some of it is a sort of 'Pretty Cure are supposed to love all equally, and if you have a romantic partner, then you aren't going to be at your best, and it is a weakness that the Phantom Empire could use against you, and-"
But at the core of it, it is the fact that his relationship with Cure Mirage did not go well, and now she is Queen Mirage, trying to destroy the world.
some of it is a sort of 'Pretty Cure are supposed to love all equally, and if you have a romantic partner, then you aren't going to be at your best, and it is a weakness that the Phantom Empire could use against you, and-"
But at the core of it, it is the fact that his relationship with Cure Mirage did not go well, and now she is Queen Mirage, trying to destroy the world.
But at the core of it, it is the fact that his relationship with Cure Mirage did not go well, and now she is Queen Mirage, trying to destroy the world.
Deimos sighs. "In hindsight, we… could have made better choices But Lady Tyr's instructions to us before she catapulted us forward through the Dimensional Sea into the Sengoku Period were very cryptic."
We had heard about Lady Tyr's capacity for divination before (and that's not even mentioning having to perform one in the brief window after Beryl's attack is revealed but before the Fall proper), but tearing open a portal in time and flinging two fairies into the future is a neat trick, to say the least, and I'm curious if her soul-descendant can develop anything like that.
but tearing open a portal in time and flinging two fairies into the future is a neat trick, to say the least, and I'm curious if her soul-descendant can develop anything like that.
It sounds more like she flung them on a dimensional arc that altered time for them. Like how time gets warped near a black hole. They traveled for millions of years but it only felt like minutes relativistic to the fairies.
It sounds more like she flung them on a dimensional arc that altered time for them. Like how time gets warped near a black hole. They traveled for millions of years but it only felt like minutes relativistic to the fairies.
It sounds more like she flung them on a dimensional arc that altered time for them. Like how time gets warped near a black hole. They traveled for millions of years but it only felt like minutes relativistic to the fairies.
It's worth noting that this isn't the first time it's been done, even in this quest.
This is how the original Precure fairies, Mepple and Mipple, got there, with one being split up, and falling decades earlier, and also how the British turned the tables on the Fair Remedy villains, as one of the generals landed and got "convinced" into turning traitor for the Crown well before anyone else got there.
All the Fairy Realms seem to use this method, which when done without certain precautions, (intentionally or not), results in effective time displacement.
Also, bunches of fairies spinning through the stars ala Bag Raiders is very funny.
*Fairies hurtling through a multicolored void of sensory vomit*
"Hey I think I know that guy!"
"Who!?"
"That screaming speck we just passed!"
"How can you tell!?"
"Their scream is just as annoying as their voice!"
"Why would they even be here!?"
"Why are we!?"
"Touché!"
"Shall we resume screaming!?"
"Lets!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
Something, but their names are Phobos Muninn and Deimos Huginn. And I have been somewhat interchangably using their family names and their personal names
…which, combined with the timing details we got in this update, mean that Phobos and Deimos were a different Muninn and Huginn than the ones anyone from modern Earth would think of, and likely never heard of the ones who advised Odin. I sense the potential for hilarity/heartwarmingness/tragedy, depending on how and when this comes up.
Given how many angry ex's have tried to kill their significant others over all of history, the answer ranges from "staggeringly bad" to "not very bad at all." It depends on circumstances.
On the other hand, he probably never found out what that was all about, so I'd be very surprised if it was part of his justification for "Love makes you crazy and does not play well with having superpowers."
Though I'm sure he'd mention it as one of his reasons, if he knew.
…which, combined with the timing details we got in this update, mean that Phobos and Deimos were a different Muninn and Huginn than the ones anyone from modern Earth would think of, and likely never heard of the ones who advised Odin. I sense the potential for hilarity/heartwarmingness/tragedy, depending on how and when this comes up.
On the other hand, he probably never found out what that was all about, so I'd be very surprised if it was part of his justification for "Love makes you crazy and does not play well with having superpowers."
