That's not what I meant.
I meant that it's unclear whether a new POV begins 5 seconds after the previous POV vs 5 minutes after the previous POV.
Discard, Draw, Three of a Kind? [Multi-SI/Nanoha/Yu-Yu]
- Thread starter Mizu
- Start date
I meant that it's unclear whether a new POV begins 5 seconds after the previous POV vs 5 minutes after the previous POV.
Nero200
High Priest of Eito, Part Time Nyar.
Hmm. Point.
We shall look into changing that.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
That's more your job.
Chapter 4 - Mizu POV
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Chapter 4 – Mizu POV
This time round when the light faded, I happened to be somewhere besides beneath the roots of this giant tree or whatever happened to be causing ever-bigger plant matter in the glowy-light pocket dimension. That's mainly because this time round I was standing atop a root, tilted halfway forwards from my previous position, and got a good~ long look at the drop down below as I pinwheeled for safety.
"Gah!" I also got a good look at Daze yelping from her own landing, materializing out of thin air before dropping butt-first onto the root five feet below her. "Fuck, never going to get used to that."
Nero, I had no clue of, right until Reinforce saved my ass from a plummet via knocking herself into me in a flying tackle. Reinforce being a book, this basically meant a gut-punch by hovering paperweight – not the nicest way to get pulled back, but I'll take it.
"Owwww." Right after I finish curling up in pain and trying not to vomit.
"Marvelous." There's Nero. Up and left, already transformed, gazing out towards the edge of this dimension. She also seems to have switched to telepathy.
"Ouch." The brunet winced, "Right, so uh, Nero? Is this a scripted event or a timeline change?"
"Scripted. This is where the 'cripple'-" She pauses to shoot me a look. "- has her resolve moment and nabs her powers back. Three Vertex total, I don't think this is where they tried, um, will try stealth."
"Fucking wonderful!" Daze responds, before sighing and pinching her cheek. "Right, okay. I'm going to go meet up with the other girls, inform them of the situation, hook them up to the mind chat thingy, general things that we should do if we want to win. You going straight after the vertex?"
Vertex? Oh, right, those are – ow, my stomach – a thing. Thanks for the save, Reinforce.
You're welcome, Master.
"We got any info on their tactics? Presuming they use tactics. What's stopping us from just bombarding them from afar and getting the girls to seal them once they're knocked out temporarily?" Can they get knocked out? The one I faced just regen'd from anything I did, but perhaps sufficient blunt force works on them just as much as it does human skulls?
"I'm assuming they don't stop until the core is destroyed." Daze answered, before waving Raising Heart. "Right, enough talk. Raising Heart? Flier Fin."
A pair of pink wings formed under Nanoha, shedding a soft light, before she jumped off the root and plummets straight down. Moments later she's zooming past us into the sky, angling off in a short arc before rocketing into the distance. A few pink balls can be seen in front of her, guiding her way.
"Planning really isn't something we're good at, is it?"
Nero rubs the bridge of her nose, Bardiche flashing into device form. "When Daze is involved? You do remember trying to work on Method, right?" She floats up slowly from the multicolored root, shifting her weight as she looks out towards the distant figures of the Hero Club. "If he- she, is going to interfere with the YuYu's anyway we may as well make sure the idiot doesn't get herself killed. Now, physics… was never the best at these."
I look towards the Hero Club kids. They're looking about on a far-distant lower root, trying to spot the Vertex probably marching towards our paired groups, and I think Yuna's already transformed for battle. Quicker than expected considering their whole 'new at this' deal.
Not that I can talk.
Swapping to wherever they seem to be looking, there are...very tiny dots in the distance. Reinforce?
Magnifying.
Said dots suddenly leap into focus, resolving instantly into the Vertex we happen to be facing second go round at the funhouse.
The one on the left is a mix of white and red, white being the main shade and red as a highlight. It's got two floating spear hanging about above its head, twin column where a mouth looks like it should go and fins sticking down alongside the column like the world's weirdest beard. Or pair of flipper.
The second's a blue teardrop, pale in the outer layer and darker in the center, floating in the middle of its two Vertex buddy. Lots of teeth are arrayed along the top of the dark blue patch, so maybe it attacks by chomping stuff?
The third's a pale green shade, with balls of the same hovering in a ring off to the right of it. A yellow ornamental head-dress is stuck on its forehead, arcing up into a cross decked by some pear-shape hat.
….I wish the enemies were videogame boss. Much easier to tell where the weak spot is when they're big, glowing and otherwise drawing your attention towards them.
"Eh? Like this?" Yuna's voice suddenly speaks into my head.
"There you go!" Daze responds enthusiastically, "You guys got the hang of this?"
"Considering that Raising Heart is managing the actual work, I would hope so. Is everyone linked?" Alicia hovers about halfway down to the group, standing on a gold circle while doing something involving flashing lights.
"Wah~" I think that was the tiny blonde? Itsuki?
"FuFufu. I can read your mind Itsuki~" Fū answers into the chat.
"Onee-chan!" Yep, Itsuki.
"Yes, we-we're all in." Togo signals, "How are things on your end?"
"Looking at the enemies trying to work out where their weak spots are." Dunno what Nanoha or Alicia are up to. "I'll be up here as fire support, blasting them from range if we have need. Close combat isn't quite my specialty."
Combat in general isn't, Master.
It's been a day, I can't be a master mage that quick. Also, I've got you as a cheat sheet.
"Right okay." Nanoha begins, "If I'm remembering this right, Yuna is fist, uh, um..."
"She's Fū, that's her sister Itsuki and my name is Togo."
"Hero Club has the sealing spell, so you lot should focus on that. Togo stay back, because we don't have the best accuracy. Other than that, keep an eye out for them moving to cover each other." Nero butts in.
"Sorry Yuna!"
"And um, I... think I won't be on the front lines this time. Less fire on the move, more trying to uh-"
Having the best vantage point, I see it first. "Dodge!"
A high-velocity needle zooms into the group of YuYu, barely caught a split second before there's an explosion of dust and noise. The blue Vertex glows, another projectile materializing around its mouth, and moments later follows the first in a straight line towards our allies.
As the dust clears a bright pink shield of mana comes into view, albeit a very tattered one that soon flickers out of existence. The shield from Raising Heart vanishes similarly; there's a large hole in it, and going by the tattered state of her Barrier Jacket, the shields were almost too little, too late. The impact crater right where the middle of the group would have been before they dodged or shielded kinda hints at that.
Looking about, Yuna seems to have gotten Togo out of the way, while Fū and Itsuki are transformed on a root a few dozen meters above where they were.
"Oh fuck!"
That's about when the second one hits a golden barrier about fifteen feet above Daze, the explosion annihilating the mana shield.
"Bloody move Daze!" Alicia yells mentally as orbs of mana burn into existence around her, her device now resembling a glaive.
"O-On it!"
I decide to quit dragging my feet and get transformed already, a flash of light heralding the swap between normal me and magic me. How well can we hit stuff from here?
Damaging any of the enemy Vertex from this distance is well within my capacities. Doing so without hurting our allies is considerably more difficult.
Oh right, bombardment mage. Crap.
