429/Artillery Barrage-in-training

Artillery Barrage-in-training
Date of Scene:	15 September 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Chrono trains with Rashmi and Nanoha. At the same time. Them versus him. This. This is not a good idea. Someone could DIE! Namely him!
Cast of Characters:	Chrono Harlaown, Rashmi Terios, Nanoha Takamachi

---

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was ready. He'd seen just how horrifying Nanoha's core was. So he was... a liiiiittle more anxious about this one than he was the others. Especially considering he'd already seen how dangerous the beings on this planet were. He was beginning to suspect that, maybe, the people on this planet were just built differently. What would life be like if they had magic AFTER they hit that age gap?

He had no idea. Was it even safe?

Either way, he had once again headed outside the city to wait. Meditating in the middle of the field, clearing his mind while he waited for the two to approach. Skilled or not, they were just rookies. He could handle this, he was sure. He had this. It was JUST training. So long as he was quick and capable. Nope. He had to keep himself calm as always. If he was going to share the TSAB training with the device wielders of this planet he HAD to keep how off balance they were making him feel. Otherwise he was useless to him.

He'd still made sure to rest and recover his energy as much as he could before this battle and ensured that both he, and his device, were in top form.

He'd sent the coordinates to Nanoha once she'd agreed to the training session, even telling her she was free to bring her familiar if she liked. Rashmi, at least, would be fairly familiar with the locale by now.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
This time, Rashmi *brought* snacks.

Three shopping bags full of assorted conbeni treats, in fact. The last training session had stretched her reserves far enough to the limit, that having something to monch on on the way to dinner seemed like a smart way to avoid sticker-shock at the end of the meal. And then halfway into the flight to the location, she remembered to store them within Nicomachea, because Devices can *do that.*

"Hi, Chrono-kun!" she chirps, touching down. "So... Nano-chan this time, huh? How're you doing about that?"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi's current device storage, An amount of Device Parts. 5x Console Parts. 1 bag of marshmallows and 1 bag of jellybeans. Look. You get hungry sometimes. And these things kept well in storage she found. She had never tried to store an entire cake in there yet. Lord help sweettooths everywhere.

Beyond that, Nanoha Takamachi has to have Raising Heart guide her via GPS flying out to the field Chrono and Rashmi has chosen for training. She arrives in the air and floats down low to the ground and Yuuno is on her shoulder in ferret form, not boy form.

Probably not boy form for a long long while again. :IX

"Hello everyone!" she says as she waves. "I'm here!" she says. "Sorry if I'm late!..." she asides.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown glanced up and... ah. There she was. His student. First to arrive. "Well. I think she will do excellently." He, on the other hand, might die. Probably not, though. Juuuust a rookie. Speaking of... The little... girl. With a lot of power in that linker core of hers. "Oh, and you brought your familiar," Chrono said without a hint of teasing to it. Just stating fact. 'Just making a joke' indeed.

"It's no problem. I'm happy you were able to come at all. Now, I have begun training with a number of device users since coming to this world. While I am in no way able to single handedly train you as well as the TSAB would, if they were here, I am able to at least give you a crash course as it were. I'm hoping that these little bouts will help us learn to trust each other, understand, better, our own capabilities and help us come up with different tactics as our experience grows. The fact is that all of you seem to have different capabilities, with unique devices, that require more focus than I can give you alone. However, I am hopeful through hard work I can at least give a token representation of what the TSAB would offer you, were it capable."

He then smiled down to her. "Now then, Nano-chan, I know you are still quite young and my training can be intense. However, I also know age is not the only thing that matters to a mage and even one most consider a child can be incredibly determined and powerful as any adult. As such... I need you to know. While you are the youngest of the device users I would be putting through this, I would train you no differently. When undergoing this training, I will treat you as no different than any other soldier who has taken up a device. Are you okay with that, even knowing you may be hurt during these sessions?"

Oh, this brought back memories... receiving this talk himself.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Nanoha-chan, hiii~!" Rashmi calls as the young girl lowers herself to ground. "And hello, Raising Heart-san!"

As Chrono begins his talk, however, she metaphorically steps back to let him deliver his speech. It is, after all, important that Nanoha know she's jut as worthy of real training as anyone else. Possibly more, considering the sheer amount of power that nanoha is capable of throwing around.