I mean, he definitely has precure manufactory access now. He might've achieved that after the Fall, but the other Firstborn who were interested in doing something like that ended up starting from scratch instead. It'd fit well with Beryl being the head of the precure department, for him to have been a lowish level subordinate who heard enough to put things together in retrospect.
'Never let it be said that Dr. Sakurai isn't enthusiastic about her work.' Director Samui thought to herself as MCAT's resident 'mad scientist' practically danced out of the meeting room heading back to her laboratory, half-heard whispers of song and floating lights following in her wake. While always informative about the latest state of the phonic gain armor developments and the other projects she was working on, Ryoko's means of convoying said information had become a little odd in recent months.
"Now that the musical number's over, you're still good for the rest of the reports director?" Dr. Nagasako commented, leaning back in his chair while adjusting his glasses, "I'm sure a five minute intermission won't slow things down too much."
Grumbles echoed around the room. "That's the third time you've used that line Daichi, and it still isn't funny."
"Relevant though." The portly man smoothed his brown beard, seemingly unworried about the unamused crowd.
"It's quite alright Dr. Nagasako, but since you're worried about time would you like to go first?" Samui interjected. It was the downside of MCAT due to how 'fringe' it was considered when the organization was first formed. While they could get competent staff, the individuals often tended to have quirks that prevented their hiring by more conventional companies and organizations. As a result she often needed to play peacemaker or rein the various personalities in. Daichi Nagasako was a prime example of this. He was an accomplished doctor with a talent for adapting techniques for the non-human members of MCAT along with using 'non-conventional' medicines; but he could be rather abrasive at times.
"Sure, why not?" The man said, opening the manila folder that was lying on the table in front of him and flipping through the pages. "As of this week, all the medics on our combat teams along with the Awakened medical staff have successfully learned the [Mend] spell. Bad news is that the warning Sailor Moon gave about it is right on the money. How much it can do is based on the collective medical knowledge of the caster and target."
At this he snapped his fingers, releasing a small spray of short-lived light green sparks. "I've used it to help deal with Alpha team's shattered bones from the last mission. Never would have been able to find all the fragments without major surgery otherwise. But most of the men?" As he said this he shrugged. "They're only going to be able to use it to keep teammates stable until they can be evacuated, assuming the wound isn't too severe. This isn't like a healing spell from a video game; it can't put your guts back in if you get disemboweled by a Youma."
Removing one paper from the collection his face fell into a disgruntled grimace. "And that's not even including the potential risks to the spell's target."
Genjuro leaned forward in response; brow furrowed. "What risks? Sailor Moon was using on multiple patients just fine and I certainly haven't heard anything from the men about any issues."
Nagasako snorted at the statement. "Sailor Moon could get away with it because she probably has more magic in her pinky finger than everyone in this building does combined. We mere mortals are far more limited. If patient and caster don't have enough magic between the two of them; the spell cannibalizes the patient's fat stores and such to make up the difference. Remember Satō from team 6?" Seeing the nods he continued. "Punk refused to undergo Awakening on 'religious grounds' or some such nonsense. Then after he got used as a speed bag by that multi-armed thing; Katō only got to him after keeping the other two from bleeding out. With so little magic to work with….well he's alive but massively underweight, and I can't say how long recovery will be."
"Tch." Genjuro grunted. "That sort of thing is going to be a problem moving forward. Any ideas?"
"How would I know?" Nagasako responded. "I'm a doctor not a wizard. Jadeite will probably have an idea or two when he gets back. Though on the subject director, you might be able to get a favor or two from the Health Bureau if we move fast."
This course change in the conversation threw Samui for a moment. Political favors where something she was always willing to acquire to help prop up MCAT when it came to backroom deals with the rest of the government, but she didn't see how this one might occur. "How so?" She asked.
