't mean it like that…"
"It's fine…" the hedgehog finally shook his head to wave off the depressing aura about him. A change of topic was in order, "Say Hayate... can I ask you about something?"
"Sure," Hayate nodded, somewhat thankful that she had the change of topic, "What is it?"
[BGM Insert: "Rydia's Theme" Final Fantasy IV (DS)]
"Do you have any dreams?" Sonic asked with a look of genuine curiosity on his face, "Like anything special?"
"To be honest, the last few months have seemed like a dream for me. I have something of a family now; a family to talk and eat meals with." The brunette admitted in earnest. She had always grown up alone, so the idea of having a family to spend time with might've been enough from her. Still, Hayate had thought of something, "Well… lately I've had a dream… of us all flying… sharing the same sky."
"Sharing the same sky… hmm…" The blue hedgehog pondered for a few moments after Hayate's admission. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head, "Would you like that dream to come true?"
"Huh?" Hayate was slightly floored by the question. She had to think about it once more, "Well, I guess… it would be nice."
"Then, how about I make it happen?!" Sonic slowly started to explain his spark of genius to the wheelchair bound girl, "I'll build a second seat in the Tornado… and when I finally fix the plane. I'll take you on a flight with it! We can fly all around South Island. You, me, the Wolkenritter… we'll all be flying, sharing the same sky."
"You…" the brunette blinked in disbelief. Even the Wolkenritter were floored by the declaration, "You really mean that?"
"Of course!" The blue hedgehog affirmed with an enthusiastic thumbs-up gesture, "And that is a promise! When I finish the Tornado and when you get better, I'll take you for a flight around the islands. That's a promise, from me to you!"
"S-Sonic-kun…" The girl suddenly pulled Sonic into a tight embrace, tears falling from her face, "T-thank you!"
[Eyecatch #1: Sonic: Wind of the Night Sky bio card #3: Signum]
Name: Signum
Katakana: シグナム (Shi-gu-na-mu)
Age: Unknown (Presumably in her 20s)
Gender: Female
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 50 kg
Color: Purple
System: Ancient Belka
Device: Laevatein
Rank: AAA+ (Air)
[Eyecatch #2: Sonic: Wind of the Night Sky bio card #4: Shamal]
Name: Shamal
Katakana: シャマル (Sha-ma-ru)
Age: Unknown (Presumably in her 20s)
Gender: Female
Height: 163 cm
Weight: 53 kg
Color: Green
System: Ancient Belka
Device: Klarwind
Rank: AA+ (Synthetic)
-Several Months Later-
The autumn season had come slowly but surely for Sonic, Hayate and the Wolkenritter. As the time passed, so too did the efforts from Sonic and the Wolkenritter in their respective tasks. All the while, Hayate was blissfully left unaware of the activities of her knights. Not that she asked, she was under the impression that the Wolkenritter were at work like normal civilians; a cover that was partly true
Sonic had slowly started to make headway in his promise. While he wasn't able to install a second seat in the Tornado yet, he was able to fix the wings, fix the propeller and fix up the paint job. From the outside, the plane looked good as new and it was only a matter of time before the hedgehog could get the additional seat he promised installed.
Unfortunately, that was also where Sonic hit a major roadblock. The engine and transmission were completely ruined beyond repair. In addition, the biplane was a vintage model, so to get replacement transmission and engine components would not only take a significant amount of time, but money as well, Sonic was anything but deterred; if anything, he saw the complications as motivation to keep on his word.
If there was any complication in Sonic's adjustment to the domesticated life with Hayate and the Wolkenritter, it was the rooming assignment. While the hedgehog had outright made it known that he was perfectly content to sleep on the roof of the house, that was not going to stand when the Autumn season faded into winter. The first official day of Winter had Hayate, surprisingly, put her foot down and, in her own way, demand that Sonic take one of the guest bedrooms. Shamal and the others were quick to take her side of the agreement as well. Fur or not, it would not be healthy for the hedgehog to sleep out in the frigid cold every night. Sonic had, albeit reluctantly, conceded his defeat and took a room.
