2014-09-24 - The Cake Is...

Title: <The Cake Is...>
Summary: <Nanoha and Fate have an epic battle over birthday cake. Spoiler Alert: The cake is chocolate. >
Who: <Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa>
Where: <Nishitama Park District>
OOC - IC Date: <03/15/2014 - 09/24/2014>

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.
<SoundTracker> Phantom Minds - Nana Mizuki - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiSLlg6rFtM

<<It's somewhere in this area, but I can't narrow the range down further.>>

<<Just hold your position Feito. I'll be there soon!>> Arf would not in fact be there soon. Right now she was in Harajuku, searching, but also devouring a meat bun. "Hey cool look!" "Oro?" Arf twitches her ears without realizing they popped out. She makes an effort to reign them in, rubbing the nape of her neck. "Ahahahahaha... yeah."

<<It'll take too long. I'm just going to pour magic into the area and activate it.>>

Arf drops her meat bun. <<Feito. That's... >> She didn't object, but she struggled with the mental warning she wanted to say. As she made an effort to slip away to a place where she could transform and start her flight, she finally transmitted the final word. <<...dangerous.>> "I know what I'm doing Arf." She whispered audibly, and sent telepathically at the same time. <<Of course you do! Because you're my mistress! It's just...>>

"Arcus Cultus Aegeas." Somewhere above the park, a girl hovering in the air was standing levitated just above a golden circle, laden with runes. "Heavenly gods who shine over all. Descend now as I guide you." Dark clouds formed almost instantly, the smell of rain and ozone thick over the park. Every so often a cloud would lighten with a flash, before discharging to strike an area of the park. Many people, believing it was just a bad storm started taking cover. Though some screams started when a bolt of lightning struck a tree, catching it ablaze.

One hand clutched Bardiche's haft for support, the other was lifted up in a gesture of spellcasting, her cape and twintails fluttered violently in the gale force winds that came. "Baruel, Zaluel, Browzel. Strike with lightning, and roar with resonant thunder..." The storm continued to pick up, until finally... a pillar of blazing cerulean incandescence rose from a fountain near the center of the park, the gem settled just beneath a pile of yen coins within. The pillar pierced the heavens, sundering the center of Fate's summoned storm, creating an eye in it's center.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

Meanwhile. There's someone here who DOESN'T know there's a Jewel Seed nearby. March 15th is a fairly special day for one certain little girl, and it just so happens, that girl is Nanoha Takamachi. And the reason is... She turns ten today. It's a momentous day, stepping into the world of a double digit age, and all that's left is to get home and enjoy a quiet celebration with her family. So a little break in the park couldn't possibly hurt. The dangers are utterly lost on her.

Until the advent of a sudden thunderstorm, anyway. Unexpected. Powerful. ... Charged with raw and powerful magic.

<MASTER!> Raising Heart pings, jerking the girl less than the initial thunderclaps beneath the dark clouds beginning to linger in the sky. Thankfully with people fleeing the 'storm', Nanoha can change unhindered in a flash of pink light. "I-... Is it a Jewel Seed? ... No, it's something else."

<THE SOURCE IS FROM ABOVE.> The Device confirms, as the girl streaks upward, flinging a mental note to a certain ferret in hopes of quick arrival to get a Barrier up.

For now though, it's not long before Nanoha is up in the skies, halted at the sight of a birthday gift she did not expect, as the seed starts to rouse from the depths of the fountain..

"F-Fate..."

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

<<It's active. I'm grabbing it before...>> <INCOMING!>

And then there she is. Her rival was there before she could blink in a streak of pink, and Fate finds her summoned storm moving out of her control. Fortunately, without her directly empowering it, it started to ebb in power and intensity instantly. The golden circle at her feet sputters and dies.

Fate stares at her with those scarlet eyes, her sorrow palpable even with anger and frustration there too, around the edges. After all, how many times had her interference cost her as of late? Bardiche swings forward, as she points his polearm form at the girl. "Why must you always interfere?"

