Disclaimer: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is property of Hirohiko Araki, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha...
Starlight is Unbreakable (MGLN / JJBA)
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Chapter 1: Like a Diamond in the Sky
Speckled Burd
Moon Gazer
- Location
- Kansas
Disclaimer: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is property of Hirohiko Araki, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is property of Seven Arcs Studio.
Chapter 1: Like a Diamond in the Sky
There were two things that every student at Seishou Elementary school knew about Josuke Higashikata. The first was that he was incredibly polite, you could run into him in the hallway, knock everything out of his hands, and keep moving and he'd still apologize for running into you. The second was that, for all of his politeness, if you insulted his pompadour, no one could possibly save you from the rampage that followed. A lesson which many new students tended to learn firsthand after thinking that he wouldn't hear their snickering.
Beyond that however, the boy was a mystery. If you were to ask his classmates about him, while most thought positively of him, very few of them knew him very well. Perhaps it was because of his literal hair trigger temper or perhaps it was because of some other unknown reason, but he never seemed to spend time with his fellow students outside of class on a regular basis.
The sole exception to this was his daily trip to cram school with Nanoha Takamachi, Alisa Bannings, and Suzuka Tsukimura.
"Will you hurry up, Josuke!" Alisa called out from ahead of him, "At the rate you're going you're going to make us all late!"
The boy couldn't help but grin as he picked up the pace and caught up with the three girls, "I'm coming. I'm coming," He complained halfheartedly and smiling in spite of himself. Despite it being the only real interaction he had with the three girls outside of class on any given day, he enjoyed their company nonetheless.
"I swear, you're even slower today than you usually are." The blonde haired girl grumbled as he fell into step at the back of their group. The boy sighed, pulling a comb from his pocket and running it through his hair as he mentally prepared himself for one of the girl's infamous tongue lashings. However, Alisa simply shot him a glare and pointed down a hiking trail through a wooded park, "If we want to make it on time we'll have to cut through here."
"The path looks a bit rough though…" Suzuka commented.
"It's fine, if anything happens Josuke will just have to take responsibility!" Alisa insisted, turning on a heel and taking off down the path.
"Alright. Fine, I'll take responsibility." He sighed in resignation as the rest of the group began to move on without him. Even if he wasn't entirely sure what he would have to take responsibility for. Realizing that he was being left behind again, he sprang forward, not wanting to risk a tongue lashing from Alisa when he had so narrowly avoided one.
'..e..lp…'
Josuke blinked at the sudden noise and looked into the forest around him, wondering where the sound had come from. Ahead of him, Nanoha slowed to a stop as she did the same.
"Nanoha?" Alisa asked, looking back at her just as Josuke finally caught up with the group.
"Did you hear something?" She asked, scanning the woods for the sound that had distracted her, "It sounded like a voice…"
Josuke nodded, "Yeah, it was kinda faint though."
Alisa turned and shot a glare at the two of them, "What is with you two today? First you don't do your homework and then Jo-"
'Help me!"
Josuke turned, staring into the woods toward the source of the sound as Nanoha took off towards its source, "H-hey, wait up!" He took off after her, quickly catching up to the girl thanks to his longer legs. Behind him, he heard the distant sound of Alisa angrily shouting at them. Inwardly, he cringed. There was no way he'd avoid getting chewed out now.
"I think I heard it coming from over here!" Nanoha announced, pointing to a clearing between the trees ahead of them. Josuke nodded, skidding to a stop and glancing between the foliage for whoever had called out for him.
"Nanoha, I don't see...." He trailed off as he glanced at his feet, where a small bundle of fur lay. As far as he could tell, it was a rodent of some sort, though it was longer and thinner than any gerbil or mouse he'd ever seen. More importantly though, it was hurt. It's hair frazzled, standing on end, and in many places brown with dried blood. Nanoha immediately knelt down to scoop it up, however the boy immediately moved, placing his arm in front of her to stop her,"Wait." Josuke cautioned, the pigtailed girl froze and looked up at him, "My grandpa told me to be careful around hurt animals." He explained quickly, "He said… um… they're usually scared, so they might bite you."
"Then what should we do?" She asked, concern visible in her eyes.
Josuke gave her a winning smile, "Don't worry, I can take care of it." He said, kneeling down beside her and carefully extending his finger toward the injured animal. It shifted uneasily and stared at it, cautiously sniffing it for several moments before cautiously leaning towards his finger and giving it a lick.
The moment it made contact it jerked backwards, as if startled by some invisible force.
Nanoha let out a cry, "Josuke, what did you do?"
"Healed it." Josuke responded casually, gesturing at the animal.
"What do you mean 'healed it'?" Nanoha asked as she looked at the animal once more. True to Josuke's word, its wounds were healed and it was completely unharmed, as if it had never been hurt in the first place. "What did yo-"
"Nanoha! Josuke!" Alisa's voice cut through the clearing as the blonde girl finally caught up to the two of them with Suzuka on her heels, "Why did you two take off like that?" She demanded, a vein twitching in her forehead.
Nanoha immediately scooped up the animal despite Josuke's squawk of "Careful!", her eyes lingering briefly on the red jewel hanging around its neck, "W-we found this animal and it was hurt!" She explained quickly.
Alisa glanced at the rodent for all of one second and gave Nanoha an annoyed look, "It doesn't look hurt to me."
"That's because I healed it." Josuke said, puffing up with pride.
"How did you heal something that's hurt?" Alisa snapped, "It doesn't have any bandages on it or anything!"
"It touched it."
"You can't just heal something by touching it!"
"I can too!" Josuke fired back, however the pompadoured boy crossed his arms and knit his brow in frustration, "…I'unno, but I've been able to do it forever." He finally protested weakly.
Alisa snorted and marched up to Nanoha, gently taking the animal from her hands, "Whatever. You probably just thought it was hurt." She said dismissively causing Josuke to deflate, "Still… it has a collar, do you think it could be someone's pet?"
"It could be, if we take it to a vet they might know if anyone's reported any missing pets." Suzuka suggested.
"My grandpa's a police officer, so he might have heard something too." Josuke added.
Arisa put her hands on her hips, "Well lets not waste any more time here, we're already gonna be late as is. We'll figure out what to do with it on the way to Cram School."
The other three children nodded, and their group continued onward, ferret in tow.
---------------
"Ack!" The pompadoured boy involuntarily yelped, fidgeting in his seat as his stowaway made yet another attempt at finding a way out of his clothes. He grabbed at the moving lump beneath his shirt and wrangled it until it stopped its escape attempt. He glanced nervously up at the instructor.
Safe.
He let out a sigh of relief, his out burst had gone unnoticed.
"I told you we should have taken it to a vet before we went to class…" Alisa whispered.
Josuke shot her a glare, however it was short lived due to his passenger once again making an escape attempt, this time out of his sleeve. He immediately clamped a hand over his cuff, "You were the one worried that we were going to be late." He replied once he had finally managed to get the infuriating ball of hair under control.
"I'm still worried that it'll bite you…" Nanoha muttered, shooting him a concerned look.
He shot her a winning smile, the same winning smile that all of the girls at school seemed to like, "Don't worry about it. I'm great with animals. Besides, it's better me than you."
The girl hardly looked relieved, "I thought you said that…"
"Just try not to hurt it, okay?" Alisa huffed.
Josuke couldn't help but smirk. Of the four children, he was the least likely of them to hurt the rodent. He would have been more worried if Alisa were the one carrying him around after seeing the way she dealt with the other kids in their class.
"Mr. Higashikata," The instructor called, snapping him out of his musings. On reflex, he stood and faced the man, "Could you please tell us the answer to this example?"
Josuke blanched and quickly looked between the board and the notes in front of him. If you could call them notes that is. With his hands full as they were trying to keep the ferret from getting out of his uniform and running loose in the cram school, he hadn't written a single thing down. He hadn't even paid attention to the teacher since the lesson had started! There was no way he cou-
"Five over thirty four." Nanoha whispered.
"Eh?"
"The answer. It's five over thirty four."
"It's uh… five over thirty four?" Josuke announced uncertainly.
The instructor gave him an unimpressed nod and jotted it down on the board, "Correct. Be sure to thank Ms. Takamachi for her help." A few children throughout the room chuckled and the man immediately resumed his lecture. With a nervous laugh, Josuke dropped back into his seat.
"Thanks…" He muttered, giving the pigtailed girl a grateful nod, "So what should we do with him if gramps can't find its owner?"
"I have cats at my house, so it'd be dangerous for it to stay with us…" Suzuka whispered.
"And I have dogs, so it wouldn't be much safer at my place." Alisa added.
"Mom doesn't like animals, I've asked for a pet before." Josuke contributed somewhat piteously.
The three of them immediately glanced at Nanoha, their last hope for finding the animal a home, "W-why are you looking at me like that?" She muttered, fidgeting under their gaze, "My family runs a bakery, so having an animal around goes against the…" She trailed off as Josuke began to fidget again, a grimace crossing his face, "D-did it bite you?"
Josuke shook his head and gave her an uneasy smile, "N-no, it… Uh…" His face flushed, "It just tried to get away and nearly got into my pants."
"Told you we should have taken it to the vet."
-------------
The Higashikata household was not a typical one. That wasn't to say that it was dangerous to Josuke, or even unpleasant. His mother was loving and supportive, as was his grandfather who lived with them. His mother, a middle school teacher, was always able to assist him with his homework if he needed it and his grandfather, a police officer, was ever the role model teaching him to respect his elders, the law, and those in positions of authority.
What he was missing was a father. It wasn't that his father abandoned his mother when he was young, no, it was that his father had left when he was conceived. Josuke had never seen the man's face, nor did he know the man's name. All he knew was that he was from the United Kingdom, that his mother still loved him dearly, and that his grandfather would, 'Give him a new hole to breathe through if he ever showed his face again.'
However, in spite of all of this, his mother did the best she could, and with her father's assistance they gave Josuke the finest childhood they could manage.
"A lost ferret?" Ryohei Higashikata asked between bites of his dinner, "Can't say I've heard any reports of that down at the station, though I can check tonight."
Josuke beamed, "Great! Thanks grandpa!"
"Don't speak with your mouth open Josuke," His mother Tomoko chided, "What's got you asking about lost animals anyway."
Josuke rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Well… me and a few of my friends found one in the park on the way to cram school and we were hoping one of us could keep it if it didn't belong to anyone…"
Tomoko and Ryohei shared a long suffering look that spoke of them having had the conversation a thousand times before, "Josuke…" Ryohei began.
The pompadoured boy put his hands up defensively, "N-no, I told them that we couldn't keep a pet… uh… I dunno who's going to take care of it."
"Well where is it now?" Josuke's mother asked.
"At the vet, we weren't sure what to do with it so we left it there for the night."
Ryohei gave Josuke a gentle pat on the shoulder, "Josuke, don't get your hopes up too high, if it has an owner you know you'll have to return it right?"
The boy nodded, though a sullen look crossed his face as he did, "Yeah, I know grandpa."
"Good," The man said with a nod, "Though if one of your friends does start taking care of the little fella' they'll be happy to have you over to visit him whenever you can."
Josuke perked up almost immediately at the man's words, "You think so?"
"Of course." The man stood up from the table and carried his emptied plate to the sink and shot Josuke a wide grin, "Of course, your mother and I will only let you go if you've finished your homework."
"Ah man…"
---------------
Josuke stifled a yawn and leaned back in his desk chair. His grandfather's words had worked, the moment he had finished dinner he had gone straight to his room and went straight to work on his homework rather than his usual ritual of going straight to the living room and playing video games.
"Hmm…"
He frowned, staring down at the math problem and scratching out a few equations as he tried to puzzle his way through the problem. Math wasn't exactly his strongest subject, he wasn't quite as bad at it as Suzuka seemed to be if cram school was any indication, but he wasn't quite as good at it as Nanoha or Alisa were either. Maybe he just had to-
The door to his room cracked open and his mother looked in, "Josuke, I left a stack of papers I need to grade at school and I have to go pick them up, will you be alright on your own?"
Josuke glanced up from his paper and nodded, "Yeah mom, I'll be fine."
She gave him a proud smile, "Alright, if I'm not back in an hour or so be sure you're in bed by nine. And don't go outside"
"'kay." He turned his eyes back to his homework as his door clicked shut. However as he looked down at the paper something occurred to him.