As for the Wolkenritter, the hedgehog's promise had served as something of a motivation for them. Part of his promise was for Hayate to get better in her condition. For that, they needed to fill the Book of Darkness to keep it from devouring at her core. Despite the slight boost of motivation from said promise, the knights were making slow progress. Within a span of 2 months, the Knights were able to fill about 300 pages. The progress, combined with the 250 pages they gathered prior to meeting the hedgehog, tallied up to 550. At their rate, the book could possibly be complete by Christmas at the earliest.
During the time that Shamal and Signum were out to fill the book, the task to bring Hayate to the University hospital fell to Sonic. It was there that Sonic was introduced to Hayate's doctor, a strict but caring woman named Sachie Ishida. The woman had regarded the hedgehog with an understandable amount of scrutiny at first, given where Sonic was from and how he had apparently entered Hayate's life. Fortunately, the brunette was able to convince her that the hedgehog was a new friend her family took in and let stay until he could get back on his feet.
It was also during one such visit that Sonic was introduced to a new friend that Hayate had met, a cute purple-haired 9-year-old named Suzuka Tsukimura. Hayate had met her one day in the library with Shamal and Signum. Suzuka helped reach a book that Hayate had wanted and the two seemed to have hit it off quite easily from there. Sonic was honestly a little impressed and shocked with how amiable Hayate's new friend was with him.
Suzuka was so gentle, so kind yet quiet. The girl was rich enough to live in a mansion with two maids, yet did not let the money spoil her rotten. She had the goal of continuing her family's line of becoming successful engineers, something that had caught Sonic's attention. Hayate and Sonic, during one of Suzuka's visits to the Yagami residence, had spoken about the hedgehog's disabled aircraft and even showed it to her after the hedgehog was assured that Suzuka wouldn't harm the plane.
It was when Sonic had mentioned his little idea that Suzuka decided she wanted to lend a hand. She had taken measurements of the biplane's fuselage and one of the seats. The reason for this was so Suzuka could arrange for another seat to be made and that Sonic was given the proper materials to accommodate the addition. Tsukimura then took note of what was left of the current engine and transmission units so she could arrange for a replacement of both. When Sonic, a little understandably so, tried to dissuade Suzuka from going so far, she softly refuted him under the honest reasoning that it was something she wanted to do.
-December 5th-
[Yagami Residence]
-Time: 2:00 pm-
[No BGM]
The afternoon had started like any other. Signum and the Wolkenritter were out performing their duties while Sonic and Hayate held down the fort, so to speak. Lunch time had just passed, and it had seen them share a cup of tea and sandwiches. In fact, they had both finished cleaning the lunchtime dishes when the house phone rang.
"I'll get it," Hayate stated as she wheeled herself over to the phone to answer it.
The hedgehog had remained in the kitchen to finish up cleaning while Hayate answered the call. As it turned out, it was Suzuka on the other end and she had some wonderful news. Both she and Hayate conversed idly for a couple of minutes about their day before the heiress had an unusual request.
"Sonic-kun? He's still here, hold on." Hayate requested as she placed her hand on the mouthpiece of the phone to address the hedgehog in the kitchen, "Sonic-kun! Suzuka-chan wants to talk to you!"
"Oh?" Sonic had zoomed over to Hayate's side so fast the brunette could've sworn she saw a cartoonish cloud between the kitchen and where the hedgehog stopped, "Me?"
"Yeah," Hayate confirmed as she held out the phone, "She said it's very important, and she's really excited about it too."
"Okay~!" Sonic easily mimicked the brunette's enthusiasm as he took the phone in a gloved hand. The hedgehog started to speak as Hayate went back to the kitchen to finish up, "What's up?"
"I have some good news about your plane" The voice on the other end spoke softly, but informatively, yet still left no doubt as to how excited she was, "The aircraft experts I talked to said that the fuselage is just big enough to expand the cockpit to add a second seat."
"Great~!" The hedgehog chimed cheerfully. He would've said more, but Suzuka didn't seem like she was finished
"Also, I found a few aviation vendors that sell parts for retro models like your Tornado," The girl added the second piece of news with a tone that suggested that she might've struck gold, "The parts are old, but I think we can get them shipped to you guys before Christmas!"