The way she spoke her name didn't show too much confidence. Maybe she could get her to back down without a fight. "This is your one chance. Step aside. Noone needs to get hurt here." Inwardly she hoped Nanoha wouldn't force the issue, but her hope was fast receding.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

It's always at the worst of times. Despite the warning, Nanoha only briefly flinches. It's a good thing the storm begins to die down as she proves to distract the blonde, because Nanoha probably couldn't handle Fate AND raging mana at the same time. It's impossible for Nanoha to NOT force an issue around Fate, though.

"Wh... What are you doing? That felt really dangerous!" She blurts, in the face of Bardiche swung to aim imperiously at her. But then there's a pause.

"Uh.... Uhr... I was actually just taking a break in the park." She admits when asked why she was there. Of course Fate's magic acting like a beacon would yank her towards the girl.

A mild pang hits her though. A cell phone message from Suzuka was nice, but not seeing her two friends today was... Not easy. "Maybe..."

"Uhm."

There's a hesitance. An awkward pause as she rubs at the back of her neck. "Do we... Have to fight? M... Maybe... Would you like to come over for some cake tonight...?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

So she was just here by coincidence? Fate's eyes become wide momentarily, before narrowing. No that couldn't be right, could it? Then again she did live nearby. She debated inwardly on if she was lying or not, before shaking off the significance. She wasn't about to explain herself either but...

Then suddenly the question hit her completely off guard. "What kind of c..." Bardiche interrupt pings, OBJECTION! <SIR. THE CAKE COULD BE A LIE.>

The blinks repeatedly before straightening suddenly. "You're just trying to trick me, aren't you? It isn't going to work!" She sounded a bit annoyed, but she definitely wasn't too angry yet, after all, she'd come to expect this sort of tactic from her rival. However, she hasn't attacked, just yet.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

It really was just a coincidence, and running into Fate truthfully had Nanoha flat footed as well. Hence the awkward fidget with the Device in her own hand. There's a glimmering look of hope in her eyes when Fate dares to ask about the cake, before Bardiche cuts things off.

The wince that follows is almost injured, when the blonde swaps assumptions to those of deceit and trickery... Which is not the case. Biting on her lip, Nanoha takes Raising Heart in both hands, but in a non-aggressive stance while emphatically shaking her head. "I-I'm not! It's not a lie! I just..." She halts, to let slip a small huff. "... I thought I'd invite you for my birthday."

Raising Heart non-sequiters.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Fate remembered the last time she celebrated a birthday. Her mother was working so hard on that project in the city. Fate remembered waiting expectantly, until her four year old eyes could hold out no longer. The next thing she knew, her mother was holding her tightly as she awakened, and sleepily put her arms around her. "I'm so sorry I missed your birthday..."

There were tears in those eyes that she had loved so much. She leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, uncircling an arm around her to wipe some of those tears away. "It's okay Mama. Please don't cry!" The two had shared a storebought chocolate cake while she sat on Precia's lap, enjoying every minute of it, caring for nothing more than each other’s company. The presents that she opened afterwards were an afterthought in comparison.

She couldn't even remember the date of her birthday, it hadn't been celebrated in years. Her mother had been far too busy, and Linith... she sounded so sad whenever the subject of Fate wanting to spend her birthday with her mother was brought up. Eventually it was just forgotten.

Fate looks at Nanoha, suddenly pale at the mention. Her eyes shut tightly for a moment, as she has to visibly calm herself, before she opens them again. "Go home. Enjoy this special day with your family. Forget this ever happened." Fate wanted to say 'please', but it didn't quite reach her tongue. Just her eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

Nanoha knows nothing about Fate. She knows NOTHING about this girl, try as she might to coax anything out of her, every time she meets nothing more than a stone wall and... Those eyes. Even though no deeper words are spoken than simply teeling her to go home, Nanoha can tell she might have just triggered the reason to get those eyes all over again, their very gaze ramming into her heart like a piercing knife.

She very nearly sags where she floats. "You... Know I can't..." Not when there's a Jewel Seed at stake right there, and after getting those eyes. Nearly losing herself in them, and having to endure facing them down despite the sheer levels of uncertainty they cause to well in her now ten-year-old heart.

But that small heart is strong.

"... We're... About to fight aren't we." She knows how this goes, as Raising Heart hums with activation. Nanoha will not back down, even in the face of those eyes.