"Fū, Yuna, Itsuki. Closest ones are yours. We'll take Needles to the sealing point. With me Mizu." Alicia vanishes in a crackle of light towards the blue creature, her glowing orbs streaking towards the pink one at the same time.
"All right! Come on Itsuki!" The Hero Club moves from their standby positions to engage green, leaping off roots rapidly as they close in.
"Crap.... I'm on emergency mana for my barrier jacket. I don't think I can join you guys." Daze sounds frustrated...and kinda shell shocked, "I'll be staying with Togo while it regens... And maybe a bit after."
I pause a moment, looking over the chaos of the battlefield, before jumping off the pit and zooming towards Alicia.
––––– 0000 –––––
Alicia's a gold blur, zooming around Blue from point to point in straight lines, striking with flashes of lightning whenever she gets a chance. Blue keeps trying to pin her down with a rapid-fire needle barrage, turning in a circle as it tracks her, but by the time it reaches where she was hitting it Alicia's moved on to another spot entirely. "Fucking hell, this is better than skydivin- Blitz, Blitz! I don't like needles, so EAT A SCYTHE BITCH! Ahahahaha~"
She seems to be enjoying herself, and the open tears left in the thing's body look like progress.
In comparison, Reinforce has to conjure a hurried shield as soon as we arrive, Blue noticing the new fly floating about nearby and deciding it needs a good whack with the needle just like the first one. Our barrier sparks, cracks forming as the multitude of shots pepper the thing, and Reinforce decides taking cover behind a big tree root is a most wise course of action.
"Arc Saber!"
Alicia's hacking away like she's cutting down a tree trunk at the sudden opportunity, by the sound of it, although as soon as I get behind the root her mad cackles of laughter swap to a gasp of surprise. And then rapid curses.
Peeking around, it seems Blue has a combo going with Pink, where any shots it fires that miss get redirected wherever they want them to go. Flashes of gold light up the sky around Blue, Alicia staying still for barely a second before she's off again dodging a rain of needles coming her way – what slashing once was, is now no more.
"Fucking hell, I don't have a working flight spell! Not for this level of dodging! Bullet hell is a few ranks above my current ability damn it! Mizu, can you blast the reflective bastard? I only need another decent Arc Saber or two to push this fucker into recovery mode!"
Reinforce? Take the wheel and do as she says.
My body swivels, the book AI doing as requested, and we look towards Pink. We tense, crouching low in midair, before rocketing towards the target with our fist pulled back.
"Schwarze Wirkung!"
Right before impact, black energy flares around our fist, and a moment later I find out that whatever 'Schwarze Wirkung' means another name for it applies just as well as the first one – 'Mega Punch'. Pink goes soaring back like it was shot out of a cannon, smashing through root after root until it finally stops...several miles away from where we float. The only thing left visible is the cracked and flickering core, weakly trying to regenerate from the blow.
"Woo!"
"...Mab in a brothel, that was fucking awesome." Shaking her head, she flickers once more, before the blade from her scythe rips free with a cry of "Crescent Saber!" and the sound of a gunshot.
The crescent of energy bites into the Vertex as Alicia falls freely, snapping her fingers with a cackling laugh and a cry.
"Saber Explode~!"
The detached blade erupts, dissolving the tattered remains of Blue's outer form, its core crash landing down below, a few roots higher than Pink's, and several miles away latitudinally.
"You win this round, Team Unison~." Her tone shifts, but is still drowning in satisfaction. "Can we get a sealing ritual over here Heroes? And, um, another like five miles north?" Alicia lands on a root above her target, a cat-like smile lighting up her face.
"So, do I go punch the other one now?"
"We already got the scorpion thing, it couldn't take our girl power~!" Fū seems to like saying that word. And if the third one's dead as well, I guess we're done?
Hm. Wonder what Nanoha got up to?
A/N:
Daze and Nero have bits to post too, but we seem to have run into an issue on Daze's end. Namely that he stopped responding a moment after I posted and we can't get ahold of him again.
So, uh. Expect the next update in a day or two, instead of the multiple months it normally is?
This time round when the light faded, I happened to be somewhere besides beneath the roots of this giant tree or whatever happened to be causing ever-bigger plant matter in the glowy-light pocket dimension. That's mainly because this time round I was standing atop a root, tilted halfway forwards from my previous position, and got a good~ long look at the drop down below as I pinwheeled for safety.
"Gah!" I also got a good look at Daze yelping from her own landing, materializing out of thin air before dropping butt-first onto the root five feet below her. "Fuck, never going to get used to that."
Nero, I had no clue of, right until Reinforce saved my ass from a plummet via knocking herself into me in a flying tackle. Reinforce being a book, this basically meant a gut-punch by hovering paperweight – not the nicest way to get pulled back, but I'll take it.
"Owwww." Right after I finish curling up in pain and trying not to vomit.
"Marvelous." There's Nero. Up and left, already transformed, gazing out towards the edge of this dimension. She also seems to have switched to telepathy.
"Ouch." The brunet winced, "Right, so uh, Nero? Is this a scripted event or a timeline change?"
"Scripted. This is where the 'cripple'-" She pauses to shoot me a look. "- has her resolve moment and nabs her powers back. Three Vertex total, I don't think this is where they tried, um, will try stealth."
"Fucking wonderful!" Daze responds, before sighing and pinching her cheek. "Right, okay. I'm going to go meet up with the other girls, inform them of the situation, hook them up to the mind chat thingy, general things that we should do if we want to win. You going straight after the vertex?"
Vertex? Oh, right, those are – ow, my stomach – a thing. Thanks for the save, Reinforce.
You're welcome, Master.
"We got any info on their tactics? Presuming they use tactics. What's stopping us from just bombarding them from afar and getting the girls to seal them once they're knocked out temporarily?" Can they get knocked out? The one I faced just regen'd from anything I did, but perhaps sufficient blunt force works on them just as much as it does human skulls?
"I'm assuming they don't stop until the core is destroyed." Daze answered, before waving Raising Heart. "Right, enough talk. Raising Heart? Flier Fin."
A pair of pink wings formed under Nanoha, shedding a soft light, before she jumped off the root and plummets straight down. Moments later she's zooming past us into the sky, angling off in a short arc before rocketing into the distance. A few pink balls can be seen in front of her, guiding her way.
"Planning really isn't something we're good at, is it?"
Nero rubs the bridge of her nose, Bardiche flashing into device form. "When Daze is involved? You do remember trying to work on Method, right?" She floats up slowly from the multicolored root, shifting her weight as she looks out towards the distant figures of the Hero Club. "If he- she, is going to interfere with the YuYu's anyway we may as well make sure the idiot doesn't get herself killed. Now, physics… was never the best at these."
I look towards the Hero Club kids. They're looking about on a far-distant lower root, trying to spot the Vertex probably marching towards our paired groups, and I think Yuna's already transformed for battle. Quicker than expected considering their whole 'new at this' deal.
Not that I can talk.
Swapping to wherever they seem to be looking, there are...very tiny dots in the distance. Reinforce?
Magnifying.
Said dots suddenly leap into focus, resolving instantly into the Vertex we happen to be facing second go round at the funhouse.
The one on the left is a mix of white and red, white being the main shade and red as a highlight. It's got two floating spear hanging about above its head, twin column where a mouth looks like it should go and fins sticking down alongside the column like the world's weirdest beard. Or pair of flipper.