Nagasako elaborated. "Word came down through the medical grapevine. Seems that the Senshi, or at the very least a student at Crystal Millennium wanted to introduce the medical community to Mend's capabilities," At this he visibly rolled his eyes and looked highly disgusted. "Of course instead of having even a semblance of open minds, the old lackwits were completely caught up on the fact that they couldn't figure out how she was doing it and as a result just wanted her gone. Idiots. The fact that she had Saeko Mizuno of all people backing her would tell anyone with half a brain-cell that-what?" He stopped, noticing the looks he was getting.
"Just surprised you're showing respect to another doctor, Daichi." One of the department heads answered. "Most of the time you don't have anything good to say about them."
A raised eyebrow was Nagasako's reply. "That's because most of them are by-the-book hacks that don't really think about what they're doing. Or think they know everything because they're old enough that their hair is falling out. Mizuno? I've seen that woman's record and she makes one of the most exacting and delicate medical procedures in existence look as routine as drawing blood samples. Hells yes, I respect her talent and skill."
Shaking his head MCAT's CMO got back to the original topic. "Anyway, we might not be the Senshi but MCAT has a lot more 'proper' documentation about the spell and we are official in the eyes of the various Bureaus. Could be an angle we could use."
"Speaking of the governmental bureaus Doctor Nagasako," The head of Legal leaned in, his square glasses reflecting the room's light. "The Ministry of Health and Welfare are requesting an....update on your analysis of the side effects; both short and long term of the Awakening procedure. I managed a delay per your request but they are becoming rather....insistent."
Nagasako let out a low groan before leveling a glare at Mikami. Though everyone present knew he wasn't actually angry at the lawyer. It was just that the legal department tended to be the bearer of bad news in MCAT.
"Arrrrgh, did those idiots even read the report I gave to you for them? No, don't answer that; it's a rhetorical question. Ten to one they stopped reading when they saw the note that data collection was still on-going." Nagasako growled out while pointing at Mikami, cutting of the forming reply.
Samui frowned at this. While she certainly wasn't a medical expert or spellcrafter aside from her natural ability to use magic, she had never seen any noticeable differences between Awakened and Unawakened humans. However given what was being said she obviously needed more information. "Did you find some issue resulting from the new Awakening ritual doctor? Jadeite's report certainly didn't suggest any."
Nagasako replied, visibly perturbed. "Oh no, there aren't any downsides. It's more the implications based on the results I've been getting. It started with oddities in the blood work for the Awakened agents. White blood cell was elevated and while that isn't something unheard of; the levels my team found would only be seen if somebody was laid out with a high fever as the body dealt with a massive infection. But they were just walking around, healthy as could be. At the same time people that I know had severe reactions to various things showed much more subdued responses or none at all. Ōkuninushi as my witness, one of the men who historically had severe shock reactions from wasp stings only got what looked like a mosquito bite instead with no other symptoms."
At this the man began gesturing while spreading out more papers from the folder in front of him. "Some of these things randomly occurring might be understandable, but all of them in such a uniform manner? That just doesn't happen. The long-term patients are showing far less muscle degradation then expected along with faster wound recovery, while with less scar formation added to the mess. There are even indications that Awakened's hand-eye coordination and reflex speeds have improved by up to 25%, and I'm sure there are still changes I haven't identified yet."
This resulted in a confused and slightly shocked silence around the table. Because while what was being described was certainly beneficial, that it was happening at all was worrying. After all; they weren't characters in a manga who could become superhumans just by doing over-the-top training sequences. Well except for Genjuro, but the Kazanari family had always been………unique.
Genjuro appeared conflicted about this news. "So what's the underlying cause for all this, doctor? I'm certain not adverse to getting new sparring partners but all these changes seem a bit extreme from just gaining the ability to use magic."
Nagasako turned to his colleague with a slightly wild-eyed look. "Extreme? Genjuro, if my theories are right all this is just the tip of the iceberg. And the politicians are going to be losing their Kamis-be-damned minds when it gets out."
"Doctor Nagasako!" Samui forcefully interjected, dragging the man's attention back to her. "What. Is. Your theory?"