"... So let's go... If you win you can have the Jewel Seed." She gives the normally standard conditions of how these fights go, having yet to truly beat Fate in single combat.

"If I win... You can have the Jewel Seed. ... And please come have cake with me?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Fate nods reluctantly at Nanoha's statement that they're about to fight. Bardiche's illumination from his central golden orb glows ever brighter. And yet even that wavers, as if uncertain himself.

However Fate doesn't know what to make of her next statement. Of course if she won she'd take the jewel seed!

The next however. Fate's eyes widen in shock. Her breath catches in her throat. It takes her so much time to even comprehend what was going on here. Eventually, a soft word utters from her throat. "Why?"

Her gaze lowers, her blonde bangs framing her face somewhat, "Why would you put so much on the line for something like that?" She sounds completely baffled, perhaps even frightened by the implications.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

This may be the biggest gamble Nanoha has thrown out there to date. But from the sudden iron hard look behind her eyes, the girl will probably not be taking no for an answer. Now she does shift her hold on her Device, readied and steeled for a fight. Why?

Why would Nanoha put so much on the line for this?

"Because!"

Her answer comes almost in a shout. Briefly, bleu eyes close, and she draws a breath. "Because every time I see you I get lost in your eyes!" Admitted more softly. "Those kind eyes that are so sad. And I want to know why. And I want to do everything I can so that they won't be sad anymore. But we always keep fighting... So if we're going to fight on my birthday then I'll let you have the Jewel Seed. But only if there's a chance that I get to spend my birthday with someone I want to be my -friend-!"

Just like that her motion is instant, an explosive riot of speed and sound, with a twirl of the Device in her hand, summoning eight orbs of that pure pink light, eyes wild and hard as steel.

<DIVINE BALLISTICS!> Raising Heart announces, a war cry of "SHOOOOOT!" rising from the child's throat and sending the pink light streaking with the speed of bullets for the blonde in a sudden and decisive announcement of Nanoha's new course of action.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Ballistics on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa perfectly counters Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Ballistics, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Counter!  Fate Testarossa's Reverse ability activates!  
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa's counterattack, Photon Lancer: Multishot, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nanoha Takamachi!  

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Nanoha's pink bullets streak towards Fate with all of her steadfast, warm, and earnest determination.

<PHOTON LANCER> "Multishot."

Fate's aria sounds less sedate than usual. Yellow spheres crackling with violet lightning form and lance towards each of Nanoha's bullets, colliding before erupting into a huge cornucopia of explosions.

When the smoke clears, there is Fate, staring at Nanoha. Her eyes if anyhthing, look sadder than usual. She takes a deep breath, taking time to comprehend everything that Nanoha just said. Her eyes? What about her eyes? What did this girl see!? And... friend? Why does her enemy want to be her friend? It made no sense!

'I've told you before Fate. I'd like it if you were able to go back to civilization and make friends.' Seated upon a verdure hill with Linith, covered in dappled sunlight, Fate looked uncertain as she glanced to her lap, 'Friends!? How do I make friends? I'm not even sure... besides...' Linith waved a finger at her, 'You can't think that way!' Fate huffed out an indignant breath, 'Buu... but you don't have any friends either Linith!' Fate suddenly looked up, introspective, with a smile, 'But it really doesn't matter. I don't need friends. I have Arf, and you Linith. You'll always be at my side, won't you?'

'Thank you Fate, for everything... Goodbye.'

"How..." She twirled Bardiche in a flourish, her voice sounding less strong, and more broken up by emotion of her denial. "...meaningless. Why would I need a friend?" After all, if she chased after her family long enough, hard enough. Mother would have to take her hand, wouldn't she? She'd find Linith one day.

Wouldn't she?

"I accept your challenge." Fate surges forward at that moment, Bardiche shifting, as his head folds back, erupting into a golden blade of mana with a series of ratchets and clanks. <SCYTHE FORM> She swings him in an arc towards Nanoha. <SCYTHE...> "...Slash!" Fate completes his sentence.

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Scythe Slash on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi perfectly counters Fate Testarossa's Scythe Slash, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Critical Counter!  Nanoha Takamachi's Reverse ability activates!  Nanoha Takamachi's Tactician ability activates!  
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Left Hook, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Fate Testarossa!  