The second's a blue teardrop, pale in the outer layer and darker in the center, floating in the middle of its two Vertex buddy. Lots of teeth are arrayed along the top of the dark blue patch, so maybe it attacks by chomping stuff?
The third's a pale green shade, with balls of the same hovering in a ring off to the right of it. A yellow ornamental head-dress is stuck on its forehead, arcing up into a cross decked by some pear-shape hat.
….I wish the enemies were videogame boss. Much easier to tell where the weak spot is when they're big, glowing and otherwise drawing your attention towards them.
"Eh? Like this?" Yuna's voice suddenly speaks into my head.
"There you go!" Daze responds enthusiastically, "You guys got the hang of this?"
"Considering that Raising Heart is managing the actual work, I would hope so. Is everyone linked?" Alicia hovers about halfway down to the group, standing on a gold circle while doing something involving flashing lights.
"Wah~" I think that was the tiny blonde? Itsuki?
"FuFufu. I can read your mind Itsuki~" Fū answers into the chat.
"Onee-chan!" Yep, Itsuki.
"Yes, we-we're all in." Togo signals, "How are things on your end?"
"Looking at the enemies trying to work out where their weak spots are." Dunno what Nanoha or Alicia are up to. "I'll be up here as fire support, blasting them from range if we have need. Close combat isn't quite my specialty."
Combat in general isn't, Master.
It's been a day, I can't be a master mage that quick. Also, I've got you as a cheat sheet.
"Right okay." Nanoha begins, "If I'm remembering this right, Yuna is fist, uh, um..."
"She's Fū, that's her sister Itsuki and my name is Togo."
"Hero Club has the sealing spell, so you lot should focus on that. Togo stay back, because we don't have the best accuracy. Other than that, keep an eye out for them moving to cover each other." Nero butts in.
"Sorry Yuna!"
"And um, I... think I won't be on the front lines this time. Less fire on the move, more trying to uh-"
Having the best vantage point, I see it first. "Dodge!"
A high-velocity needle zooms into the group of YuYu, barely caught a split second before there's an explosion of dust and noise. The blue Vertex glows, another projectile materializing around its mouth, and moments later follows the first in a straight line towards our allies.
As the dust clears a bright pink shield of mana comes into view, albeit a very tattered one that soon flickers out of existence. The shield from Raising Heart vanishes similarly; there's a large hole in it, and going by the tattered state of her Barrier Jacket, the shields were almost too little, too late. The impact crater right where the middle of the group would have been before they dodged or shielded kinda hints at that.
Looking about, Yuna seems to have gotten Togo out of the way, while Fū and Itsuki are transformed on a root a few dozen meters above where they were.
"Oh fuck!"
That's about when the second one hits a golden barrier about fifteen feet above Daze, the explosion annihilating the mana shield.
"Bloody move Daze!" Alicia yells mentally as orbs of mana burn into existence around her, her device now resembling a glaive.
"O-On it!"
I decide to quit dragging my feet and get transformed already, a flash of light heralding the swap between normal me and magic me. How well can we hit stuff from here?
Damaging any of the enemy Vertex from this distance is well within my capacities. Doing so without hurting our allies is considerably more difficult.
Oh right, bombardment mage. Crap.
"Fū, Yuna, Itsuki. Closest ones are yours. We'll take Needles to the sealing point. With me Mizu." Alicia vanishes in a crackle of light towards the blue creature, her glowing orbs streaking towards the pink one at the same time.
"All right! Come on Itsuki!" The Hero Club moves from their standby positions to engage green, leaping off roots rapidly as they close in.
"Crap.... I'm on emergency mana for my barrier jacket. I don't think I can join you guys." Daze sounds frustrated...and kinda shell shocked, "I'll be staying with Togo while it regens... And maybe a bit after."
I pause a moment, looking over the chaos of the battlefield, before jumping off the pit and zooming towards Alicia.
––––– 0000 –––––
Alicia's a gold blur, zooming around Blue from point to point in straight lines, striking with flashes of lightning whenever she gets a chance. Blue keeps trying to pin her down with a rapid-fire needle barrage, turning in a circle as it tracks her, but by the time it reaches where she was hitting it Alicia's moved on to another spot entirely. "Fucking hell, this is better than skydivin- Blitz, Blitz! I don't like needles, so EAT A SCYTHE BITCH! Ahahahaha~"
She seems to be enjoying herself, and the open tears left in the thing's body look like progress.
In comparison, Reinforce has to conjure a hurried shield as soon as we arrive, Blue noticing the new fly floating about nearby and deciding it needs a good whack with the needle just like the first one. Our barrier sparks, cracks forming as the multitude of shots pepper the thing, and Reinforce decides taking cover behind a big tree root is a most wise course of action.
"Arc Saber!"
Alicia's hacking away like she's cutting down a tree trunk at the sudden opportunity, by the sound of it, although as soon as I get behind the root her mad cackles of laughter swap to a gasp of surprise. And then rapid curses.
Peeking around, it seems Blue has a combo going with Pink, where any shots it fires that miss get redirected wherever they want them to go. Flashes of gold light up the sky around Blue, Alicia staying still for barely a second before she's off again dodging a rain of needles coming her way – what slashing once was, is now no more.
"Fucking hell, I don't have a working flight spell! Not for this level of dodging! Bullet hell is a few ranks above my current ability damn it! Mizu, can you blast the reflective bastard? I only need another decent Arc Saber or two to push this fucker into recovery mode!"
Reinforce? Take the wheel and do as she says.
My body swivels, the book AI doing as requested, and we look towards Pink. We tense, crouching low in midair, before rocketing towards the target with our fist pulled back.
"Schwarze Wirkung!"
Right before impact, black energy flares around our fist, and a moment later I find out that whatever 'Schwarze Wirkung' means another name for it applies just as well as the first one – 'Mega Punch'. Pink goes soaring back like it was shot out of a cannon, smashing through root after root until it finally stops...several miles away from where we float. The only thing left visible is the cracked and flickering core, weakly trying to regenerate from the blow.
"Woo!"
"...Mab in a brothel, that was fucking awesome." Shaking her head, she flickers once more, before the blade from her scythe rips free with a cry of "Crescent Saber!" and the sound of a gunshot.
The crescent of energy bites into the Vertex as Alicia falls freely, snapping her fingers with a cackling laugh and a cry.
"Saber Explode~!"
The detached blade erupts, dissolving the tattered remains of Blue's outer form, its core crash landing down below, a few roots higher than Pink's, and several miles away latitudinally.
"You win this round, Team Unison~." Her tone shifts, but is still drowning in satisfaction. "Can we get a sealing ritual over here Heroes? And, um, another like five miles north?" Alicia lands on a root above her target, a cat-like smile lighting up her face.
"So, do I go punch the other one now?"
"We already got the scorpion thing, it couldn't take our girl power~!" Fū seems to like saying that word. And if the third one's dead as well, I guess we're done?
Hm. Wonder what Nanoha got up to?
A/N:
Daze and Nero have bits to post too, but we seem to have run into an issue on Daze's end. Namely that he stopped responding a moment after I posted and we can't get ahold of him again.
So, uh. Expect the next update in a day or two, instead of the multiple months it normally is?
