SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter for Wind of the Night Sky. This one's primarily going to be a filler chapter. Not going to rush from one arc into another. This will also give me time to continue pondering how I'm going to work the next game arc in. Here we go!
[Non-Administrated Planet #97: "Earth"]
[Uminari City, Japan]
[BGM: "The Sound of Waves Dancing in the Soul" Tales of Vesperia OST]
Several days passed since the trip to Mid following the completion of the Little Planet incident and things relatively settled into a routine of normalcy, albeit with a few changes. While Nanoha and Fate soon returned to school for class, Hayate and Alicia were unable to attend due to the school semester being over halfway done and a transfer that late would not do well for their grades. Fortunately, Reinforce was able to pull the curriculum and get a homeschool plan for them to catch up on so they can join in the next school year in April.
In that effort, Sonic was also able to help as a fairly competent tutor, much to the surprise of the others. The hedgehog played it off as just being well-read and self-taught, but with the way he handled the deployment of the homeschool program for Alicia and Hayate, one would have almost assumed that he was able to run his own schoolhouse.
In between school was magic training for the new cadets of the Bureau with the exception of Sonic and the Wolkenritter. The knights had no need for training as they had decades of experience throughout multiple life cycles with the Book of Darkness previously while the hedgehog opted to not utilize magic as he felt he did not need it. Alicia and Hayate, both having the least amount of experience, had to receive more training to at least catch up to the level that Nanoha and Fate had.
Lindy was more than a little impressed at what Lowran did to make sure her squad of cadets had experienced instruction. One of the notable new additions to her squad in the instruction core was Quint Nakajima from the main office. She was transferred to the Project as a permanent addition not just for mentoring the new cadets, but also to act as an investigator. The only drawback for the transfer was that Chrono had to be moved to the team she was on, but Lindy felt that would have been a better move for him as the teen was likely to be held back by the Project in his pursuit of advancement into a leadership role.
It was within the first week as a Bureau cadet that Sonic found himself making his first arrest. Humorously, it happened while Sonic was on something of a bored patrol of the branch office just after the morning boot camp regiment. The hedgehog found out the hard way that Quint, the new woman who was put in charge of implementing the training camp, was relentless in the regiment implementation.
'Yare yare… between the new lady and Signum, I am pooped,' Sonic thought to himself as he wandered about the , he found himself stopping when a flash of fur darted around a corner, 'Ara?'
A small ferret could be seen darting between walls in a rush. Sonic, used to travelling at much faster speeds, had little issue tracking the critter as he walked. Oddly, he looked like he was making a break for the teleportation array that the Bureau setup to allow mages to travel between Mid and Earth.
'So close' The ferret, identified as none other than Yuuno Scrya, thought to himself as he got closer to his destination. He unfortunately missed the Arhtra's first trip off Earth and ended up having to hide out of an idea of guilt since Nanoha's human friends now knew of magic.
The ferret archeologist could almost smell the magic energy emanating off the spell array. He broke into a dead sprint as he was on the final stretch. Closer and closer, he made one final leap for the array, aiming to activate his magic the moment he stepped on it. Unfortunately for him, it was then that a gloved hand seized him by the fur in mid-air.
"I know this is hypocritical…" The familiar voice of Sonic chimed nonchalantly, "But where's the rush, Speedy Gonzales?"
[OP: "Bright Stream" Nana Mizuki, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's]
Sonic the Hedgehog: Wind of the Night Sky
Chapter 10
Game On: Fun at the Arcade
[Uminari City, Japan]
[TSAB Branch Office]
[BGM: "Exciting Journey" Fate/Grand Order OST]
When Sonic gave Yuuno over to Lindy in the Bureau, he had no idea that the ferret was actually wanted by the Admiral. He just felt that the kid looked suspicious. As it turned out, Lindy had felt that the young archeologist should say goodbye and clear things up with Nanoha and her friends before making his final departure.
For Yuuno, he had suffered a few misfortunes in between the ending of the Book of Darkness incident and the Little Planet incident. It had first started when he found out that Nanoha's friends from Earth, Arisa and Suzuka, not only discovered magic, but also that he was a shapeshifter and was the ferret from the Jewel Seed incident. Due to that, he basically had to go into hiding until he could find a way to sneak off Earth and back to Mid. He had missed his first and second chances of leaving when the Arthra had to leave to report on the last 2 incidents. And were it not for the timely intervention of Sonic, he could have finally been able to sneak off the planet and avoid the wrath of Arisa in particular.
"Why won't you let me leave?" The sandy-haired boy pleaded once more to the Admiral in the living room of the apartment-turned branch, "I really should be back on Mid tending to the Infinite Library."
"And you will, but I have the feeling you are not giving me the full story as to why you're in a hurry to do so" The admiral replied with a tone full of calm mixed with mirth, "As such, I don't believe you should be allowed to leave until you clear your affairs up with Nanoha and her friends."
"He is definitely hiding something," A new female voice spoke from the kitchen, tone laced with equal amusement, "Whatever it is, I can't say, but it is related to what you said regarding Nanoha-san and her local friends."
Lindy turned to the kitchen as the new addition to her squad, Quint, entered holding a tray of tea for the admiral and juice for the blue hedgehog. The woman looked to be younger than Lindy by about a couple or so years. Her eyes were a light blue and her hair, long and tied partially with a ribbon behind her back, was a light shade of purple. Her attire was her standard Bureau ground forces uniform colored brown and she carried herself fairly professionally not unlike an investigator.