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Nanoha barret of pink light rockets against the rippling waves of golden mana that make up her auto-protection spells. <PROTECTION> While it takes effort, she manages to deflect it, just barely. Her leotard sizzles with smoke in the aftermath.

<DOES SHE THINK ARE THEY THE SAME THEN?>

Believe it or not, that's not snarky. It's an honest question. Perhaps Bardiche wants to know if there are more similarities than just their eyes. Fate speaks softly, in little more than a murmur, "She sees my eyes?" Taken aback, she looks Nanoha straight into hers, just past where Nanoha's fist collided into Bardiche. Whatever she is thinking though, is left up to interpretation at first. She twirls Bardiche vertically, in a spin to avoid any further parries. <ARC SABER>

The golden scythe blade is launched, moving in serpentine motions towards Nanoha in an attempt to drive right into her own protections. "Saber explode." The surface of the blade has violet arcs of electricity that run across it, moments before it reaches critical mass and explodes in a shower of light.

"You say my eyes are sad. And your device says they are like a reflection of mine." Fate says sedately. "You have a family that loves you. A good life. Friends of your own. Why then, are you so sad?" A beat, "Is it because looking into my eyes makes you that way, or are you lacking something?"

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Arc Saber on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to dodge Fate Testarossa's Arc Saber, taking 30 Fatigue damage!  

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

<YES. AND NO.> Raising Heart admits, in that brief moment of wild and desperate eyes locking. Then BArdiche is wrenched free. Though Nanoha has her unpredictable moments, there simply is no keeping up with Fate in a close range encounter, and the flurry of speed and motion makes it hard for the more inexperienced but still hellishly determined young mage to keep up.

She knows this attack. It has demolished her in the past, and as ever, the weaving arc of the spinning electrical blade coming at her is difficult to predict. It's a jink in the wrong direction that takes her into it instead of away, and the concussive force connects fully.

Barrier Jacket shredded and smoking, the redhead sizzles where she sags in the air. But she takes it better than she has in the past.

It didn't drop her entirely this time.

Perhaps it's that sudden wild will, stronger than normal. Or maybe she really is just getting stronger. But Nanoha is stone silent, head tipped down in such a way that long red bangs cast a dark and heavy shadow over her face. Raising Heart is saying too much. Even Nanoha has never openly spoken about her feelings, simply making demands of Fate and those around her, while closing herself off so others wouldn't know what troubles and bothers her.

<SHE IS NOT HAPPY...> A squeeze on she shaft of the Device is Nanoha's silent plea for Raising Heart to stop talking. But the Device will not abide her Master's internalization of all her problems anymore. "No..." Nanoha whispers to Fate's question.

<IN YOUR EYES SHE SEES WHAT SHE HAS ALWAYS SEEN IN HERS SINCE LONG AGO."

"Raising Heart sto-"

But the Device that can see into her Master's heart better than anyone does not halt. <IF SHE CANNOT FIND HER OWN HAPPINESS SHE WILL FIGHT TO SEE YOURS.>

It is to this that Nanoha holds her staff up, a sudden cry of "SHOOT!" ushering her partner to resume combat with a stream of rose-hued bolts.

<AND THEREFORE THE HAND IS HELD OUT.>

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Barrage on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa narrowly counters Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Barrage, taking 5 Fatigue damage!  Fate Testarossa's Reverse ability activates!  
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa's counterattack, Photon Lancer: Full Auto Fire, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Nanoha Takamachi!  

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

The trigger is squeezed by Nanoha, and Fate points Bardiche directly at her. <PHOTON LANCER: FULL AUTO FIRE> The barrage of pink light itself pressed as Fate shifts Bardiche every which way, orbs of light erupting forth from the crown of his scythe head to strike Nanoha's pink ones. Several strike Fate, raising a yelp from her, even as more are fired directly at Nanoha. Smoke obfuscates the aftermath.

<LIGHTNING BIND>

Golden cubes of mana flicker into existence, before attempting to solidify over each of Nanoha's limbs. Fate takes some time to catch her breath, even as she processes everything the intelligent device is saying, murmuring to herself, "She doesn't even know if my happiness will bring her any."

