#6b - Vita Strikes! part 2

In the cramped, noisy, and uncomfortable cabin of the transport helicopter, Shinji sat looking around at his companions, wondering how what had started off as a piece of NERV official business had turned into something close to a class outing.

The members of the "not the reading club" seemed to have been taken under Misato's easy wing, ever since they had started turning up on the way to school, their invitations being extended the previous morning while he had been tidying breakfast away -- including the can of beer Misato had been washing it down with. At least she had put it down before going to answer the doorbell.

The logic, though, of how the class president and her entourage had attached themselves to the group still escaped him. They were just there along with everyone else at the appointed rendezvous, and had been cheerily carried along with everyone else, even though the two groups hardly exchanged a word.

Not, of course, that much conversation had been possible, first with Kensuke's running commentary about the various military vehicles, and finally the huge cargo lifting helicopter they had been ushered aboard, and then with the din of the engines as they carried whatever burden of equipment it was that they were conveying as the official reason for the flight.

The only person whom he would have expected to legitimately accompany him and Misato was the only person obviously absent from the group. Fate, the only other person who was shouldering the burden of protecting the city from the manifestations of the Lost Logia, had been absent from school since the last battle, and was not even part of the expedition to greet another to join their band.

The first indication that they were at last approaching their goal, and would soon be released from this noisy Purgatory, was a whoop from a couple of seats along, where Kensuke was kneeling, face and camera both pressed against a small porthole window. He had spotted ships, and was beginning to reel off even more unwanted facts and figures.

---

He was the last disembarking -- Misato had been first, to attend to the unloading of the cargo; and his classmates had all boiled out in a throng behind her -- climbing cautiously down the ladder as the carrier surged slowly but inevitably under them, and blinking in the hard sun and fresh sea breeze.

As the others fanned out across the deck, he looked around, seeing only the obvious uniformed crew members, not the mysterious girl he was supposed to be meeting, not looking up at the superstructure towering above him, and at the figure in black and white who was looking down disdainfully at the newcomers.

---

From her vantage point above the deck, Vita regarded the newcomers. The girls, she dismissed at once, knowing that the Third was a boy, and that the First was not here with them today.

One standing aloof, looking on cynically -- perhaps there was a hint of the magus about him? Surely not the geeky one with the camera, nor the lost looking laggard at the back. She leaned over further, knowing that nobody would look up -- and if they did, that the sun was at her back.

"Oh!" she felt too late to recover, and then watched, as her stuffed toy rabbit slid from under the crook of her arm, and fell, to be caught by the breeze, and strike the first of the boys on the head. His exclamation of shock focussed all eyes on him, while the rabbit bounced again, caught by the breeze, skidding and skipping to where disaster would befall.

"Save him!" she called out, as the toy rolled towards the last of the boys, who lunged, caught it, then looked up.

"Don't look!" she shouted, aware that the breeze was tugging vigorously at her short skirt, then charged down the stairs to the deck and snatched the rabbit from the startled boy's grasp. Then, to relieve her anxiety, and, in part, the constant feeling of tension that still remained with her, she slapped him, a loud theatrical smack : "That's for peeking!" and she stared up at him, seeing him squirm as she fixed him with her gaze.

"Vita!" Misato's cheery voice broke the spell. She looked around as her previous liaison officer came striding across the deck, while the boy glanced helplessly from one to the other. "Ah, I see the two of you have already met!"

---------------------------------------------

To be continued. (This is today's instalment -- it's surprising what being on holiday with only intermittent network connectivity can achieve )

Vita Strikes! part 3

If this turns out to be a Rebuild 2.0 spoiler in any way, shape or form, I shall be more amazed than anyone! I expect in 4 weeks time that much jeering can be done at my extrapolation of the trailers.

Also, this time, a little something to amuse BobBQ.
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Shinji stood on the deck, watching as Vita opened one of the smaller cases of cargo that they had brought. She had -- well, not exactly dragged him, more been utterly certain that he would follow her as they all dispersed from the mess hall, in his sheer relief at being able to escape.

The meal had been torture -- it seemed that Vita's escort, Kaji, had been Misato's boyfriend years before, and much water had stagnated under the bridge in the interim. And when it was not direct jibes between the two, he had become the butt of all the ribald comment, in a sort of running joke that he was now Misato's boyfriend. And all the while, Vita had been ignoring the banter and just sitting, staring creepily at the assembled company.

"Misato said she'd brought me some presents," Vita remarked, handling something that vaguely resembled part of an exhaust pipe, and a belt of what he recognised as the cartridges used to boost the Lævateinn's power.

---

Not before time, Vita thought as she hefted her new cartridge system. The tension that she had felt gathering for a day or more was now increasing rapidly. Something had to give, and soon -- and yet this lumpen youth, a civilian, barely a rookie, not even a soldier, seemed to show no sign that he was aware of it.