He had forgotten where was.
He slumped in his chair, "That's just great."
He glared down at the assignment, if he didn't finish it, he wouldn't be able to go and see the ferret if they didn't find it's owners.
A scratch came from the window.
"Hm?" Josuke glanced up, disturbed once more from his work by a faint scratching sound at his window. He tried to ignored it for a full minute, however the scratching only became more furious.
With a huff, the boy stood up and crossed the room to investigate, opening his window and sticking his head outside "Hello?" He called into the darkness, "Grandpa? Mom? Are you home already?" That didn't make a whole lot of sense, his grandpa was working that night, and his mom hadn't been gone for more than ten minutes and it would take her at least twenty to get to the school where she worked.
After a full minute without a response, Josuke sighed and pulled his window shut. He was probably just imagining things. That was probably something that happened after working on homework too long. Clearly, it was time for a break, he reasoned. He returned to his desk and moved to put his homework away for the time being…
And paused.
Something had moved. When he had walked to the window, his assignment had been on top of his notebook, but now it had slid off toward the edge of the desk. It couldn't have been the wind, it wasn't a windy night and he certainly hadn't moved it. "Probably just being crazy…" He muttered, neatly stacking his papers where they belonged.
He froze as he heard another sound behind him, a faint rustling sound coming from on top of his bed, as if something were scurrying on top of it. The boy spun only for his jaw to drop in surprise.
"Ferret?" He said dumbly. Not just any ferret, but the very ferret he had found that afternoon with Nanoha!
"Hello." The animal greeted, giving a slight bow.
Josuke stared at the animal on his bed. Had it just…
…It had.
"Y-you can talk?" The boy squawked, falling over backwards and nearly hitting his head on his desk as he flopped to the floor.
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry for surprising you." The animal said, hopping down from atop his bed and padding over beside him, "I simply came to thank you for healing me this afternoon and to ask you a favor."
Josuke blinked and bit his lip, his mind still attempting to process the fact that what he had assumed was a rodent was speaking to him, "D-don't mention it. W-what are you?"
"My name is Yuuno Scrya." It responded, "I came here from another world to search for something I lost and was injured by it in the process."
"What d'you mean another world?" Josuke asked, tilting his head, "And how did it injure you? Is that why you were hurt when Nanoha and I found you?"
The ferret flicked its tail, and opened its mouth to respond, however the words died in its throat. It spun to the still open window and stared out into the darkness, "Oh no, it's followed me!"
"What? What's followed you?"
"The thing I was searching for-," Yuuno began, only to be cut off by a high pitched screech from outside of the house. Its eyes widened and it whipped its head toward Josuke, "We need to move! Now!"
The wall exploded and great writhing shadowy mass of something burst into the room, crashing through Josuke's desk as it tackled the space where the ferret was a moment before. Josuke had grabbed it as he dived out of the way, sliding across the room and taking the rodent with him. "Wh-what is that thing?" He asked, staring at it as he grabbed the banister of his bed and pulled himself back to his feet.
Before the ferret could respond, the thing moved, tendrils bursting from its mass as it hurtled toward Josuke with tremendous speed.
The boy didn't cry out in shock, he didn't even flinch. The instant the monster dove at him, he regained his composure and stared it down with cool eyes.
His outline blurred and something within him came forth to stop the monster's attack. A semitransparent arm lashed out from within his own, the length of a grown mans but twice as thick, its skin was bubblegum pink, and across the arm were baby blue plates like armor. The rest of its body followed suit, torso, legs, and head all came from within the pompadoured boy.
"DORA!"
It stood tall between Josuke and the monster, dwarfing the boy with its incredible height, the rest of its body was as muscular and pink as the arm which was buried up to the elbow in the creature, with more armor esque plates covering it, the ones on its knees and chin in the shapes of hearts. Its head was covered with a blue helmet, coming to a heart shaped crest at its apex, and its eyes were visible through its slits.
The ghostly figure withdrew its arm with a squelch, cocking the other back as it did.
"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"
Sound like machine gun fire filled the room as the figure's fists all but vanished from sight, pummeling the shadowy mass in a furious flurry of punches. The creature was almost instantly torn to pieces, each blow tearing through its mass and sending softball sized chunks of it hurtling through what remained of the walls in sprays of sawdust.
Josuke turned on his heel, his back to the ghostly form that stared out after the shredded creature, its fists still held up in a defensive stance, and shot the ferret a triumphant grin, "Hey Yuuno? I beat up the thing that beat you up."
-----------
Yuuno stared up at the boy, glancing between him and the ghostly figure that still hovered between him and the outside. The boy was a summoner on top of a healer? It seemed as though that was the case, but he hadn't seen any movement magic being used. Still, the boy was powerful, and as little as he wanted to involve others in this mess, at the moment he needed any assistance he could find.
"Will you help me?"
"Eh?" The boy jerked a thumb over his shoulder into the night, "But I just beat it up. It should leave you alone now."
Yuuno shook his head and dashed toward the hole in the wall, peering out into the street. The wall around the property was in nearly the same condition as the boy's walls, dozens of holes no doubt created by the chunks of the creature peppered it. The street was much the same, the concrete freckled with craters, however within them shadowy tendrils emerged, "No that isn't enough! This creature can repair itself, at this point it will already have begun to regenerate!" He explained, glancing over his shoulder at the native mage, "If it isn't sealed it will continue to repair itself and continue to attack us."
"O…kay?" The boy said, tilting his head in confusion, "How do we do that?"
"I haven't been able to gather enough mana to complete the sealing spell while binding it in place," Yuuno explained, wincing as he recalled his previous failed attempt, "If you can hold it still long enough, I should be able to seal it."
The boy nodded and moved to his side, his summon trailing behind him, "I got it, you can count on me!"
--------------
Josuke didn't actually get it.
Mana? Sealing?
It all sounded like something out of a video game.
Still...
The boy glanced up at the ghostly figure of his guardian and through the hole in his wall to the street below.
That thing was dangerous and he wasn't the kind of person to leave a problem like that alone.
Josuke leaped out of the hole that was once his wall and into the street below, the pink and blue guardian moving ahead of him and catching him before he hit the ground. Yuuno followed, hot on his heels, his slender body somehow slowing itself as he approached the ground. The shadow creature writhed in the center of the street, its body not completely repaired, black tendrils spiraling out of its body to collect the chunks that were scattered in several small craters around the street.
Right, I just need to hold this thing still long enough for Yuuno to seal this thing. Whatever that means. Josuke thought to himself as he cautiously approached it.
One of its many tendrils lashed out, hurtling towards Josuke like a spear, however his guardian was already at the ready, its arm easily raised to deflect it to the side where it skewered through a street light. The creature's form shuddered for an instant and it retracted its tendril. The street light died, plunging the area behind him into darkness. That instant was all it took. Josuke lunged forward, his guardian leading the charge as he closed in on it.
"DOOOORA!"
It punched, the street cratering beneath the blow's force as the creature was driven into the pavement, reducing it to an expanding pool of black shadowy sludge.
Josuke smirked, Too easy.
He activated his guardian's power and both the pavement was restored. The creature was dragged along for the ride, its sludge like body combining with the repairing pavement as it reassembled itself into the street, pinning the creature in place.
Or that's what should have happened.
The mass of shadow rolled from where it was, revealing undamaged asphalt in the center of the street as it enveloped Josuke's feet. It spiraled upward, lifting the boy into the air and flipping him head over heels as it did.
"Gwah!" He cried out as his feet were swept out from under him and his world was turned upside down. With a thought, his ghostly defender swept its leg out, severing one of the tendrils even as the other tendril moved to force the guardian away from Josuke. His guardian moved faster, its hand shooting out and grasping the retreating tentacle. The tentacle was crushed in the vice like grip of its hand, dropping Josuke to the ground in a heap. He rolled to his feet as quickly as he could, even as the puddle that was the creature began to retreat across the street. The boy wasted no time taking off after it, his phantom shooting out above his head and launching downward at the beast with a furious kick. The street exploded upward from the impact, sending the creature hurtling into the air in a shower of asphalt.
"DOOOORA!"
The boy's guardian lunged after it, its arms spread wide as it knocked the creature out of the air with a full body tackle. It folded its arms around the creature and pinned it to its body. It went as well as one could expect bear hugging a mass of sentient shadow to, as a moment later, the creature flowed like water from the figures arms and escaped its grip. The guardian lunged after it once more, scooping the creature off the ground and once more closing its arms tightly around it and once again the creature slipped free.
Josuke bit his lip, "I can't combine it with the street and I can't hold it still! It just slips away when I try to grab it!" He called, looking to the ferret, "Eh?" He blinked in surprise as he saw the motes of green light appearing around the animal.
So that was sealing. Cool.
"If you can't hold it, then just try and keep it in one place for as long as you can!" Yuuno called.
Josuke nodded, he could do that.
He charged, his guardian hovering before him with its arm cocked back in preparation of launching another volley of punches. The creature took some time to reform every time he pulverized it, so all he had to do was to keep it pulverized and Yuuno could seal it.
The monster shuddered, two red eyes appearing within its mass as it launched into the air and reformed, its body once more coalescing into a single blob like mass. A pink and blue fist shot after it, only to fall short as the creature propelled itself further upwards. It froze in midair, the two eyes focused on the pompadoured boy from where it hovered, twenty feet above the street, and once again its mass began to twist and roil. Countless whip like tendrils emerged from its body, each wriggling like a serpent and barely visible in the light from the street lamps. However even in the dim light Josuke could see that they tapered off into deadly points.
It moved, faster than it had ever moved before as it hurtled down at Josuke and his guardian specter like a meteor, dozens of tendrils lashing out to tear his body to shreds. The guardian's fists responded in kind, each movement deflecting a tendril to the side of its user even as Josuke dodged away, shuffling backwards as quickly as his legs could carry him.
"DORARARARARARARARARARARA!"
However, for all of its speed and strength, the guardian only had two hands to deflect the monster's tendrils with and in the face of such an assault it could only keep up for so long before the creature began to overwhelm it. A nick there, a scratch there, and it slowly began to break through his guard.
However, it wasn't moving around the street any longer.
"Yuuno! It's in one place, seal it!" Josuke called out, his eyes not breaking contact from the creature even as scratches appeared across his arms to match those of his guardian.
"Nearly there!" The ferret responded from where it still stood. As he spoke, the jewel around his neck shined brightly and a circle of emerald light burst into existence around it. The pattern within it spun far too quickly to make out the details within.
"Jewel Seed Seal!" Yuuno cried. Four points around the circle flashed and glowing chains of light erupted from the ring's circumference, arcing and twisting through the street as they enveloped the creature. Its tendrils retracted and for a brief moment, its crimson eyes vanished within the mass as the creature began to shrink.
An instant later however, it swelled and the chains binding it began to strain.
"I… can't… seal… it!" The ferret gritted out, and the chains binding the shadowy mass shattered. What little remained of them were instantly absorbed by the creature and its crimson 'eyes' doubled in their intensity. Yuuno collapsed to the ground from the exertion and the creature turned on him.
"DOOOOORAAAAAA!"
The fist of Josuke's Guardian struck it, catching it unawares and launching it clear of the exhausted animal with a sound like a cannon. The boy moved, scooping up the injured creature and cradling it in his arms as he watched the shadowy creature slide to a stop.
"I'm sorry…" Yuuno panted, "The sealing failed, I used too much magic when I first encountered it and I couldn't sustain the spell."
"Then what can we do?"
"You'll have to seal it." Yuuno said, "Take the device around my neck." Josuke shot the ferret an incredulous look and did as he was told, slipping the gem from around the animals neck. It was warm where it rested in the palm of his hand. "Now repeat after-"
"[USER INCOMPATIBLE]" The gem chimed in a feminine voice, cutting off its owner, "[I WILL BE UNABLE TO CREATE A USER PROFILE]"
Josuke stared down at the jewel. "That doesn't sound good."
"It… isn't." Yuuno replied, "If you're so incompatible that you can't even create a guest profile, then you won't be able to boot it up."
"And that means I won't be able to seal it." Josuke finished. He glanced around the street, surveying the damage that the brief exchange had done to the street. On top of the craters, hundreds, if not thousands of coin sized holes now decorated the street on either side of where he had stopped its assault.