Eventually she speaks aloud addressing Raising Heart, "Every time she opposes me, she gets in the way of that happiness. Every time I lose a competition for a jewel seed, or one is shifted further from my reach because of your master, she makes that happiness harder to achieve. How is that fighting for my happiness?"

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Lightning Bind: Standard on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to brace Fate Testarossa's Lightning Bind: Standard, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Fate Testarossa is Psyched!  Stun, Tangle, and Trap applied to Nanoha Takamachi!  

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

Somewhere in the explosive haze of mana and shots firing back and forth- as Nanoha's bolts are pelted out of the sky and she's forced to dodge and weave and swerve, amid the searing burn that destroys more of her Barrier Jacket, the girl perseveres. But she fails to notice the trap.

A grunt, and she's stopped short entirely, A jerking wrench, and she's trapped, arms and legs snap-locked into the golden cubes, leaving her a vulnerable and sitting target right where she is. But her hands clench, chin dipping again, shadow still over her face heavily.

<THAT IS BECAUSE...> Raising Heart begins anew.

"Because will it really make you happy...?"

It is Nanoha that finishes the thought. "If you just look so miserable and pained striving for it... Are you sure when you get the Jewel Seeds, that you'll get the happiness you want? That it will be real? It's one thing to fight for what you want through pain... But you shouldn't have to be so sad -now-."

Now she looks up. Trapped where she is, all she can do is meet eyes again, her own eyes moistened and damp, but moreso hard. Witheringly, crushingly, oppressively hard. Twin blue pools of resolute will and a soul-shattering loneliness of her own that only now comes to the fore without the normally so friendly and cheerful wall to keep it at bay.

Eyes Fate might recognize if she looked into a mirror at any time.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used White Devil Eyes on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa narrowly dodges Nanoha Takamachi's White Devil Eyes, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Fate Testarossa's Fade ability activates!  Fate Testarossa's Flash ability activates!  

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

And she listens. Fate could be a good listener, it was perhaps the only social skill she truly had, given that she'd never dealt with people outside of her family until recently. She almost reflexively states 'Of course it will make me happy!' but would it really?

Every time she brought her mother back a Jewel Seed, did she praise Fate? Did she act like they were closer to that goal of happiness? In her mind's eye, she saw an arm raised, and she winced despite herself. Desperately she tries to regain a foothold on the elusive dreams she always pursued, her warped logic causing her hand in her mind's eye to twist latch onto that dream with a death grip. Nothing could deter her. She wouldn't let it.

"It will." She says, but with no real conviction. And then she looks into those hardened, moist eyes, those twin blue pools, realizing how similar they look to hers, and she averts her eyes instantly, murmuring sadly, "It has to."

Bardiche's head folds backwards further, until he becomes a spear, with golden fins of mana protruding behind the head. Steam releases as he intones. <SEALING FORM> She charges forward, directly at the bound form of Nanoha. <PIERCING LANCER>

COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has used Piercing Lancer on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly counters Fate Testarossa's Piercing Lancer, taking 14 Fatigue damage!  Fate Testarossa is Psyched!  Nanoha Takamachi's Reverse ability activates!  Nanoha Takamachi's Tactician ability activates!  
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Strike Smasher, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Fate Testarossa!  Critical Counterhit!  

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

Nanoha has her own social issues. An inability to be truthful about how she feels counted among them. But right now, there's just no hiding her heart, now, after Raising Heart had so openly spoke for her, where she could not bring herself to. And some part of Nanoha admittedly does not know how to feel about that, right at this second. But there's no going back to it now as those steel eyes remain locked and boring onto the small blonde.

'It will.' She says.

'It has to.' she doubts.

Nanoha could not possibly miss that, as gaze breaks, and Bardiche prepares for the attack to come.

<BIND BREAK.> Raising Heart announces, finally managing the calculations to overcome the golden blocks holding her Master in place. It's what allows Nanoha to twist her body- turning what would have been a direct and horribly injurious strike into one that passes along her side. The result is still pain, battering armor and the ribs beneath with a grunt of shock and impact, her left hand snaps up. And a tiny firefly of pink light forms at her palm. Before erupting into a huge concussive wave. It's a diversionary tactic though as Raising Heart announces the girl's true intent...