NERV's Tokyo-3 commander had a definite reputation through the organization -- his son showed none of those qualities, and must be a pure conduit for his Device. There were others -- and she could swear that at least two of the others that had accompanied him would meet the criteria -- who would be far more adept at this thaumatological work.

She lifted her gaze, and looked out across the open water and the escorts. And then it happened.

So sudden she could not tell whether it had shot up from the depths, or descended from above, a pillar of blackness appeared in the space between the ships, reaching far up to the zenith -- and then, glancing further afield, another, far beyond the escorts.

"Chance for a little shakedown," she remarked wryly, "You don't happen to have your Device with you as well, do you?"

No, plainly he didn't.

"Stay there then, and no peeking!" as she ran to find a suitable place to take up her warrior's garb.

---

From where Vita had hurried to conceal herself, Shinji heard her call out in harsh accent "Komm, Mjolnir!", and the gruff response "Anfang." A blaze of ruby light briefly flooded the scene, then after a bout of boiler-shop clattering, the satisfied grunting "Explosion!"

By this time, the nearer of the black towers was in motion, lifting as well as sliding through the water, shedding a cascade of icebergs as it did. So too were the conventional weapons of the fleet, with shells sparking brief blue geometries from their target.

And then, unlooked for, as Vita soared into the fray, a brief glimpse of cotton-clad buttocks under her great crimson hoop skirt.

---

Revelling in her new strength, Vita hurled herself upwards to where she could vaguely discern a junction of the two -- for their vast height -- spindly legs. Below, there were gratifying signs of activity -- artillery fire, planes readying for takeoff, and even some of the N2-tipped cruise missiles, one in screaming ascent past even her upward rush.

That would all serve to keep the thing occupied until she could find its weak point, and break it.

---

Settling behind the cases of equipment, Shinji watched the battle unfold with sick fascination. For all the volume of firepower being brought to bear, this little fleet was already proving the loser, as the legs sliced their way through hulls that did not manoeuvre out of the way in time, leaving the wrecked halves foundering. He cast about for life jackets, anything, acutely away that they could well need to abandon ship at any moment, and that he himself could not swim.

While he waited for the inevitable, he noticed in surprise the class president emerge onto the deck, walking carefully so as not to attract attention, towards the rail nearby. Then, from the flock that had been accompanying the ship, a gull rose, hovering awkwardly on the breeze and the upwash, barely arms length away.

Sure as a falconer, she held out her hand, and the bird nestled into the waiting palm.

---

High -- too high -- above the battle fleet, Vita's ascent failed. Here the sky was perceptibly darker, the ocean below curved, and the air too chill and feeble to sustain her.

She curled her path and plummeted far faster than any stone, away from the stratospheric heights.

"Well," she thought grimly to herself, "If I cannot travel to this mountain-top, then the mountain top will have to come to me.

Approaching a more sensible altitude, passing through the futile canopy of fighter-jets, she bent her course off to one side to make a high speed, low level approach at one of the legs.

"Gigant Form!"

Mjolnir adapted itself to the command, ready to execute what would be tedious work. She would just have to hit the thing, and keep hitting it until it broke. Because that was how the world went.

---

A sudden blast of air and noise tore Shinji's attention from the class president, to where a jump-jet had ascended from an elevator shaft -- and in the second seat, he could clearly see Kaji, who saw him in turn, and waved an ironic salute before the plane gathered speed and was away towards landfall.

His scant concealment compromised, the class president turned to look in his direction, and glared at him, while the bird, released, took wing, and was gone.

He did not know what he had seen, just that he had seen it and was never meant to.

And then the instant was gone in a clap of thunder as something screamed past, revealed only in recollection as Vita, bearing a monstrous hammer several times her size, swiping at the approaching leg in the greatest display of pyrotechnics so far this engagement.

Seconds passed, Vita carrying on through, beginning to curve for another strike, when, slowly but surely, both legs departed the vertical together.

---

Aborting her second approach, she threw herself into a half-loop, gauging a course to meet the ponderous descent of the head.

There was no threat there, still miles high, from two silly bird-like faces, and a lattice cage through which a great block of ice ran, and at its centre, the Lost Logia.

With Mjolnir in normal configuration, she ran through the sealing ritual.

"Qutting Nummer 6."

And the whole great form became as one with the snows of yesteryear, in an explosion of hail-like fragments.

---

"The bigger they come, the harder they fall," she explained to Shinji, as they waited for her effects to be unloaded from the ship, and well after the other passengers had dispersed to their homes.

---

At that same time, in a secure place deep within the GeoFront, Kaji was placing a heavy steel case on a desk where Gendo watched silently.

He opened the locks, lifted the lid, to reveal, sitting in a padded recess, a block of transparent material, and inside that, an unequal cross of black and pitted iron.