"...Also I brought snacks for afterward," Rashmi says, filling the gap between Chrono's question and Nanoha's answer. "I figure at least one of us probably isn't going to feel up to walking without something to keep us over until dinner."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi was already in her barrier jacket. The one Raising Heart had optimally made for her that first night during the night that she met Yuuno out in the rain. Alone. She smiles. "Hi Chrono-kun, Rashmi-chan." she says. Raising Heart pings back. Yuuno rolls his eyes a little at the teasing and jumps off Nanoha's shoulder to go join Rashmi's side over off to the side there because this isn't a battle he's here to help Nanoha with for a change.

"I've received, lots of training from Raising Heart and Yuuno-kun." she says. "I think...." she says as she grasps Raising Heart up her arms. "That I can learn more. If that hurts a little bit then fine. I got my barrier jacket on." a pause.

"But we're going to. Throw up a barrier anyways. Right. I don't wanna tear up this field over training..." she says, looking it over. "There's summer wildflowers..." she says softly.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown just kept his gentle, kind smile on his face. It didn't fully meet his eyes... at first. But the more he watched them, well... Rashmi was sweet. Kind, generous. And Nanoha was determined. They were both strong, in their own ways. They'd do well. And he'd do all he could to encourage and nurture that strength.

He glanced towards Yuuno after a moment, though. He'd helped? "That's good. An intelligent device such as Raising Heart is quite useful at such methods, aiding in training and learning the craft."

He held up his device and then a moment later the barrier spread out. "Indeed. All of the training is done out here with barriers, to avoid causing unwaranted destruction. There is a wide variety of terrain as well, allowing different tests and tactics. The low population of the sector ensures that if any mistakes happen and the barrier was destroyed, nobody would get hurt. Now then..."

He flew up about twenty feet. "This first training session will be simple. Nano-chan, your duty is to try and knock me out of the sky via long ranged artillary strikes. Terios-san, you are to assist her, following your standard training. If at any point my feet touch the ground, the mission will be a success. Nano-chan, you will be my primary target and I will engage you in short range combat, while you attempt to keep the distance. If, at any point, you feel you need to stop, alert me through your device. You have thirty seconds to come up with your tactics, then twenty seconds to get as close or as far as you like from me... then we begin."

Two on one? Maybe he was cocky...

Oh he was SO going to die. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a smidge... nervous... about just how much power that little girl may be able to put out. But in the end... power only meant so much. This would, hopefully, give him a bit of an idea of how good she was at applying said power.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
...Help *Nanoha?*

<< I mean, if you're sure, >> she sends, a message for Chrono via S2U only. Taking in a deep breath, she summons her Barrier Jacket, and as Nanoha comes to rest over her shoulder, she smiles at Nanoha.

"Welp... Let's do our best, Nano-chan!" she says cheerfully, trying to shake the uncertainty in the back of her head. Pushing off of the ground, she hovers about level with Chrono -- if a few dozen meters away -- and waits to see which way Nanoha will go, the better to support.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi listens. She's good at listening. She blinks a little though when she says Rashmi will be helping her. Two. On one. And she'll be the primary target. Raising Heart has opinions on this and starts to blab into her head. She also listens to this at the same time. Nanoha Takamachi doesn't appear to have trouble listening to the two conversations at once in her head. Her determined expression doesn't change at all during this.

Rashmi Terios gets her own message from Raising Heart. << Defense spells, Please. >> she says. << I can put out power. But I'm not the greatest at defense. After that. Slow him down. Please? >>

Yuuno is sort of low in the grass looking on at all this as she gets into medium range from Chrono. Nanoha Takamachi is not a good melee fighter. She is a bombardment mage. She'll do best from this or a longer range.

"Alright. I'm ready!" she says as she readies Raising Heart, Raising Heart going into it's bombardment mode when she points it forward.

She waits for the barrier to go up. When it does....

< Hyperion Smasher! > announces Raising Heart as Nanoha Takamachi fires a barrage of powerful blasts downrange at Chrono, the blasts not just aiming to explode at his central location, but around his general area to make moving to a new location to avoid damage even difficult. Not to mention the medium level of the spell, right off the bat, not bothering with low-end, un-called out barret attacks off the bat for such an encounter meant to gauge her readiness.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was bracing himself. Was he sure? No. Not at all. But he was FAR more experienced than her. He was a AAA mage, for goodness sake. He'd fought mages with more power than her, right?

... He'd never seen a rookie with those numbers. And rookies could be DANGEROUS in a way others weren't. This could go one of two ways. Maybe she wasn't a good fighter and she was effectively a massive battery, but didn't really understand how to access it. Maybe she would just do normal assaults all the time, but she could just do them longer.