"Thank you~" Sonic chimed politely as he received a glass of juice from the woman. As the hedgehog sat back, he watched in amusement and kept quiet, allowing himself to be entertained by the effects of the can of worms he had effectively opened by turning the ferret over to Lindy at the time.
The conversation was soon interrupted, but for Yuuno, it was in the worst way it could. Nanoha had entered the apartment, shortly followed by Fate, Arisa and Suzuka. The girls, one of whom Yuuno wanted to see that least, had just finished their schooling for the day and wanted to check in with the Admiral before going home for the rest of the day.
"Lindy-san? Reinforce-san wanted me to tell you that Alicia-chan's last homeschool lesson for the day is taking a bit longer than anticipated, but she shouldn't be delayed for any longer than an ho-" She cut herself off as her eyes spotted the familiar ferret boy, "Yuuno-kun!"
"Oh, crapbaskets" Yuuno gulped as he caught sight of Arisa behind the brunette.
"Ah, you say that too" Sonic just did catch what the ferret said with his good hearing.
"Thank you, Nanoha-san," The admiral smiled before gesturing to the ferret boy, "Look who Sonic caught trying to sneak off Earth."
"Yuuno-kun?" Nanoha was a bit confused by the ferret's presence here, "Didn't you leave for Mid?"
"I never got the chance to," The boy said with a sigh, "Not for lack of trying…"
"Hold on," Arisa stepped in front of Nanoha, scrutinizing the boy with a critical eye. One could picture her recollection of Nanoha's pet ferret having the same name. Not to mention the boy's hair and eyes were similar to the ferret's. The gears spun, "Now I remember you. So you were the ferret Nanoha took in almost a year ago."
'No…' The ferret boy thought to himself in horror.
"The same one she took into the hot springs that one time." Arisa continued, each word like a sword thrust into the boy's consciousness.
'No no no…' Sweat rolled from Yuuno's forehead, and it was not from the weather.
"Nanoha-chan, Suzuka-chan" a mostly evil grin appeared on Arisa's face, "I think we have some catching up to do with ferret-boy here…"
A plan quickly hatched in Arisa's head, and she started to quietly relay it to the other girls. Nanoha, bless her kind heart, had at least made something of an argument to save Yuuno on the basis that at the time, she had believed his ferret form was his natural form. Unfortunately, Arisa's counter-argument that the ferret had ample time to clear that up before the trip had shot that down. Fate was more than a little bit confused by the exchange, but she ended up getting dragged into the payback plan anyways.
While the girls, mainly Arisa, were plotting about, Yuuno turned to Lindy and Sonic to wordlessly plead for mercy from the girls. Much to his dismay, his pleas were only answered by a calm shake of the head by the admiral and a neutral shrug from the hedgehog. For the time being, the boy was going to be at the mercy of the girls.
"Scrya will be leaving for Mid-Childa tomorrow morning after breakfast," Lindy informed, though not out of mercy. The archeologist was still going to be needed at the Infinite Library soon, and she would not be wont to deny the library of a valuable youth prodigy, "You will have until then to clear up your affairs"
Despite his protests, the girls took Yuuno away to enact Arisa's plan of payback. Sonic left for the Yagami house shortly afterwards, citing that he had to pick up some groceries before going home to help Hayate with dinner.
-The next day-
[Uminari City, Japan]
[Residential: Bus Stop]
[Time: 0900]
[BGM: "The Sounds of the Waves Dancing in the Soul" Tales of Vesperia OST]
Hayate, Sonic and Vita met up with Nanoha, Fate, Alicia. Arisa and Suzuka at the bus stop closest to the Midori-ya cafe early in the weekend morning. They had agreed to meet up together on the first day they had off from training and school. Arisa and Suzuka felt that as the new addition to their core of friends, they should treat Alicia to some fun and relaxation. And for a group of grade school girls, there would be no greater way to have fun than to have an adventure at the arcade.
"So glad Nakajima took it easy with us today" Sonic said, stretching his legs idly, "The last few days have been brutal."
"Are you sure it's gonna be okay for us to spend all day at the arcade center today?" questioned Nanoha in some amount of concern.
"Oh come on," Arisa replied with a not too subtle roll of her eyes, "We haven't been able to have fun as a group together in a while. So let loose and have some fun, it's allowed."
"If you say so." the auburn-haired girl relented with a small shake of her head.
While the group of girls plus hedgehog waited for the public bus to arrive, the topic of conversation shifted briefly to the ferret that Sonic had caught yesterday. Gleefully, Arisa recapped Yuuno's punishment in great detail.
As it turned out, The poor ferret boy spent the rest of the day as Arisa and Suzuka's dress up doll. They subjected him to multiple outfits, all of them for girls since he was still short enough to fit each outfit lined up for him. From school uniforms to girly dresses with frills, nothing was off the table. Of course, pictures were taken after each outfit so they could be documented for blackmail material in the future if he ever decided to try anything funny again. The funniest part of it all was that Yuuno was forced to activate the teleportation array while in the Seishou Elementary School girl's uniform, much to Lindy's well-hidden amusement.