A strained smile crossed the man's face. "That the only real difference between humans and the 'magical' races is that we're better at eking out marginal and stunted existences when we have no meaningful access to magic. And what we're seeing is peoples bodily functions working properly for the first time in their lives since their Cores can now provide the needed magic. But at the same time we're nothing compared to what's coming. All the Awakened adults grew up effectively malnourished and there's only so much you can do to improve a house with bad foundations. But the teens that are getting Awakened at Crystal Millennium or 'woke up' due to the Blackout? Whole different story and thanks to us now having access to Lydian Academy's files, there are two very blatant examples."
As Nagasako said this he pulled out a pair of papers and flipped them around so that the rest of the table could see. They were reports on a pair of Lydian Academy students. Specifically records relating to physical education scores. "Meet Hibiki Tachibana and Miku Kohinata. Both Awakened and who have shown some…impressive improvements in athletic capability in recent days."
Several days prior, Lydian Private Music Academy dormitory
Hibiki was feeling a bit of whiplash as Miku dragged her into their dorm before rather roughly closing the door behind them. OK so things had gotten a little crazy at the end of gym but she wasn't sure why her best friend felt the need to run and hide like this.
"Do you even realize what you did, Hibiki?"
OK, now that just wasn't fair. Yes, what happened certainly wasn't normal but it didn't call for Miku's frowny face being aimed at her like that.
"We agreed we wouldn't use magic to cheat in our classes remember?"
Eh? Hibiki certainly remembered that promise the two had made but why would-? "But, I didn't use any magic. I wouldn't break our promise like that Miku. The only magic I've been doing is the prestidigitation spell to help get ready in the mornings. I don't even know any spells that could help in PE, why would you think that?"
Miku's eyebrow just rose in response. "You. Out-ran. Akiyama-senpai on the track. She couldn't catch up to you for the entire period and had to be carriedoff to the nurse's office when Sensei finally called for a stop. Meanwhile you weren't even winded."
Ok, Miku had a good point there and Akiyama had looked horrible at the end of class. "Umm, maybe she was just sick?" Hibiki offered what she thought of as a potential reason for the day's events.
Judging by Miku's expression, said reasoning didn't hold water. "Hibiki. Akiyama-senpai has run against the rest of the class sick before and she still beat everyone handily. She's the student that Lydian is intending to have represent them at the National Sports Festival. Neither of us have ever been in her league."
Hibiki spread her hands, showing her confusion in response. "I don't know what to tell you Miku. I was running against her and I just....never felt tired or out of breath the entire time. Maybe it's from the 'Element of Motion' that Artemis-sensei said I had?"
"You think you don't get tired now as a side effect of having magic?"
"Well maybe? I mean you'd had some as well I-" Hibiki stopped, seeing Miku's confused expression. Did she not know-though now that Hibiki thought about it, some things could be hard to spot without an outsider's perspective. "Yeah, sometimes when you get really focused there's this sort of halo or backlight around you that looks a bit like sunrise. And when you fall asleep there can be a bunch of little lights like stars all over your hair, it's really pretty." She said, nodding at the same time to affirm what she was saying.
Huh, and now Miku was blushing which was weird to Hibiki. After all her friend was one of the prettier girls in their year, surely she'd gotten these sorts of compliments before?
Shaking her head, Miku's blush faded as she replied. "So if all that's true, what does that make us?"
"Obviously it makes us Hibiki Tachibana and Miku Kohinata, students of Lydian Private Music Academy and magical girls extraordinaire!" Hibiki said with a big grin on her face as she went into a sentai pose.
Miku scoffed. "You'd be a horrible magical girl. You'd be demanding bicycle shorts to wear underneath your fuku and would end up breaking the heels off your shoes whenever you fought the monsters. Not a drop of elegance or grace to be seen."
Hibiki puffed up in playful indignation. "I'd be a horrible magical girl? You'd be the one kidnapped every second episode, and then left tied up waiting for someone to save you." However, even as she said the words; Hibiki felt worried for some reason.