Last edited:
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Daze and Nero have bits to post too, but we seem to have run into an issue on Daze's end. Namely that he stopped responding a moment after I posted and we can't get ahold of him again.
So, uh. Expect the next update in a day or two, instead of the multiple months it normally is?
Consider me having been retired by another Stwnd User.
Yes, the updates will all be out tommorow.
Daze (Interlude)
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Daze - Interlude
Damnit! I... Just dammit.
I watched as the rest of the Hero Club leapt away, leaving me and Togo behind the root safe from the battle raging in front of us.
My barrier jacket was in tatters, and no matter what anime tells you it wasn't destroyed in the way that gives hints at all the important bits.
We couldn't get crap like that past the radar even if we tried.
Three minutes till full recovery.
Great.
Dismissing the barrier jacket, I sat down against the back off the root, shutting off my mental channel in the process.
I turned my gaze towards Togo, who was watching the fight closely with a pained look on her face.
"....Sucks doesn't it?" I commented, drawing her attention to me. "Just watching them fight while you're here just doing nothing. It feels the worst."
I stopped looking at her and lowered my head. "....I feel pathetic. You know why I'm here? It's not only just about replenishing my mana, it's about..."
I fell silent, unable to bring myself to say it.
I hear the rustling of clothes, glancing up to see her nod, hugging her phone to her chest. "It's…" She looks up at me, before gazing out at the web of rainbow ribbons and explosions. "...can't fight that."
A sinking feeling weighed into my stomach.
She couldn't fight that.
I could.
I had.
And I won't.
....Pathetic. I'm so fucking Pathetic, just sitting here being a useless sack of shit.
I faintly glanced at my arm, the lingering sensation of what happened earlier still in my muscles.
"Dodge!"
"Oh fuck!"
The reply came so suddenly that I was shocked out of any semblance of peace I usually had.
"Raising Heart Shield! Now!" I yelled out, "Give us any sort of-"
The shield came out broken and late, the magic not flowing properly as a bustle of movement happened all at once. With a sudden cry I was knocked to the ground, staring at the incomplete thing of mana for a faint few seconds.
"Bloody move Daze!" Nero yelled at me through the mental link, right after a second explosion screams to life in the air above me.
"O-On it." I stuttered.
There was a scorch mark right next to my arm.
After that I figured out Yuna and Fu had moved the others away in time but I was so close to losing my arm that...
There's a certain thrill in fights, that wasn't a fight.
That was some predator versus prey shit right there.
"...How about you?" I asked, trying to remove the atmosphere that was pressing down on me like a weight. "How you holding up?"
She shakes her head a little, still looking out at the battle. "I-I want to help them, but…" Her eyes flicker down to her legs, before she hugs the phone harder.
Nero's words ring through my head.
"This is where the cripple has her resolve moment and nabs her powers back."
Narratively speaking, it made sense. You couldn't have a main member of a magical girl group not have access to their powers for a majority of the show.
Well yes you could, but traditionally speaking awakening the group one at a time was what usually happens.
For instance, Usagi Tsukino of Sailor Moon got her powers in the first episode, followed by the second episode being where Ami or Sailor Mercury got her powers, before an event the next episode where Rei Hino or Sailor Mars got her powers.
There was a certain structure to this, explain the main cast first, upgrade them later.
But...
"...What if I told you you could?" I hesitantly replied, looking at her wheelbound form. "I-I'm not sure how, but... I know there is a way for you to go help them, to gain the power to remove the hurdles in your way, and to be a hero. But..."
Togo blinks reddened eyes, looking up at me. "W-What do you mean? Gain powers like… Yours?"
"Nah, more like what your friends have." I'm not giving up this Device for the world. "My powers are sort of the result of a magical organ and a super calculator while you and your friends got superpowers by making a contract, albeit unknowingly, with that motherfucking tree over there."
I pointed over at the Shinshu, the gigantic tree powering the universe and keeping us all alive.
The tree that was still very burnable-looking.
"...Hah, I honestly know a lot more than you about the situation, while at the same time none at all." I let out a bitter laugh, "If I told you any of it though, even a single hint... I'd be killed faster than you could say 'being meguca is suffering.'"
She looks a little confused, speaking up. "I have the app my friends have, but I just can't…"
"Trust me, you can. Just... believe in the me who believes in you." a small smile came to my face as I looked away and let out a laugh. "Sorry sorry, just never thought I'd be able to use that line in real life."
Her thumb hovers over the screen, shaking slightly, before a voice sounds from the phone.
"Okay Fū! Let's seal it!" Before she exits out of the screen, a map taking its place as a half-revealed, half-guilty sigh escapes her.
The Heroes' target vanishes in a burst of petals as the three of her friends encircle it.
"...They're doing pretty well huh?" I mused out loud, before sighing. "Well, I guess I can tell you my best guess on how to gain power like theirs."
Now how to put this...
"Never ever, will a soldier forget the battlefield. In the struggle between living and dying, one must challenge the gears of destiny themselves. You gotta give your all into it you know? Strive to achieve what you want, and you'll get it. No matter the cost, you have to keep going forward."
....I said it with a straight face. I SAID IT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE WOO!
Dammit! If I asked her to give an honest opinion on how I looked it will totally ruin it!
But still...
"Gah, what am I doing giving pep talks to other people when I'm in the mood for one myself." I groaned before standing up, "Right! I need to be the most absolute ham I can be right now to pump myself up! Time to plagiarize to holy hell!"
I quickly glanced at Togo. "...Promise not to laugh after I finish?"
Togo smiled slightly, seeming a little cheered up. "I'll try, Nanoha-san."
"Right, right right right..." Okay now how to start this... "Ahem! The School Of The Undefeated Of The East!"
I quickly moved my hands around in a silly pose, my right hand covering my face while my left arm flew across my chest.
"The winds of the kings!" I honestly have no idea what I'm doing anymore. "Zenshin! Keiretsu!"
Raising Heart activate the barrier jacket after this next line.
"Tempa Kyouran!"
A flash of magical light of came me as my clothes shifted before I held out my staff pointing to the girl in the wheelchair. "Have no fear! The White Devil, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is here! Look, the east is burning red!"
"..." I can't tell if she's choking or not. Suddenly a chuckle managed to escape her throat. A chuckle that soon turned into full blown laughter as heat rushed into my face.
"H-Hey..."
"I'm sorry!" She choked out, "T-That was just..."
Soon enough I was laughing as well. The two of us sitting here, at the front of a god laughing our asses off.
Ah well.
The moment it had died down I walked up to the girl and held her hands in my own.
"The name's Nanoha Takamachi. I look forward to working with you, Togo."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AN: So would anyone believe me if I say don't actually remember what happend last night all that well?
Consider this early morning haze, I don't know what the fuck happend for me to think that.
Also yes I realize how silly this (bonus) chapter is.
Enjoy.
Damnit! I... Just dammit.
I watched as the rest of the Hero Club leapt away, leaving me and Togo behind the root safe from the battle raging in front of us.
My barrier jacket was in tatters, and no matter what anime tells you it wasn't destroyed in the way that gives hints at all the important bits.
We couldn't get crap like that past the radar even if we tried.
Three minutes till full recovery.
Great.