Soon, the bus arrived at the stop and the group began to board. Fortunately for Hayate, the bus had a secondary door and ramp open for handicap access, allowing Sonic to wheel her onboard. The driver was fairly patient and non-judgmental, especially in regards to the presence of the blue hedgehog, who was treated like a normal boy in the presence of the other girls. The kids sat down shortly after Suzuka paid the fare and declared their destination to be downtown Uminari.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side" Sonic quipped in reference to the ferret's punishment
"You'll be fine," Suzuka softly replied as the bus doors started to close
"Yeah, the ferret had what we gave him coming, so you shouldn't have to worry" added Arisa, although the dirty-blonde girl soon leaned close to the hedgehog and her tone turned teasing, "Unless you want us to play with you, you're kinda cute."
"No thank you~" declined Sonic without delay.
"You won't be able to get Sonic-kun easily with that approach," Hayate advised with a playful tone that was soon recognized and dreaded by the hedgehog, "If you wanna get to him, use chili-dogs; they're his favorite food."
The mention of Sonic's favorite delicacy set the poor blue hedgehog into something of a worry, which prompted him to send a pleading look at the girl in the wheelchair, much to the amusement of Vita. If he had any inclination to stay in their good graces earlier, the prospect of them using his chilli dogs against him in retribution only solidified that. Still, it was all in good fun and the group of girls were still able to get a few laughs out of it as they were on their way to the arcade for a long day of fun.
[South Island]
[Apartment of Amy Rose]
[Time: 0930]
[BGM: "Pleasant Intrigue" Tales of Vesperia OST]
Shortly after returning from her adventure on Little Planet, Amy spent most of the week reflecting upon what happened as well as her actions. It became evident to her fairly quickly that she did not make the best first impression. She had let her feelings for Sonic cloud her judgment, and she was even unsure if her feelings were a simple hero fascination or a romantic crush.
Eventually, she decided that she needed to visit Uminari City again for a few hours. She needed to try to make amends with the Wolkenritter. Doing so would also let her meet up with Sonic again, which would allow her to isolate her feelings for him. She had just finished most of the preparations, but the final step required her to check in with her roommate before leaving.
Upon entering the garage, Amy could see her single-seater convertible that she liked to call "Breeze". This was a car that she found during an early exploration of South Island. The car's body was a shiny shade of red and it's frame was box-shaped. Its roof was yellowish color and was able to open and close with little effort required from the driver. For a little while, Amy had used the car to get around South Island, but had to stow it in her garage after an attempt of testing the prototype turbo booster had resulted in a tree-line crash that totaled the vehicle.
It was here in the garage that Amy could find her new roommate. She knew that she could easily find him in the garage because that was often where he hung out, at least until she dragged him away for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and, humorously enough, bedtime. The pink hedgehog could swear that if not for those times, the little kid would basically live in her car port.
"You are aware that you have a room here too," Amy spoke aloud, knowing full well that kid she took in would be found under the hood of the Breeze, "You don't have to spend every waking moment here tinkering away."
"I know, I know," a soft, young male voice replied from under the car. A pair of yellowish-orange fox tails could be seen from underneath, "But tinkering with machines is really all that I'm good at."
"Not this again…" the pink hedgehog was unable to restrain the groan of exasperation at the reply. She raised two fingers of her gloved hand as if to count, "Number one: We both know you have more talent than just your intelligence and your expertise in machines, though I am grateful that you repaired the Breeze
"Number two, and I know we've had this specific conversation twice before, you know it's impolite to not look at someone when they are speaking to you,." The pink hedgehog's tone shifted to a mix of critical and kind, "Tails."
"Oh, sorry…" the young boy's voice hiccuped a bit in guilt, "Hold on."
Sliding out from under the Breeze was a young fox cub with light-blue eyes. His fur was yellow-ish-orange with whites on his chest, muzzle, ears and the tips of his long twin tails. He had three locks of hair-like fur over his forehead, not unlike bangs. His attire mainly consisted of wrist-length white cuffed gloves, matching socks that cuffed just above the heel and shoes that were half red and white.
The fox kit was named Miles Prower, but Amy had taken to calling him Tails because of the twin tails that he was born with. She also thought that the cute nickname suited the boy better and had received no argument from him outside of an adorable blush. Tails carried himself with a gentle yet timid demeanor that while Amy found adorable, she still felt that he could do better than being a simple shut-in crashing at her garage.
"Better," The pink hedgehog smiled kindly, "I'll be gone for the day, so I'm counting on you to hold down the fort until I get back."
"But I was going to look around again for a place to stay.." Tails replied softly with a nervous tone, "I don't want to be a burden on you."
"And don't think I'm not grateful that you're making the effort to do so, but I don't want you to leave in a hurry," Amy replied firmly in return, "Do you remember how we first met? I don't want a repeat of that."
Tails fell silent after the pink hedgehog's reply. The young cub remembered fully what happened when he had tried to move to West-Side Island following his workshop's destruction during Eggman's campaign on South Island. The native animals there bullied him rather cruelly for his twin-tailed genetic mutation. It was only thanks to the timely intervention of Amy Rose that he was able to escape further harassment. Following that, the pink hedgehog, despite the cub's soft protests, took him into her home and adamantly refused to let him leave until such time came that he would be ready to make his own home again.
"At any rate, I see you put the Breeze back together." Amy, opting to change the topic before her fox boy roommate could get too bummed up about it, gestured to her roadster, "What else did you add to it."
"Besides fixing and retooling the experimental turbo engine so that you can use it more reliably without.. I also added an amphibious integration." The boy replied with some amount of pride to his tone, "Basically I added a feature that will let the car turn into a hovercraft when it hits water. Just be careful, this experimental addition is not designed for too much exposure in the ocean.