"No way…" Sonic almost dropped the phone, this was arguably the best news he's had for the last few months. Finally, all of his blood, sweat, tears and grease from that painstaking work to repair the plane, "You're serious about this?"
"Mhmm!" Suzuka chimed back musically, "if it all goes well, you could fulfil Hayate-chan's dream by Christmas."
"Oh, man I have to tell Hayate about this." Sonic placed his hand over the mouthpiece and shouted into the kitchen, "Oi, Hayate! Suzuka said that there should be enough room to add a seat to the Tornado, and we could have it fixed by Christmas!"
"Really!" Hayate's voice, albeit somewhat weirdly and throaty all of a sudden, answered back, "That's gr-."
CLANG! THUD! The girl suddenly cut off short there. Sonic, a little unnerved by the sudden noise interruptions, zoomed back into the kitchen to see what had happened. He was greeted by a gruesome, troubling sight of Hayate's collapsed form. Her wheelchair was tilted over and she was unconscious.
"Hayate!" Sonic knelt down to check her vital signs. He was relieved that she was still alive, just unconscious, "Thank goodness, she's alive…"
The hedgehog quickly zoomed over to the phone and informed Suzuka of what had just happened. Unsurprisingly, the other girl was immediately concerned for the frail Hayate's wellbeing. Sonic then told Suzuka that he was going to take Hayate to her doctor at the University Hospital. He had a feeling that he didn't need to ask, but he requested that Suzuka made sure that the Signum and the others were made aware of this disturbing development.
'If what the other knights said was true, I don't think I'll be returning home anytime soon.' Sonic thought to himself as he secured Hayate's unconscious form in her wheelchair, 'I better grab the ring generator… I might need it.'
With little delay, Sonic rushed outside and made sure that the Tornado locked up. Once that was done, he secured the ring generator prototype on his person. The device was small enough to fit underneath the wheelchair, and if need be, he could pass it off as something benign. Once everything was ready, Sonic took off as fast as he could for the hospital, hopefully Ishida-san might be able to shed some light on the new disturbing development.
[University Hospital]
-Time: 2:30 pm-
[No BGM]
With Hayate's current state, the receptionists didn't bother with the formalities and had Sonic take her to her usual room. Hayate was a regular patient of the hospital with her checkups and whatnot, so it wasn't unusual for the staff to have her doctor and room ready at any moment's notice. Once they got to the room, Sonic stowed the ring generator prototype under a table on the far side and sat on Hayate's bed.
It didn't take long for Doctor Ishida to come by and escort Hayate to get some tests done and see what has come of the new development. Shortly after she left, the Wolkenritter rushed in, all looking tired and a bit worried. They might've dropped everything they were doing and teleported straight to the hospital. Sonic wasn't going to ask how they knew to come to the hospital so quickly, but it seemed like Vita was going to say anyways.
"We felt Hayate-chan's distress through the book," the loli knight said, sounding quite a bit out of breath, "What happened?"
"Suzuka called the house with good news about the Tornado." Sonic started to explain, "As I relayed it to Hayate, her voice cut out and she collapsed, like on the spot!"
"Her condition isn't improving then…" Signum guessed
"Indeed." Doctor Ishida added from the doorway in a forced calm tone. She beckoned the Wolkenritter and hedgehog to follow her as her aides placed Hayate's unconscious body in the bed.
"What's up, doc?" The hedgehog asked. His tone was somewhat calm, but there was no question that he was going to take this matter seriously.
"Hayate's paralysis isn't healing as much as I had initially hoped." The doctor informed them solemnly, "In fact, it's been slowly progressing every day, for whatever reason. It doesn't make much sense, has she been taking care of herself?"
"Yes," Shamal answered, "She's been eating healthy, keeping current on her medication and getting the required amount of sleep every night."
"This doesn't make any sense…" Ishida hung her head in frustration, "Despite all of that, her condition is only getting worse now. If we can't stop it…"
"What?" Sonic seemed to be the only one who didn't really know the full extent of the ramifications, "What's going to happen?"