He thought of his grandpa, working as a police officer and tirelessly protecting the town. There was no way he'd be able to protect the town from a monster like this, he didn't have a guardian like he did and he doubted he was able to create magical chains like Yuuno could.
'It's gonna take me a while to fix those once I kick this things ass.' He thought to himself as he turned his eyes back to the creature.
Right now, the only ones who could deal with it were him and the ferret, "We can't leave this thing alone. Now what do we do?"
A pensive look crossed Yuuno's face, "I have an idea, but we'll need time."
Josuke glanced down at his bleeding knuckles. He wouldn't be able to keep a straight fight up with it for much longer. There was no doubt about it, that creature was getting faster the longer the fight ran on. Josuke frowned. He'd been in plenty of fights before, granted the majority of them had been started by him, and he'd only ever fought people, but this wasn't his first rodeo.
He knew full well what to do when faced with a fight that he wasn't likely to win.
"Yuuno the only thing I could think to do to stop it didn't work, but I can definitely get you time."
And so, Josuke Higashikata ran away.
--------------------
'Someone, please help us!'
For the second time in twenty four hours, Nanoha Takamachi found herself running towards a voice calling for help. The girl turned down a side street as she pursued the phantom voice. She took no heed of where she was going as she ran through the streets of Uminari City in her pajamas, her thoughts were too focused on what she may find when she reached her destination.
She turned the corner, and focused as she was on her thoughts, she ran head first into what was approaching from the other side, pain lanced through her hands as she tried to break her fall and she was knocked onto her rear.
"Get up, you've got to run!" A familiar voice shouted. The pain in her hands immediately subsided as she felt herself bein dragged to her feet by none other than Josuke Higashikata carrying the ferret the two had found earlier that day, "N-Nanoha, what are you doing here!?!"
"I heard-" Her answer was cut off as she felt herself being lifted into the air over Josuke's head by a pair of powerful arms, out of the way of a mass of rolling shadow crashed into the space where she had just been standing. The shadowy mass's sleek body tore through the asphalt as it came to a stop. It turned, it's crimson eyes zeroing in on the boy.
The girl tried to look to see who had lifted her out of the way, but there was nothing there, she could feel the hands holding her in the air, but there was nothing there.
"A-already!?!" Josuke cried, taking a step away from the creature. The invisible hands holding Nanoha into the air shifted, sending her careening over the pompadoured boy's head and dropping her in a heap leaving him between her and the monster.
The beast let out a high pitched metallic shriek and lunged, it's entire body elongating into a lance as it hurled itself at her classmate, however moments before an invisible force struck the shadowy mass in its side, redirecting its path just enough to miss the boy and the girl he was defending. Josuke circled around her to stand between her and the beast she found her feet
"Wh-what's happening?" Nanoha cried, looking between the monster where it was looming down the street and her classmate, "Wh-what is that thing? What picked me up?"
The creature's body swirled and dozens of shadowy appendeges erupted from its body. It lunged and Josuke leaned forward, the appendages changing direction in midair and skewering the road on both sides of them, "There's no time to explain, you need to get away from here!" Josuke barked.
"Wait!" The animal in his arms cut in, "She's heard my calls twice now, she must have the potential!"
"I-it can talk?!?" Nanoha squeaked, looking at the animal as if it had grown a second head.
Josuke simply grunted in affirmation as he was forced to take a step back, the oncoming tide of tendrils from the creature coming closer and closer to the boy before they changed direction.
The ferret hopped out of Josuke's arms and onto Nanoha's shoulder, "Right now you're our only hope, if someone doesn't stop that thing right now there's no telling what kind of destruction it will cause, and neither he nor I have the ability to stop it permanantly."
Nanoha glanced at Josuke, she could see that he was hurt, his hands were bleeding, his lip was split, and his clothing was torn. A thousand questions stormed through the girls mind. How long had he been fighting this thing? How was he fighting a monster like that? Why was he fighting it to begin with?
She turned her gaze to the animal on her shoulder, determination in her eyes, "What do I need to do?"
--------------
"DORARARARARARARARARARA!"
Josuke grit his teeth as his pink and blue guardian struggled against the creature. It was getting faster and the guardian couldn't keep up with the creature's strikes any longer, forcing him to pick and choose which blows to deflect. The serious strikes were knocked aside, while the glancing blows were allowed through his guard.
The boy grit his teeth as countless nicks and scratches appeared across his body. Both his arms and lungs burned with exertion, but the struggle continued.
"DORARARARARARARARARARARA!"
He was forced to dodge backwards, slowly giving the precious ground between the creature and Nanoha, "Can't hold this… much longer…" He said through gritted teeth.
A single tendril slipped between the guardians deft hands and pierced its bicep with a spray of blood. The wound reflected on Josuke simultaneously, a red stain blossoming across his shirt's sleeve. He let out a cry of pain he dropped to his knees. With a shriek, the creature barreled over his downed form toward the pajama clad girl and the ferret. Josuke spun, fire in his eyes, and lunged after it with his good hand outstretched. The pink and blue phantom mimicked him, lunging forward and at the tail end of the creature…!
…The hand grasped nothing but air and the creatures hurled onwards towards the girl, it's tendrils primed to strike.
"No!"
It lashed out, eight doezen lances of shadows hurtling towards Nanoha as she stood completely still, focusing on the jewel in her hand.
"Raising Heart, Set Up!" She cried. Power gathered, and the girl was enveloped in a pillar of pink light. The tendrils caught within it disintegrated and the creature lunged away to escape the girl's aura.
The creature crashed down into the street in a shower of asphalt just as the light that engulfed Nanoha faded.
Josuke stared.
Nanoha stood, her twin tails fluttering gently in the wind, and her eyes set on the creature in determination. Gone were her pajamas, in their place was a pure white dress trimmed in blue, reminiscent of their school uniform, with a red bow emblazoned on the chest. In her hand was a staff, capped with a golden ornament and a brilliant red jewel, clearly a larger version of the one Yuuno had been carrying.
The creature emitted a high pitched shriek as it leaped into the air, its body twisting into a lance as it flung itself once more over Josuke's downed form at the new threat. "As if I'd let you…!" Josuke snarled, pulling himself to his knees with his uninjured arm. His phantom shooting towards the creature with its fist outstretched as he did.
"DOOOOOORA!"
Its fist sank into the creatures form, clear up to the phantoms elbow, but the creature's momentum carried it onward. With a squelching sound, the fist tore out the back of the creature with a spray of ichor, and the creature continued on toward the girl.
Nanoha screamed and looked away, raising her staff in front of her like a shield.
"[PROTECTION]" The staff chimed and its gem shined. A shower of pink light sprung from within and coalesced into a sphere around the girl. The creature rammed into it with a shower of sparks, its body twisting and swirling as it attempted to drill through the barrier. Nanoha opened one eye, saw the creature's futile attempt, and her look of fear turned to one of confidence.
A hairline fracture spread through the barrier with a loud crack from where the creature was writhing against it.
Nanoha reacted instantly, bringing her staff back like a club and smashing it against her barrier.
It exploded outward, its form shattering into shards which tore through the creature's body and carved it into dozens of shadowy chunks that were scattered throughout the street.
Josuke staggered to his feet and ran to the girl's side, his injured arm hanging at his side, "That won't work, I've tried smashing it already!" He cried out as the creature once again began to bring itself back together.
"Nanoha can seal it!" Yuuno responded from where he stood at the girl in question's feet, "She just needs time to cast the spell!"
Josuke nodded and turned his back to the girl, "Alright, I'll keep distracting it while she seals it."
"Wait!" Nanoha cried before he could take a step toward the creature, "You're hurt! I can take care of it for now, just-"
"No." The boy responded with finality, "My grandpa's a police officer. He's protected this town for as long as I can remember, and if he can't be here to protect people and stop this thing, then I will." He shot Nanoha his winning smile, "And besides, I've got a plan! You just have to follow my lead!"
He took off down the street, his guardian taking point in front of him.
"But you can't!"
Josuke didn't bother responding as he sped toward the all but restored creature. The guardian lashed out, its uninjured fist easily tearing through the vulnerable form of the shadowy creature. Its crimson eyes turned to the charging boy and it produced its tendrils, preparing to meet another volley of punches with its own flurry of strikes.
…only for the boy to turn at the last second and pass the creature by. It lashed out, only for its lances to come up short as the guardian shot ahead, grabbed its owner, and pulled him out of the creature's reach, "Come on ugly, come and get me!"
The creature met his taunt with its metallic shriek and took off after him. Whatever lead he had was gone in an instant as he felt the creature looming in on him. He turned down a side street, leaning into the turn as the creatures tendrils went wide, "Weren't you faster than that before? What's the matter? Can't keep up with me?" He called back haughtily, sparing a glance over his shoulder.
'Nanoha and Yuuno are behind me, good, this might actually work!'
His guardian's fist pounded into one of the walls lining the street, shattering it into gravel and reforming it behind him into a wall as he ran onward. He doubted it would hold the creature long, if at all, but he was hoping it would by him half a second at least. He sprinted onward, his legs burning from all the running he had been doing that night.
He felt a chunk of asphalt hit him in the back followed by another one of the creature's shrieks. He grit his teeth, 'Faster than I thought…!' Fortunately he had put an entire street between it and him, and hopefully that would be enough to get him to the destination before him. His guardian tore through the fence before him and he leaped through, just in time to avoid it reforming.
It took the creature mere seconds before it had already caught up with him, the reformed fence collapsing beneath the creatures mass like rice paper. Josuke came to a stop before solid metal structure beyond the fence and spun to face the creature, his expression completely calm.
"Hurry Nanoha, he's cornered!"
The creature lunged at him, tendrils at the ready to strike him down…
…And Josuke ducked beneath it, a smirk on his face, "I'm not cornered, I'm right where I need to be." He panted as the creature crashed through the power transformer. Sparks flew and electricity arced through the air as the entirety of the neighborhood's electricity surged through the thrashing creature's body. The streetlights overhead flickered and dimmed as sparks shot out of the transformer until the arcs of electricity across through the creature's body were the only thing illuminating the area.
"I saw what happened when you hit that light pole," The boy said as he staggered to his feet, whipped out his comb with his good arm, and ran it through his frazzled pompadour as he watched the shriek and writhe in pain. "I've been living in this neighborhood since I was a little kid. Every Saturday for as long as I can remember, I've played with my friends in the park near here. My mom buys groceries at a store a few blocks from here." He stashed his comb and put his uninjured hand on his hip while his other hand hung at his side to minimize the pain of moving it about.
"If you think I'm going to corner myself here, you've got another thing coming."
The arcs of electricity finally died as the creature's wild thrashing finally cleared it from the transformer and the area fell into darkness.
"DOOOOOOORAAAAA!"
The guardian's fist struck the destroyed machine and the damage was undone, metal plating, copper wire, and the remainder of the components of the transformer gathered back where they had once been. The streetlights returned to life for an instant, however the creature was gone. Not because he had destroyed it, but because he had reformed the transformer around it.
A lance of shadow ripped out of the box, coming inches from Josuke's face before electricity surged through the creature once more, disintegrating it and once again reeking havoc on the neighborhoods power system.
"Josuke!" Nanoha called as she sprinted up the road, her voice heavy with concern.
The boy turned and shot the girl a grin, "I got it!" He responded proudly.
Nanoha's features softened in relief as she approached and she raised her staff, "Jewel Seed Seal!" She intoned, her voice cutting through the shrieking of the creature. The area alit once more, this time in soft pink light as ribbons of magic emerged from the staff's jewel and enveloped the creature, tearing it from where it was trapped within power converter. It let out one final shriek as the ribbons tightened around its body which trailed off as it vanished.
A small blue jewel appeared in midair where the creature had just vanished from. It shot toward the staff in Nanoha's hand and was absorbed into the jewel at its end.
"[RECEIPT NUMBER 21]" The staff chimed as the number displayed across its jewel in a flash of pink.
"…Is that it? Did we seal it?" Josuke asked, panting, as he flopped to the ground, even as his guardian gave the machine one last punch, restoring it completely and returning power to the neighborhood before it vanished into his body.
"Josuke!" Nanoha ran to his side, her white dress vanishing and her pajamas returning as she knelt down beside him, "Your arm! You're hurt!"
Josuke attempted to wave her away but to no avail, "It got my arm while I was trying to keep it away from you," He finally admitted, allowing the girl to fuss over him, "Wasn't really thinking of it at the time. I was focused on the monster."