"You should be able to use her to get between South Island and the mainland, but not much further unless you get lucky with the ocean swells." the fox boy added, his tone befitting the caution he was trying to advise, "You also can't use the turbo booster function here while the Breeze is in this state."
Amy nodded silently as she listened to the fox's report of the upgrades to her car. While some of his words went over her head, she did manage to discern enough. She found that the hovercraft conversion above water would be a boon as it was going to save her the time and money in renting a charter boat to get her to Uminari where Sonic was still residing. Once she was sure that the fox was done, she opened the door and hopped inside.
"I'll be taking the Breeze for a quick spin, Tails. I'll be back before dinner." The pink hedgehog declared as she turned on the ignition and could feel her baby hum to life once again, "The house is in your capable hands while I'm gone."
"Be careful, Amy" The cub pleaded somewhat weekly as he saw the Breeze slowly leave his view of vision, "It's just had a new coat of paint!"
Alas, the fox's plea fell upon deaf ears and the hum of a roadster's engine as he saw Amy drive off into the early morning sky. Sighing to himself in slight exasperation, the kit closed the garage door and went inside.
[Eyecatch #1: Sonic: Wind of the Night Sky bio card #19: Quint]
Name: Quint Nakajima
Katakana: クイント・ナカジマ(Kuinto Nakajima)
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Height: 163 cm
Weight: 52kg
Occupation: Warrant Officer
Color: Light-blue
System: Modern Belka
Device: Revolver Gauntlets
Rank: AA(Ground)
[Eyecatch #2: Sonic: Wind of the Night Sky bio card #20: Tails]
Name: Miles "Tails" Prower
Katakana: マイルス・テイルス・パウア(Mairusu "Teirusu" Pauā)
Gender: Male
Age: 6
Height: 55 cm
Weight: 15kg
Color: Yellow
System: None
Device: None
Rank: C+ (Air)
[Uminari City, Japan]
[Downtown: Arcade]
[Time: 1000]
[BGM: "Jungle Zone" Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System / Game Gear)]
Even while waiting for Arisa and Suzuka to finish in securing the all-day passes for their friends, Alicia and Fate were both amazed by the number of games and attractions that were visible just from the entryway. Crane games, fighting games, flight simulators, car racing games, and they could tell there was so much more in store.
"Alright," Arisa said as she passed wristbands around for everyone to wear, "These are your tickets to the rides and games, keep them on your wrist at all times."
"Also, while there aren't any official written rules, please try to follow common courtesy and etiquette," advised Suzuka as she passed out maps for navigation, "No hogging machines for extended time. Know when to quit, these games aren't supposed to be easy."
"Right!" Fate and Alicia nodded at the same time.
"Oh, before I forget." Hayate turned to face the blue hedgehog, "Sonic-kun? Could you grab the thing that Reinforce packed in my backpack? It's from the hospital."
The hedgehog nodded and reached into the backpack attached to Hayate's wheelchair, pulling out, much to his own shock, a collapsible walker. Once it was unfolded, Sonic took the wordless queue and placed it in front of Hayate. With a deep breath, Hayate slowly rose from her wheelchair; one shaking step after another. Determination filled in her resolve, the girl gripped the handles of the walker and finally stood on her own feet for the first time in a long time.
The others watched in baited breath that soon gave way for stunned silence. Tears escaped the light blues of Hayate as she gave a weak smile. Slowly, she pushed her walker and took tentative, shaking steps. There was pain, her tears and bodily quakes did not hide that. But, for the first time in a long time, there was no hope, only progress from her hard work. Her road to recovery was no longer plagued with ifs, but when. It was now only a matter of time, before she could fully walk again.
"Hayate-chan," Nanoha was the first to break the moment of silence, "You're…"
"I still have a long way to go, but it's a start" replied the brunette girl with a humble tone, "During my last checkup, Ishida-san said that she found that my paralysis was basically cured. My legs need to get stronger though because the paralysis led to them getting atrophy. She lent me this walker so I can start working on building their strength back."
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" questioned Fate in concern, "You shouldn't strain yourself."
"I won't, promise. At most I'll spend no more than a half hour with this walker at a time." Hayate replied as she moved to keep her wheelchair close, "But don't worry about me. Go have fun, I'll catch up."
As the finality in Hayate's tone left no real cause for argument, the group split off to go play games on their own. Sonic went off to play with the fighter games first with Nanoha trailing. Alicia and Fate went off to play with the crane games. Arisa and Suzuka started on the shooting and car-racing games. Vita, despite protests, stuck with Hayate as they tried some of the novelty games first.
It was at the fighting games that Sonic discovered something about Nanoha. He found out the hard way that the auburn haired girl, despite her nice and polite demeanor, was a beast at the genre. Sonic was no slouch either, boasting the best record out of him and the Wolkenritter back home; but the girl before him was on another level completely. Every round, no matter which fighter he picked, Nanoha either beat him without either getting defeated or, on the rare cases, taking any damage. Nanoha was unrelenting in her use of combos and dodges, which kept the hedgehog unable to do anything in the way of making progress.
"How..." Sonic gulped in the brief intermission between matches to select his next character, "How are you this good?"
"Nyahaha~" a sheepish giggle escaped the lips of the cute auburn girl, "I've had alot of practice on these with Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan."