"It has been restored thus far. I believe it is still functional. This is the point of the whole exercise, of the Enlightenment Project."

"Yes, "Gendo agreed, "This is the ur-device, Ashwand."
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Next, the much delayed onsen episode!

Let me guess...

UrsusArctos wrote:Let me guess...

Who else could the class president be? and

Consider me amused.

And still looking pretty good otherwise.

In Hot Water (part 1)

Yay! the onsen episode -- well, we might reach the hot springs themselves by the end of the year...

---

School was over for the day, and, once again, Shinji was on his way to report to the dojo, and Saionji-sensei's tender mercies.

His life, all of it, he reflected, was turning into his own personal set of hells. The likely beating and humiliation that awaited him would be just another layer of ordure to be heaped upon him, just in a different style to the rest of the day.

He had been ejected from the room that had been his own personal space away from the world, and was now reduced to sleeping in what had been the box-room, evicted by this loud foreign girl whose silences and glances were more eloquent than any barrage of invective, and who seemed to have immediately ingratiated herself with Misato, taken advantage of her good-natured slovenliness, and landed him with ever more of the household chores.

And then at school, where the other members of the club continued to tease him unmercifully about living -- the "in sin" being implied with no great subtlety -- with such an exotic prize. As if she would ever treat him as more than something she might have scraped off the heel of one of her boots! The one consolation there was the withering glare with which Vita had turned down her invitation -- or, rather, the summons -- to join the collection of outcasts and weirdoes into which he had forcibly been enrolled.

Even that had been two-edged -- while offended feelings still ran high, the club was tasked to ever more outrageous "games", rendering him complicit by association in such things as the sexual harassment of the Computer Club committee.

He shuddered at the recollection, and recovered himself. He was at the threshold of the dojo, and he could hear the sounds of sparring echoing in its emptiness.

Carefully, to remain concealed, he stood by the side of the door, and peered in. Saionji, his long green hair flowing from the back of his mask, was sparring with staves against Fate. In contrast to Saionji's formal attire, she wore just a black leotard with a heavy leather belt, and ankle boots, her long fair hair streaming in a simple tail.

Sparring, yes, as equals; Fate's swift and graceful movements at least equal to the power of Saionji's technique -- until in one fluid movement, she slipped under his guard, and struck the telling blow.

As Saionji bowed to acknowledge his defeat, slow applause rang out, and Shinji saw his father, who had clearly been standing on the other side of the wall behind which he had been concealing himself, walk out into the arena. Fate had clearly seen him as well and -- to Shinji's bafflement -- had tripped over to him, a radiant smile on her face.

They stood and spoke together for a while, and then Gendo put his hand on Fate's shoulder, and escorted her out through one of the other doors.

He was still standing there in bewilderment when the voice of his teacher called out "Pray, enter, Ikari-kun. It is past time for your lesson to commence!"

---

The episode with his father continued to haunt Shinji. The girl, Fate, was the most perplexing thing about all this business into which he had fallen. More perplexing, even, than the homework that he, as a non-swimmer, was trying to do while the girls were exercising in the pool that was part of the facilities at their disposal in the strange world under Tokyo-3.

The science homework sat there and taunted him, as he struggled to make sense of the questions, until, lifting his gaze, he followed the girl as she climbed to the highest of the boards, silhouetted against the light as she prepared to leap. Here, in school swimming costume, rather than the shapeless sweaters she favoured, or the long loose school uniform, he was suddenly aware not just of the grace of her technique, as she projected herself into the water, but also the burgeoning curves of her figure.

"What are you looking at there, you lecher?"

Vita was standing, dripping, by his table.

"Homework!" he protested.

"What does it say?" she asked, and he explained that it was science homework about the effects of heat.

"That's simple enough stuff -- if you didn't have to spend all your time learning those chicken-scratches, you'd have covered this years ago.
"All you need to know is that almost all materials, when you heat them up, get bigger by the same proportion for the same amount of heating."

He let his attention wander -- he could feel a full lesson's worth of lecture was imminent -- and watched instead as Fate hauled herself out of the pool for another dive.

"Do you suppose?" Vita moved to stand in his line of sight, leaning over him, dripping slightly.

"Do you suppose " -- and she thrust her chest at him -- "that if I warmed my chest, I would get udders like that girl is growing?"

The silver-grey lycra band around Vita's upper body simply covered, rather than supported, emphasising her angular and boyish appearance.

"Ah... Er..." she might just as well have asked him if the costume made her bum look big. And at his flustered refusal to answer, she just glared at him, then with a quick run, hop and somersault plunged into the pool in an eruption of water that left both him and his school-work showered in cold water.

Am I the only person who sees the title of this
fic and thinks: "Steel Angel Kurumi"?

Given his inquisitor, Shinji was lucky to get out of that alive...

