1056/Virtual Belka

Virtual Belka
Date of Scene:	18 February 2016
Location:	Plot Room #1
Synopsis:	Welcome to the Belkan Knight-Cadet Academy. Enjoy your stay.
Cast of Characters:	Mikoto Nakajima, Nanoha Takamachi, Minoke Sato, 37

---

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
The warehouse full of spaceship parts is little changed from previous visits, perhaps a little more organized than before, but not by much. There's still a small lounge area with a couch and a TV, workbenches full of parts to examine, and piles and piles of, well, wrecked spaceship.

Fortunately for everyone, that has little to do with why people are gathering here today. It's taken some effort, but getting an Armed Device and two Intelligent Devices to talk to each other enough to put their wielders together in the same simulated environment is, apparently, Not Impossible.

After some discussion of just what to do with the opportunity, Mikoto suggested a look at the lives of Knight-Cadets in the Belkan Empire, drawing on Carnwennan's records. And so the trio of young Mages has gathered, the simulation data has been prepared and shared between the Devices, and everything is just about ready.

"Feel free to pick a comfortable chair," Mikoto suggests, waving at the couch and the overstuffed armchairs nearby. "Or, well, whatever. There's a couple of little bedrooms set up if you'd rather lie down." She herself takes a seat on one end of the couch, leaving plenty of room for the others to pick wherever they want.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi has brought a box of cupcakes. They have hearts drawn on them. She places the box down on the table and smiles and opens it. Yes, knowing a baker's daughter means free cupcakes. It's a perk of Nanoha befriendment!

She turns back around and walks over to the couch and sits down on it, getting comfortable. "So this is a sim, like what Raising Heart uses to teach me, right?" she asks softly.

Yeah she's used to this kind of thing.

But she ponders this sounds different. "Will it be dangerous?" she asks introspectivly.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato shows up with her wheelchair, having received the download from Carnwennan. "I can't wait to see what this will be like," she muses as she heads over to the bed. She's used to flopping herself out of a bed and back into her chair, and if she gets into trouble, she can use Free Fall to recover. She stops though, at the question from Nanoha.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto grins a little at the sight of the cupcakes. "Ooooh. Midori-ya cupcakes are the best." She considers trying one, but then Nanoha has a question.

"Much the same, yes. Carnwennan has similar protocols - I've been using them a lot myself - and so does Swirling Vortex. So we're going to link them together so we all see the same thing." Mmm, cupcakes. And there's a grey cat crawling up along the couch, that leaps into Mikoto's lap and nuzzles her hand.

"As for danger... I doubt it. No more so than the sims you've already been running. It'll be a bit more realistic, and we'll be pretty well immersed in it, is all. So I've asked Hikari-chan here to keep watch over us, in case anything happens, or anyone comes to visit."

The cat preens under Mikoto's hand for a moment, then leaps from her lap, transforming in mid-air to a familiar young silver-haired girl - with cat-ears and a tail. "Hi!" Hikari says to the two. "Good to see you again!" She lopes over to give Nanoha a quick hug, and then one for Minoke too. "Like Master said, I'll be keeping an eye on things here while you're busy. No worries, Hikari is on the job!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi hugs Hikari! Eeeeee, kitty familiar~ But still, she nods a bit. "Alright then. So no danger!" she says, knowing that she'd just be 'knocked out of the sim' in that case. Right? That's how it works when Raising Heart tries to teach her anyways when she messes up and crashes too hard into a wall. Whoops.

She settles down and gets comfortable with a smile.

She places Raising Heart into her lap, transforming it into it's usual standby-staff mode and rests it there, one hand placed down on it.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato nods as she snags a cupcake and then rolls into one of the bedrooms and flops onto the bed, nomming on the cupcake. She smiles as she gets herself comfortable. "I'm ready," she calls, keeping her choker on where Swirling Vortex lives as she sighs, ready for the program to begin.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods, and activates Carnwennan, settling the Armed Device's sheathed blade-form in her own lap. "I've asked you not to call me Master, Hikari-chan. But... fine." She shrugs.