Or maybe she was the type to pour all of her power into one attack and it would be like training with his mother, outside of his mother's experience. You know, brutal, painful. Either or, it was going to, hopefully, give him experience. He'd learn. It--

OH! YAY! LOOKS LIKE IT WAS HIS MOM! WHAT A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE! DAMN IT!

Looks like Nanoha started off with her feet on the gas. Now it was time for him to respond in kind.

            <Stinger Snipe!>

Rashmi would be experienced in this spell. Except she'd likely never seen him use it in such a manner. Normally he used one orb... This time he'd made nearly a dozen of them.

They shot out in a zigzag pattern, dashing through the air and smashing into the blasts, erupting them far from their intended explosive designation. In fact... Chrono hadn't moved from his position yet.

What he had done... Was send three of the orbs around, using the explosives for cover, to then have one of the orbs come from above, while the other two came from below. Disrupt the artillery mage, then go in close... The tactic was sound, but he knew there was a hiccup here. His spell was far less mana intensive than hers, but her mana reserves were many, many times larger than his. If she used a fraction of her reserves and got such results... it didn't matter HOW efficient he was. He'd never stand a chance.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Absolutely, >> Rashmi messages Nanoha in return. << Also he's got shield-piercing spells, so speed is going to be a big help too, and I can help with that. >>

Says the mahou who, if most flying mahou are attack aircraft, flies more like a bumblebee with a propeller engine strapped to her back.

Dutifully flying after the tiny artillerist, she considers her options. But... Chrono... isn't moving?

His return barrage would make her drop her book, if Nicomachea needed to actually be held, and there's a brief moment of panic as she realizes that she is, in fact, caught in the middle of two very strong combat mages. From *her* vantage point, she can see the paths the barrets are taking, and realizes very quickly that Nanoha is going to need full coverage.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD. SOLAR SHIELD. SOLAR SHIELD. >>

Not one, but *three* full-coverage Shields wrap around Nanoha, encasing her in spheres of golden light stacked three deep. With the piercing ability of Chrono's Stinger Snipe, it's the best thing she can think of to ward off such a multifarious attack.

<< Nano-chan! >> she calls, through Raising Heart. << Remember how I said speed might be a good defense too? >>

    << *BONG!* >> << ACCEL -- BOOST UP >>

As the wisp of light streaks toward Nanoha, Rashmi looks on, worried. << It'll only last a few seconds, but I've seen you fly. You'll be able to do a *lot* in a few seconds. >>

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi isn't expecting to 'win this in one', she's determined but isn't full of hubris. Unlike some sort of other people. She moves immediately after firing, not waiting to see the result of her opening barrage, finding a new location fast, which may help throw off some of the Stinger Snipe attacks off their target, but not all, the shields being thrown up in rapid, triplicate succession. She then gets an Accelerator boost, which allows her to move quickly, the shields moving with her as finally, she has no choice but to move in a manner that puts her into path of one of the zigzagging orbs.

She chooses to move though it, one of the shields being smashed by the orb as she escapes upwards into the sky, aiming Raising Heart downrange again as she fires off a quick sudden, large bolt of energy. < Hammer Bullet > calls out Raising Heart as the energy lances out towards Chrono.

Raising Heart spouts something to Nanoha Telepathically, it gives her a shocked expression and she looks at Raising Heart with a stink face. What was just said!?

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown kept his gentle instructor face on as... as Rashmi managed to block all three of his stinger snipes. < Very good, Terios-san. Your defenses are improving. > WHY?! WHY DID HE THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!

It was time for him to respond in kind. He--

Oh. Oh wow, this girl was fast. Note to self, her tactics were wise. A LOT wiser than he would have expected. Many bombardment mages got cocky, arrogant at a distance. They assumed they were untouchable. Especially with support. But she wasn't afraid to move, reposition. In fact, she was moving more than him.

This wasn't going to be easy. He'd need to be careful, flicking his left hand out, he formed a barrier! Holding his hand out, he was hidden from view by the powerful assault for a moment... The shield... holding.

However, when it dispersed, he was seen again. His left arm had the robe slightly cut up, but he was already on the move after Nanoha. He didn't seem to be launching an attack, however.

And that would likely be Rashmi's first hint that something was up. She'd seen him fight. There was no way he had just taken the assault and not done anything. Worse, he was flying AFTER Nanoha...

And that was true. Because the girl was quick and moving around a lot. So he'd taken the seconds where the dust cleared to attempt two spells. Layering delayed binds across the route he expected Nanoha to go...