Glad to see the latest installment, though thanks to you I went and checked out MGLN and got myself hooked, more's the pity.

chazthesilencer wrote:Am I the only person who sees the title of this
fic and thinks: "Steel Angel Kurumi"?

Yes.

Yes, you are.

Tabasco wrote:I went and checked out MGLN and got myself hooked, more's the pity.

Sorry, I'm not seeing the problem here.

Mr. Tines wrote:

Tabasco wrote:I went and checked out MGLN and got myself hooked, more's the pity.

Sorry, I'm not seeing the problem here.

Because a new addiction is exactly what everyone needs when starting a new job...

But seriously, I've run into many of my favorite series via fanfics, so this just continues the tradition.

Interlude

"Sakura Kinomoto is dead."

There was the slightest suggestion of a pause, and an observer might have noticed a slight tremor of his brow as Gendo replied "That is a remarkably final solution to our little problem."

"No -- you misunderstand. She died two years ago, in a car crash. Getting the documents meant pulling some strings, and there are certain anomalies in the paperwork..."

"Faked?"

"No, more that it probably wasn't a road traffic accident -- more a road traffic deliberate, if you get my meaning."

"Very well. Send me your full report by the usual channels."

---

A few miles outside Biei, in the heart of the Hokkaido countryside, Kaji stopped his bike and dismounted, setting it on its kick-stand. This looked like the place -- the unmade farm track, the solitary tree...

He flicked his cigarette butt into a ditch, and strolled towards it.

Why, he wondered -- had wondered all the journey here -- had Gendo asked him, out of the blue, about one of the names on the Belldandy List? He had thought that that was a little secret between himself and a select few in Section 9 -- hand delivered by none other than Director Maki himself, rather than the usual cut-outs.

And what was so interesting about a list of dead or hypothetical girls? One that had taken him from the south, off the coast of Nagasaki (Shiina Tamai, drowned in a swimming accident), through home territory (Akira Sakura, suicide in youth detention while awaiting trial for parricide; Hikaru Shidou, reported missing ten years previously, no further trace), and parts in between (Amu Hinamori of whom there was no record, but whose supposed parents he had identified, comfortably married to other people; Jun Watarase, who turned out to be a thirty-something transvestite running a seedy bar in Osaka) to here in the far north and the memorial to Sora Suzuki; to stand, bowing reverentially for a moment, before crossing off yet another entry from the List.

Mm hmm.

Like the references there. And Gendo's comment is awesome. :

Only a year since the last update -- admittedly a rather eventful one IRL...

---

Eventually, the aftershocks of Vita's arrival settled down, and life resumed its pattern of “hurry up and wait”, of school, training, and waiting for another alert. And then, just as the days had settled into a steady rhythm, there came the school holidays.

For once, Shiniji was glad of the commitments that kept him here in Tokyo-3 – the rest of the after-school Literature Club, save for Fate and himself, had been dragooned by their irrepressible leader into a holiday away on one of the islands near Okinawa, some exclusive retreat which she had managed to wangle an invitation. With the prospect of a few days almost to himself – provided he kept his head down as Vita passed by – he even considered getting his ‘cello out of the storage it had been consigned to since her arrival, and resuming his much neglected practise.

Then, barely had he cleared the holiday homework he had been assigned, when Misato announced that she had a little surprise for him – apparently observations had been made suggesting that one of the Lost Logia was to be found somewhere near Mt. Asama, so he would be having an impromptu onsen break in one of the hot spring resorts nearby in case the results of further investigations confirmed the discovery. Vita, overhearing this, was well put out –until Misato disarmed her by saying that in their absence, the entire defence of Tokyo-3 would be in her hands.

---

After a long soak in the hot mineral waters, Nanoha, and her friends Arisa and Suzaka, emerged in search of refreshments, Nanoha carrying Yuuno, who seemed at last to have settled down from the skittish attack he had had earlier. Perhaps, Arisa had suggested, after they had had to drag him out from amongst the baskets of clothes in the changing rooms, he was like her cats, and had been afraid that he too would be expected to be getting wet.

As to be expected at holiday time, the bath-house was busy; so, having equipped themselves with drinks and something to snack on, her two friends were steering Nanoha out into one of the courtyards, clearly determined to have some sort of serious talk with her. She had, she acknowledged to herself, been rather distant these recent weeks, since she had taken up this quest to collect the Jewel Seeds, not wanting to involve her dear friends in things that they could do nothing about. And yet, without telling them outright that she was now a magical girl, it was only natural that they would be concerned about her.

"“What was it about that girl and the octopus snacks?"” Suzuka asked rhetorically, of the major cause of the time it had taken for them to get served, one girl in a high-school group who seemed to be throwing an indecorous tantrum as her friends had fussed around her.