"Her paralysis, if left undeterred, will start to spread rapidly up her body." The doctor answered, utilizing a diagram and pen for emphasis, "She's already unable to walk, but soon she may lose her ability to use her arms or hands… then her spine… eventually, her heart may stop."
"No way…" The hedgehog's eyes widened in shock, "She could… die?"
"Possibly, but we'll do everything we can to stop it." Ishida knelt down and gave the hedgehog a reassuring smile and pat on the shoulder, "You did well to get her here as fast as you did."
The doctor soon took her leave to speak with the staff about arranging for more powerful treatments to combat Hayate's condition. With the blue hedgehog in tow, the Wolkenritter returned to Hayate's room. Somber and serious was the mood in the room. It was only Hayate's normal breathing in her resting state that had kept anyone from breaking down on the spot.
"Hayate's getting worse…" Sonic laid a gloved hand through the human's soft hair. He looked up at Signum and Shamal, "Could this be the Book's doing?"
"It is…" Signum answered, "We had made so much progress too, I thought the Book would've at least slowed down it's feeding… It seems we were wrong."
"How much do you have left?" The hedgehog asked as he looked at Hayate in deep thought.
"After today's gathering, the Book has five hundred and eighty-three pages." Zafira spoke up this time, even he couldn't hide his nerves in this time of serious tension, "eighty-three remaining."
Sonic thought over the wolf's words. While he wasn't sure as to how the book was filled, eighty-three pages didn't sound like so much of a tall order. It had him thinking about if he could do something to help. He thought about all of the time he spent with Hayate when the others were out, while he could consider his type of support to be of the emotional kind, he couldn't help but think that there was more he could've done. The train of thought led him to consider the Rings, maybe if he could get the generator working like it should.
He didn't get much further on the train of thought as Sachie Ishida returned and Hayate started to wake up. The doctor was cordial in informing the handicapped girl of the most recent update. She took caution to word it as more of a setback and that they would redouble their efforts to combat Hayate's condition. However, given her current status, the doctor could not in good conscience release Hayate. It was for the best that she remained in the hospital until she is recovered to the point where her life wasn't in jeopardy.
-2 Weeks later-
The few remaining weeks until Christmas started to pass in a blur as things became a bit of a trend. The Wolkenritter were still hard at work in maintaining their civil covers whilst filling the Book of Darkness under Hayate's nose, but their progress had been slow of late. Sonic had basically stalled all work on the Tornado for the time being, he had a new focus in trying to get Hayate back to health. It wouldn't do much good for the Tornado to be all fixed if Hayate wasn't healthy enough to ride it.
The hedgehog had spent a majority of his time in Hayate's room, tinkering with the ring generator. Since that night when he destroyed the force field that trapped the Wolkenritter, the machine had yet to produce one more ring and it had Sonic troubled. He had a hunch or two regarding the power that the rings could have and the effect on the Book of Darkness.
Still, Sonic's stay at the hospital with Hayate wasn't so bad. Ishida would often take him to the University's cafeteria for breakfast, coffee and lunch on most days. Despite her rather strict attitude, she was quite kind and amiable. Sonic was a bit impressed and he found himself opening up to her a bit about his story. Not too much though, just only about South Island, his first adventure and how he met Hayate and her family.
Out of curiosity, the doctor asked Sonic why he had stayed with Hayate and her family for so long. Given the bad impression that Doctor Eggman had left on Sonic's island, it wasn't inappropriate. Sonic had initially said that it was because of a promise he made to Hayate once he got his airplane fixed, but he was pressed for more as Ishida felt there was more to the story.
For Sonic, his interactions with Hayate and her family had given him the idea that not all humans were like the nefarious Doctor Eggman. Reasonably, the hedgehog did feel some skepticism regarding it, but the idea was confirmed wholly. From Hayate, the Wolkenritter and Suzuka to doctor Ishida herself, Sonic had quickly come to learn with the true reality. It was Eggman who was the exception to the rule, the "bad egg" of the bunch.