And the second was two more Stinger Snipes. Which had gone down and were now flying straight at Rashmi. Attempting to disable the support while pursuing the amplified artillery mage. Could she maintain her aid and defend herself? Would she be able to stay close enough to offer support AND deal with those two dangerous orbs?

Would he survive long enough if he wasn't INCREDIBLY CAREFUL! Because, while he didn't want to admit it, with the support spell he couldn't hope to catch her, but if he could buy a few seconds to catch up... Maybe.

He couldn't remember the last time his heart had pounded like this.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Of course she couldn't relax forever.

She'd overheard way too many competitive MMO-playing students to not understand that if you want a team to fall apart? You attack the support.

Which is why when she recognizes that the Stingers are coming after *her,* the first thing she does is rocket toward Nanoha, placing a simple Round Shield behind her. It's a gamble; *if* she can keep the barrets from hitting her before she can reach their destination, *if* the Barrets aren't granted enough homing ability to neutralize her maneuver, *if* the abraded Shields can hold up, and *if* her simple Round Shield is enough to defend her when the Barrets make the rest of it all pointless...

But if she's going to be in this fight as long as she suspects Nanoha will be with the amount of power she's pouring into the opening exchanges, she *has* to be smart about conservation.

...And then she remembers his habit of Bind seeding. OKAY WELL CONSERVATION STOPS FOR A SECOND I GUESS!

    << *BONG!* >> << INVESTIGATION >>

    << SOLAR BARRET >>

The sensor ball goes out first, then the Barrets are summoned, as she continues to haul ruffle toward the safety of the Shields. This is another gamble; Rashmi knows that he likes to hide the signature of his Binds, but *any* signature is going to stand out in the background, this early in the fight. Thus, rapid-fire of Barrets begins in all directions, programmed for maximum homing and as much speed as she can afford, all asked to lock onto *anything* with a magical signature closer to Chrono's than Nanoha's.

Is she screaming a little bit? Maybe. This has to be the least thought-through thing she's done to date, and that includes fighting the Jade Eye.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi aha, he's going after Rashmi a moment. Good. Good. Smart, she thinks. Raising Heart mentioned that earlier. When Chrono was explaining the whole affair. She agreed. Support would be vital, it was already allowing her to move faster than she was able to without the help.

But speaking of help, the spell was over now and she was back to moving her usual speed. Could she move fast like that on her own? She didn't know.

She didn't have a whole lot of melee options so she didn't want Chrono to catch up too easily. So she calls out.

"Divine Shooter!"

Four orbs surround her, before launching out at Chrono in various directions, while the shields tank two more stinger shots, sending the shields down aswell finally, as she frowns a little at this, thought it seems to be in the name of defending Rashmi, who kited the shots into it.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown couldn't help it. Despite the fact he might very well die soon... he felt so much pride towards Rashmi. She was improving quite a bit. It wasn't very long before she'd see... he had litered the field with the traps. All over. In fact... Nanoha was within centimeters of hitting one. The stinger ball struck the shield, but it stood the assault, not piercing through!

< Very good, Terios-san! You've developed incredibly well! > Yes, he would give praise when it was earned. But he really needed to focus on Nanoha. And interesting. Her Divine Shooter... Another powerful attack...

He was going to try something... dangerous. But it was the kind of thing that any martial fighter she faced would have to do... If she could respond well to this? Then she'd be definitely at least at the rookie mage level.

Right, as if she wasn't already blowing past that.

The binds were behind her, but at least Rashmi could tell her. But Chrono was coming RIGHT for her...

Then he held out his rod.

            <Stinger Move!>

And suddenly he was enveloped in a blue magical light, as if he was an arrowhead... then darting towards her like one of the barrets. A quick movement spell! It would get him in close... For a price.

Namely, it was designed ONLY for covering large distances in a moment. So she had that travel time, scarce though it was, to react. The goal was to press her. If she was backed to the binds, would she be able to avoid panicking to the other mage coming right at her? Would she counter attack, avoid, evade both him and the binds?

Because the moment he was out of the spell, his rod would try to aim at her...

            <Impact Cannon!>

Unleashing a single, rapid mana ball at her at his attempted close range. His last gambit against the two.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Binds behind you! >> Rashmi calls out, whipping her free hand toward Nanoha.

<< *BONG!* >> << ROUND SHIELD -- RED SHIFT >>

Behind Nanoha, a circle of hard light sketches itself into being... But it looks... unstable? Fuzzy, somehow, as if having trouble constraining the energy that makes it up.