Once more into the fighter game they went. Sonic selected a blonde-haired american fighter in the military uniform while Nanoha went with the girl in the blue chinese dress. The difference between the two fighters in the game were polar opposites. While Sonic's character was more bulky and built for defense and counters, Nanoha's was fast, agile and unrelenting in her combos. Sonic found something of an odd attachment to his character, perhaps due to his signature move, the Sonic Boom, a quick short-ranged wave attack that he made liberal use of. Though Nanoha's character evenly matched him with her Lightning Kick, a rapid barrage of kicks executed from a stationary position.
"Huh, for some reason this guy's move reminds me of a horrible video game with a weird television spinoff...Weird." Sonic oddly reminisced, though likely at an inopportune time as his moment of pause was capitalized by Nanoha and his guard was let down long enough to get hit by a devastating combo. He sent a comical glare at the auburn girl, "Oi! Why'd you hit me when I was monologuing!"
"You did kinda leave yourself open."
"Well played."
Unfortunately, Sonic went on to lose not only that first round, but also the round following, which gave Nanoha another win against him in the fighting game. Deciding to cut his losses there, the hedgehog conceded and left to go play one of the car racing games, the Eurobeats on one of them in particular got his attention.
Meanwhile, with Alicia and Fate, the two started their time together with the crane games. Despite the protests from the latter, Alicia was determined to win one of the teddy bear prizes for her little sister. Unfortunately, that task was much easier said than done because of how finicky the crane games were with timing and mechanics.
"Come on!" The smaller of the two blondes pouted as she saw the crane just narrowly miss the teddy bear she was aiming for the fifth time already, "It's right there! How can the stupid crane miss?"
"Would you like me to try?" asked Fate tentatively
"No!" Alicia was adamant, "This is my fight!"
Fate promptly fell silent in defeat and watched as her sister continued her attempts to secure a teddy bear plush. It would likely take a while, but the shorter blonde was determined to win the plush bear.
[Residential: Yagami Residence]
[Time: 1130]
[BGM: "The Sound of Waves Dancing in the Soul" Tales of Vesperia OST]
After the fairly long drive through the cold January weather, which included a test of the Breeze's hovercraft function, Amy Rose had arrived at the residence of the Yagami family. She was able to remember the location of the residence when she was taken there following the Little Planet incident. For a few moments, she stood at the door in contemplation.
'You can do this girl,' the pink hedgehog thought to herself, 'Just knock. If Sonic is there, talk to him. If he's not…leave!'
With one final deep breath, Amy Rose knocked on the door. Though she was outside, the commotion that she could hear from inside was consistent with the residents scrambling to answer in something of a comical fashion. The pink hedgehog suddenly found herself feeling awkward as something of a pregnant pause occurred until she could hear the door open.
If she was expecting Sonic, Amy would have been unfortunately disappointed as the door was answered by the crimson-eyed, silver-haired woman she briefly saw on her last visit. Reinforce, if she recalled correctly from the brief introduction courtesy of Hayate. The pink hedgehog found herself stalled as the taller woman's figure was imposing and a little bit intimidating.
"Oh, hello" Reinforce spoke in a quiet voice when she realized who was at the door, "You were the pink hedgehog that Sonic and my knights met on Little Planet."
"Uh, y-yeah…" Amy was once again stunned, she had not expected the quiet tone from the woman, "Is Sonic here?"
"Unfortunately no," The tall woman replied with a slight shake of her head, "He left with Master Hayate and Vita to go play at the arcade with their friends. They won't be back for a few more hours."
"Oh…"
An awkward pause settled between the two for the next few moments. Neither party had much they could say to one another. For Amy, the woman before her held something of an intimidating aura that unnerved her, despite the undeniable beauty. Reinforce was in a similar boat, however it was mainly due to inexperience. Unlike her Knights and Master, the Master Program of the Tome of the Night Sky had very little social interaction with anyone outside of them, at least prior to her physical manifestation. So it would likely take some time for her to get used to being able to converse and socialize like the others.
After what seemed like minutes, when it was really seconds in reality, the first to break the silent moment was Amy.
"Well, I should probably get going then." The pink hedgehog said, awkwardly shivering due to nerves and the frigid weather, "I came here to apologize, because of the not-so-great first impression I probably made on him and the others back on Little Planet. But if he's not here…"
"It must have been a long trip if you came here from South Island." Reinforce countered with a logical tone, "Are you sure you need to leave so suddenly?"
"Ah… Achoo!" Amy paused, unable to come up with a counter-argument, outside of a sneeze which did not help her case.
"You should probably come in to warm up at least." the taller woman continued, "I just made some tea for Shamal and Signum. We don't mind sharing it with you."
"I would take that offer if I were you." spoke a new voice from behind the pink hedgehog.
Completely and reasonably shocked, Amy turned to see another human behind her. This one looked a little bit older; likely in her early-30's, and was dressed in a casual winter outfit consisting of a sweater and medium-length skirt with long stockings. Her most striking features were likely the teal-green hair and the markings on her forehead. Almost immediately, the pink hedgehog could tell that this new woman held an authoritative yet kind aura; not unlike one would expect from a mother.
"Admiral Harlaown!" Reinforce immediately stood at attention in the presence of the new arrival.
"At ease, Reinforce-san." Lindy ordered with a casual tone, "This is just a social call. I came here to check up with you on how Alicia was doing in her magical and non-magical education."