"Why haven't you healed it yet?" Yuuno asked from Nanoha's shoulder, "With your skill in healing it shouldn't be a problem."
"My power doesn't work on me."
A silence fell over the three as Yuuno stared at the pompadoured boy, "I've never heard of a limitation like that to healing magic. Why not?"
Josuke tilted his head in confusion, "Magic? I can't do magic. Kinda seems like magic though." He gingerly touched his injured arm and grimaced as a bolt of pain lanced up it, "I've never been able to 'fix' myself when I'm hurt, it just hasn't ever worked."
"In that case I-" Yuuno began, only to be cut off by the sounds of sirens.
Josuke's face paled and his eyes darted around the area. From the fence and into the street that lead to it, taking in the damage. He knew exactly who would be coming; the police. And since his grandpa was on call…
"W-we need to leave." He offered his good hand to Nanoha, "W-would you help me up please?" The girl did as he asked and the boy gave her a grateful smile. She looped her arm around his waist and began to help him get away from the scene of the fight.
---------------
"I think we should be alright here," Josuke grunted, breaking the nervous silence over the three of them. They came to a stop in a park, far enough away from the power station that the sounds of the sirens were barely audible. Nanoha helped Josuke onto a nearby bench and he let out a sigh of exhaustion, "Thanks…"
"Would you like me to treat your arm?" Yuuno asked, hopping down to the bench from where he was riding on Nanoha's shoulder. The boy nodded and the ferret raised its paw toward his injury and it began to emit pale green light, "I'm afraid it won't be as fast or as complete as when you healed me."
"Don't worry about it," He said easily, letting out a sigh of relief as the light washed over his injury and the pain began to recede, "I don't think I ever introduced myself, did I?" He gave the ferret as much of a bow as he could manage from his position, "My name's Josuke Higashikata."
Nanoha found herself giggling at the ridiculous sight of her classmate introducing himself to a ferret, in spite of everything that happened, "And I'm Nanoha Takamachi. But you can call me Nanoha."
The ferret nodded, still concentrating on Josuke's injury, "My name is Yuuno Scrya, however Scrya is the name of my clan, so you can just call me Yuuno." He said, sparing a glance at the pajama clad girl.
"So you came to Uminari chasing that monster, right?" Josuke asked, "What was it? And why did it come here?"
Yuuno remained silent for several moments as he considered his words, "Members of the Scrya clan are Archaeaologists. The Jewel Seed which Nanoha captured with Raising Heart was one of a group of artifacts I uncovered on a recent dig within a collapsed pillar, and it's what created that monster."
Nanoha's brow furrowed, "So you accidentally released the monster?"
"Not exactly." Yuuno said with a shake of his head, "When I uncovered them my clan contained them immediately."
"Then how did they end up here? And why did a jewel turn into a monster?"
"I was traveling with them while they were being transported to someone who was more qualified to research their properties, but the ship I was traveling in had some sort of accident and they were released onto your world." The ferret explained, "As for how it turned into a monster, we aren't entirely sure. The current theory is that they respond to wishes, but when used improperly they go out of control and cause all sorts of damage."
Josuke groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free arm, "So who thought it was a good idea to wish for a shadow monster?"
Yuuno laughed humorlessly, "Probably no one. Like I said, I'm still not sure how the Jewel Seeds work, that could very well have been some kind of self-defense program."
"And there's more than just this one running around?" Josuke asked, "That's bad news."
Yuuno's head dipped in shame, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for dragging you into this and that you were hurt trying to help me." The light at his paw dimmed and the ferret sat down at the boy's side, "I plan to seal the rest of them on my own, so please don't worry about this any longer."
"You can't!" Nanoha objected, "You already got hurt once trying to seal one on your own, and Josuke got hurt helping me seal this one." She said, gesturing at Josuke's now healed arm, which the boy was experimentally flexing and extending, "If you try and do it on your own…"
"But they're my responsibility!" Yuuno protested, "It's my duty to-"
Josuke folded his arms in thought even as the ferret was cut off by a pink hand covering his mouth, "Nanoha's right, we can't let you deal with these things on your own. If they're around here they'll keep causing people trouble, and we can't let that happen, right Nanoha?" Josuke looked at the girl expectantly, only to find her gaping at the semi transparent arm emerging from his own, "…Nanoha?"
"W-what is that?" She sputtered, pointing at his phantom limb and jumping backwards in fright.
Josuke looked up and down several times in rapid succession, between his guardian's arm and the girl, "…you can see him now?" He asked. His outline shifted and his guardian fully manifested behind him, shifting its posture to match that of its user.
Nanoha eeped.
"You couldn't see him earlier when I had him move you out of the way of the monster…" Josuke thought aloud, "At least I don't think you could, could you?"
Nanoha nervously shook her head no and cautiously approached the boy and his guardian, "So what is he?"
Josuke looked up at his guardian and shrugged, "I dunno. He just showed up one day along with my restoring power, but no one's ever been able to see him until today. I kinda just stopped talking about him after everyone told me I was imagining things."
"Then he's how you healed Yuuno this afternoon?"
"Yep."
Nanoha circled around Josuke and looked up at the guardian, no longer intimidated by its presence. Her blue eyes met the figure's pink and it nodded almost imperceptibly at her. She gave it a warm smile in response.
Josuke began to shift uncomfortably, unused to so much attention being paid to a part of him which normally went unnoticed.
"Perhaps that's why Raising Heart was unable to make a profile for you," Yuuno spoke up, his mouth no longer covered by a phantom hand, "I thought you were using a summon, but I haven't heard of any phenomenon like this before."
"I-is it weird?"
"No, I think it's cool!" Nanoha chirped, giving the boy a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "He looks really strong! What's his name?"
Josuke let out a sigh of relief and withdrew the guardian into his body, "He is strong." He said, puffing up with pride, only to immediately deflate, "…I haven't actually named him anything." He admitted, looking down at his feet bashfully.
It was then that he noticed his watch.
"Oh my god!" Josuke cried, jerking upward, "My mom's gonna be home in like… ten minutes and that thing destroyed my room! If I'm not home…" He trailed off and immediately took off toward the parks exit, leaving Nanoha and Yuuno in the dust, "See you at school Nanoha! We can talk about this more then!"
</To Be Continued/<
Chapter 1: Like a Diamond in the Sky
There were two things that every student at Seishou Elementary school knew about Josuke Higashikata. The first was that he was incredibly polite, you could run into him in the hallway, knock everything out of his hands, and keep moving and he'd still apologize for running into you. The second was that, for all of his politeness, if you insulted his pompadour, no one could possibly save you from the rampage that followed. A lesson which many new students tended to learn firsthand after thinking that he wouldn't hear their snickering.
Beyond that however, the boy was a mystery. If you were to ask his classmates about him, while most thought positively of him, very few of them knew him very well. Perhaps it was because of his literal hair trigger temper or perhaps it was because of some other unknown reason, but he never seemed to spend time with his fellow students outside of class on a regular basis.
The sole exception to this was his daily trip to cram school with Nanoha Takamachi, Alisa Bannings, and Suzuka Tsukimura.
"Will you hurry up, Josuke!" Alisa called out from ahead of him, "At the rate you're going you're going to make us all late!"
The boy couldn't help but grin as he picked up the pace and caught up with the three girls, "I'm coming. I'm coming," He complained halfheartedly and smiling in spite of himself. Despite it being the only real interaction he had with the three girls outside of class on any given day, he enjoyed their company nonetheless.
"I swear, you're even slower today than you usually are." The blonde haired girl grumbled as he fell into step at the back of their group. The boy sighed, pulling a comb from his pocket and running it through his hair as he mentally prepared himself for one of the girl's infamous tongue lashings. However, Alisa simply shot him a glare and pointed down a hiking trail through a wooded park, "If we want to make it on time we'll have to cut through here."
"The path looks a bit rough though…" Suzuka commented.
"It's fine, if anything happens Josuke will just have to take responsibility!" Alisa insisted, turning on a heel and taking off down the path.
"Alright. Fine, I'll take responsibility." He sighed in resignation as the rest of the group began to move on without him. Even if he wasn't entirely sure what he would have to take responsibility for. Realizing that he was being left behind again, he sprang forward, not wanting to risk a tongue lashing from Alisa when he had so narrowly avoided one.
'..e..lp…'
Josuke blinked at the sudden noise and looked into the forest around him, wondering where the sound had come from. Ahead of him, Nanoha slowed to a stop as she did the same.
"Nanoha?" Alisa asked, looking back at her just as Josuke finally caught up with the group.
"Did you hear something?" She asked, scanning the woods for the sound that had distracted her, "It sounded like a voice…"
Josuke nodded, "Yeah, it was kinda faint though."
Alisa turned and shot a glare at the two of them, "What is with you two today? First you don't do your homework and then Jo-"
'Help me!"
Josuke turned, staring into the woods toward the source of the sound as Nanoha took off towards its source, "H-hey, wait up!" He took off after her, quickly catching up to the girl thanks to his longer legs. Behind him, he heard the distant sound of Alisa angrily shouting at them. Inwardly, he cringed. There was no way he'd avoid getting chewed out now.
"I think I heard it coming from over here!" Nanoha announced, pointing to a clearing between the trees ahead of them. Josuke nodded, skidding to a stop and glancing between the foliage for whoever had called out for him.
"Nanoha, I don't see...." He trailed off as he glanced at his feet, where a small bundle of fur lay. As far as he could tell, it was a rodent of some sort, though it was longer and thinner than any gerbil or mouse he'd ever seen. More importantly though, it was hurt. It's hair frazzled, standing on end, and in many places brown with dried blood. Nanoha immediately knelt down to scoop it up, however the boy immediately moved, placing his arm in front of her to stop her,"Wait." Josuke cautioned, the pigtailed girl froze and looked up at him, "My grandpa told me to be careful around hurt animals." He explained quickly, "He said… um… they're usually scared, so they might bite you."
"Then what should we do?" She asked, concern visible in her eyes.
Josuke gave her a winning smile, "Don't worry, I can take care of it." He said, kneeling down beside her and carefully extending his finger toward the injured animal. It shifted uneasily and stared at it, cautiously sniffing it for several moments before cautiously leaning towards his finger and giving it a lick.
The moment it made contact it jerked backwards, as if startled by some invisible force.
Nanoha let out a cry, "Josuke, what did you do?"
"Healed it." Josuke responded casually, gesturing at the animal.
"What do you mean 'healed it'?" Nanoha asked as she looked at the animal once more. True to Josuke's word, its wounds were healed and it was completely unharmed, as if it had never been hurt in the first place. "What did yo-"
"Nanoha! Josuke!" Alisa's voice cut through the clearing as the blonde girl finally caught up to the two of them with Suzuka on her heels, "Why did you two take off like that?" She demanded, a vein twitching in her forehead.
Nanoha immediately scooped up the animal despite Josuke's squawk of "Careful!", her eyes lingering briefly on the red jewel hanging around its neck, "W-we found this animal and it was hurt!" She explained quickly.
Alisa glanced at the rodent for all of one second and gave Nanoha an annoyed look, "It doesn't look hurt to me."
"That's because I healed it." Josuke said, puffing up with pride.
"How did you heal something that's hurt?" Alisa snapped, "It doesn't have any bandages on it or anything!"
"It touched it."
"You can't just heal something by touching it!"
"I can too!" Josuke fired back, however the pompadoured boy crossed his arms and knit his brow in frustration, "…I'unno, but I've been able to do it forever." He finally protested weakly.
Alisa snorted and marched up to Nanoha, gently taking the animal from her hands, "Whatever. You probably just thought it was hurt." She said dismissively causing Josuke to deflate, "Still… it has a collar, do you think it could be someone's pet?"
"It could be, if we take it to a vet they might know if anyone's reported any missing pets." Suzuka suggested.
"My grandpa's a police officer, so he might have heard something too." Josuke added.
Arisa put her hands on her hips, "Well lets not waste any more time here, we're already gonna be late as is. We'll figure out what to do with it on the way to Cram School."
The other three children nodded, and their group continued onward, ferret in tow.
---------------
"Ack!" The pompadoured boy involuntarily yelped, fidgeting in his seat as his stowaway made yet another attempt at finding a way out of his clothes. He grabbed at the moving lump beneath his shirt and wrangled it until it stopped its escape attempt. He glanced nervously up at the instructor.