Dismissing the barrier jacket, I sat down against the back off the root, shutting off my mental channel in the process.
I turned my gaze towards Togo, who was watching the fight closely with a pained look on her face.
"....Sucks doesn't it?" I commented, drawing her attention to me. "Just watching them fight while you're here just doing nothing. It feels the worst."
I stopped looking at her and lowered my head. "....I feel pathetic. You know why I'm here? It's not only just about replenishing my mana, it's about..."
I fell silent, unable to bring myself to say it.
I hear the rustling of clothes, glancing up to see her nod, hugging her phone to her chest. "It's…" She looks up at me, before gazing out at the web of rainbow ribbons and explosions. "...can't fight that."
A sinking feeling weighed into my stomach.
She couldn't fight that.
I could.
I had.
And I won't.
....Pathetic. I'm so fucking Pathetic, just sitting here being a useless sack of shit.
I faintly glanced at my arm, the lingering sensation of what happened earlier still in my muscles.
"Dodge!"
"Oh fuck!"
The reply came so suddenly that I was shocked out of any semblance of peace I usually had.
"Raising Heart Shield! Now!" I yelled out, "Give us any sort of-"
The shield came out broken and late, the magic not flowing properly as a bustle of movement happened all at once. With a sudden cry I was knocked to the ground, staring at the incomplete thing of mana for a faint few seconds.
"Bloody move Daze!" Nero yelled at me through the mental link, right after a second explosion screams to life in the air above me.
"O-On it." I stuttered.
There was a scorch mark right next to my arm.
After that I figured out Yuna and Fu had moved the others away in time but I was so close to losing my arm that...
There's a certain thrill in fights, that wasn't a fight.
That was some predator versus prey shit right there.
"...How about you?" I asked, trying to remove the atmosphere that was pressing down on me like a weight. "How you holding up?"
She shakes her head a little, still looking out at the battle. "I-I want to help them, but…" Her eyes flicker down to her legs, before she hugs the phone harder.
Nero's words ring through my head.
"This is where the cripple has her resolve moment and nabs her powers back."
Narratively speaking, it made sense. You couldn't have a main member of a magical girl group not have access to their powers for a majority of the show.
Well yes you could, but traditionally speaking awakening the group one at a time was what usually happens.
For instance, Usagi Tsukino of Sailor Moon got her powers in the first episode, followed by the second episode being where Ami or Sailor Mercury got her powers, before an event the next episode where Rei Hino or Sailor Mars got her powers.
There was a certain structure to this, explain the main cast first, upgrade them later.
But...
"...What if I told you you could?" I hesitantly replied, looking at her wheelbound form. "I-I'm not sure how, but... I know there is a way for you to go help them, to gain the power to remove the hurdles in your way, and to be a hero. But..."
Togo blinks reddened eyes, looking up at me. "W-What do you mean? Gain powers like… Yours?"
"Nah, more like what your friends have." I'm not giving up this Device for the world. "My powers are sort of the result of a magical organ and a super calculator while you and your friends got superpowers by making a contract, albeit unknowingly, with that motherfucking tree over there."
I pointed over at the Shinshu, the gigantic tree powering the universe and keeping us all alive.
The tree that was still very burnable-looking.
"...Hah, I honestly know a lot more than you about the situation, while at the same time none at all." I let out a bitter laugh, "If I told you any of it though, even a single hint... I'd be killed faster than you could say 'being meguca is suffering.'"
She looks a little confused, speaking up. "I have the app my friends have, but I just can't…"
"Trust me, you can. Just... believe in the me who believes in you." a small smile came to my face as I looked away and let out a laugh. "Sorry sorry, just never thought I'd be able to use that line in real life."
Her thumb hovers over the screen, shaking slightly, before a voice sounds from the phone.
"Okay Fū! Let's seal it!" Before she exits out of the screen, a map taking its place as a half-revealed, half-guilty sigh escapes her.
The Heroes' target vanishes in a burst of petals as the three of her friends encircle it.
"...They're doing pretty well huh?" I mused out loud, before sighing. "Well, I guess I can tell you my best guess on how to gain power like theirs."
Now how to put this...
"Never ever, will a soldier forget the battlefield. In the struggle between living and dying, one must challenge the gears of destiny themselves. You gotta give your all into it you know? Strive to achieve what you want, and you'll get it. No matter the cost, you have to keep going forward."
....I said it with a straight face. I SAID IT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE WOO!
Dammit! If I asked her to give an honest opinion on how I looked it will totally ruin it!
But still...
"Gah, what am I doing giving pep talks to other people when I'm in the mood for one myself." I groaned before standing up, "Right! I need to be the most absolute ham I can be right now to pump myself up! Time to plagiarize to holy hell!"
I quickly glanced at Togo. "...Promise not to laugh after I finish?"
Togo smiled slightly, seeming a little cheered up. "I'll try, Nanoha-san."
"Right, right right right..." Okay now how to start this... "Ahem! The School Of The Undefeated Of The East!"
I quickly moved my hands around in a silly pose, my right hand covering my face while my left arm flew across my chest.
"The winds of the kings!" I honestly have no idea what I'm doing anymore. "Zenshin! Keiretsu!"
Raising Heart activate the barrier jacket after this next line.
"Tempa Kyouran!"
A flash of magical light of came me as my clothes shifted before I held out my staff pointing to the girl in the wheelchair. "Have no fear! The White Devil, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is here! Look, the east is burning red!"
"..." I can't tell if she's choking or not. Suddenly a chuckle managed to escape her throat. A chuckle that soon turned into full blown laughter as heat rushed into my face.
"H-Hey..."
"I'm sorry!" She choked out, "T-That was just..."
Soon enough I was laughing as well. The two of us sitting here, at the front of a god laughing our asses off.
Ah well.
The moment it had died down I walked up to the girl and held her hands in my own.
"The name's Nanoha Takamachi. I look forward to working with you, Togo."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AN: So would anyone believe me if I say don't actually remember what happend last night all that well?
Consider this early morning haze, I don't know what the fuck happend for me to think that.
Also yes I realize how silly this (bonus) chapter is.
Enjoy.
Chapter 4 - Nero POV
Nero200
High Priest of Eito, Part Time Nyar.
Chapter 4 – Nero POV
The data Bardiche and Reinforce got out of the sealing is… fucking complicated. I get the feeling that even with Reinforce we won't be able to use it ourselves within any meaningful timeframe.
That said, other things to be doing now anyway. The shift back from rainbow land to the 'real' world left all of us on the roof again. Must be a designated respawn point? Or just where the largest concentration of us were when the shift to that world happened.
Shaking my head, I drop my barrier jacket back to the lower state and have Bardiche return to gem form.
"Everyone good?"
"And it's like- oh fuck!" Daze yelped, falling to the floor once again. "Ughh..... How are you all used to that?" Note: Competence, don't expect it from Daze. Second Note: Why on earth was I expecting it?
"Yep~!" "I'm good." "All clear!" The Hero Club is nearly creepily in sync. And Yuna looks a little confused at the giggling Togo.
"I have detected no change to my upright position in each of our shifts thus far, and even if I did correction could be achieved near-instantly. Perhaps there is an error with your dimensional transfer procedure?"