"Apologies," the woman inclined her head apologetically, "And I'll be glad to relay to you the progress the girl has made so far."
"Hold on a second," confusion was written in Amy Rose's tone, "Magical education? And isn't Admiral a military rank?"
"My apologies, Rose-san. I forgot that you were a civilian during that incident on Little Planet." Lindy kept an infallible calm tone as her attention turned to the small hedgehog, "I've been meaning to have a conversation with you regarding that, but I had pressing matters that kept me distracted.
"But before we go into that…" Lindy couldn't help but shiver from the chill breeze that passed by, "Why don't we go inside? It's much warmer."
"Fair," Reinforce nodded her head in affirmation before moving and gesturing for the two outside to come in, "Make yourselves comfortable."
Not one to forget her manners, Amy nodded in thanks before she entered the warm house. Though she was not too familiar with the etiquette of the humans completely, she did understand enough from watching the admiral to take off her shoes and leave them lined up with the rest of the shoes organized at the entryway. After seating themselves on the couch in the living room, both guests were treated to a mug of warm, freshly-brewed tea.
"Now, I'm sure you'll have questions, and we will be happy to answer them." Lindy was the first to speak once again, "But first, how about we tell you a story?"
"Huh?" replied Amy back in confusion.
"Admiral?" Reinforce sent a questioning look at the other woman, gesturing for Shamal, Zafira and Signum to gather inside as well.
"I feel like this will be a better way of explaining things to her. This world has been through two major crises within the span of almost a year." The admiral explained her reasoning, "In addition, if she's going to be spending more time with us as well as Sonic; it's only fair that she not be held in the dark.
"I would also like to discuss the incident that involved you the most because that's where Sonic's involvement started." she concluded, "If that's alright with you."
"I'm inclined to agree," Signum spoke, offering her insight, "I had some questions regarding what happened behind-the-scenes. That information should be a fair trade, should it not?"
"Indeed." conceded Lindy, though by her tone she was hardly surprised by the request, "I was going to disclose that information at some point, but I will preface that some answers will still have to be withheld due to their classified nature"
"Proceed." Reinforce requested
The admiral immediately took out Durandal and generated video screens out of her magic. Amy and the Wolkenritter could see what appeared to be Uminari City, only as it appeared during the springtime of the previous year.
"Our story will begin in the springtime of last year." The admiral began her narration as the display screens followed her queues, "With a chance meeting between a young girl and a talking ferret."
[Downtown: Arcade]
[Time: 1325]
[BGM: "Play Time" Tales of Vesperia OST]
It took Alicia almost until lunch break, but she managed to win that plush teddy bear for her younger sister. The party took a brief intermission in between games to have lunch, but once that was done, it was back to the fun grind.
For Hayate and Vita, the former's options of games were limited to her mobility, but that would not keep her from the fun for too long as she found a game she could play seated using the joystick. In this game, she controlled a starcraft in space with dogfights. Though she struggled with the aiming part, she still made it to the two laser sword bonus fights.
Vita, on the other hand, found a certain dominance in the games that tested her strength. Particularly the hammer ones, though she had to be careful not to put too much force in it, least it might break. She still scored a jackpot of arcade ticket currency, which hsse used to secure herself a cute bunny plush that she had wrapped around her back.
"Vita-chan you shouldn't overdo it with that hammer game," Nanoha cautioned the small iron knight, "The equipment here is fairly expensive."
"Hai, hai…" the red-head waved off the caution in dismissal, "I was done anyways."
"I'm surprised none of you have tried the flight simulator yet." Arisa opined, "The one they have here is really good."
"I'll take your word for it," Nanoha giggled a bit quietly, "But they really don't have too much of an appeal when you've experienced the skies for real."
Unfortunately, her comment earned a playful cheek pull courtesy of the dirty-blonde girl. There was very little, if any, hostility between the gesture. Arisa was only expressing her jealousy and it earned a smug grin from Vita.
"Not all of us have the luxury of being able to transform and fly with magic at a moment's notice." Arisa grinned as she kept tugging, "Nanoha…."
"Sorry!" The auburn girl whined and flailed her arms about.
"Eh, you're too cute to stay made at." Arisa looped the twin-tailed girl by the arm, "Now come on. we're hitting up that eurobeat car racing game. That's the one game I can probably beat you at."
"Fine, but I'm taking the Hachiroku."
"Damnit, Nanoha! You know that car's OP!"
Nanoha and Arisa raced one another in the downhill car racing game several times. Despite the protests from the latter. Nanoha did end up picking the Toyota AE86 while Arisa had to pick the Mazda RX-7. While Arisa had the advantage in overall speed, Nanoha displayed more control on the downhill twists and turns. which resulted in a victory for her on the first race.
"Still not going to change the car?"
"Nope."
"Starting again!"
Still frustrated over the last loss, Arisa went with a different car choice in the Nissan SilEighty. This car had speed and handling as it could handle drifting at high speeds as well with the turbo. Despite the advantages, Arisa still ended up losing, only this time due to a familiar exploit on the course with the gutter that Nanoha used, not unlike the original source.
"Hacks! I call hacks!"
"Nyahaha."
Fortunately for Arisa, a distraction came in the form of an out of breath duo of Alicia and Fate. They had just come from a growing commotion at the other side of the arcade, where it was becoming increasingly apparent that something was going on.
"Whoa, where's the fire?" Arisa questioned as she stepped away from the infernal car machine.