Safe.
He let out a sigh of relief, his out burst had gone unnoticed.
"I told you we should have taken it to a vet before we went to class…" Alisa whispered.
Josuke shot her a glare, however it was short lived due to his passenger once again making an escape attempt, this time out of his sleeve. He immediately clamped a hand over his cuff, "You were the one worried that we were going to be late." He replied once he had finally managed to get the infuriating ball of hair under control.
"I'm still worried that it'll bite you…" Nanoha muttered, shooting him a concerned look.
He shot her a winning smile, the same winning smile that all of the girls at school seemed to like, "Don't worry about it. I'm great with animals. Besides, it's better me than you."
The girl hardly looked relieved, "I thought you said that…"
"Just try not to hurt it, okay?" Alisa huffed.
Josuke couldn't help but smirk. Of the four children, he was the least likely of them to hurt the rodent. He would have been more worried if Alisa were the one carrying him around after seeing the way she dealt with the other kids in their class.
"Mr. Higashikata," The instructor called, snapping him out of his musings. On reflex, he stood and faced the man, "Could you please tell us the answer to this example?"
Josuke blanched and quickly looked between the board and the notes in front of him. If you could call them notes that is. With his hands full as they were trying to keep the ferret from getting out of his uniform and running loose in the cram school, he hadn't written a single thing down. He hadn't even paid attention to the teacher since the lesson had started! There was no way he cou-
"Five over thirty four." Nanoha whispered.
"Eh?"
"The answer. It's five over thirty four."
"It's uh… five over thirty four?" Josuke announced uncertainly.
The instructor gave him an unimpressed nod and jotted it down on the board, "Correct. Be sure to thank Ms. Takamachi for her help." A few children throughout the room chuckled and the man immediately resumed his lecture. With a nervous laugh, Josuke dropped back into his seat.
"Thanks…" He muttered, giving the pigtailed girl a grateful nod, "So what should we do with him if gramps can't find its owner?"
"I have cats at my house, so it'd be dangerous for it to stay with us…" Suzuka whispered.
"And I have dogs, so it wouldn't be much safer at my place." Alisa added.
"Mom doesn't like animals, I've asked for a pet before." Josuke contributed somewhat piteously.
The three of them immediately glanced at Nanoha, their last hope for finding the animal a home, "W-why are you looking at me like that?" She muttered, fidgeting under their gaze, "My family runs a bakery, so having an animal around goes against the…" She trailed off as Josuke began to fidget again, a grimace crossing his face, "D-did it bite you?"
Josuke shook his head and gave her an uneasy smile, "N-no, it… Uh…" His face flushed, "It just tried to get away and nearly got into my pants."
"Told you we should have taken it to the vet."
-------------
The Higashikata household was not a typical one. That wasn't to say that it was dangerous to Josuke, or even unpleasant. His mother was loving and supportive, as was his grandfather who lived with them. His mother, a middle school teacher, was always able to assist him with his homework if he needed it and his grandfather, a police officer, was ever the role model teaching him to respect his elders, the law, and those in positions of authority.
What he was missing was a father. It wasn't that his father abandoned his mother when he was young, no, it was that his father had left when he was conceived. Josuke had never seen the man's face, nor did he know the man's name. All he knew was that he was from the United Kingdom, that his mother still loved him dearly, and that his grandfather would, 'Give him a new hole to breathe through if he ever showed his face again.'
However, in spite of all of this, his mother did the best she could, and with her father's assistance they gave Josuke the finest childhood they could manage.
"A lost ferret?" Ryohei Higashikata asked between bites of his dinner, "Can't say I've heard any reports of that down at the station, though I can check tonight."
Josuke beamed, "Great! Thanks grandpa!"
"Don't speak with your mouth open Josuke," His mother Tomoko chided, "What's got you asking about lost animals anyway."
Josuke rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Well… me and a few of my friends found one in the park on the way to cram school and we were hoping one of us could keep it if it didn't belong to anyone…"
Tomoko and Ryohei shared a long suffering look that spoke of them having had the conversation a thousand times before, "Josuke…" Ryohei began.
The pompadoured boy put his hands up defensively, "N-no, I told them that we couldn't keep a pet… uh… I dunno who's going to take care of it."
"Well where is it now?" Josuke's mother asked.
"At the vet, we weren't sure what to do with it so we left it there for the night."
Ryohei gave Josuke a gentle pat on the shoulder, "Josuke, don't get your hopes up too high, if it has an owner you know you'll have to return it right?"
The boy nodded, though a sullen look crossed his face as he did, "Yeah, I know grandpa."
"Good," The man said with a nod, "Though if one of your friends does start taking care of the little fella' they'll be happy to have you over to visit him whenever you can."
Josuke perked up almost immediately at the man's words, "You think so?"
"Of course." The man stood up from the table and carried his emptied plate to the sink and shot Josuke a wide grin, "Of course, your mother and I will only let you go if you've finished your homework."
"Ah man…"
---------------
Josuke stifled a yawn and leaned back in his desk chair. His grandfather's words had worked, the moment he had finished dinner he had gone straight to his room and went straight to work on his homework rather than his usual ritual of going straight to the living room and playing video games.
"Hmm…"
He frowned, staring down at the math problem and scratching out a few equations as he tried to puzzle his way through the problem. Math wasn't exactly his strongest subject, he wasn't quite as bad at it as Suzuka seemed to be if cram school was any indication, but he wasn't quite as good at it as Nanoha or Alisa were either. Maybe he just had to-
The door to his room cracked open and his mother looked in, "Josuke, I left a stack of papers I need to grade at school and I have to go pick them up, will you be alright on your own?"
Josuke glanced up from his paper and nodded, "Yeah mom, I'll be fine."
She gave him a proud smile, "Alright, if I'm not back in an hour or so be sure you're in bed by nine. And don't go outside"
"'kay." He turned his eyes back to his homework as his door clicked shut. However as he looked down at the paper something occurred to him.
He had forgotten where was.
He slumped in his chair, "That's just great."
He glared down at the assignment, if he didn't finish it, he wouldn't be able to go and see the ferret if they didn't find it's owners.
A scratch came from the window.
"Hm?" Josuke glanced up, disturbed once more from his work by a faint scratching sound at his window. He tried to ignored it for a full minute, however the scratching only became more furious.
With a huff, the boy stood up and crossed the room to investigate, opening his window and sticking his head outside "Hello?" He called into the darkness, "Grandpa? Mom? Are you home already?" That didn't make a whole lot of sense, his grandpa was working that night, and his mom hadn't been gone for more than ten minutes and it would take her at least twenty to get to the school where she worked.
After a full minute without a response, Josuke sighed and pulled his window shut. He was probably just imagining things. That was probably something that happened after working on homework too long. Clearly, it was time for a break, he reasoned. He returned to his desk and moved to put his homework away for the time being…
And paused.
Something had moved. When he had walked to the window, his assignment had been on top of his notebook, but now it had slid off toward the edge of the desk. It couldn't have been the wind, it wasn't a windy night and he certainly hadn't moved it. "Probably just being crazy…" He muttered, neatly stacking his papers where they belonged.
He froze as he heard another sound behind him, a faint rustling sound coming from on top of his bed, as if something were scurrying on top of it. The boy spun only for his jaw to drop in surprise.
"Ferret?" He said dumbly. Not just any ferret, but the very ferret he had found that afternoon with Nanoha!
"Hello." The animal greeted, giving a slight bow.
Josuke stared at the animal on his bed. Had it just…
…It had.
"Y-you can talk?" The boy squawked, falling over backwards and nearly hitting his head on his desk as he flopped to the floor.
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry for surprising you." The animal said, hopping down from atop his bed and padding over beside him, "I simply came to thank you for healing me this afternoon and to ask you a favor."
Josuke blinked and bit his lip, his mind still attempting to process the fact that what he had assumed was a rodent was speaking to him, "D-don't mention it. W-what are you?"
"My name is Yuuno Scrya." It responded, "I came here from another world to search for something I lost and was injured by it in the process."
"What d'you mean another world?" Josuke asked, tilting his head, "And how did it injure you? Is that why you were hurt when Nanoha and I found you?"
The ferret flicked its tail, and opened its mouth to respond, however the words died in its throat. It spun to the still open window and stared out into the darkness, "Oh no, it's followed me!"
"What? What's followed you?"
"The thing I was searching for-," Yuuno began, only to be cut off by a high pitched screech from outside of the house. Its eyes widened and it whipped its head toward Josuke, "We need to move! Now!"
The wall exploded and great writhing shadowy mass of something burst into the room, crashing through Josuke's desk as it tackled the space where the ferret was a moment before. Josuke had grabbed it as he dived out of the way, sliding across the room and taking the rodent with him. "Wh-what is that thing?" He asked, staring at it as he grabbed the banister of his bed and pulled himself back to his feet.
Before the ferret could respond, the thing moved, tendrils bursting from its mass as it hurtled toward Josuke with tremendous speed.
The boy didn't cry out in shock, he didn't even flinch. The instant the monster dove at him, he regained his composure and stared it down with cool eyes.
His outline blurred and something within him came forth to stop the monster's attack. A semitransparent arm lashed out from within his own, the length of a grown mans but twice as thick, its skin was bubblegum pink, and across the arm were baby blue plates like armor. The rest of its body followed suit, torso, legs, and head all came from within the pompadoured boy.
"DORA!"
It stood tall between Josuke and the monster, dwarfing the boy with its incredible height, the rest of its body was as muscular and pink as the arm which was buried up to the elbow in the creature, with more armor esque plates covering it, the ones on its knees and chin in the shapes of hearts. Its head was covered with a blue helmet, coming to a heart shaped crest at its apex, and its eyes were visible through its slits.
The ghostly figure withdrew its arm with a squelch, cocking the other back as it did.
"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"
Sound like machine gun fire filled the room as the figure's fists all but vanished from sight, pummeling the shadowy mass in a furious flurry of punches. The creature was almost instantly torn to pieces, each blow tearing through its mass and sending softball sized chunks of it hurtling through what remained of the walls in sprays of sawdust.
Josuke turned on his heel, his back to the ghostly form that stared out after the shredded creature, its fists still held up in a defensive stance, and shot the ferret a triumphant grin, "Hey Yuuno? I beat up the thing that beat you up."
-----------
Yuuno stared up at the boy, glancing between him and the ghostly figure that still hovered between him and the outside. The boy was a summoner on top of a healer? It seemed as though that was the case, but he hadn't seen any movement magic being used. Still, the boy was powerful, and as little as he wanted to involve others in this mess, at the moment he needed any assistance he could find.
"Will you help me?"
"Eh?" The boy jerked a thumb over his shoulder into the night, "But I just beat it up. It should leave you alone now."
Yuuno shook his head and dashed toward the hole in the wall, peering out into the street. The wall around the property was in nearly the same condition as the boy's walls, dozens of holes no doubt created by the chunks of the creature peppered it. The street was much the same, the concrete freckled with craters, however within them shadowy tendrils emerged, "No that isn't enough! This creature can repair itself, at this point it will already have begun to regenerate!" He explained, glancing over his shoulder at the native mage, "If it isn't sealed it will continue to repair itself and continue to attack us."
"O…kay?" The boy said, tilting his head in confusion, "How do we do that?"
"I haven't been able to gather enough mana to complete the sealing spell while binding it in place," Yuuno explained, wincing as he recalled his previous failed attempt, "If you can hold it still long enough, I should be able to seal it."
The boy nodded and moved to his side, his summon trailing behind him, "I got it, you can count on me!"
--------------
Josuke didn't actually get it.
Mana? Sealing?
It all sounded like something out of a video game.
Still...
The boy glanced up at the ghostly figure of his guardian and through the hole in his wall to the street below.
That thing was dangerous and he wasn't the kind of person to leave a problem like that alone.
Josuke leaped out of the hole that was once his wall and into the street below, the pink and blue guardian moving ahead of him and catching him before he hit the ground. Yuuno followed, hot on his heels, his slender body somehow slowing itself as he approached the ground. The shadow creature writhed in the center of the street, its body not completely repaired, black tendrils spiraling out of its body to collect the chunks that were scattered in several small craters around the street.