The catgirl, meanwhile, grabs a cupcake and lopes off to check that the main door is locked, so no one will interrupt without warning.

"Alright," Mikoto says. "Now, this will be fairly authentic, although there will be some changes. For one, everyone will be speaking modern Japanese, so we can understand them." She grins playfully. "I've also asked our hosts," and she taps Carnwennan's hilt to make it clear what she means, "to provide us some subtitling on things the characters we'll be playing as would recognize. So you'll see nametags and that sort of thing. Don't be surprised by them, only the three of us will be able to see them."

Hikari signals back a telepathic 'all clear', and Mikoto gets ready to start. "There's a couple of boring bits, like morning calisthenics, but unless one of you wants to check them out we can fast-forward through them." After waiting to see if either girl expresses a preference, she taps Carnwennan's hilt again. "Link... START!"

And the simulation begins, the warehouse vanishing in an endless-seeming streak of rainbow light, like rising through a tunnel.

After a long moment, it ends, and the three young mages find themselves in a small room, reminiscent of a boarding-school dorm. The walls are polished hardwood paneling, the four narrow beds are arranged in two bunkbed pairs, and there's a pair of desks on either side of the room along the walls. Everything is perfectly neat and clean, not a paper or bit of laundry out of place, as if ready for inspection - which it probably is.

The girls, of course, are dressed in the knight-cadet uniforms, a Barrier Jacket designed to emphasize their status - a simple grey tunic and matching trousers, with black epaulettes and trim and gold buttons. A black leather belt goes over the tunic, and matches the boots.

"Welcome to Belka, Nanoha-chan, Minoke-chan. Ordinarily we'd be four to a room, but apparently there's an odd number of cadets this class, so we get the extra space. Lucky, hmm?" (Of course it's not luck at all, just the way the sim is adapting to the number of participants.)

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi blinks and looks at her weird outfit now. She looks around and up and down herself and sits down in this weird dorm. "This is really strange. I bet Yuuno would get a kick out of this." she says softly.

"Ugh.. I should had brought him." she laments sadly. She explores the dorm a little bit.

"This is strange." she says. "Why have a dorm in a sim? My sims just usually start in a place then end in the place..." she muses.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato is standing there in uniform. "Yes, Mikoto-san. But yes, it's lucky that the sim didn't decide to just join us in here." She takes a few steps around, studying. "Curious furniture. And clean as a whistle. Considering this is a military school, I'll assume someone's gonna pop in to inspect the room in short order?" She returns to her previous spot - then she suddenly widens her eyes, then just stares down herself. "What in the..." Her voice is full of wonder. "I... I can walk..." she whispers, reaching down to pinch her own thigh and shivers as she felt it. "A... amazing..." she whispers, a tear streaking out of her eye. "I... this is amazing... it feels so real..."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"He'd be welcome, if Raising Heart can accomodate both of you in the sim. Maybe next time." She smiles lightly. It seems to be her favorite expression, as both of you might have noticed.

"Form follows function," she answers Minoke. "There's only so many shapes a bed, or a desk, or a chair, can take, and still fulfill that function. And simplicity is a virtue in most military schooling that I've heard of. It helps keep the students focussed."

She takes a moment to watch the girl walk. "It's too bad it isn't," she murmurs. "I promised you, though. We will find a way." She reaches over and squeezes the redhead's shoulder, warmly. "Come on now, focus."

It isn't long before a subtitle pops up in everyone's view: 'Incoming inspection, be ready to stand to attention!'

A minute passes , then the door slides open with a soft 'ding' and someone steps in. Tall and white-haired, most definitely not dressed in a cadet uniform, her ornate white and gold Barrier Jacket and fanciful staff-Device marking her as an officer. Mikoto snaps instantly to attention, hands at her sides, feet together, standing straight.