<RESTRICT LOCK!>

To try and be the one to bind Fate this time.

"Then show me..."

<WHICH CONVICTION IS STRONGER?>

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Restrict Lock on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa narrowly braces Nanoha Takamachi's Restrict Lock, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Nanoha Takamachi is Psyched!  

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Nanoha's bindings come with all the strength of her conviction. And yet, whose conviction is stronger? At the very least, Fate might match hers, but surpass it? She didn't know. Bardiche suddenly swings around in a wide arc, it's lightning spear tip shearing through most of the restrict lock's bindings as they form. Except over the arm that wields him. Fate grimaces, and with her opposite hand, punches it, spidery cracks form over it, and then she puts a finger to it, an arc of lightning destroying it. She spasms from the effort, but she is... unbound.

And unchained. <WE ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT.> Did we? Or was it encouragement from Bardiche to his mistress? It does it's job. "I will." Fate promises, before she rises suddenly in altitude, only staying ahead of Nanoha due to her supreme speed, before she stops abruptly.

"Arcus Cultus Aegeas!" A golden Midchildan circle forms at her feet. Suddenly numerous photon lancer orbs forming, parallel to her, however they never fire. Instead... they merge, forming into a javelin of lightning, not unlike something a god might wield. "Spark End!"

She throws it. Not 'directly' at her rival, as she certainly didn't want to hurt her too much, but close enough that she will likely be caught in the fringes of the explosion. Now instead of the Jewel Seed, it was a column of bright yellow light that erupted, piercing the heavens.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Fate Testarossa has used Spark End on Nanoha Takamachi.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly counters Fate Testarossa's Finisher, Spark End, taking 43 Fatigue damage!  Nanoha Takamachi's Reverse ability activates!  Nanoha Takamachi's Tactician ability activates!  
COMBAT: FINISHER! Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Divine Buster: Full Power, partially gets through, doing 75 Fatigue damage to Fate Testarossa!  

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

As Fate breaks herself free of the bindings with much more ease than Nanoha, even in the shorter amount of time that takes, by the time the blonde is done, when she looks up, Fate will be facing down the barrel of a cannon.

With a great circle of pink light and furiously transcribed calculations forming beneath her feet, Nanoha takes aim, a visor of pink light overlaying upon her vision as targetting reticles and sigils form, locking, re-locking, finalizing firing solutions form over her target. From the tip of Raising Heart's spear-like point it begins... A gathering of pink motes of light and mana, coalescing into a single brilliant point, rings lining down a sighting path to constrain the flow of mana and keep it on its course for the dark-clad mage, as the two face off.

Fate begins her aria...

<YOU MAY BE SURPRISED.>

Nanoha whispers gently.

"Raising Heart... Please."

<ALRIGHT MY MASTER. DIVINE BUSTER: FULL POWER.>

Where Fate isn't aiming directly at her, Nanoha has lined up her shot on target. And as the Device's rifle grip lowers into place, trigger locking and ready for fire, Nanoha squeezes on it with a CLICK.

Pink and gold streak by one another in passing, as Nanoha's spell is unleashed, she releases control, letting it fly while her body is assailed by more searing voltage and pain than she has ever rightfully experienced before. Jarring, rattling, burning, it tears through her body even just from passing by at her side.

But when that mighty golden lance of light is flown by, Nanoha sags in the air. Smoldering, breathing heavily, pink wings of light and her own will power keeping her afloat as a few last arcs of electric energy visibly courses along her Barrier Jacket.

Raising Heart, doesn't open those twin-pronged ports to vent, but rather cues up the calculations for another spell, trigger re-setting into place with a call of: <AGAIN. DO NOT LET UP.>

Click.

<DIVINE BUSTER: SECOND RELEASE!>

With the absolute last of Nanoha's strength, she unloads a second pillar of that stunning pure pink light.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Buster: Shoot on Fate Testarossa.
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Fate Testarossa narrowly dodges Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Buster: Shoot, taking 28 Fatigue damage!  Fate Testarossa is unable to keep fighting!  Fate Testarossa's Fade ability activates!  Fate Testarossa's Flash ability activates!  
COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Fate had assumed her speed was enough to take her somewhat out of range. That error, costs her, Divine Buster takes her fully on, and goodness, she tries to stand fast against that onslaught of riotous pink mana, but when it ends...