Caught up in their mutual condemnation of such behaviour, they almost walked into another of the guests, a woman by herself. About to apologize, Nanoha looked up – and a shock of recognition struck her. She had seen this person some place before, though she could not place it – and from the look on the woman’s face, the recognition was mutual.

“"Look where you’re going, girls!”" she said in a voice of gentle reproach – and then her eyes narrowed. And she spoke on that silent channel that normally she shared only with Yuuno. “and little girls should stay out of the way when grown-ups are working.”

She felt Yuuno tense in her grasp, abut he remained silent – but she could not : “Why”, she asked in the same silent converse, “are you after the Jewel Seeds?”

But there was no reply. The woman just stood aside, and waved to beckon them pass.

“"And what was with her?”" Suzuka burst out, as soon as they were safely out of earshot.

“"Drunk, I think,”" Arisa opined, “"she smelt like a brewery already.”"

---

Night came, and as the girls settled down to sleep, Nanoha settled on her mat with some relief. The talk that her friends had demanded had not gone too badly. That there was something troubling her that she couldn’'t talk about, that she couldn'’t deny; but by omission, without telling her friends any outright lies, she had managed to leave them with the impression that it had to do with the old family business, rather than anything as crazy as was actually taking place. If only that were true, and her family, and Suzuka'’s family maids, could be the ones to take on this business...

“Perhaps, then, I should continue this task alone,” Yuuno ventured, “after all, meeting that woman here can be no coincidence.”

““Stop that!”“ Nanoha chided him, ““You'’ll make me cross if you go on like that.“

““Yes, I started gathering the Jewel Seeds just to help you; but now it’s different. I’'m doing it because I want to, because I need to.”“

Yuuno acquiesced to her insistence, and, that outburst over, they settled to sleep.

---

And in the midnight hour, that period of lighter sleep, there came that now familiar sensation. A Jewel Seed had awoken.

Pulling on her clothes, Nanoha snuck out of the guest house, and, as she ran, called upon the Raging Heart.

---

"“We’'ve been looking for hours!”" Shinji was weary, as he rested on an ornamental bridge in the gardens of the “onsen“.

“"Never mind, Shinji-kun,"” Misato consoled him. “"We can call it a night, sleep late and try again tomorrow.”"

And as he was about to give up, there came something that raised the hairs on his neck. The Lost Logia?

Two handed, he struck the tip of the Laevateinn into the boards of the bridge, spinning out a widening ring of magical energies. And in response, not too far downstream, a fountain of blue light erupted.

"“That sure is amazing,!" there was a tinge of awe in Misato’s voice. "“So this is what the power of the Lost Logia looks like close up, even when it is unstable and incomplete.”"

"“What,”" she asked, of no-one in particular, "“is it that they can do that makes your father want them so badly?”"

“"Who knows? I don't -- but that doesn't matter. To prove myself, I must get them if he wants them.”" He spoke with a bitterness that surprised Misato –-- this was unlike his usual meekness.

"“Laevateinn, awaken! Sealing form, set up!”"

Magical energies crackled around the blade, and there was the feeling of its inner workings reconfiguring. He pointed it at the column of blue light.

“"OK, so here goes, Misato. I'm going to seal it.”"

Under the influence of the energies directed at it, the Jewel seed rose up, and drifted towards his outstretched left hand.

“"What are you doing with that Jewel Seed? It’s dangerous!”"

The girl in white came into view, stopping for breath.

“"Restricted information under the UN special agency NERV,"” Misato replied, “"And I was being so nice when we spoke before. Well, if you can’t be a good girl, you'’ll find what it means to be in big trouble."

"“'I’ll handle this, Shinji-kun!”"

She sprang forwards, clasping at the pendant she always wore. Indigo weaves of energy gathered around her, and she seemed to flow, until a huge black panther emerged from the maelstrom, wicked talons bared.

“"Is she a familiar?”" Yuuno wondered, to Nanoha’'s confusion, as those claws struck sparks from the barrier he had hastily erected.

“"No; you're not the only one here with a Device; and my job is to protect this young man when I can.

“"Go on ahead with the Lost Logia, I'll follow!”"

“"Nanoha – follow that boy!"” Yunno commanded.

And in the instant, she was gone, streaks of pink, and purple light scoring the starry night sky.

---

The Jewel Seed that was following the boy made the pursuit easy. Capturing it, that would be a different matter.

After a series of aerial exchanges, it was obvious that neither of them were going to out-fly the other, so, for the moment the two of them paused, coming to ground in an open patch amongst the trees, facing off.

"“So now what will you do?"” the boy asked.

"“Is there some way we can talk this over?"” Nanoha ventured.

"“I must collect the Lost Logia.”" There was something leaden about his tone, “"And if you have the same goal, that means we'll be enemies.”"

“"That's what I mean,”" she implored. “"We need to talk this over, and not make dangerous decisions so quickly.”"