Subtitle: Knight-Captain Hilde Lorgar. Your Boss.

"Gooood morning, ladies! Cadet-Lieutenant Takamachi, Cadet Sato, Cadet Nakajima. Stand to for inspection." The uniforms of the trio are Device-generated Barrier Jackets, of course, and not subject to mistakes of dress as common clothing might be. So inspection is quick, and mostly concerned with insuring that the fictional cadets have kept their fictional room clean and exactly to Academy specifications. Then she sends them on to morning calisthenics, and breakfast afterwards.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi looks around and--- then there's a sub title. Nanoha has to blink at this because /subtitle in real life/. Well. Sim-life. But still. She snaps to attention and gives a salute even! She sort of gives it too hard but she does it, following Mikoto's example.

"Good Morning..." um. um. Sir. Maam? Hilde-sensei? Ugh.

"M..a'am." she says.

Ugh is that right?

Still. She gets shoved along her way and looks to the others. "Calisthenics. Excercise right?" she asks.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato emulates Mikoto as well and snaps off a salute of her own. "Good morning, ma'am," she states. She reamins quiet during the inspection, still marveling on the fact taht she's actually standing. She just nods. "I look forward to my training today, ma'am," she states.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
"Good, good! Off you go, then." Calisthenics with the group is much like what you'd expect, a series of stretching exercises to start, followed by some general aerobic sequences and a nice three-mile run. Fortunately for Our Heroines, their simulated bodies are more than fit enough to handle such a workout easily, and time rushes by.

Breakfast is ample and actually tasty, composed mostly of pancake-like flatbreads with butter and fruit jam, narrow strips of some sort of spiced ground meats, and a quite palatable black tea. Conversation is minimal as everyone tries to eat as much as they can in the limited time available; apparently Knight training builds quite the appetite.

After the meal, most of the cadets disperse to various classes and training sessions, depending on their individual assignments. Hilde turns back to pull the trio aside, however. "Cadet-Lieutenant Takamachi, your team has been requested for a special mission assignment. As you know," which you didn't, but that's why the sim is having her explain it, "Lady Miria, the daughter of Duke Tevyan of Caledon, has been visiting the Academy this week, while her father decides if she will be enrolled here. She will be going into town for... her own purposes, and requested that we provide an escort. As she was impressed with your performance in yesterday's training, she requested you. Will you accept the assignment?"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi Cadet-Lieutenant. Wait. is she in charge!? Oh no! She's caught off guard again, her food is settling in her stomach as much as simulated food can but it's still queazy when she realizes this.

She listens and takes that in. Lady Miria? Daughter of a Duke? Wha? Mikoto would probably had better been suited to this but regardless, the Simulation needs to continue, so she says.

"Yes, Ma'am! We will accept it!" she says, giving a salute!

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato was wondering about the different title. So the 10-year-old is in charge... she thinks to hreself. She feels around for Vortex who is still in her pocket. She smiles as she nods to Nanoha. "Should we salute?" she murmurs softly, winking, as she is just marveling about still being able to walk.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto smiles lightly. "You'll get a cue if you're supposed to. Just watch the subtitles," she whispers to Minoke.

"Lady Miria will be waiting for you at the Vestry Court, then. I leave her safety in your good hands." And with that, Hilde departs. Probably has a class to teach.

Speaking of subtitles, a gleaming path is highlighted on the floor now, marked with another subtitle: 'Vestry Court, This Way'. It leads the trio down through the halls of he Academy and out to a pleasant-looking courtyard, near the front gates. Waiting there is a young woman in a jewel-bedecked dress, by her looks quite possibly a cousin of Hilde's. "Ahh, there you are. I've been waiting."

She looks the trio over for a moment, and seems not to be disappointed by what she sees. "Let's get going, I haven't got all day."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi follows the subtitles and the waypoints, feeling a lot like she's in some video game. Part of her expects her to be able to pause the game. Still she arrives. "Hopefully not long!" she asides. She looks to the others and nods.