As for Suzuka, whenever she got the chance, she would visit Hayate at the hospital. The two were quickly becoming close friends, almost best friends. Their personalities jived so well and Sonic was a little bit in awe at how cute the two were together. For Hayate, Suzuka was her first true human friend and was so kindhearted. Suzuka would often speak of her own best friends, Arisa, Nanoha and recently Fate. She spoke a bit about their personalities and how she got to know them. The way the quiet girl spoke of them, they seemed like such nice characters, and Sonic and Hayate both were curious about meeting them. Eventually, Suzuka swore that she would introduce her them to her friends before the year was over.
-December 22nd-
[University Hospital: Hallway]
-Time: 2:05 pm-
For Suzuka, the best opportunity to introduce her new friend to her best friends had finally come. Both primary and cram school had let out for winter break, and Nanoha and Fate were free from whatever occupied their time as well. The four made their way to the room of the girl that Suzuka had spoken much kindly of. Arisa, Nanoha and Fate were all excited, but the latter two seemed to be consumed within their own thoughts.
For Nanoha and Fate, they were troubled by the recent developments in the Book of Darkness case. They were aiding the Time-Space Administration in the investigation. Fate was doing such as part of her duty due to her status as a probationary temporary mage, while Nanoha enlisted herself as a civilian helper. What had troubled them was the biggest bombshell that was recently dropped in the case.
After that faithful night when the blue hedgehog inadvertently intervened in the Bureau's attempted arrest of the Wolkenritter, the investigation had partly shifted to focus on probing the hedgehog's alleged relationship with the rival knights. The initial questioning on the desert planet, unfortunately, was fruitless though as the Wolkenritter denied any form of outside help, though Nanoha and Fate were quick to deduce that Vita and Signum knew something about the hedgehog.
To add further complications to the matter, Lindy had less luck getting anything from Admiral Graham, at least not until his twin familiars had woken up from their extended nap. Once both of them were awake and alert, Lindy had them and their master held within a holding cell for further questioning. Graham and the Liese twins were cooperative, though only Lindy Harlaown was privy to the direct knowledge while Nanoha and Fate had to settle for what Lindy was allowed to tell them.
For rather obvious reasons that Lindy understood, Gil would not divulge officially the name of the Book of Darkness's current master. The admiral did confess that he had a master plan set for the Book that, if not for interference, might've possibly dealt with it once and for all, but he would only divulge it once the book was close to completion. His reasoning for the stipulation was that his plan relied on the Book to be completed or close to it. Graham's plan was not what had bothered Nanoha and Fate, though.
What had the both of them so deeply troubled was Gil Graham's admission that the Book of Darkness was most likely going to kill its master upon completion. This meant that now they had to find the master and save them from the Book itself. The stakes rose with this bombshell, and up until recently, there have been no leads on the Master's identity.
Fortunately for the two, the Liese twins were allowed to give a potentially crucial hint, the mysterious blue hedgehog that had defeated them that night. Aria had apparently spotted him leaving the house of the Wolkenritter's master just minutes before he showed up within the Bureau's force field. The twins had initially planned to use the hedgehog as a sacrifice to the Book. His core, coming in at a solid A rank on the power scale, would have benefited the Book greatly and would have aided the Wolkenritter in escaping the Bureau's trap. The twin familiars did not take into account that the hedgehog might have had a power boosting item and paid for their underestimation dearly.
The hint dropped by the twin familiars was at least something to work on for Nanoha and Fate. They were able to confirm at least that while the hedgehog was not the Book's master, his apparent relationship with the Wolkenritter meant that he was also connected to the Master as well. It also helped that they needed a statement from the hedgehog regarding the twin's attempted assault on him. All of that had to wait for the moment as meeting Suzuka's new friend came first.
"Hayate-chan's been crippled for as long as I've known her," Suzuka briefly explained a bit about her new friend, "Her doctor's been trying to cure her of it for months now, and apparently it's gotten worse."
"When did this happen?" Fate asked out of concern.
"It was around the beginning of the month. I was talking to her friend over the phone when he heard her collapse…" The purple haired girl answered, "I don't think I've ever heard Sonic-kun get so worked up before."
"Sonic-kun?" Nanoha asked curiously with a tilt of the head
"He's a friend of Hayate-chan's whose been staying at her house after an accident had left him without anywhere else to go. She's let him stay at her house for the last few months, at least as long as I've known her…" Suzuka spoke of this friend with a kind tone, "You'll like him, he's a nice boy."