Said worry was explained when Miku clasped her hands in front of her, leaned forward and spoke breathily as she coquettishly looked up at Hibiki through fluttering eyelashes like the most over the top shoujo protagonist ever. "Then it's a good thing I'll have a strong and brave knight in shining armor to come save me isn't it?"
"...." Any words Hibiki might have said were utterly lost as her face reddened and brain slipped multiple gears trying to process just what her friend had said and done. Apparently her expression was very funny because Miku only held her pose for a couple of moments before breaking into uncontrollable giggles.
Coming out of her daze, Hibiki felt giggles of her own welling up even as she began to playfully swat at Miku. Said swats were quickly reciprocated and soon the two dear friends had fallen into a mutual tickle fight, laughing all the while.
Back in The Present
"-so yeah. Based on what data's been gathered so far, in ten to fifteen years we're probably going to be having a lot of athletes smashing multiple Olympic records; unless things get split into 'Active Core' and 'Chained Core' categories or whatever."
Murmurs spread around the meeting room as the various individuals attempted to parse the information bombshell that had just been dropped. For Samui however, it actually helped explain some of the discrepancies that she'd always noticed between 'present day' humans and those from the stories back in the days of Lord Inuyasha's youth. Back when there were mikos and hōshi that wielded powers that could and did stand against entities attacking cities and villages. When warriors who could perform 'supernatural feats' like Genjuro, the Chinese amazons, or the residents of Nerima were facts of life instead of being considered mere urban legend by most.
She'd always known that The Fade had sapped the strength from the youkai and left the magic races as mere shadows of what they once were. It was odd to view humanity in the same light in regards to this.
"So what does this mean for MCAT moving forward in your opinion doctor?"
Nagasako looked at her before shrugging. "Not my area of expertise director. A lot will depend if conditions get to the point where Cores start spontaneously triggering all over Japan. If that happens, Jadeite's little 'Wellness class' to be and Crystal Millennium isn't going to be nearly enough to keep a lid on things. It'll get real messy, real fast."
"Hey doc?" One of the team leaders leaned over the table to look at Nagasako with a worried look on his face. "You talked about how teens are going to get hit harder by this than us adults, what about younger kids? Because I've seen a bunch of elementary students dropping by Crystal Millennium for magic classes."
"Haven't the foggiest Akira. I've only been able to make the guesses I've had based on the Lydian data we have access to. For all we know, kid mages messing around could result in issues like pre-teen athletes that push too hard; or they could supercharge the effects seen in the teens. We'll be able to tell a few years based on the presence of a bunch of weak casters or a collection of one-person armies that can pull stunts straight out of storybooks."
Elsewhere
"Achoo!"
"You alright there Nanoha?" Yuuno turned from his work to look at his friend who was recovering from a sneeze of massive proportions.
"I'm fine Yuuno-kun. Somebody must be talking about me." Nanoha answered before pulling out a handkerchief and cleaning up. Seeing his confused expression (and reminding herself that her friend was from another planet) she elaborated. "Oh, it's an old story. That if you sneeze for no reason somebody is talking about you. If it's two sneezes somebody is saying something bad about you."
Yuuno nodded. "We have something similar where it's your left or right eyebrow getting itchy. Though, what are you working on; a new spell?" He said, looking down at the mess of glyphs being projected up from Raising Heart.
"Yep! Venus-sensei said having magical lasers were really important for any magical girl. I've got one spell figured out but Raising Heart and I have been working on another. We're still having trouble scaling it up but it's ready for a test, right Raising Heart?
「It can be done, My Master」
At this Nanoha cupped her hands over Raising Heart's standby form and (as Yuuno quietly shuffled back a couple of meters) began to recite an aria. "Gather, shimmer of stars."
I am firmly of the belief that when Dr. Sakurai is 'in the zone' there varying forms of BGM playing. Her lab no doubt can get trippy.
Lunaryon confirmed that activating somebody's Core really improves their overall health:
Simply activating a person's magical core wouldn't be hugely noticeable from the outside. They would be stronger, but it would be a small enough boost at first that it could be mistaken for just ordinary growth and development. The big thing would be that with magic, they would grow stronger faster, and degenerate much slower.