"Fate-chan?" Nanoha questioned
"You guys…" Fate struggled to speak in between breaths
"Come quick," Alicia finished just as quickly, "Sonic-kun and Suzuka-chan…"
"What about them?" asked Hayate with a curious tilt of her head.
"Just follow us..." came the barely breathable reply from Alicia.
Vita internally questioned what trouble the blue boy got himself into as she wheeled Hayate in her chair towards the source of the commotion that Alicia and Fate barely escaped from. The others followed suit, equally concerned about Suzuka.
[Residential: Yagami Residence]
[Time: 1345]
[No BGM]
Amy Rose found herself in silence as she took in the final parts of the story that was told. Lindy had just finished a retelling of the entirety of the Jewel Seed incident starting from Nanoha's chance encounter with Yuuno Scrya and ending with the final raid on the Garden of Time. It was during that time that the pink hedgehog had found a new insight and she had much to take in.
Having finally understood what happened with the Jewel Seeds, she could finally see why Alicia, Precia and Fate especially always looked so sad when they thought about the past. She was not entirely sure that were she in Precia or Fate's situation, she would have done the same thing.
"I had no idea…" The pink hedgehog finally found words to say, "They looked so sad, I could see why Nanoha reached out to Fate."
"Any human will have to go through the same crisis, one way or another." Reinforce spoke next, "Determining what is right and what is legal. Sometimes the two aren't always co-existing. The right thing may not always be the most legal course of action."
"The line of ethics and morality." spoke the admiral calmly, her gaze calmly fixed upon the Wolkenritter and the Master Program, "I'm certain almost everyone here has had personal experience in teetering that line."
Amy detected a particular amount of uncomfortable silence from Reinforce and the rest of the Wolkenritter gathered. She could tell from the silent reaction that the admiral's words rang true. Each of them had a personal experience with the gray line between doing what's morally correct and what's ethically correct. The question she had was what had happened, and why the admiral spoke as if she knew by heart.
If she was honest, the idea of magic was not what she had expected. When she had thought of the concept, she was initially led to believe it was mostly broomsticks, levitation and cute outfits, and she was only correct on the last two, especially after seeing the beautiful outfits worn by Nanoha and Fate in their final aerial duel. She had no idea the magic also included city-wide explosions and laser beam blasts such as Nanoha's Divine Breaker of Fate's Photon Lancer Phalanx Shift.
Although, on the note of combat, she rationed that she should be less surprised given that she had first-hand experience as to the power it had against Doctor Eggman on Little Planet. But what still really had her confused was the idea of what Fate was; an Artificial Mage.
"So, Fate was a clone of her sister?" the pink hedgehog questioned, "I had no idea that science had developed to the point where people can be created like that."
"The technology is still highly experimental, only Precia Testarossa has been able to perfect it to the degree she had in creating Fate." Lindy, "But if we're going there, I will say that out of everyone present, only you and I are organic living beings."
"Huh?!" Amy blinked rapidly.
"The Wolkenritter and myself are magical programs tied to the Tome of the Night Sky." Reinforce explained, holding up the aforementioned book device, "Hayate is our master."
The Master Program took the silence from the pink hedgehog and the nod from the admiral as signs to begin the next part of the story with the Book of Darkness incident. This story started with Hayate's first meeting with the Wolkenritter when the Book activated one night to save her from a distracted truck driver almost running her over on her way home from a hospital visit.
Initially, Hayate had forbade the knights from filling the pages from the Book of Darkness because, in order to do so, creatures and people would have to be hurt because energy from Linker Cores had to be used. The girl was just too kind to wish any harm on anyone even if it was for her sake. Unfortunately within the first few weeks, the girl's paralysis and pain started to escalate and the Wolkenritter knew that the book was the cause, and, much as it pained them to go against her orders and start to fill the pages of the Tome to stop it from feeding off of her. That was when their actions put them in conflict with the Bureau.
"I do have to say, the experience Nanoha and Fate had with their first battle against your group was quite enlightening." Lindy interjected, "Thanks to that, our technicians were able to start incorporating the Belkan cartridge system."
"If you need any further analysis, I'm more than willing to help out." Reinforce offered, "It's the least we could do to make up for our actions."
"I'll keep that in mind…" the admiral nodded her head before moving the visual screens to the second official battle between the Bureau and Wolkenritter, "It was during the second battle that we first had our interaction with the first real wild card of the incident known as Sonic the Hedgehog. Little did anyone know the chaos the little blue boy made and the ramifications."
[Downtown: Arcade]
[Time: 1435]
[BGM: "AM-3P" kTz]
Speaking of the blue hedgehog, he was most definitely up to some chaos as, unsurprisingly, he and Suzuka were the source of the commotion that attracted the attention of the patrons and staff. Both hedgehog and human were locked in an epic, heated battle. And it was during this time that Alicia, Fate, Arisa, Nanoha, Hayate and Vita had arrived to watch.
The field of battle was the step-dancing machine arcade game, their feet were their weapons. Sonic and Suzuka had evenly matched one another in versus play on the dance machine game and it had gotten to the point where they were taking on the hardest songs under the hardest difficulty and not only completing the songs in one full step-combo, which was difficult for anyone to do, but they had matched scores evenly throughout each of the first three rounds. This was a duel that was unprecedented and not like anyone had ever seen before in a casual environment.
"You've gotta be kidding." Vita gumbled in annoyance, "They caused all this commotion by dancing."