"Heya Reinforce. No issue channeling with Mizu?" I stretch a little, letting the adrenaline from the rapid speed fight dull. Definitely doing that again. Reminded me of high speed filtering, only even more potential for death.
Bardiche, can you run an analysis on where I was going wrong? I could tell I was spending way too much on the flash steps, as well as the flight issues.
Yes Sir.
"...Never do that again Mizu," Daze groaned, "You actually sounded smart."
"Unison compatibility with my Master is currently at 96.2%, so no." Reinforce blinks at me. A moment later, her posture loosens up as she turns to glare at Daze. "Oy, I'm smart! Who's a university student of the two of us, eh?"
I sigh, but stop myself from commenting. I've been slipping up since we shifted to the battleground with names.
Instead, I turn and paste a smile on my new face as I look over at the older- younger- …the oldest blond in the Hero Club. "Hey, Fū?"
She tilts her head, looking over as the conversation between the Hero Club members dies down.
Social game, go.
"I just wanted to say sorry for how abrupt I was yesterday. It was a bit of a stressful day, but that doesn't justify how I acted." Amount of actual fucks given? Slightly more than I give about the color of her socks. But if I leave things on a bad note and she's pissed when the month runs out… She isn't the most stable, being the Mami analogue in this little group.
"O-Oh it's fine! Don't worry about it!" Blondie replies with a grin, "Sometimes girls like us have rough days too, like when the persistent ones keep coming at you!"
"Still, I apologize." There's also the fact that being mean to genuinely nice people is generally not how I like to be.
Moving on. I shift my attention to my actual 'teammates', the pink and silver marks on my HUD.
"All together now, Nanoha?" In spite of how bloody annoying she has been acting, I am mildly concerned, Daze is a good bit younger than me and Mizu after all.
"Yeah yeah," The brunette replied, having picked herself off the floor and dismissed her barrier jacket, "Kinda. Don't think I'm going to break down like that again. Maybe. Get me angry before a fight just in case."
Analysis finished, I can prepare appropriate Image Training if you wish Sir?
Make it so 'Diche, make it so.
Mizu is looking at Daze speculatively.
I nod. "I'll keep that in mind." Not that it seems to have helped this time, but we'll work on that when we work out some actual battle plans beyond 'Reinforce, Kill.'
"Alrighty then..." A mumbled comment from Daze about something biting her in the ass was heard before she continued. "Hey Nero, still got that card on you?"
Last edited:
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
So this month I learned never to let me to give pep talks ever.
It might just lead to the end of the universe or something.
The final update of this batch will be up in a couple hours at most.
It might just lead to the end of the universe or something.
The final update of this batch will be up in a couple hours at most.
Chapter 4 - Daze POV
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Chapter 4 – Daze POV
Echo
Echo
So, it hath come to this.
The trials of food were a very, very hard matter. A man could eat anything but that doesn't mean he'd like it. Especially if you were me, who had only stuck to the "Foods I know won't make me feel sick" for most of my lifetime.
While I did not know how this new body handled food, I was still overly cautious, so I really had no place to begin when going restaurant hunting besides a fast food restaurant, and I haven't seen a McDonald's here yet.
In the end Togo and her friends took us to a ramen shop.
The first thing you really notice was the smell. It was everywhere. A varying bunch of recipes creating this thick aroma that would never leave you as you sat down at the table and enjoyed your meal.
Which is why I chose a bowl of white rice.
"You know stuff beyond plain rice exists on the menu, right Nanoha?" Mizu asks, pointing her chopsticks at me while her bowl of miso ramen slowly steams away in front of her. She glances at how Fū and Yuna are eating, twitches, then mirrors them perfectly.
I don't even know how she managed to get the hang of these blasted things before, I certainly haven't...
"You have to move your hands like this Nanoha." Togo interrupts, demonstrating with her own pair.
"Like this?" Nope, the rice still fell out, not even getting a good grip on them. "Ugh..."
"Have you never used chopsticks before?" Itsuki asks, looking up from her own bowl.
"Yeah, never really felt the need when you could just ask for a for... Fucking hell." I groaned, putting the chopsticks back onto the table. "I have no idea how my sister got the hang of this..."
Did she? I think she did...
Wait which one was it? Gah, I can't remember who got the hang of it for the life of me.
And to think I've been eating Chinese food for years.
"H-Hey, can someone ask for a fork?" I asked, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Sure thing!" Fū exclaimed, putting down her... how many bowls was that? Not gonna ask! "Hey~ Waiter!"
"That... could be an issue." Fate distracts me from Fū's conversation with the waiter, pulling Hayate and I into a mental channel.
Fate hadn't been taking part in conversation since we got to the restaurant, in fact she seemed to stop paying attention altogether after talking with Fū for a bit, just picking idly at her meat-stuffed meal while staring into space.
...Is she going to eat or what? Seriously, it's like she's trying to be the most bizarre girl in the room.
Nero no! Don't try to be the top moe! That just leads to rule thirty-four!
"What's up? Mizu hasn't stopped eating at all. Or even changed facial expression. "There another Vertex incoming or something?"
"I had forgotten some of the rules of the battleground we went to. The damage is reflected onto this Plane to some measure." Nero frowns, looking over at Mizu. "And Reinforce isn't exactly a scalpel, going by that TV in the corner. Don't look now, just drift to it naturally."
I frowned as the waiter handed a fork over to our group. "Guys, look at the news."
Stop trying to be manipulative Nero, you suck at it. Seriously it's so easy to point it out-
I should stop talking.
"Marvelous. Truly the caliber of your predecessor." Shut up Nero.
"The fuck was that even about anyway?"
Mizu was ignoring us both, looking at the TV intently. The hand holding her chopsticks trembled a bit, a slice of egg sliding free and hitting the table with a wet thump.
"Fuck." "Mizu?" Alicia says as she stands up, moving hesitantly over to her as the Hero Club all stare at the scene the TV is displaying. Ticker boxes ran rapidly across the bottom of the image as the camera slowly panned over destroyed houses, roads and even a small bridge. The words '4.5 miles', 'at least forty known casualties', and 'over one hundred injured' leap out at me.
Nero is shaking Mizu's shoulder lightly. "Mizu? This… Come on, let's head back to the house."
"House…" Mizu echoes quietly, still staring at the screen. The tenuous grip on her chopsticks fail entirely, the wooden implements landing in her food with a quiet 'plop'. "I did...house...I did…"
Her expression blanks entirely, body twitching, and she calmly retrieves the chopsticks from her food. Placing them neatly on the table, she smoothes her place and looks towards the Hero Club.
"Excuse me, but something urgent has come up. I'll have to continue this meal another time. Alicia, Nanoha, let's go."
Alicia nods, starting towards the door with Bardiche's triangle flipping between her fingers.
"H-huh? What's going on?" Itsuki and Yuna look confused, while both Fū and Togo have slowly growing looks of horror.
I stared down at my bowl of rice.
Have you ever seen someone just... Break? The closest I had ever seen was an old friend of mine back when he was too emotional and started breaking down at every perceived loss, and even that was easy to solve as I literally shut him up.
But Mizu- No. Liam? He just fucking broke. Right then and there.
It was hard to watch.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
I'd like to say that I took one bathroom break and this is what happens.
I'm not even joking I went afk for like, five minute and come back to this.