Their magic would, to a notable extent, prevent muscle decay. So that while someone who had been in a coma for a month or two would still be weaker, it wouldn't be anywhere near as much lost as one might expect. The other thing that would probably be noticed quickly is that that same effect would increase most people's stamina by a good... 20-25%? Something like that. People with magic can keep going for longer than people without.
But for any doctors the change would be hugely noticeable, as tons of the minor wears and tears that people have would heal faster and more efficiently, so they would stick out as being well above average health. And that goes for everything. Digests food more efficiently, so gets more calories from less food, actually digests more thoroughly as well, so there is less bodily waste. Plaque build up is slower, because the body is able to fight it off more efficiently. Higher white blood cell counts, and the cells hunt down outside influences more efficiently. Red blood cells carry more oxygen, and move through the body faster. Stomach acid is stronger. Bones start becoming harder to break, reaction speeds increase as the nervous system starts handling synapse action faster.
None of it is singularly a flag, but every single part of the body becomes better than it was.
As a result while adults are going to get a boost since their bodies are finally working correctly, individuals that are still growing are really going to reap the rewards.
Yes, Hibiki making like the energizer bunny is due to her Element+Awakened magic. Artemis didn't mention said potential for 'accidental magic' to the class since A: it slipped his mind, B: the effects tend to be minor/unnoticeable and C: he was an architectural apprentice back in the SM; not a teacher. There are things he simply doesn't know about/consider.
While Miku did have noticible improvements, Hibiki's whole 'don't get tired' thing kind of overshadowed said changes.
No, Nanoha does not have her wave-motion-cannon/sufficiently powerful friendship beam yet. She has several coding issues to work out; like how to collect huge amounts of magic without said mass of energy exploding in her face after a certain point.
A strained smile crossed the man's face. "That the only real difference between humans and the 'magical' races is that we're better at eking out marginal and stunted existences when we have no meaningful access to magic. And what we're seeing is peoples bodily functions working properly for the first time in their lives since their Cores can now provide the needed magic. But at the same time we're nothing compared to what's coming. All the Awakened adults grew up effectively malnourished and there's only so much you can do to improve a house with bad foundations. But the teens that are getting Awakened at Crystal Millennium or 'woke up' due to the Blackout? Whole different story and thanks to us now having access to Lydian Academy's files, there are two very blatant examples."
So I guess the next question is: how is this different for the groups that never lost their magic? Are the people paying taxes to the IMO at the same level right now that newly-awakened babies in public Japan will reach when they grow up? Or are said babies going to reach higher levels when they grow up because they've got a bunch of do-more-with-less adaptations that the IMO guys don't?
So I guess the next question is: how is this different for the groups that never lost their magic? Are the people paying taxes to the IMO at the same level right now that newly-awakened babies in public Japan will reach when they grow up? Or are said babies going to reach higher levels when they grow up because they've got a bunch of do-more-with-less adaptations that the IMO guys don't?
Miku scoffed. "You'd be a horrible magical girl. You'd be demanding bicycle shorts to wear underneath your fuku and would end up breaking the heels off your shoes whenever you fought the monsters. Not a drop of elegance or grace to be seen."
We probably have more advanced anti-upskirt technology than bicycle shorts, the heels can be either reinforced to take the strain or replaced with flats, and Hibiki's aesthetic is just as valid as what you would describe as elegant and graceful.
For all we know, kid mages messing around could result in issues like pre-teen athletes that push too hard; or they could supercharge the effects seen in the teens. We'll be able to tell a few years based on the presence of a bunch of weak casters or a collection of one-person armies that can pull stunts straight out of storybooks."
We probably have more advanced anti-upskirt technology than bicycle shorts, the heels can be either reinforced to take the strain or replaced with flats, and Hibiki's aesthetic is just as valid as what you would describe as elegant and graceful.