"Is he the reason for your sudden interest in aviation?" Arisa asked with a bit of a teasing tone, referring to Suzuka's recent search of aviation mechanics and experts.
"Guilty as charged. Sonic-kun's rebuilding some old plane he found. He made a sweet promise to Hayate-chan, and I kinda wanted to help him out." Suzuka answered without much remorse. Their conversation had to come to a conclusion as they approached Hayate's room, "Here we are!"
[University Hospital: Hayate's Room]
-Time: 2:10 pm-
[No BGM]
The girls were greeted with a very unique sight when they entered the room. Hayate was laying on the bed with a book on her lap and a kind, warm smile on her face. Her blue hedgehog friend laid on the windowsill in a reclining position with his arms folded behind his head and his legs crossed. When the girls entered both brunette and hedgehog turned to face them. Their respective light blue and green eyes shone in slight wonder.
'Pretty.' Nanoha thought to herself in awe as she found her gaze lingering on Hayate's kind beauty.
"Oh, good afternoon. You must be Suzuka-chan's friends," Hayate greeted them politely, "I'm Yagami Hayate. The blue cutie on the wall is Sonic-kun."
"Yo~" The aforementioned blue hedgehog simply greeted the group with a wave; if he recognized Nanoha and Fate from before, he didn't say anything.
'T-that's…' Fate, to her credit, was able to recognize him on the spot. Without a second thought, she nodded towards Nanoha and sent her a telepathic ping, "That's him, Nanoha."
"The same blue hedgehog from before…" The other girl sent back in confirmation, "But what's he doing here?"
"We'll wait and see. The other girl doesn't appear to be concerned about him." The blonde noted in reference to the overall laid-back mood that Sonic and Hayate had generated, "We will observe, act only if necessary."
"Okay." Nanoha sent back in a cheerful confirmation.
'Those two, huh…' Sonic, sure enough, had recognized the two. He kept his thoughts to himself though, as he immediately figured that to say something and make a scene would raise Hayate's suspicions, 'The Sherman Brothers were right. It is a small world after all.'
The visit, overall, went pretty well. Both Hayate and Sonic were quite laid back, easy to talk to, and they had some interesting things to add to the conversations going about. The topics ranged from schoolwork, holidays, and education, where Sonic had a surprising amount of knowledge in; to fashion where Hayate had shone. As for the promise that Suzuka had mentioned, it was just as sweet and heartwarming as it sounded, and it would make a lovely Christmas present.
After a few hours, Suzuka and the others had left with happy smiles and the wonderful feeling when a new friendship is born. Arisa seemed to enjoy talking with the blue hedgehog and their shared penchant for the sass and snark had been something to bond over. Suzuka was honestly glad that the visit had gone so well.
For Nanoha and Fate, they had an inner conflict with themselves about how the hedgehog should be regarded. The events from that night where he took out the Liese twins, albeit in self-defense, still lingered in memory. Although, it was hard to believe that someone with Sonic's power could be so easygoing. Both of them returned home as soon as they could; they had things to discuss with the others in the Bureau.
-December 24th-
[University Hospital: Hayate's Room]
-Time: 1:00 pm-
[BGM: "Tense" Sonic Rush Adventure]
Sonic had to wonder where everything in the day went wrong. Christmas eve had started so peacefully with another visit from the Wolkenritter. The knights had even decided to not work on the Book in favor of observing the holiday with their mistress. They figured that with the Book down to the last fifty pages, there was more time. It was when Suzuka and her friends had sprung a surprise visit that everything went downhill.
The tension between the Wolkenritter and the duo of Nanoha and Fate was so thick, not even a knife would've been able to cut it. Both sides had stared each other down when able, and it didn't seem to be quite a comforting setting.
'This day could not get worse, can it?' The blue hedgehog asked himself in thought, 'No wait, never mind; stupid Murphy's Law.'