"If we're escorting...."

"There's three of us. So. Two in front to either side. One in back..." she says...

"Like a triangle..." she says.

"That makes sense, right?" she asks.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato nods. "Yes. The Belkans DO love their triangles," she muses. "I'll take rear guard," she states as she moves behind the lady. She decides to keep her Device in standby mode until needed - no need to carry a weapon when she doens't have to. She wonders if the sim would make their magic circles triangular in appearance.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods, falling into position at the rearguard, letting Nanoha and Minoke take the lead. The first part of the journey is uneventful, but the Academy is several miles outside of town. Miria doesn't seem to mind the walk... but it isn't going to be uneventful.

Mint Ship has posed:
It's not an ethics and properness simulator though, of course. As the group walks along, the necessity of the escort shows itself somewhat quickly. Or, rather, it's something they can feel, as the ground around therm rumbles like a small earthquake. Off to the side of thier path, the escorts can see something amazingly massive begining to burrow underneath the earth, not yet breaking the ground.

And there's a roar, and it's a roar that can be felt as much as hear. And all of the devices are going crazy with warnings about the magical presence of whatever it is.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi takes the lead with Mikoto. Minoke being in front for a moment is clearly an animation error or a simulation error. She's in the back. Nanoha keeps alert as they walk along- keeping to the set path and following the waypoint. If they can get her there, it'll be good, maybe it's just seeing if someone can deal with busy work.

Then something begins to roar. and roar. Raising Heart is pinging her warning at her---

And something is in the ground. She stops.

"Stop..." she says a little tersely. It's better to stop right now....

Right?

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato nods as she quickly pulls her Device out. "Swirling Vortex, Set Up, and switch to Combat Mode." Her choker quickly grows into a mace, and quickly changes to flail form. She stays on her feet, looking around. "Stay between us, milady," she orders as she looks around.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto draws Carnwennan's blade from its scabbard, nodding. "Right," she says, eyeing the disturbed ground. Almost immediately, the familiar light-darts of her Flicker Shots start to form, orbiting above her head. "Looks like a big one," she comments.

Miria, dutifully playing the part of the helpless civilian, stays where she is, staring at the oncoming burrow. "is that... no... this was supposed to be a secure region..."

Mint Ship has posed:
It's not the creature's head that breaks the ground first - it's a whiplike tail with what looks like a scorpion's stinger. But instead of lashing out and trying to surge forward and sting someone, it instead unleashes a blast of magical power, a surging line right at Miria!

But that's not all, because shortly after this, the reptellian head does appear, a mouth lined with teeth, and heads to snap up Minoke like a little snack - the creature must have an amazingly long length, an elder of its species, based on all of the rumbling and ridges showing and then fading underneath the earth around the group.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi ack, it's a double attack! Two places at once---

A tail heads for Miria, the person they're escorting.

A head goes for Minoke.

She sort of winces and thinks. Minoke is her friend, right!? And-- Miria is just a simulated person!

But.. this /is/ a simulation. Is she protecting the person or the friend? Nrg.

She raises Raising Heart. "Cannon Mode!" she calls out.

"DIVINE SHOOTER!" she calls out. < Divine Shooter >

She fires out an array of orbs, which explode into lasers at the tail, trying to throw it off course, or damage it.

Nanoha really isn't a shielding type. That's Mikoto.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato glances. "Mikoto. Block that beam! I gotta deal with this!" she states as she runs from the first bite, and trips. Hey, running's not her thing. "Jupiter Field," she chants as a magic circle forms under the monster. "10 Gs." "Initiating gravity field." Suddenly the head of the monster would weigh ten times what it normally does as Minoke shakily rises to her feet. She thinks about a more permanent solution as she surveys the landscape - she hopes that stops the monster at least a moment as she's ready to dodge again.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto nods, her Flickers condensing into a disc of her own, whirling about in a rapid orbit. A wave f her hand, and she shifts it into path, between the tail and Miri. She grunts and winces as the shot impacts, as if the feedback from it was physically pushing her back.