Her position in the air wavers pathetically her torn and burnt cape fluttering pathetically in the air as she falls. <SIR. INCOMING!> This is less a ping, and more a screeched warning from the normally calm and suave intelligent device. The second blast comes, and it's only through the speed that Fate would be renowned for, if she were known at all outside of Nanoha, Precia, and her friends that she manages to get even part of the way. The blast clips her flank as she does, and she begins a spiralling nose dive, almost immediately unconscious. <SIR.>

Her descent doesn't arrest one bit. <SIR. WAKE UP!> Her scarlet eyes open, unfocused, the wind in her face and through her hair. Just before she hits the fountain water, she pulls up, only to skip off of it with a giant splash, right before she finds herself laying on the grass nearby, pushing and struggling to get up with trembling arms. "I can... I can still fight..." <SIR. IT'S. OVER!> Bardiche states firmly. It was all over just eating cake with her wasn't it? So why was she so desperate to pull off a win at this point!?

Good question.

Eventually she rolls over onto her back, staring upward into the sky to try to find her rival's position.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

Truth be fully told, after that double wave of explosive spell work...

Nanoha has nothing left.

Not a single drop of reserve left, the bucket wholly emptied. The well has run dry.

She nearly passes out herself from the strain put on her body of expending so much mana in so little time, there's a brief blacking out period as the pigtailed redhead goes limp, wobbling in the air as her Device desperately handles the calculations to guide the sputtering pink wings at the girl's ankles downwards.

With a THUMP onto the grass, Nanoha drops to her knees, panting and gasping ragged breaths lifting her shoulders and chest before letting them drop again in quick and repeated succession

Raising Heart, molten red hot with excess magical heat enough to make the air shimmer, crackles, voice tinged with static from the strain on her own systems: <MY MASTER... YOU DID WELL.>

It's now that the Device's twin-pronged ports snap open, venting an angry hiss of steam and coolant, temperatures slowly receding.

Lashes flutter, Nanoha rousing from where she briefly passed out from exhaustion on her knees, drops forward onto her hands. A small shuffling crawl, and a few beats later, she's on her back on the grass as well, not too far from the blonde, one hand motioning tiredly for the Jewel Seed, trustingly.

"W... Well...?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [None] has posed.

Well? That was a really good question. She hadn't lost, and she hadn't won, but it felt like a loss anyhow. And she wasn't going to quibble over the semantics of that with Nanoha.

"A..." She swallows, "...deal is a deal." She lifts Bardiche with a trembling arm, his head and haft cracked and looking as if he were just in poor shape as his mistress. <INTERNALIZE X> He sputters, his chime more like static than anything. Given the distance, it takes time for him to suffuse it with golden light and internalize it, but eventually he pings, his head wavering before it releases steam from two pistons which shift out.

Fate lays there in silence afterwards, clinging to Bardiche like he is a liferaft in a sea of misery. And then out of nowhere... <WHAT KIND OF CAKE IS IT?> The answer intrigued Fate herself. She liked cake but she told herself she wouldn't enjoy a single bite of it.

She let's go of the death grip she has on her pride, just a bit, and finally speaks. "C-Can..." She swallows again, "...we have it somewhere away from your family?" Because a happy family was the last thing she wanted to see.

<Pose Tracker> Nanoha Takamachi [Infinity Institute (3)] has posed.

A deal is a deal? That's it then? Fate is coming? For a moment, Nanoha actually looks confused. In the hectic furor of tumultuous emotions and an all out desperate brawl, she seemed to have forgotten that, for once, she wasn't left a battered heap, but had actually managed to fight Fate to a standstill on both sides. Lashes flutter with her own disbelief for a good moment, and when she opens her mouth to speak, all that can come out is a croak.

"U-uhm." It takes a few beats to formulate a response, and thankfully Raising Heart interjects.

<CHOCOLATE.>

"Y-yeah..." Nanoha relents after her Device helps her out. "You can act like you don't know Japanese if you don't want to speak with them. We can just... Eat in my room."