"Actually, this game is well known in the gaming world for its competitive scene." Nanoha countered back, "Still, to see a battle like this. It's intense."
It was hardly a surprise that Sonic was able to keep pace with each song's rhythm. The hedgehog had, quite literally, the fastest feet on the planet. Suzuka, however was by all extents a normal human, though Fate, Nanoha and Arisa could testify that the purple-haired girl was insanely athletic. even more so than Fate, who was created with magical enhancements.
It all came down to one final showdown, the last and one of the most difficult songs ever. It was an upbeat J-pop song with a step-pattern that was rhythmatic and chaotic yet fluid. A song that would take not just athleticism and speed, but also rhythm and accuracy in each step.
"Gotta say, you're doing pretty good against the fastest feet in the world." Sonic gave the girl a thumbs up, "But this is where it ends."
"I had a lot of fun." The girl spoke kind and polite, offering a final bow, "May the best player win."
"Oh! It's on now!"
The song started with a pattern of steps that was fast and fluid, both competitors were able to start a consecutive step combo of either Great or Perfect steps. Although it was quite noticeable early on that Suzuka had more perfect steps than the hedgehog. The margin was quite little and it was just as likely that Sonic would get a chance to catch up when the rhythm picked up.
The scores on the machines fluctuated inconsistently as both dancers had picked up more Perfect than Great steps in certain areas than the others. In reality, the final tally would not be shown until the very end.
'Wow, she's really good, I'm putting everything I got into this and she's giving it back just as much..' Sonic thought to himself as he continued to follow the song well through the halfway mark, 'If I mess up once, I'm really done for.'
As the song reached the final chorus segment, Sonic and Suzuka traded Perfect steps and, amazingly enough, both had the exact step combo. Neither player had dropped their combo and were on pace to clear the song in a Full Combo.
At long last the song ended, and sure enough, both hedgehog and girl completed the song in a Full Combo. The game quickly transitioned to the final tally screen where the scores were counted. Everyone watched with bated breath as the tallies were finalized. Both combatants fought a fierce battle, the only question was who won.
"No matter who wins, I can definitely say this round will go into the record books," one of the female staff members said, "I have only seen this level of competition from the tournaments."
Finally the scores were tallied and the winner was Suzuka Tsukimura. The girl had just edged Sonic out in the number of Perfect steps by a fairly narrow margin. Applause erupted from the crowd in appreciation for the well-fought battle between both sides. In the end, Suzuka had just a slightly better execution of the rhythm than the hedgehog.
Both players basically collapsed off the stage, panting heavily to catch their breath from the ferocity they just had to exert. Suzuka was caught by Arisa while Hayate and Vita secured the hedgehog.
"I think it's about time we head home." announced Nanoha in a tone that left very little room for argument.
"No complaints here." affirmed Sonic after his breathing slowed down to a somewhat normal pace, "I'm pooped."
There was a mixture between light-hearted chuckles and applause for the group of kids as they slowly left the arcade and caught the next bus to the residential area.
[Residential: Yagami Residence]
[Time: 1630]
[No BGM]
Hayate, Sonic and Vita had arrived home just in time to catch Lindy Harlaown after the latter had escorted a warm and silent Amy Rose to her car. The only sign that the pink hedgehog was there when the others had arrived was the tire tracks from her roadster in the snow.
Reinforce and Lindy filled the others in on what they had missed during their trip to the arcade. The pink hedgehog had come to visit with the intention to apologize for her actions, but instead found herself subject to one of the heaviest yet informative stories recapping the incidents that Earth had gone through last year.
Amy had left shortly before the others came back, citing that she had to get home to make sure her roommate was alright. She also had much to think over in regards to Sonic, magic, the Wolkenritter and her future as Lindy and Reinforce both hinted that they could sense a fair deal of magical potential within her.
Neither Sonic nor Hayate held any negative feelings for the pink hedgehog even prior to hearing about her visit. Both the girl and hedgehog resolved to make a plan for visiting the pink hedgehog at some point for their own reasons. For Hayate, she wanted to thank her for listening to the story of her family and possibly get to know the pink hedgehog better. As for Sonic, he wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings between him and Amy.
Moving off the subject from the pink hedgehog, Hayate recalled in great detail to the rest of her family the events that had transpired at the arcade, including Sonic's epic dance battle with Suzuka. Though none of the others understood too much of what happened, there was enough detail to notate that the trip was a blast overall.
Soon the time came for everyone to go to bed. Much had transpired that day and Sonic looked like he was about ready to pass out before Reinforce carried him to bed. Hayate and Vita were close to follow suit, followed by Signum, Shamal and finally Zafira. By nightfall, all of the lights in the Yagami house were turned off.
Little did anyone know, however, that the period of respite and rest was soon about to end. An entity once defeated had bided its time for recovery. It was only a matter of time before evil would strike again on a course of conquest. A battle that would shape the course of the world's history, was about to begin once again.
[Ending: "Hikaru Michi (The Shining Road)" Aya Hiroshige]
[End of Chapter 10]
Author's notes: No, I didn't just make an arcade chapter just to see how many references I could sneak in. I wanted to give a filler chapter that cleaned up some loose ends while also building drama in a casual environment for fun. I introduced Tails here early because I wanted to make a tie-in for Sonic 2 a bit more plausible. Give Tails something in the way of development before a proper introduction in the next arc.