The control room shook lightly from the shockwave that resulted from the impact of the last spell used by the Kaiser hitting against Nanoha’s shields.
“Mr. Scrya, are you alright?” asked Carim. Considering that they indeed felt a little something thanks to the fight in the simulator, it meant that his barriers had weakened a bit. Then again, he had been maintaining them for two straight brawls between powered mages.
“Y-yeah… just gotta maintain my concentration,” muttered the Librarian. He had hoped that none of his barriers were compromised during the last exchange of blows although he wasn’t totally sure since his mind had been rather drained running the numbers to keep the barriers up and running.
“Wait… where did Mom Junior go?”
“Mom Junior?” Subaru thought about that for a moment before she figured out what he meant. ‘Ah, Touma meant Vivio… wait a minute!’
A quick scan of the room did indeed prove that the girl was no longer among them which got Hayate sweating. “Vivio?! Where did you go?!”
“I believe Her Majesty went into the battlefield. As you can see, the chamber door seal had been damaged, most likely as a result from Mr. Scrya’s inability to maintain the barrier during the last clash,” noted Otto. “It’s likely that she slipped through to reach her mother.”
“Let’s just go get her back before she gets hurt in the crossfire! Get in touch with the combatants and get them to pause their match!”
‘I’m… still conscious?’ Nanoha had been expecting that last attack from the Kaiser to knock her out since it didn’t have any problem smashing through the Multiple Defenser but perhaps her opponent pulled her blow at the last moment. For what reason, she couldn’t tell but since she had a chance now, she might as well do a quick situation assessment.
Low on magical energy? Check.
Bind spell still in effect? Nope. At least she could fly again but with the above fact in place, that could be an issue.
Barrier jacket damage? Fairly extensive with her eyes spotting several rips and tears on the magical cloth.
“Raising… Heart?”
“I can still fight, my Master.”
That’s good. The question was whether her body would be prepared to head back into battle. Although she had come a long way in her recovery from the JS Incident, she wasn’t able to go at maximum power as frequently as she used to. Perhaps she should take some time off to rest her wings but that will have to wait. The more immediate concern was the approaching Olivie who took her time while walking towards her.
“Nanoha, can you hear me?! Nanoha!” She could hear Hayate’s voice in her mind and she sounded really panicked.
“What is it?”
“You have to stop your match right now! Vivio’s gotten into the combat simulator!”
Hayate’s warning came a little bit late as Nanoha’s ears picked up the sound of tiny footsteps approaching rapidly. “DON’T BULLY MY MAMA!!!”
“Vivio?!” Nanoha realized with horror that her child had somehow gotten into the arena and placed herself in danger. “No, get out of here!”
But the little girl didn’t listen. As soon as she reached the red clad armoured woman, she started kicking at the legs since that was as high as she could reach with her own. “Take this! And this!”
For a few moments, the only sound that was in the arena came from a foot making contact with magical armour repeatedly. Olivie’s expression remained unchanged so that meant nobody could tell what she was thinking. Not Carim… not Hayate… not even her son.
Finally, after a few seconds of staring at the little girl kick her, Olivie finally spoke. “You’re doing it wrong.”
That caused Vivio to stop. “… … eh?”
“Get into your stance and have your dominant leg behind your other leg.” Olivie moved so that she would be able to help Vivio fix her stance. “The dominant leg's toe should be pointed to its side while your secondary leg is in front, its toe pointed straight forward. You want your torso to generally face the direction of your dominant leg. Your hands can be in a guard position or relaxed.”
“… …” Who is this lady… and why did she look so much like…?
“Are you listening, young lady?”
“Uh, yes!” The smaller girl snapped to attention and moved her right leg back as instructed.
“If you want to go for speed, you will use your front foot. If you want a more powerful kick, use your back leg.” After letting this fact settle in with the child, Olivie continued. “Raise your kicking-leg's knee so your thigh is parallel to the ground, about hip to waist level. This is called chambering. Breathe in as you do this.”
‘So I want to raise… which leg?’ She was trying to remember what that lady was saying but she was going so fast.
“Kick your leg, snapping it forward quickly. With a front kick you can use the ball of your foot or your instep as a striking surface. As you kick, rapidly release the air in your lungs. Remember, breath in when you contract, breath out when you expand. This also will relax your body, allowing for proper technique, because holding air in means your muscles are too tense, and you are trying to control your kick too much, which weakens the kick, slows it down and tires you out faster.”
‘So much to remember…!’ This was making her head spin.
“Now give it a shot,” instructed the older woman while bending down to closely observe the younger girl’s progress.
Vivio complied, using her back leg as the kicking leg. It shot forward, grazing the older woman in the face.
“ARAA…!” And there goes Olivie, fainting backwards dramatically while her armour and gauntlets vanished, leaving her in that fancy dress again while everyone stared, rather stunned at how all this turned out.
“Mom, what just happened?!”
She looked up and smiled at Touma. “Well, my son… I do believe that I was just defeated by a seven year old.”
“I’m eight!” protested Vivio.
“I stand corrected.” Olivie’s playfulness dimmed down a bit as she carefully looked at the child. “So… you must be Vivio? Wow… I never knew I looked so adorable when I was a child.”
It slowly came to the smaller girl. This was the person from the distant past. The person she had been copied from. “You’re…?”
“Olivie Segbrecht. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I guess since we share the same blood that would make us…” She paused for a moment. “… sisters? Or biological mother and daughter? Oh, I don’t know!”
That was the last thing on Vivio’s mind at the moment. “My wish… it came true!” She quickly closed her eyes and clapped her hands loudly. “I wish I had a big large bag of never ending candy that only I can see so that Nanoha-mama won’t take it away from me!”
“Um, Vivio… I’m right here,” said Nanoha in a flat tone.
“Geh…!” That response proved beyond a doubt that she really was her adopted mother’s daughter.
See other episodes by Yasanagi
(Posted Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:28)
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