“"That’s just talk. Words will change nothing.”"

Then, suddenly, he seemed to vanish. Only the tell-tale magical energies of his translation gave him away, as Nanoha turned to barely block his swing, so that it just clipped part of the extravagant bow that decorated her costume, their dog-fight resuming after the short pause for breath.

"“Can'’t ... can'’t you tell me you name?”"

The boy frowned. “"Shinji,”" he said, “"Shinji Ikari.”"

Then both, expecting the other to be distracted, struck out for the prize.

“"Lyrical Magical!”

"“Jewel Seed serial XIV!”"

"“Seal!"” they called together.

The two sets of binding energies writhed together about the blue core of the Jewel Seed – and it drank them in, and emitted a stunning blinding pulse of magical radiation.

Dizzied, her eyes clouded with after-images, Nanoha tried to orient herself.

“"Hurry, Nanoha, and seal it!”" Yuuno’'s voice of encouragement came from nearby.

“"Like we'’ll let you!"” Shinji’'s companion was also nearby, the skirmish on the ground continuing.

With a heavy feeling of resignation, Nanoha realised that with the two of them sharing the same goal, they might not be able to avoid fighting like this.

“"I haven'’t properly introduced myself! I'm Nanoha, Takamachi Nanoha! A school girl...”"

But the boy – Shinji, she reminded herself – just looked at her with those hollow eyes...

"“Divine Shooter!”"

With practised ease, the boy brought his blade to bear.

"“Festung!"” and a whirling triangle of purple light blocked her attack.

They squared up for another bout, but then

Pulse!

Another disorienting wave of energy from the Jewel Seed. If they didn'’t hurry, it would waken fully.

"“Shinji-kun, you said nothing will change by talking, but there are things we cannot communicate without using words”

"We might not be able to avoid competing like this, but I can't stand fighting like this without knowing anything about you.

"“Originally I was gathering the Jewel Seeds because Yuuno-kun was searching for them, to return them where they belong, so I came along to help him. That was just a strange coincidence; but now I choose to do this because I don't want the people around me to be in danger.

"“That... that's why I'm doing this!"

Shinji sighed.

"“I...”" he began

“"Shinji-kun, you don't need to say anything!"” Misato ordered him. "“Not to people who come out of nowhere and are just acting nice, but really want something from you.

“"Our top priority is to capture the Lost Logia!”"

Recovering from her shock and affront, Nanoha dived for the Jewel Seed – and so did Shinji. As she hooked the crook of the Raging Heart about that kernel of blue fire, Shinji’'s blade struck it, both devices locking into place.

Blue energies exploded, and both devices trembled. Nanoha could feel sections of the Raging Heart folding into otherness in an uncoordinated fashion, as if it were about to splinter, as the two of them were flung away from the Jewel Seed.

Shinji recovered first, looking at the disrupted form of his device.

“"Laevateinn, return!”" he called.

"“Jahwohl!”" came a weak reply, as the sword folded itself into its inert resting configuration.

Then, as Nanoha watched, he doggedly pulled himself to his feet and reached for the Jewel Seed, clasping it in one gauntleted hand.

“"Shinji-kun, stop! It's too dangerous!”"

But he ignored Misato’'s cries, and sank to his knees, blue light flaring from between his clenched fingers, a magical triangle springing into being where he knelt.

“"Stop, stop, stop!”"

But after a last bright flare, the normal midnight darkness resumed, and he struggled weakly to his feet.

“"Shinji-kun!”" Misato called, reverting to human form, and catching him as he collapsed.

Then, as if daring Yuuno to respond, she strode off, carrying the boy; but with Nanoha down, and needing his care, he had his own business to attend to. Though the Raging Heart was designed to handle vast amounts of magical energy, it had been badly damaged by just the one impact – but at least not so much that its autonomous self-repair systems would be unable to repair it in a few hours.

---

In the confines of an unmarked van speeding through the night back to Tokyo-3, Shinji winced while Misato anointed and bandaged his burned hands.

"“I'm sorry -- we're nearly done.”"

“"It's OK. Thank you, Misato.

"“I'll have to report to Father tomorrow, so I need to be fit and not let him down. I want to make him proud of me.”"

Misato wondered whether Gendo Ikari would even notice.

"“I think, then, that you should wear gloves, to protect your hands while they heal.”"

Interlude
======

The void between the worlds; the crimson darkness of the Bleed.

Sleek and white, the ship is following a long lazy geodesic, cruising with minimal effort. Light blazes from its portholes and the broad promenade deck, to be lost in the nothingness outside.

Then, like a shark scenting prey, it changes heading, gathers speed, and is gone, churning distortions in its wake.

---

Aboard, the captain strides purposefully onto the bridge, surveying the scene of activity. She seats herself, and brushes a coil of long green hair from her face. Her aide, quite unobtrusively, pours a cup of tea for her, before settling into her post.