Miria, meanwhile, huddles up against Minoke, clinging to her legs. "Kill it! Quickly!"

Mint Ship has posed:
There's a burst of light as the orbs slam into the tail, knocking it off course - and likely helping Minoke's barrier withstand the energy.

The biting head snaps just away from Minoke before the weight change spell causes it to slam down to the ground where it keeps lifting up and slamming. Now that the creature's head is so heavy, it's reacting by using it as a weighted club, trying to violently slam it towards the girl they're protecting!

Meanwhile, the tail now has begun to shoot its blasts towards Nanoha.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi raises a hand and uses her auto-protect to try to absorb the blast--- this works momentarily, but she's not able to handle it all- she probably needed to cast a proper spell. So she sort of gets forced back by the blast--- nrrrging and hemming and hawwwwwing----

"P..Protection..." she finally calls out, reinforcing the spell properly and trying to push back agasinst it.

It's taking all her ability to stop from getting thrown out of the sim at the moment.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato nods. "Ummmm.... oh, I know." She whaps that huge head iwth her flail to distract the monster. "Vortex. Target that boulder over there," she orders. A black rune forms on it. "Target acquired." She takes a deep breath. "Elevate it. Move it over - then accelerate it to smash the monster's head." "Acknowledged. Initiating sequence." She holds Vortex in that direction as the boulder would explode out from the ground, move over and then accelerate like a catapult strike to hopefully smash intothe monster's head.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto's shield keeps moving, reinforced by more Flicker Shots as they form and zip off from her orbit. "I've got you, Nanoha, get ready to blast the thing!" she calls out.

And then her shield gets into position, taking up the front defensive role between Nanoha and the monster's tail. It twists and bends under the pressure of each shot, but the stream of new flickers keeps rebuilding it even as it cracks and bends.

For the moment at least, she's got it. Hopefully she can keep ahead of it long enough for Nanoha to get off a nice big blaster....

Mint Ship has posed:
The creature lumbers under its own weight - and the lasers stop because Minoke has smashed the creature upside the head with a large rock. It is, perhaps, not the most elegant use of magic, but it's functional. It's dazed now, which means the blasts of magical force from its tail are a lot more wild, perhaps giving everyone the breather they need. More of the creature unburrows, giving it the strength it needs to bend its head upwards again, and the tail the length it needs to make a sweeping strike in an attempt to clobber through the whole group.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi gets help from Mikoto and takes to the sky, Flier Fin activating and putting those wings on her feet. She raises Raising Heart and grips it with two hands, pointing it straight at the beast. So far, the Lady is okay, right?

Right...

"Divine Buster... setup..."

< DIVINE BUSTER >

"Divine Buster!" she calls out.

The staff lights up with three rings around it-- then blasts the brilliant magenta/pinkish light out towards the creature, aiming to just wipe it from the simulation/world!

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato sighs. "Alright. Let's finish this..." she states as she mrumurs, "Ward my friends." "Preparation in place. Protective auras in place." All four women start to glow with a black aura. She then takes a deep breath as she steps back.

She slowly spins Swirling Vortex around until the heel of the shaft is pointing past the monster. The gravity field winks out as Minoke yells, "SINGULARITY!" "Dimensional resonance online. Opening singularity." Behidn the monster, a rift forms. The light seems to dim as dust beigns to swirl towarsd the rift. The monster itself has to feel the crushing gravitational forces drawing it towards its doom. Interestingly enough, none of the three 'knights' nor the lady would feel the pull of the gravity. She stays put, holding Vortex in that odd method, the flail-head danging behind her as she keeps the singularity going.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
Mikoto spits a curse as she watches the monster start thrashing and its tail head towards the team. Fortunately Nanoha, at least, has taken to the sky. That gets her out of the way.