Right, I just need to hold this thing still long enough for Yuuno to seal this thing. Whatever that means. Josuke thought to himself as he cautiously approached it.
One of its many tendrils lashed out, hurtling towards Josuke like a spear, however his guardian was already at the ready, its arm easily raised to deflect it to the side where it skewered through a street light. The creature's form shuddered for an instant and it retracted its tendril. The street light died, plunging the area behind him into darkness. That instant was all it took. Josuke lunged forward, his guardian leading the charge as he closed in on it.
"DOOOORA!"
It punched, the street cratering beneath the blow's force as the creature was driven into the pavement, reducing it to an expanding pool of black shadowy sludge.
Josuke smirked, Too easy.
He activated his guardian's power and both the pavement was restored. The creature was dragged along for the ride, its sludge like body combining with the repairing pavement as it reassembled itself into the street, pinning the creature in place.
Or that's what should have happened.
The mass of shadow rolled from where it was, revealing undamaged asphalt in the center of the street as it enveloped Josuke's feet. It spiraled upward, lifting the boy into the air and flipping him head over heels as it did.
"Gwah!" He cried out as his feet were swept out from under him and his world was turned upside down. With a thought, his ghostly defender swept its leg out, severing one of the tendrils even as the other tendril moved to force the guardian away from Josuke. His guardian moved faster, its hand shooting out and grasping the retreating tentacle. The tentacle was crushed in the vice like grip of its hand, dropping Josuke to the ground in a heap. He rolled to his feet as quickly as he could, even as the puddle that was the creature began to retreat across the street. The boy wasted no time taking off after it, his phantom shooting out above his head and launching downward at the beast with a furious kick. The street exploded upward from the impact, sending the creature hurtling into the air in a shower of asphalt.
"DOOOORA!"
The boy's guardian lunged after it, its arms spread wide as it knocked the creature out of the air with a full body tackle. It folded its arms around the creature and pinned it to its body. It went as well as one could expect bear hugging a mass of sentient shadow to, as a moment later, the creature flowed like water from the figures arms and escaped its grip. The guardian lunged after it once more, scooping the creature off the ground and once more closing its arms tightly around it and once again the creature slipped free.
Josuke bit his lip, "I can't combine it with the street and I can't hold it still! It just slips away when I try to grab it!" He called, looking to the ferret, "Eh?" He blinked in surprise as he saw the motes of green light appearing around the animal.
So that was sealing. Cool.
"If you can't hold it, then just try and keep it in one place for as long as you can!" Yuuno called.
Josuke nodded, he could do that.
He charged, his guardian hovering before him with its arm cocked back in preparation of launching another volley of punches. The creature took some time to reform every time he pulverized it, so all he had to do was to keep it pulverized and Yuuno could seal it.
The monster shuddered, two red eyes appearing within its mass as it launched into the air and reformed, its body once more coalescing into a single blob like mass. A pink and blue fist shot after it, only to fall short as the creature propelled itself further upwards. It froze in midair, the two eyes focused on the pompadoured boy from where it hovered, twenty feet above the street, and once again its mass began to twist and roil. Countless whip like tendrils emerged from its body, each wriggling like a serpent and barely visible in the light from the street lamps. However even in the dim light Josuke could see that they tapered off into deadly points.
It moved, faster than it had ever moved before as it hurtled down at Josuke and his guardian specter like a meteor, dozens of tendrils lashing out to tear his body to shreds. The guardian's fists responded in kind, each movement deflecting a tendril to the side of its user even as Josuke dodged away, shuffling backwards as quickly as his legs could carry him.
"DORARARARARARARARARARARA!"
However, for all of its speed and strength, the guardian only had two hands to deflect the monster's tendrils with and in the face of such an assault it could only keep up for so long before the creature began to overwhelm it. A nick there, a scratch there, and it slowly began to break through his guard.
However, it wasn't moving around the street any longer.
"Yuuno! It's in one place, seal it!" Josuke called out, his eyes not breaking contact from the creature even as scratches appeared across his arms to match those of his guardian.
"Nearly there!" The ferret responded from where it still stood. As he spoke, the jewel around his neck shined brightly and a circle of emerald light burst into existence around it. The pattern within it spun far too quickly to make out the details within.
"Jewel Seed Seal!" Yuuno cried. Four points around the circle flashed and glowing chains of light erupted from the ring's circumference, arcing and twisting through the street as they enveloped the creature. Its tendrils retracted and for a brief moment, its crimson eyes vanished within the mass as the creature began to shrink.
An instant later however, it swelled and the chains binding it began to strain.
"I… can't… seal… it!" The ferret gritted out, and the chains binding the shadowy mass shattered. What little remained of them were instantly absorbed by the creature and its crimson 'eyes' doubled in their intensity. Yuuno collapsed to the ground from the exertion and the creature turned on him.
"DOOOOORAAAAAA!"
The fist of Josuke's Guardian struck it, catching it unawares and launching it clear of the exhausted animal with a sound like a cannon. The boy moved, scooping up the injured creature and cradling it in his arms as he watched the shadowy creature slide to a stop.
"I'm sorry…" Yuuno panted, "The sealing failed, I used too much magic when I first encountered it and I couldn't sustain the spell."
"Then what can we do?"
"You'll have to seal it." Yuuno said, "Take the device around my neck." Josuke shot the ferret an incredulous look and did as he was told, slipping the gem from around the animals neck. It was warm where it rested in the palm of his hand. "Now repeat after-"
"[USER INCOMPATIBLE]" The gem chimed in a feminine voice, cutting off its owner, "[I WILL BE UNABLE TO CREATE A USER PROFILE]"
Josuke stared down at the jewel. "That doesn't sound good."
"It… isn't." Yuuno replied, "If you're so incompatible that you can't even create a guest profile, then you won't be able to boot it up."
"And that means I won't be able to seal it." Josuke finished. He glanced around the street, surveying the damage that the brief exchange had done to the street. On top of the craters, hundreds, if not thousands of coin sized holes now decorated the street on either side of where he had stopped its assault.
He thought of his grandpa, working as a police officer and tirelessly protecting the town. There was no way he'd be able to protect the town from a monster like this, he didn't have a guardian like he did and he doubted he was able to create magical chains like Yuuno could.
'It's gonna take me a while to fix those once I kick this things ass.' He thought to himself as he turned his eyes back to the creature.
Right now, the only ones who could deal with it were him and the ferret, "We can't leave this thing alone. Now what do we do?"
A pensive look crossed Yuuno's face, "I have an idea, but we'll need time."
Josuke glanced down at his bleeding knuckles. He wouldn't be able to keep a straight fight up with it for much longer. There was no doubt about it, that creature was getting faster the longer the fight ran on. Josuke frowned. He'd been in plenty of fights before, granted the majority of them had been started by him, and he'd only ever fought people, but this wasn't his first rodeo.
He knew full well what to do when faced with a fight that he wasn't likely to win.
"Yuuno the only thing I could think to do to stop it didn't work, but I can definitely get you time."
And so, Josuke Higashikata ran away.
--------------------
'Someone, please help us!'
For the second time in twenty four hours, Nanoha Takamachi found herself running towards a voice calling for help. The girl turned down a side street as she pursued the phantom voice. She took no heed of where she was going as she ran through the streets of Uminari City in her pajamas, her thoughts were too focused on what she may find when she reached her destination.
She turned the corner, and focused as she was on her thoughts, she ran head first into what was approaching from the other side, pain lanced through her hands as she tried to break her fall and she was knocked onto her rear.
"Get up, you've got to run!" A familiar voice shouted. The pain in her hands immediately subsided as she felt herself bein dragged to her feet by none other than Josuke Higashikata carrying the ferret the two had found earlier that day, "N-Nanoha, what are you doing here!?!"
"I heard-" Her answer was cut off as she felt herself being lifted into the air over Josuke's head by a pair of powerful arms, out of the way of a mass of rolling shadow crashed into the space where she had just been standing. The shadowy mass's sleek body tore through the asphalt as it came to a stop. It turned, it's crimson eyes zeroing in on the boy.
The girl tried to look to see who had lifted her out of the way, but there was nothing there, she could feel the hands holding her in the air, but there was nothing there.
"A-already!?!" Josuke cried, taking a step away from the creature. The invisible hands holding Nanoha into the air shifted, sending her careening over the pompadoured boy's head and dropping her in a heap leaving him between her and the monster.
The beast let out a high pitched metallic shriek and lunged, it's entire body elongating into a lance as it hurled itself at her classmate, however moments before an invisible force struck the shadowy mass in its side, redirecting its path just enough to miss the boy and the girl he was defending. Josuke circled around her to stand between her and the beast she found her feet
"Wh-what's happening?" Nanoha cried, looking between the monster where it was looming down the street and her classmate, "Wh-what is that thing? What picked me up?"
The creature's body swirled and dozens of shadowy appendeges erupted from its body. It lunged and Josuke leaned forward, the appendages changing direction in midair and skewering the road on both sides of them, "There's no time to explain, you need to get away from here!" Josuke barked.
"Wait!" The animal in his arms cut in, "She's heard my calls twice now, she must have the potential!"
"I-it can talk?!?" Nanoha squeaked, looking at the animal as if it had grown a second head.
Josuke simply grunted in affirmation as he was forced to take a step back, the oncoming tide of tendrils from the creature coming closer and closer to the boy before they changed direction.
The ferret hopped out of Josuke's arms and onto Nanoha's shoulder, "Right now you're our only hope, if someone doesn't stop that thing right now there's no telling what kind of destruction it will cause, and neither he nor I have the ability to stop it permanantly."
Nanoha glanced at Josuke, she could see that he was hurt, his hands were bleeding, his lip was split, and his clothing was torn. A thousand questions stormed through the girls mind. How long had he been fighting this thing? How was he fighting a monster like that? Why was he fighting it to begin with?
She turned her gaze to the animal on her shoulder, determination in her eyes, "What do I need to do?"
--------------
"DORARARARARARARARARARA!"
Josuke grit his teeth as his pink and blue guardian struggled against the creature. It was getting faster and the guardian couldn't keep up with the creature's strikes any longer, forcing him to pick and choose which blows to deflect. The serious strikes were knocked aside, while the glancing blows were allowed through his guard.
The boy grit his teeth as countless nicks and scratches appeared across his body. Both his arms and lungs burned with exertion, but the struggle continued.
"DORARARARARARARARARARARA!"
He was forced to dodge backwards, slowly giving the precious ground between the creature and Nanoha, "Can't hold this… much longer…" He said through gritted teeth.
A single tendril slipped between the guardians deft hands and pierced its bicep with a spray of blood. The wound reflected on Josuke simultaneously, a red stain blossoming across his shirt's sleeve. He let out a cry of pain he dropped to his knees. With a shriek, the creature barreled over his downed form toward the pajama clad girl and the ferret. Josuke spun, fire in his eyes, and lunged after it with his good hand outstretched. The pink and blue phantom mimicked him, lunging forward and at the tail end of the creature…!
…The hand grasped nothing but air and the creatures hurled onwards towards the girl, it's tendrils primed to strike.
"No!"
It lashed out, eight doezen lances of shadows hurtling towards Nanoha as she stood completely still, focusing on the jewel in her hand.
"Raising Heart, Set Up!" She cried. Power gathered, and the girl was enveloped in a pillar of pink light. The tendrils caught within it disintegrated and the creature lunged away to escape the girl's aura.
The creature crashed down into the street in a shower of asphalt just as the light that engulfed Nanoha faded.
Josuke stared.
Nanoha stood, her twin tails fluttering gently in the wind, and her eyes set on the creature in determination. Gone were her pajamas, in their place was a pure white dress trimmed in blue, reminiscent of their school uniform, with a red bow emblazoned on the chest. In her hand was a staff, capped with a golden ornament and a brilliant red jewel, clearly a larger version of the one Yuuno had been carrying.
The creature emitted a high pitched shriek as it leaped into the air, its body twisting into a lance as it flung itself once more over Josuke's downed form at the new threat. "As if I'd let you…!" Josuke snarled, pulling himself to his knees with his uninjured arm. His phantom shooting towards the creature with its fist outstretched as he did.
"DOOOOOORA!"
Its fist sank into the creatures form, clear up to the phantoms elbow, but the creature's momentum carried it onward. With a squelching sound, the fist tore out the back of the creature with a spray of ichor, and the creature continued on toward the girl.