"Status?" the captain enquires.

"We detected a strong dimensional distortion emanating from one of the worlds in the Barrens. Signature suggests that someone has been tampering with Lost Logia out where they didn't expect to be found. Proceeding towards the site of the disturbance as per regulations.

"Broad spectrum probes also detect emiru force emissions from the same world -- we may be dealing with a significant installation or set of installations."

"Time to arrival?"

The captain considered the schedule briefly, then decided.

"Ready the Tempest Gold team for reconnaissance in force; keep them briefed with all the latest findings. Someone out there is playing with fire, and we don't want to be the ones getting burned."

At long last, the next section gets reified from notes

---

"Fifty-six, fifty-seven,..." The morning kata was going more smoothly now, after the time spent waiting for the Raging Heart's self-repair systems to complete their task. Getting to the count of one hundred in the kick-the-can game seemed a reasonable goal.

Then something washed by, like ripples on still water.

The can fell unheeded to the ground.

"Jewel Seed," Nanoha said, almost to herself, "and some distance down the coast. Are you ready, Raging Heart?"

"Yes, my master. Condition: All Green!"

"Yuuno-kun?"

The ferret bounded up, to sit across her shoulders.

She held the jewel at arm's length, levitating by her left hand, her head bowed slightly in respect.

"Stand-by. Ready"

Garbed for battle, she rose into the morning sunlight, and then accelerated towards where the magical disturbance had arisen.

---

"Shinji, take point!"

The call had come before day had broken, and he, Fate and Vita had been bundled into one of a fleet of NERV support vehicles heading, sirens blaring, to where divinations had indicated an incipient Angel appearance.

The stop, when it came, was just an unremarkable piece of highway, looking out over unreclaimed salt marsh to the ocean. While the other vehicles had dispersed to set up a full road-block in both directions, to keep civilians away from the area, they had been served a breakfast of field rations and then been held ready. And then the report came -- a sighting, something slouching from the deeps towards the shore.

Following Misato's instruction, Shinji pushed forwards at speed, towards the figure, reminiscent of the first Angel he had fought, that was now wading shorewards. He started to circle the figure warily, ready for any of the energy blasts that that previous Angel had projected, as he cycled a cartridge through the Laevateinn.

"Surprise and the swift, overwhelming attack is all!" Vita shouted, as she swept past, her Mjolnir at its largest size, to swing down at the figure from above. There was a meaty smacking sound at the impact, and then it just split down the middle like a green log.

"See, that is how you do it!" she continued, "You hit things hard enough, and then they URK!"

Her triumphant gloating was interrupted as a bony spike protruded out through her chest. Blood began to trickle from her lips as the spike withdrew; and then, all support removed, she began to fall.

"Fate! Medevac, stat! Shinji -- cover their retreat."

This was not looking good. Each half of the Angel had pulled itself together, and there were now two of the creatures.

As Fate swooped to snatch Vita from her now ballistic trajectory, she had to weave past further attacks from the claw-tipped tentacles from one of them, spinning off defensive magic circles, while Shinji tried to occupy the other one.

The long hours in the dojo finally seemed to be paying off : the Laevateinn moved easily in his hands, keeping the half-Angel's thrusts at bay -- but as Fate sped off carrying Vita, the other one gave up on her, and turned to join in the fight.

--

The two long shadows cast by the low sun were the first visual contact Nanoha had with the scene of combat, then the figures themselves; while the subtle sparks of magical defences were apparent to her newer perceptions. That boy was here first yet again -- but this time clearly at a disadvantage.

She would take the moving to engage him -- evening the odds, and taking her own chance to capture another Jewel Seed.

"Divine..." The Raging Heart hummed and spun out wheels of cerise energy as it folded into combat form.

"...Buster!" and the gathered power lanced forth to strike her chosen target.

That attracted its attention.

--

He felt the surging energies before he saw them, and recognised their source. That girl, Nanoha, interfering again. Still, at this point, his enemy's enemy was at least an ally of convenience.

Enemy -- why was this thing an enemy? The doubts that had surfaced in the very first such encounter rose up again, and only reflexes honed by Saionji's relentless tutelage kept the next strike from him.

"Cartridge Load!" he cried, slicing away the claw, and diving in to bind its Logos.

--

Nanoha called forth a cluster of magical lights and sent them in a volley towards her chosen target. Keep it distracted, and let the boy, let Shinji, start to bind his, and then she could take her own -- and maybe peel off the other Seed as well.

She felt him attempt the binding -- and then it broke, sending nauseating shocks through the fabric of magic. This was worse than when they had clashed over the same Jewel Seed.

She rode out the shockwave, and then swooped in again, the Raging Heart reconfiguring to sealing mode. "Lyrical Magical, Jewel Seed..." and again the wrenching snapping of the charm -- and a thrust claw that she was barely able to ward off in time.