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Look on the bright side, it could have been an off target proper bombardment spell(Ragnarok). Then the 40 casualty figure would have been fairly tame and the area would look like a KKV impact site.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Yep.
Actually...
Before we started this I hadn't eaten food in 24 hours.
Also give it up for Nero as Togo!
Nero didn't respond for a while after this.
Nero apparently had gotten HAM OVERLORDO and couldn't actually give a proper response to this for a bit.
Didn't you fail a class?
Apparently I rolled a 1 on my motive check because I actually thought the apology was sincere until having to be told through the skype chat.
Mizu thought this was going to lead into a period joke.
Look when in doubt, always go for white rice.
I think this took me like five minutes to get the first time.
Then I almost barfed when the food went into my mouth.
I think it's both.
Maybe.
Nero still has not given an explanation for trying to be subtle about it.
This was around the time I took a bathroom break and- FUCK I JUST NOTICE AN ERROR.
You can tell whenever I don't write the scene when Fate suddenly is referred to as Alicia and I'm terrible at betaing, Nero can't read my style, and Mizu is a mother fucking goldfish.
You know I don't think the other two SIs know my name when I'm pretty sure I know both of theirs. I believe I told it to them during the process of writing chapter 2.
It was really difficult in this snippet to tell which lines were spoken out loud and which ones were telepathy.
Perhaps start doing something like putting all telepathy in italics? I've seen tons of stories do that.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
...I.... Don't think telepathy was actually used in that chapter?
So all the stuff like using alternate names for each other and Reinforce quoting percentages was said aloud in front of the Hero Club without anyone blinking an eye? Or the line about being a university student?
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Yes I'm skeptical about the university thing as well.
Fucking birdbrain just told me "Oh they could just pass it off as child genius".
Like, No.
As for the percentages....
At this point we've essentially made the YuYu's drown themselves in what more faster then a noob on the Internet.
Nero200
High Priest of Eito, Part Time Nyar.
All my POV's telepathy is in italics.
Alicia also points out that she has been screwing up when it comes to using the cover names during the fight, and corrects herself when talking out-loud from that point onward.
The Hero Club were talking amongst themselves, but some of them did indeed notice. They just haven't brought it up yet because they aren't exactly 100% comfortable with the Aces.
The names are something that Daze spoke mentally to them about back during the first meeting, which has caused them to put off bringing up any name issues so far.
The university student comment was filed away by Togo for future reference.
Reinforce refering to percentages was written off as "They use a different type of magic to us."
All these factors are also being smoothed over by the Taishi telling them not to bother the Aces or get overly involved with them.
Don't get us wrong, all these things will all be coming back up, there's just enough to delay that conversation for now.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
We just love to do things that bite us in the ass don't we.
Chapter 5 - Mizu POV
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Not My Fault
"Mizu?"
I'm curled up in a void, clutching my knees to my chest, desperately trying not to remember. Remember the shattered remnants of a housing complex, jagged shards of concrete positioned in such a way that if I squint just a little I can see the people they're crushing.
"Reinforce. I need you out of the driver's seat for a bit."
Remember the cars swinging off the edges of a bridge, dancing on the precipice just above the long drop to the ground beneath. Metal is compacted, crushed under tons of rock and concrete, turning the vehicle already there into so much pancake. A bus sticks out of the left corner, pale floppy limbs stretching for an escape no longer possible.
"I can't do that, Alicia. Master is currently incapable of normal operations, and requested I take over until she has recovered to such an extent."
"And she is going to stay incapable if you let her stay curled up in her mind. She needs to be able to function to some minimal level and I'm aiming for back to how she was before this. Now, relinquish control if you would."
Broken water pipes spray great droplets across the shattered road, large pools forming with the drains clogged and blocked. Some of them are tinged a dark red. Mailboxes lie uprooted throughout the area, some stuck just a few metres from their resting place, some in the rubble of what was the next house over. A streetlamp collapses with a creak into a rusty puddle, sending sparks of electricity dancing across the surface alongside the intense smell of cooking meat.
"The stages of grief are an important part of human psychological requirements. Master is currently going through the Denial element, where she refuses to believe what has occurred, has occurred. With time and safety, she shall move past this, but my current objective is to protect my Master – even from herself."
"There's no Wolkenritter here to baby her Reinforce. We don't have time."
The destruction flickers, changing from ruined houses and roads to perfectly normal urban environment. People are laughing, walking about, driving up and down the street in various vehicle, before without warning – they're not.
Road erupts into massive crater, cars smash into sudden walls of stone and people go flying through the air. A little child soars towards me, a young girl clutching a fuzzy yellow plushy of some sort, her current path leading to nothing but impalement. I move, take a few steps forward to catch her, and–
See Alicia right in front of my face, looking deeply into my eyes. "Heya Mi."
"...Alicia?" Reinforce?
Miss Alicia has a valid point, Master. Social interaction can aid in grieving and moving past personal loss and self-blame, but constantly going over regrets just leads to an infinite processing loop.
"Come on Mi, what happened isn't your fault." Alicia gently pulls me up onto my feet.
"But it is! The rubble that was once houses! The pancaked road! The shattered remnants of a bridge! They're all–"
"-Mizu!" Red eyes focus on mine, almost glaring as her booming mental voice washes out the resurging images. The slight guilt that was there a moment ago has been replaced by a sharp frown.
"...I caused it all." My voice is soft, barely audible. I look down at the floor. "I smashed the Vertex into those roots, I sent it on a course of destruction. It wasn't an accident!"
Alicia's fingers tighten on my shoulders. "No, you didn't cause it. At worst, you ordered Reinforce to do it. And even then, you didn't know what it would cause!"
"I gods-damn should have known!" I snap, taking a step forward and staring her down. "We already knew the place was one reality layered atop another, it was only a short jump from there to realizing damaging the root world damages the human one!"
"How would you have known?! I didn't bloody remember till afterwards, because it was never relevant! And still, it wasn't you." She hasn't raised her voice yet, but her frown slipped into a glare of frustration for a moment.
"How the heck wasn't it!" My hands clench, fingernails digging into my palms. "Me and Reinforce are one and the same when fused, no matter if I'm letting her do all the work at the time! We knocked the Vertex into the roots with Mega Punch! It's our fault!"
"All you did was tell Reinforce to deal with it, it isn't reasonable to try and take responsibility for that!"
"What did I just say, eh?" I growl, pushing Alicia back forcefully as I do. "What did I just say? We're the same person when Unison'd, darn it, we're equally to blame. I may have ordered her to do it, and she definitely did it, but the blame's on both of us!"
Her glare flickers to a sad smile for a moment as she opens her arms to the sides. "Then I'm to blame, aren't I Mi? Not you. If you can take responsibility because you ordered her to do it, then think for a moment. Who ordered you to deal with it?"
"...You did." I scowl. "You asked for aid so you didn't end up a pincushion, what was I supposed to do? Just let you become a human porcupine?! Fuck no!"
"Well, hopefully not, but the fact that remains is that I told you to do it. And guess what? I'm also the only one that could have possibly known the effect of Reinforce cutting loose and wrecking the place! Sure I didn't remember, but the end result is that I told you to do it, counter to what I should have fucking known, to save my own arse. If you are going to assign blame for this, then you don't get to beat yourself up first." She comes to a stop, breathing a little heavier after the tirade.