To avoid drawing suspicion from Hayate, Suzuka and Arisa, the Wolkenritter and the mage had their discussion over a telepathic link. It was then that the truths came out. Hayate, as confirmed by Signum, was the mistress of the Book of Darkness. The revelation was like a major bombshell for Nanoha and Fate. To think, that all of the Wolkenritter's actions, it was all for the kindhearted girl?
Something didn't add up, but when Fate had calmly asked, she was refused an answer. However, the knights were quick to note that, while Sonic the Hedgehog had knowledge of their activities to a certain extent, he was made to promise against any form of future interference. For the Wolkenritter, their fight wasn't for the hedgehog. The sentiment was shared by the two girls from the Bureau.
It was decided then that the cards had to be put on the table. A final battle had to be fought; a clash of ideals and objectives. For both sides, it was clear that a peaceful solution was, regrettably, seemingly impossible. They had agreed to fight at night and on the top of the hospital roof, so that innocents would not be harmed.
-Hours later-
[University Hospital: Rooftop]
-Time: 6:50 pm-
[BGM: "How it Started" Sonic and the Secret Rings]
Sparks of flame and lightning littered the night sky as four flashes of light soared. Nanoha and Fate were locked in a heated battle between their respective rivals, Signum and Vita. Zafira an Shamal, for the moment, remained on the sidelines, opting to take the lookout duty for any possible interference from the Bureau.
For Nanoha Takamachi, she had to wonders how it came to this. She had reached out, with all of her honest-to-goodness heart to Vita; trying to get her to listen to reason. The girl had truly wanted to help, but it was not to be it seemed. The Crimson knight was too stubborn to listen, too much set in her own ways.
"You devil!" Vita spat out with all of the heat she could muster as she pointed Graf Eisen at the girl in white.
"A devil…I can live with that." Nanoha retorted with a deathly calm as she held out her trusted device, Raising Heart Excelion, "If we can see eye-to-eye, I'm fine with being the devil."
For Signum and Fate, their battle was just as intense, even if both fighters were less vocal about their disagreement. Their personalities were quite similar and their strengths seemed to be on par or close to it. Both sides were equally impressed; it was such a shame that they had to have opposing ideals and goals.
"I respect you, Testarossa…" Signum said as she paused to ready her blade, Laevatein, for another clash, "Had we not been on opposing sides, we could've been friends."
"I don't doubt that, Signum." Fate responded in kind. Her cloak, skirt and stockings had been discarded from her Barrier Jacket in order to sacrifice defense for speed. Her trusted device, Bardiche, was held at her side, ready for another clash with its counterpart.
The pause in the battle had concluded in a swift manner. Fate and Nanoha had stared down their respective rivals in a manner akin to an old western showdown. Such sentiment was shared by Vita and Signum. Within an instant, both sides launched off for yet another full power clash. It all seemed inevitable, but was anything truly that?
[No BGM]
"STOP!" A voice suddenly called out from the rooftop, the voice was familiar to all who were present.
Suddenly, the battle had halted as a blue blur blasted straight through the clashing combatants. Within the light blue flash was an all too familiar spiky blue ball. The ball had suddenly broken through Nanoha and Vita's mid-air clash with enough speed to generate a powerful Sonic Boom that had disrupted their flight and sent them both to a rather unceremonious impact with the ground.
Luckily, Nanoha and Vita were unharmed for the most part, they only had the wind knocked out of them by that shockwave. Merely less than a second later, Fate and Signum were sent to the ground after they had suffered from the same interruption. For both sides of the fighting, all momentum had been lost, but that wasn't the main issue.
The blue ball suddenly landed on top of a pole on the rooftop and uncurled to reveal the blue hedgehog himself. Sonic stared at the four with a stern look of his unrestrained frustration, but for what reason? How could it have come to this? What intention did Sonic have for this sudden interference?
[Ending: "Mi-Ra-I" Run & Gun, Sonic X]
[End of Chapter 2]
Author's note: Cliffhanger! AHA! You'll have to wait and see. Wait and see. Sonic's promise here was so sweet, I hope some people caught it. I put a bit of work into getting that. Also throwing in a few references and some world building and lore building. I just breezed through bout 8+ anime episodes in a few time skips. I did this because if I were to cover all of the episodes and everything. It would be too much filler.