She pulled back, putting distance between herself and a creature that was apparently none the worse for all she had done to it. Still, she had a notion now of how to perform a more potent sealing than the ones she had been using up to now, as she became more fluent in the workings of magical power; and settled to the ground to concentrate her focus.

Gathering up the sparkle of energies from about the scene, she drew them in like a deep, deep breath, ready to make the new binding. The Raging Heart spun up more intricate mandalas as she prepared.

"Halt, by the command of the Ordo Tempus-Spatium!"

An older girl, in intricate costume, and her golden hair in two tight buns, stood before her, pushing the Raging Heart out of alignment with her own staff.

--

The second shock of failed binding almost broke Shinji's defences.

"Panzer Festung!" he commanded, waiting to weather this storm, and catch his breath before resuming the attack.

"Stand down!"

A young woman, her pink hair in twin-tails stood before him on a platform of spiral energy, She held a staff surmounted with something like a nautilus shell before her.

"Shinji! Withdraw at once." Misato's orders solved his immediate dilemma. He wished this newcomer the joy of these half-Angels.

--

"Do as she says." Yuuno advised, indicating that these were the lawful authorities for incidents like this.

Nanoha shrugged.

"Mode release!"

"Wait there," the girl ordered, "until we have contained this apparition."

She rose into the air, joined by her partner, and from when they met, their flight traced patterns of energy in the air, like a flower or symbolic atom; and when it was complete, it shone down a clear light that drew the substance from both the shambling behemoths, drawing it into one clear blue point, a Jewel Seed.

One more fragment that I found recently

---

Despite the early hour, the sun was already beating down as Kaji made his way down the narrow street between the railway line and the back of the deserted light industrial area on the outer fringes of the Old Tokyo sprawl, where he was due to meet his contact. He counted the buildings as he passed, then, finding a gap torn in the chain link fencing, slipped through into the space behind one of the office units.

The back door presented no serious barrier, and the alarm system was long powered off. All that met him in the gloomy interior was the hot and musty atmosphere of a long abandoned building, left untouched in the heat for many years. As he became accustomed to the dingy light filtering through the half-shuttered and dust-obscured windows, he made out signs of the previous occupants, a once well known marionation studio, who had left their graffiti on the walls, like a salacious sketch of what he realised must have been QT, the mascot character of Magical Maid Mystical Honey; and a poster,faded and torn, of the iconic series New Dawn Rescue, with the main girls, Rei and Asuka elbowing aside Naota, the nominal lead.

Passing through a door with the words ECCO-01 Sound Only scrawled in marker pen, he emerged into a short corridor leading to the atrium. Carefully approaching the entrance and peering through a not completely opaque patch of window, he spotted his contact sitting on the step outside. Not Maki, this time, but one of his newer recruits, Aoki.

He unlocked the door and opened it a crack, to announce himself. To the youngster's credit, he didn't startle, but instead got straight down to business.

"The name you wanted to check? Mami Tomoe? It turns out we had her on file, and I looked up the record."

He paused.

"I don't know if I'll be able to look a gateaux in the eye for a while after viewing the MRI of that particular accident."

"So," Kaji mused, "after finding Wakaba Nogi in hospital -- caught in a building collapse during that earthquake in Shimane Prefecture back in July -- that leaves just one name on the Belldandy list unaccounted for. Not one I wanted to tangle with...

"Were you around a couple of years back, with the goings on of that English idol, what was her name, Revy something-or-other?"

A shake of the head.

"There was a hit put out on her, reasons being unimportant this far after the fact, the hired assassin having a fearsome reputation, regarded as an all-around nasty piece of work, even in underworld circles. Meanwhile her manager had engaged covert body-guarding services for her.

"It was nothing that reached the papers -- the idol having been a nine day wonder, quickly faded from public view, no scandal, no sensational crime, just one nasty character gone missing, presumed dead.

"The last name on the list. The bodyguards were her Family." The capitalised emphasis was plain.

"Of all the girls in all Japan, it just had to be a Takamachi."

---

In the dark of the secure conference room, Gendo stared down the glowing eidolons representing the inner circle of the SEELE Committee.

The appearance of this extra faction, above and beyond the girl with her rogue device, had sent the Old Men into a complete tailspin, even as it made his own plans rather more difficult to realise.

He waited for them to end the frenzy of contradictory actions they were urging him to take, for an opportunity to present his own proposal, now that all the Logia had been disclosed, but was thwarted when the new SEELE-02, a young Japanese man who had ascended with remarkable rapidity to this select gathering, interrupted.

"We shall send my younger sister to your aid. She carries the Book of Eibon itself. That should suffice to overcome any opposition that has manifested itself from beyond the veils of Space and Time."