She steps up in between it and Minoke (and Miria), holding her shield as strongly as she can, angling it to deflect the impact when it comes.

"Oooh, bloody heck..." she mutters as she hears Minoke call for the Singularity. That's going to be messy. "Cover your eyes, Lady Miria," she adds. And: "Maximum power to shield, Carnwennan."

The familiar triangular spell-glyph forms, embedded in the swirling mass of flickers that makes up her shield, and she braces her feet for the impact...

Miria, meanwhile, slips around behind Minoke, putting the Knights between her and danger. And clings to the girl, tight.

Mint Ship has posed:
The power of Minoke's singularity begins to pull the massive creature from the earth, tearing it free from the ground and revealing the size of the creature. It also makes it significently easier to hit with Divine Buster, which blasts the thing and leaves a goodly-sized hole in it.

The creature is thrashing about, and even as it's pulled up into the vortex, the rest of it continues to lash out, such is its length.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi watches as the creature is pulled up out of the dirt by Minoke's singularity. She frowns as she watches the Divine Buster!----just leave a hole in it. How is this thing still alive!? Is the simulation artificually inflating the power of this thing? Or are there really creatures just that powerful out there?

Regardless--- Nanoha isn't giving up... "Divine Shooter!" she calls out.

More balls appear.

She fires more beam spam at this thing while it's hopefully still vurnable.

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato stays still, not moving. She keeps the singularity open until the monster is fully devoured, flinching as some of the Dinve Shooter hits the event horizon. The wind is whipping up and the light dims as the black hole grows, becomes stronger, but still, the four are unaffected. She keeps going - and not until all of the monster has been swallowed does she stop the black hole - and promptly sink toh er knees, panting. The landscale all around looks like a mess. Grass is torn up - it looks like a war zone. "Oops..." she murmurs.

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
And it's time to give it her all. With the vortex pulling it away from easy striking range of the group, there's much less need for an overpowered shield. So Mikoto finds another use for hers. "Carnwennan: Shield Break."

And her shield dissolves. Not into a haze of released, no-longer-organized mana. But into its component Flickers. Versatile, they seem to be. The once-again-individual light-darts zip out in a spray from the fading shield, slamming down into the serpentine monster's form, arcing around to seek its belly as much as possible, on the possibility that its hide might be weaker there. And perhaps she can push it deeper into the Singularity's grasp.

Miria stares at the display, still clinging to Minoke's back, pressed up tightly against her. Gaping in awe, now, more than terror. "That... that was amazing..." she stammers out. "If I become a Knight, will I learn to do that?"

Minoke Sato has posed:
Minoke Sato murmurs, "It is entirely possible, milady. Each Device has his or her own speciality. Mine is gravity. But I am still learning how to use this. I have to be careful with Singularity." She slowly rises to her feet. "Hopefully we can get you to your destination without any further difficulty..."

Mikoto Nakajima has posed:
With the monster defeated and her protective Knights resuming their duties, Miria seems happy once more. And cheerful enough to put the incident behind her as the group resumes their journey to the town.

Once there, it seems most of her errands have to do with shopping. She's very good at finding the most interesting little shops and the most unique fashions, at the very least, and the trio get a quick overview of Ancient Belkan Haute Couture.

(Somewhere, Mikoto suspects, a magical ferret-boy is sneezing, and wondering what he's missing.)

Mikoto seems to be happy to let the others take the lead in handling everything - apparently she's already seen some of this in the sims she's run before - and fortunately, there are no further incidents more dangerous than a couple of street toughs who take one look at the trio of Knight-Cadets in uniform, and hurriedly decide to seek softer targets.

With the Lady deposited at a hotel for the evening, the mission is technically over, and the simulation disengages with a soft fade into the same rainbow streak effect that it began with.

And then there are Cupcakes for all. Hikari has only eaten three of them, fortunately.