Nanoha screamed and looked away, raising her staff in front of her like a shield.
"[PROTECTION]" The staff chimed and its gem shined. A shower of pink light sprung from within and coalesced into a sphere around the girl. The creature rammed into it with a shower of sparks, its body twisting and swirling as it attempted to drill through the barrier. Nanoha opened one eye, saw the creature's futile attempt, and her look of fear turned to one of confidence.
A hairline fracture spread through the barrier with a loud crack from where the creature was writhing against it.
Nanoha reacted instantly, bringing her staff back like a club and smashing it against her barrier.
It exploded outward, its form shattering into shards which tore through the creature's body and carved it into dozens of shadowy chunks that were scattered throughout the street.
Josuke staggered to his feet and ran to the girl's side, his injured arm hanging at his side, "That won't work, I've tried smashing it already!" He cried out as the creature once again began to bring itself back together.
"Nanoha can seal it!" Yuuno responded from where he stood at the girl in question's feet, "She just needs time to cast the spell!"
Josuke nodded and turned his back to the girl, "Alright, I'll keep distracting it while she seals it."
"Wait!" Nanoha cried before he could take a step toward the creature, "You're hurt! I can take care of it for now, just-"
"No." The boy responded with finality, "My grandpa's a police officer. He's protected this town for as long as I can remember, and if he can't be here to protect people and stop this thing, then I will." He shot Nanoha his winning smile, "And besides, I've got a plan! You just have to follow my lead!"
He took off down the street, his guardian taking point in front of him.
"But you can't!"
Josuke didn't bother responding as he sped toward the all but restored creature. The guardian lashed out, its uninjured fist easily tearing through the vulnerable form of the shadowy creature. Its crimson eyes turned to the charging boy and it produced its tendrils, preparing to meet another volley of punches with its own flurry of strikes.
…only for the boy to turn at the last second and pass the creature by. It lashed out, only for its lances to come up short as the guardian shot ahead, grabbed its owner, and pulled him out of the creature's reach, "Come on ugly, come and get me!"
The creature met his taunt with its metallic shriek and took off after him. Whatever lead he had was gone in an instant as he felt the creature looming in on him. He turned down a side street, leaning into the turn as the creatures tendrils went wide, "Weren't you faster than that before? What's the matter? Can't keep up with me?" He called back haughtily, sparing a glance over his shoulder.
'Nanoha and Yuuno are behind me, good, this might actually work!'
His guardian's fist pounded into one of the walls lining the street, shattering it into gravel and reforming it behind him into a wall as he ran onward. He doubted it would hold the creature long, if at all, but he was hoping it would by him half a second at least. He sprinted onward, his legs burning from all the running he had been doing that night.
He felt a chunk of asphalt hit him in the back followed by another one of the creature's shrieks. He grit his teeth, 'Faster than I thought…!' Fortunately he had put an entire street between it and him, and hopefully that would be enough to get him to the destination before him. His guardian tore through the fence before him and he leaped through, just in time to avoid it reforming.
It took the creature mere seconds before it had already caught up with him, the reformed fence collapsing beneath the creatures mass like rice paper. Josuke came to a stop before solid metal structure beyond the fence and spun to face the creature, his expression completely calm.
"Hurry Nanoha, he's cornered!"
The creature lunged at him, tendrils at the ready to strike him down…
…And Josuke ducked beneath it, a smirk on his face, "I'm not cornered, I'm right where I need to be." He panted as the creature crashed through the power transformer. Sparks flew and electricity arced through the air as the entirety of the neighborhood's electricity surged through the thrashing creature's body. The streetlights overhead flickered and dimmed as sparks shot out of the transformer until the arcs of electricity across through the creature's body were the only thing illuminating the area.
"I saw what happened when you hit that light pole," The boy said as he staggered to his feet, whipped out his comb with his good arm, and ran it through his frazzled pompadour as he watched the shriek and writhe in pain. "I've been living in this neighborhood since I was a little kid. Every Saturday for as long as I can remember, I've played with my friends in the park near here. My mom buys groceries at a store a few blocks from here." He stashed his comb and put his uninjured hand on his hip while his other hand hung at his side to minimize the pain of moving it about.
"If you think I'm going to corner myself here, you've got another thing coming."
The arcs of electricity finally died as the creature's wild thrashing finally cleared it from the transformer and the area fell into darkness.
"DOOOOOOORAAAAA!"
The guardian's fist struck the destroyed machine and the damage was undone, metal plating, copper wire, and the remainder of the components of the transformer gathered back where they had once been. The streetlights returned to life for an instant, however the creature was gone. Not because he had destroyed it, but because he had reformed the transformer around it.
A lance of shadow ripped out of the box, coming inches from Josuke's face before electricity surged through the creature once more, disintegrating it and once again reeking havoc on the neighborhoods power system.
"Josuke!" Nanoha called as she sprinted up the road, her voice heavy with concern.
The boy turned and shot the girl a grin, "I got it!" He responded proudly.
Nanoha's features softened in relief as she approached and she raised her staff, "Jewel Seed Seal!" She intoned, her voice cutting through the shrieking of the creature. The area alit once more, this time in soft pink light as ribbons of magic emerged from the staff's jewel and enveloped the creature, tearing it from where it was trapped within power converter. It let out one final shriek as the ribbons tightened around its body which trailed off as it vanished.
A small blue jewel appeared in midair where the creature had just vanished from. It shot toward the staff in Nanoha's hand and was absorbed into the jewel at its end.
"[RECEIPT NUMBER 21]" The staff chimed as the number displayed across its jewel in a flash of pink.
"…Is that it? Did we seal it?" Josuke asked, panting, as he flopped to the ground, even as his guardian gave the machine one last punch, restoring it completely and returning power to the neighborhood before it vanished into his body.
"Josuke!" Nanoha ran to his side, her white dress vanishing and her pajamas returning as she knelt down beside him, "Your arm! You're hurt!"
Josuke attempted to wave her away but to no avail, "It got my arm while I was trying to keep it away from you," He finally admitted, allowing the girl to fuss over him, "Wasn't really thinking of it at the time. I was focused on the monster."
"Why haven't you healed it yet?" Yuuno asked from Nanoha's shoulder, "With your skill in healing it shouldn't be a problem."
"My power doesn't work on me."
A silence fell over the three as Yuuno stared at the pompadoured boy, "I've never heard of a limitation like that to healing magic. Why not?"
Josuke tilted his head in confusion, "Magic? I can't do magic. Kinda seems like magic though." He gingerly touched his injured arm and grimaced as a bolt of pain lanced up it, "I've never been able to 'fix' myself when I'm hurt, it just hasn't ever worked."
"In that case I-" Yuuno began, only to be cut off by the sounds of sirens.
Josuke's face paled and his eyes darted around the area. From the fence and into the street that lead to it, taking in the damage. He knew exactly who would be coming; the police. And since his grandpa was on call…
"W-we need to leave." He offered his good hand to Nanoha, "W-would you help me up please?" The girl did as he asked and the boy gave her a grateful smile. She looped her arm around his waist and began to help him get away from the scene of the fight.
---------------
"I think we should be alright here," Josuke grunted, breaking the nervous silence over the three of them. They came to a stop in a park, far enough away from the power station that the sounds of the sirens were barely audible. Nanoha helped Josuke onto a nearby bench and he let out a sigh of exhaustion, "Thanks…"
"Would you like me to treat your arm?" Yuuno asked, hopping down to the bench from where he was riding on Nanoha's shoulder. The boy nodded and the ferret raised its paw toward his injury and it began to emit pale green light, "I'm afraid it won't be as fast or as complete as when you healed me."
"Don't worry about it," He said easily, letting out a sigh of relief as the light washed over his injury and the pain began to recede, "I don't think I ever introduced myself, did I?" He gave the ferret as much of a bow as he could manage from his position, "My name's Josuke Higashikata."
Nanoha found herself giggling at the ridiculous sight of her classmate introducing himself to a ferret, in spite of everything that happened, "And I'm Nanoha Takamachi. But you can call me Nanoha."
The ferret nodded, still concentrating on Josuke's injury, "My name is Yuuno Scrya, however Scrya is the name of my clan, so you can just call me Yuuno." He said, sparing a glance at the pajama clad girl.
"So you came to Uminari chasing that monster, right?" Josuke asked, "What was it? And why did it come here?"
Yuuno remained silent for several moments as he considered his words, "Members of the Scrya clan are Archaeaologists. The Jewel Seed which Nanoha captured with Raising Heart was one of a group of artifacts I uncovered on a recent dig within a collapsed pillar, and it's what created that monster."
Nanoha's brow furrowed, "So you accidentally released the monster?"
"Not exactly." Yuuno said with a shake of his head, "When I uncovered them my clan contained them immediately."
"Then how did they end up here? And why did a jewel turn into a monster?"
"I was traveling with them while they were being transported to someone who was more qualified to research their properties, but the ship I was traveling in had some sort of accident and they were released onto your world." The ferret explained, "As for how it turned into a monster, we aren't entirely sure. The current theory is that they respond to wishes, but when used improperly they go out of control and cause all sorts of damage."
Josuke groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his free arm, "So who thought it was a good idea to wish for a shadow monster?"
Yuuno laughed humorlessly, "Probably no one. Like I said, I'm still not sure how the Jewel Seeds work, that could very well have been some kind of self-defense program."
"And there's more than just this one running around?" Josuke asked, "That's bad news."
Yuuno's head dipped in shame, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for dragging you into this and that you were hurt trying to help me." The light at his paw dimmed and the ferret sat down at the boy's side, "I plan to seal the rest of them on my own, so please don't worry about this any longer."
"You can't!" Nanoha objected, "You already got hurt once trying to seal one on your own, and Josuke got hurt helping me seal this one." She said, gesturing at Josuke's now healed arm, which the boy was experimentally flexing and extending, "If you try and do it on your own…"
"But they're my responsibility!" Yuuno protested, "It's my duty to-"
Josuke folded his arms in thought even as the ferret was cut off by a pink hand covering his mouth, "Nanoha's right, we can't let you deal with these things on your own. If they're around here they'll keep causing people trouble, and we can't let that happen, right Nanoha?" Josuke looked at the girl expectantly, only to find her gaping at the semi transparent arm emerging from his own, "…Nanoha?"
"W-what is that?" She sputtered, pointing at his phantom limb and jumping backwards in fright.
Josuke looked up and down several times in rapid succession, between his guardian's arm and the girl, "…you can see him now?" He asked. His outline shifted and his guardian fully manifested behind him, shifting its posture to match that of its user.
Nanoha eeped.
"You couldn't see him earlier when I had him move you out of the way of the monster…" Josuke thought aloud, "At least I don't think you could, could you?"
Nanoha nervously shook her head no and cautiously approached the boy and his guardian, "So what is he?"
Josuke looked up at his guardian and shrugged, "I dunno. He just showed up one day along with my restoring power, but no one's ever been able to see him until today. I kinda just stopped talking about him after everyone told me I was imagining things."
"Then he's how you healed Yuuno this afternoon?"
"Yep."
Nanoha circled around Josuke and looked up at the guardian, no longer intimidated by its presence. Her blue eyes met the figure's pink and it nodded almost imperceptibly at her. She gave it a warm smile in response.
Josuke began to shift uncomfortably, unused to so much attention being paid to a part of him which normally went unnoticed.
"Perhaps that's why Raising Heart was unable to make a profile for you," Yuuno spoke up, his mouth no longer covered by a phantom hand, "I thought you were using a summon, but I haven't heard of any phenomenon like this before."
"I-is it weird?"
"No, I think it's cool!" Nanoha chirped, giving the boy a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "He looks really strong! What's his name?"
Josuke let out a sigh of relief and withdrew the guardian into his body, "He is strong." He said, puffing up with pride, only to immediately deflate, "…I haven't actually named him anything." He admitted, looking down at his feet bashfully.
It was then that he noticed his watch.
"Oh my god!" Josuke cried, jerking upward, "My mom's gonna be home in like… ten minutes and that thing destroyed my room! If I'm not home…" He trailed off and immediately took off toward the parks exit, leaving Nanoha and Yuuno in the dust, "See you at school Nanoha! We can talk about this more then!"