"I...I…" My fist clenches, and I whirl and whack the nearest wall as hard as I can. Then again. And again. "Fuck, you're right, it was an accident. A horrible, horrible accident and case of bad luck, but it sure as shit isn't bringing those people back to life." Alicia breaths a sigh of relief, tension easing as her shoulders slump as concerned eyes flicker to my hand.
My hand flops down, squishing softly, and I feel the shifting of broken cartilage and bone fragments as a distant, indistinct pain. My knuckles are stained red and white.
It doesn't stop me clenching it tightly anyway. "I'll just have to be certain not to let it happen again. Next time we melee something, we'll be aiming up."
"Mizu?"
I'm curled up in a void, clutching my knees to my chest, desperately trying not to remember. Remember the shattered remnants of a housing complex, jagged shards of concrete positioned in such a way that if I squint just a little I can see the people they're crushing.
"Reinforce. I need you out of the driver's seat for a bit."
Remember the cars swinging off the edges of a bridge, dancing on the precipice just above the long drop to the ground beneath. Metal is compacted, crushed under tons of rock and concrete, turning the vehicle already there into so much pancake. A bus sticks out of the left corner, pale floppy limbs stretching for an escape no longer possible.
"I can't do that, Alicia. Master is currently incapable of normal operations, and requested I take over until she has recovered to such an extent."
"And she is going to stay incapable if you let her stay curled up in her mind. She needs to be able to function to some minimal level and I'm aiming for back to how she was before this. Now, relinquish control if you would."
Broken water pipes spray great droplets across the shattered road, large pools forming with the drains clogged and blocked. Some of them are tinged a dark red. Mailboxes lie uprooted throughout the area, some stuck just a few metres from their resting place, some in the rubble of what was the next house over. A streetlamp collapses with a creak into a rusty puddle, sending sparks of electricity dancing across the surface alongside the intense smell of cooking meat.
"The stages of grief are an important part of human psychological requirements. Master is currently going through the Denial element, where she refuses to believe what has occurred, has occurred. With time and safety, she shall move past this, but my current objective is to protect my Master – even from herself."
"There's no Wolkenritter here to baby her Reinforce. We don't have time."
The destruction flickers, changing from ruined houses and roads to perfectly normal urban environment. People are laughing, walking about, driving up and down the street in various vehicle, before without warning – they're not.
Road erupts into massive crater, cars smash into sudden walls of stone and people go flying through the air. A little child soars towards me, a young girl clutching a fuzzy yellow plushy of some sort, her current path leading to nothing but impalement. I move, take a few steps forward to catch her, and–
See Alicia right in front of my face, looking deeply into my eyes. "Heya Mi."
"...Alicia?" Reinforce?
Miss Alicia has a valid point, Master. Social interaction can aid in grieving and moving past personal loss and self-blame, but constantly going over regrets just leads to an infinite processing loop.
"Come on Mi, what happened isn't your fault." Alicia gently pulls me up onto my feet.
"But it is! The rubble that was once houses! The pancaked road! The shattered remnants of a bridge! They're all–"
"-Mizu!" Red eyes focus on mine, almost glaring as her booming mental voice washes out the resurging images. The slight guilt that was there a moment ago has been replaced by a sharp frown.
"...I caused it all." My voice is soft, barely audible. I look down at the floor. "I smashed the Vertex into those roots, I sent it on a course of destruction. It wasn't an accident!"
Alicia's fingers tighten on my shoulders. "No, you didn't cause it. At worst, you ordered Reinforce to do it. And even then, you didn't know what it would cause!"
"I gods-damn should have known!" I snap, taking a step forward and staring her down. "We already knew the place was one reality layered atop another, it was only a short jump from there to realizing damaging the root world damages the human one!"
"How would you have known?! I didn't bloody remember till afterwards, because it was never relevant! And still, it wasn't you." She hasn't raised her voice yet, but her frown slipped into a glare of frustration for a moment.
"How the heck wasn't it!" My hands clench, fingernails digging into my palms. "Me and Reinforce are one and the same when fused, no matter if I'm letting her do all the work at the time! We knocked the Vertex into the roots with Mega Punch! It's our fault!"
"All you did was tell Reinforce to deal with it, it isn't reasonable to try and take responsibility for that!"
"What did I just say, eh?" I growl, pushing Alicia back forcefully as I do. "What did I just say? We're the same person when Unison'd, darn it, we're equally to blame. I may have ordered her to do it, and she definitely did it, but the blame's on both of us!"
Her glare flickers to a sad smile for a moment as she opens her arms to the sides. "Then I'm to blame, aren't I Mi? Not you. If you can take responsibility because you ordered her to do it, then think for a moment. Who ordered you to deal with it?"
"...You did." I scowl. "You asked for aid so you didn't end up a pincushion, what was I supposed to do? Just let you become a human porcupine?! Fuck no!"
"Well, hopefully not, but the fact that remains is that I told you to do it. And guess what? I'm also the only one that could have possibly known the effect of Reinforce cutting loose and wrecking the place! Sure I didn't remember, but the end result is that I told you to do it, counter to what I should have fucking known, to save my own arse. If you are going to assign blame for this, then you don't get to beat yourself up first." She comes to a stop, breathing a little heavier after the tirade.
"I...I…" My fist clenches, and I whirl and whack the nearest wall as hard as I can. Then again. And again. "Fuck, you're right, it was an accident. A horrible, horrible accident and case of bad luck, but it sure as shit isn't bringing those people back to life." Alicia breaths a sigh of relief, tension easing as her shoulders slump as concerned eyes flicker to my hand.
My hand flops down, squishing softly, and I feel the shifting of broken cartilage and bone fragments as a distant, indistinct pain. My knuckles are stained red and white.
It doesn't stop me clenching it tightly anyway. "I'll just have to be certain not to let it happen again. Next time we melee something, we'll be aiming up."
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Haha! You thought you escaped?! No! We have backlog!
....Don't expect my chapter five for a long time. These were supposed to be a bunch of short stories to fill in a time gap but then like a couple of hours ago Mizu was like "Hey let's make this chapter five!" And then Nero was like "Yeah! This totally isn't a bad idea!" And here I am sitting like "Guys I don't have a chapter five." And they're just like "Pshaw whatever!".
So yeah.
Nero will probably post his later and then it's a weekly thing from here on out as we work on... Well for them Chapter 6 for me Chapter 5.
I think.
How the fuck is this going to work out now dammit guys....
....Don't expect my chapter five for a long time. These were supposed to be a bunch of short stories to fill in a time gap but then like a couple of hours ago Mizu was like "Hey let's make this chapter five!" And then Nero was like "Yeah! This totally isn't a bad idea!" And here I am sitting like "Guys I don't have a chapter five." And they're just like "Pshaw whatever!".
So yeah.
Nero will probably post his later and then it's a weekly thing from here on out as we work on... Well for them Chapter 6 for me Chapter 5.
I think.
How the fuck is this going to work out now dammit guys....
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Damn I really thought it was going to take you like eight hours.
Highwind
To Rise From The Ashes
- Location
- Brazil
Does this mean I somehow managed to procrastinate less than you?