Not knowing if her shields can properly block one Bind, let alone a handful, Rashmi seems to have fallen back on an old trick she hasn't made much use of; deliberately fragile shields.

In fact, when the Shield registers contact, it turns the entire structure of the shield into a big blast of kick-back; the hope is to use the blast to take out of as many Binds as possible.

    << WARNING -- LINKER CORE CAPACITY 34% >>

Ignoring the warning, Rashmi takes in a deep breath and summons a single Shield around Nanoha, to protect her from the oncoming Cannon.

    << 22% >>

<< I'm not sure how much more I can keep this up, Nano-chan! >>

And Chrono gets a cheerful, if tired, and not a little worried << Thaaaaanks, Chrono-kun... >>

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi only evades the binds with Rashmi's help and shields. If she wasn't there, Nanoha would had been caught by them for sure, and set up for a terrible fall. Luckily the binds get blocked by her shield and the new round shield that appears behind her.

She then watches as a ball of mana forms just in time for a new single shield to form around her at the same time. She can't do much about the close range hit. It's too close. Chrono moved too fast too shortly.

It impacts the shield and it destroys the shield, and while it explodes into the shield, she's still so close and she's still blown back by the force, out of the air and towards the ground as she spins through the air and crashed down into the ground, distending upon her crash.

The barrier jacket absorbs all the shock, and while she didn't feel the full force of the attack, she felt enough to 'owwewww' and rub her head and frown and start to stand back up.

"I..I think that's enough!" she says as she rubs the back of her head painfully.

Sure, she could continue, her mana reserves are still optimal. But she just took a strong hit.

And this was training. Not over a jewel seed. Right?

"Can we have snacks now?" she asks.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had... was alive. He, admittedly, was half expecting to have eaten crud for that. He hadn't killed the girl, or even seemed to do that much damage to her this time. But... but he'd done enough. The little girl could be hurt, it seemed. But, more impressively... "Yes, that's fine," he said to her with a smile. "I think a break and food sounds delightful. Terios-san?" he said before looking to her.

"I know we've only started training together for a little bit, but I just feel I should tell you. You have managed to impress me, again and again, with your flexibility and combat fortitude. Despite the many different styles and tactics I've thrown at you, you have always managed to adapt to them and, while you may get flustered at times, you have shown a level headedness equal to any TSAB recruit."

Praise in public, reprimand in private. That was the ideal way to go about things... he didn't always do it right. But Rashmi HAD impressed him again and again. She deserved to know. He then glanced to Nanoha. "As for you, Nano-chan. You are an incredibly powerful mage and your own tactics in the heat of battle are far beyond what I would have expected at this point. Raising Heart and your familiar have trained you well."

WOW! SO THE DEVICE GETS A NAME BUT THE FERRET JUST GETS FAMILIAR?!

"Now then, snacks sound like a wonderful idea." He held up his rod and the barrier went down... and then...

<I noticed your linker core wasn't fully drained this time, Terios-san,> he said, this time just privately to her. <You're getting stronger every day.>

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Thanks, Chrono-kun. I've been working on it, >> Rashmi sends back, tapping on the large cabochon in the center of Nicomachea's front cover, and extracting first one shopping bag, then a second. Perhaps not quite as worn out as she had been earlier, but still feeling the exhaustion. "...I mean I gotta say... part of it is because Nicomachea's *really good* at indexing. I know what I want to not happen, and it used to be he had to remind me of the stuff he can do. But when you read a book often enough, you start to know more of it by heart, y'know?"

The bags are set down, and individual curry pan is offered to Chrono and Nanoha. Not the Korma's make, but conbeni curry-pan is still a savory treat. "Also, Nanoha... How're you doing? That was *amazing* what you were throwing around."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Yuuno leaps through the grass and lands back onto Nanoha's shoulder when it's done. Yuuno rolls his eyes again when Chrono forgets his name and Nanoha sits down in the grass with her curry pan and starts eating. "Thank you!" she says as Rashmi removes...shopping bags from the book.

"I wonder if... I can put one of my mom's cakes in Raising Heart."

"The space isn't infinite in there Nanoha and besides, frosting might get over everything." Yuuno says.

"O..oh, right." she says as she eats the curry pan.

"I'm doing fine and thank you Chrono-kun! I'm working super hard!" she said with wide eyes, as she gave a tiny piece of the pan to Yuuno, who nibbled on it graciously.