</To Be Continued/<
Jewel Seed Profile
Jewel Seed Serial No. XXI
Name: Soft Cell
Stats
Melee Power: C-A
Ranged Power: N/A
Defensive Capability: D
Maneuverability: C-A
Mana Capacity: S
Abilities:
-Capacitance: Due to Jewel Seed No. XXI activating without anchoring to a physical host, it's power output is able to increase at a greater rate than that of the others.
Name: Soft Cell
Stats
Melee Power: C-A
Ranged Power: N/A
Defensive Capability: D
Maneuverability: C-A
Mana Capacity: S
Abilities:
-Capacitance: Due to Jewel Seed No. XXI activating without anchoring to a physical host, it's power output is able to increase at a greater rate than that of the others.
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The pacing in this fic is just right. The characters are truly coming off of the screen as actual beings with motivations rather than anything flat. Though I am not familiar with Jojo as much as I wished, I think you have definitely captured the essence of what appears to be his defining trait, though I cannot put it into words just yet. But I do look forward to more as this is well written. The grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization are all spot on so that means less chance of a reader being distracted by little things. There was a lot of showing of what was going on instead of telling and that definitely helped establish both the introduction of the initial scene and kept up a nice rhythm during the battle.
Feng Lengshun
Z-Program Researcher
- Location
- Indonesia
I felt that there were a few times where the sentences sounded kind of weird... but I can't recall where. Mostly it was fine, though. Another thing to note is that, looking at Stardust Crusaders and a few other characters, it seems that if you have a humanoid Stand, it is usually roughly your size, so Crazy Diamond should be smaller as well as weaker than the grown up version (see the Polnareff in Alessi fight and Kakyoin's Stand in the flashback was of his size, also, there is Koichi in DiU).
Personally, my problem with this is that it felt to similar to the typical Nanoha crossover. It would be interesting if it was, say, a post-DiU Jotaro being her teacher (following his mom's steps), but this introduction was really hurt by how similar it is to the other Nanoha fics. Other than that, it kind of reeks of "Cool McAwesome" male MC fanfic mold too much.
I've been wanting to see this done for a while now, but the first chapter... isn't exactly of the best quality. I'll still follow this though, but I hope it will get better from here on.
Personally, my problem with this is that it felt to similar to the typical Nanoha crossover. It would be interesting if it was, say, a post-DiU Jotaro being her teacher (following his mom's steps), but this introduction was really hurt by how similar it is to the other Nanoha fics. Other than that, it kind of reeks of "Cool McAwesome" male MC fanfic mold too much.
I've been wanting to see this done for a while now, but the first chapter... isn't exactly of the best quality. I'll still follow this though, but I hope it will get better from here on.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/They
Both of these guys explain the good and the bad of what's been written pretty well. The only Nanoha crossover I've ever read that actually followed canon was Lyrical Days (which also followed canon pretty extremely), and this does seem very similar. That's not a huge problem yet, as the story is still only in it's first chapter, but it would be nice to see some changes being made from canon as the story progresses. Beyond that, the only other problem I have with what's happened so far is Josuke's inability to use an intelligent device, which seems like a bit of a cop out.
So far, decently written, and there really isn't enough for me to make sweeping judgments.
I wonder what the stand arrow is in Nanoha terms?
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/They
Well, seeing as Yuuno and Nanoha can see it, probably some sort of summonish thing. In JoJo they're spiritual/psychic phenomenons, but from my limited knowledge of Nanoha, I don't think they have anything like that, so it's presumably being adapted to fit in.
- Location
- Tokyo, Japan
Actually, I'm waiting for the eventual meeting between the Speedwagon Foundation and the TSAB happening, or at least the Foundation contacts the kids first, leading to Josuke meeting his father earlier than when he did in Jojo Canon, in a sense. The Foundation covers supernatural deals occurring, they would at least send their agents when things start to go big.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Takamachi Family, through both Shirou and Momoko, have connections with the SPW Foundation; Shirou from his Fuwa days, doing undercover bodyguard jobs when the Foundation operated in Japan, and Momoko being a Genius Pâtissière who used to work at Hotels, and thus did some jobs at Official Foundation Events when they were hosted at the hotels she was working back then.
About the Stand thing, I think it could mean that a Stand User's Linker Core is fully devoted to using their Stand, making each and every Stand User being labeled having a Rare Skill in TSAB terms. So that is why most people on Earth can't see, most don't have a functional Linker Core, which would also explain why Nanoha couldn't see Crazy Diamond until she started using magic; she had a dormant linker core.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Takamachi Family, through both Shirou and Momoko, have connections with the SPW Foundation; Shirou from his Fuwa days, doing undercover bodyguard jobs when the Foundation operated in Japan, and Momoko being a Genius Pâtissière who used to work at Hotels, and thus did some jobs at Official Foundation Events when they were hosted at the hotels she was working back then.
About the Stand thing, I think it could mean that a Stand User's Linker Core is fully devoted to using their Stand, making each and every Stand User being labeled having a Rare Skill in TSAB terms. So that is why most people on Earth can't see, most don't have a functional Linker Core, which would also explain why Nanoha couldn't see Crazy Diamond until she started using magic; she had a dormant linker core.
Speckled Burd
Moon Gazer
- Location
- Kansas
Thank you for the feedback aand I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.
If you could tell me more specifically where sentences sounded weird, I'd appreciate it, it makes it easier to fix them.
As for CD being full sized rather than child sized, I actually considered the matter at length. You have to remember that unlike Silver Chariot and Hierophant Green, CD isn't a stand that was with him from birth. CD was indirectly induced by a Stand Arrow by way of DIO piercing himself with it, and as evidenced by Boy II Man, if a stand arrow is the cause, then the stand will be full sized even in children.
Thanks for the feedback.
Josuke's inability to use Raising Heart is a more extreme case of Yuuno's troubles with using it rather than a complete incompatibility with any and all Intelligent Device's. If the device Yuuno had were more similar to Klarwind or Revolver Knuckle then he'd be able to use it just fine.
But yeah, thank you for your feedback as well.
I enjoyed this and am eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Earth
- Pronouns
- She/They
I've only watched the first season of Nanoha, so I have no idea what either of those are. I seem to remember Yuuno's issue with it was magical power?
Either way, that makes sense.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
It's not that Yuuno being unable to use RH well is rare, it's that Nanoha being able to do so is. RH is explicitly called out to require an extreme amount of power, and Nanoha, at nine, has enough raw power to qualify as an AAA-class mage even with barely any training.
Since most mages wouldn't be able to use it well, that makes Josuke's inability to do so at all--given that most of his power is presumably tied to his Stand--not odd at all.
Since most mages wouldn't be able to use it well, that makes Josuke's inability to do so at all--given that most of his power is presumably tied to his Stand--not odd at all.
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No mana capacity issues for Yuuno, just specialization compatibility. Yunno has a mage rank of A. Most mages don't have enough raw power to ever be able to pass B rank, regardless of how skilled they become. Most TSAB Mooks are C and B ranked.
For comparison, Nanoha and Fate are AAA in A's and S+ in StrikerS, Hayate and Precia are SS, and the Forwards begin StrikerS at C (except for Erio, who starts at B).
Yuuno's problem with Raising was as you said specialization compatibility but the biggest factor was that Raising would only accept him as a guest user and not as her true master like with Nanoha.
Passing the B rank test has nothing to do with power it's skill and the D-C rank mooks only apply to the ground forces.
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Just like how characters like Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate have so much raw power at their disposal that they get to be really high ranks with no training whatsoever, there's only so far you can go on a measure of general combat ability with average amounts of power.
For instance, there's no real basis for this, but I'm willing to bet that the amount of raw power possessed by Yuuno and Chrono is about the same, but Chrono is super skilled, so he's AAA rank. The special snowflakes who have both tons of power and tons of skill are the ones who reach S rank and higher.
That's my headcanon at least.
Also, for what its worth, here's a bit of Google Translate of the Japanese wiki.
https://translate.googleusercontent...g=ALkJrhjG9f2Dw2SZvasB71cpCbWwYeW7gA#dc3f645f
Nanoha and Fate is AAA, Chrono AAA +, Yuno is an A, armed clerk of space-time management station in captain A, in personnel B. Commander and ace class is AA ~ S.
Even in space-time Administration of excellent Mage set, AAA rank more Mage is less than even the entire 5% of the
Nanoha and Fate is AAA, Chrono AAA +, Yuno is an A, armed clerk of space-time management station in captain A, in personnel B. Commander and ace class is AA ~ S.
Even in space-time Administration of excellent Mage set, AAA rank more Mage is less than even the entire 5% of the
So yeah, even outside of the ground forces, B rank is most common among TSAB combat mages, squad leaders and stuff are usually A rank, and only the people you send in to deal with important stuff are AA or higher. Also, less than 5% of the total number of mages employed by TSAB are AAA or higher.
That five 5% figure is from the season one novel not the Main series which have less than 500 AAA and above mages spread across all the bearues branches. And i'll also point out that that translation doesn't tell us what the average mage rank is outside the ground forces all it says is that you have to be of those ranks to qualify for those positions or to be an ace.
And Fate had already had several years of magic training and she and Nanoha had an estimated rank of AAA which they got from Analysing her and Nanohas battle data not their power lvl and Fates Rank was confirmed later when she took the AAA test in the A's manga, And Nanoha progression is just ridicoulos going from novice to can fight a AAA mage and win in about a months time, Hayate on the other hand had all her spell knowledge downloaded directly into her body as well as insane power from Reinforces linker core being fused with hers but she has a different rank from Nanoha and Fates Air combat rank a composite rank like Yuuno which which tells us she is a specialist in a certain field which in this case is wide-area bombardment where she stands back from the combat and just nukes the battlefield and from her statement in the strikers manga about Caro being the only one she could beat in direct combat before She was trained by Nanoha. the only combat rank test she could pass would probably be the C-rank one so yes skill is the biggest factor in passing a combat rank test. Of these the only you can really say got her rank from mostly pure power is Hayate.
I'll also point out that your claim that most mages don't have the raw power to pass B rank is false the DVD booklets state that "many air/ground mages Finds the B-rank test to be an unpassable Wall at first" which means they only think it is unpassable not that it is. there is also no mention anywhere in canon about mages having to little raw power to pass the test. There is also the fact that the TSAB is in extremely short supply of teachers of Nanohas lvl which was stated by Aria and Lotte in the a's soundstages to be only about 100 and is the main reason the armed forces are as weak as they are.
It says that B is average for a TSAB mook outside of the ground forces, because that info is from supplemental materials for the first two seasons. The ground forces weren't even mentioned until StrikerS. Average is probably C for the ground forces.
John At Dawn
I'm here, get over it.
- Location
- 35-Feet Above Sea Level
Gonna cross my fingers for Hamon shenanigans here.
The first Jewel Seed monster was pretty weaksauce in MGLN proper. If Jotaro had this much trouble with it... I just hope that he won't be a jobber, and actually vital to the situations that come up.
I know crossovers have to keep some of the same story beats, but Jotaro was basically irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Yes, I realize that this is just one chapter, and that I should give it more of a chance before passing judgement. It just makes me wary, is all.
I know crossovers have to keep some of the same story beats, but Jotaro was basically irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Yes, I realize that this is just one chapter, and that I should give it more of a chance before passing judgement. It just makes me wary, is all.
Considering Precia's motivations, Josuke's power has the potential to drastically effect the plot. His combat ability is decent, but not exceptional as it is, and only likely to improve if he gets a few good utility spells. But his 'healing' ability (actually more like 'restore anything he damages to what he considers to be its unbroken state' which is quite bullshit if he thinks creatively enough) makes him a major mover and shaker in the plot.
Under the right circumstances, he could in theory completely bypass the major conflicts of seasons one and two of Nanoha! Of course, things are not likely to go quite so smoothly, so the story isn't likely to be too boring.
Under the right circumstances, he could in theory completely bypass the major conflicts of seasons one and two of Nanoha! Of course, things are not likely to go quite so smoothly, so the story isn't likely to be too boring.
cskey0
King of Afternoon Naps
- Location
- N/A
You mean Josuke right?
Speckled Burd
Moon Gazer
- Location
- Kansas
The first Jewel Seed here is a bit stronger than it was in MGLN. In spite of being full sized, Crazy Diamond is a bit weaker than it is in Diamond is Unbreakable by virtue of its user being a child. Until you talk shit about his hair at least, then all bets are off.
