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"It's apparent that we are dealing with someone that really knows what he's doing..." Trace finished, eyeing the screen closely. Maria stifled a groan, sighing.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you can get? It's already rather obvious we're going up against professionals," Maria crossed her arms. "Please tell me you got more information."

"I'm familiar with the weapon's design though. Those spherical robots were made in a planet called," He hesitated scratching his chin, "Shenzhin, I think. I'm sorry I can't be more help."

Maria blinked staring into Trace's apologetic eyes. /Wh-What's going on? My heart won't stop pounding, my face is feeling flushed and I'm going weak-kneed.../

"Maria, are you sure you're feeling ok? You don't look so good. Maybe you should get some rest," Trace stood up offering Maria his shoulder. "I can help you to sick bay, if you don't mind."

/B-B-But the medical officer said i was just fine! She didn't detect any viral contamination!/

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that Trace. I can assure you she's not sick at all," Mirage laughed a little smiling.

"I-I'm fine! I'm going to take a walk. Make sure you have some more information before I get back," Maria practically ran out, crashing into Cliff as the door opened.

"H-Hey, are you ok Maria? You don't look so good!" The Klausian reached to help her steady, but Maria stumbled back, running off. "Hey Mirage. What's her deal? She's been acting really weird lately."

"Oh, she's fine. She is still a teenage girl, after all. It's normal for her to have this kind of problem at her age," The Klausian fem stood up with a smile clapping her hands. "Now Trace, we really should get back to work. You can help us out as well Cliff."

"Alright then. If that's how it's supposed to be, I suppose I'm just gonna have to live with it. Oh, speaking of age, you never did say how old you were Trace," Cliff sat at a computer, looking at Trace expectantly.

Trace kept quiet for a few moments before sitting back at the computer he'd been searching on. "I'm fourteen, why do you ask?"

---------

Fayt stared down at his com, unsure what to do. /Fate's gone back to work with the Midchildan government to try and find the Holy Orb. I want to call and talk to her, but she's probably busy. I really shouldn't.../ Fayt sighed, sliding away his com intending to go for a walk. /Living in the Diplo day in and day out is ok, but things tend to get boring really fast. I'm worried about Maria too. She hasn't been herself since Trace showed up./ "I really should go check on her." Fayt nodded, looking down the hallways before heading to the simulator room. "About now, she's usually practicing her gunwork in the simulator."

---------

"What's wrong with me? I'm really not acting like myself," She lay back on the bed in her room, staring at the ceiling. "I need to lead Quark in the search for the Holy Orb, but I just can't stop thinking about..." She left her sentence incomplete, sitting up in an attempt to clear her thoughts. "I need to get back."

["Maria! You've got an emergency! You need to get ready right now!"] Fate's voice rang clearly on her personal communicator, causing Maria to jump in shock.

"What do you mean emergency?" Maria shouted, reaching for and loading her gun.

["Those mecha that you fought on Elicoor II are converging on your location. It doesn't take a genius to know that their planning to attack!"]

"Wait, what!? But the alarm hasn't-"

[Warning. Warning. Warning. Warning. Short range scanner shows several hostiles approaching. All available crew, please prepare for combat.]

["Dang it, it's those things again! Everyone, get ready for some serious brawling!"] Cliff's voice roared out on the intercom, shouting various instructions.

Maria ran out of her door without a second thought, slipping her gun into her holster as she rushed for the helm.

--------

"Dang it! I can't believe they got in so fast!" Trace growled, floating just above the ground, several of the enemy mecha rushing towards him. "To make matters," He twirled his staff, stabbing one of the things in an 'eye', and whacking another away before it could grip him with its tentacles, "Worse, this things have a frikkin'," He dropped to the ground, under a wild bull rush from about four that left them crashing into the walls, two getting pierced through the 'back' before they could recover, "A. M. F! Get the hell off me!" He shouted, struggling against his bonds, three of the robots holding his arms and legs pinned with their tentacles as another pair advanced, slowly.

/This can't be good!/ He struggled and thrashed, trying to bring his staff to bear, but his arms and legs were held tightly in place. "N-No...NO WAY! Tell me you're not planning to do what I think you're planning to do!" He shuddered, the tentacles starting to rub painfully. "HELP!!"

His scream echoed down the hallway, but did little to stop them. /Oh god, just kill me and be done with it./

"Get off of him!"

Right after that familiar bellow, one of the robots suddenly lurched, a certain Klausian having punched some holes in its back. Cliff threw the robot to the side into another, causing both to crack open. "Seriously, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

/He saved me! Oh damn, what am I, some kinda lame anime heroine? There's still three holding me!/ "Get off of me, slimeball!" He struggled against the tentacles tightening grip, grimacing. The sound of several loud crashes, accompanied by insane laughter, alerted him to another newcomer. "This just won't end well, will it?"

--------

"How'd these things get in!?" Maria shouted, running while trying to load her gun. She glanced over her shoulder at a group of those robots that were chasing her and groaned. "If I knew today was gonna happen like this, I wouldn't have even bothered getting out of bed!" She paused in her thoughts and sighed. "Being around Trace really has messed with my normal rhythm..."

She skidded to a stop, barely taking a moment to aim before barely grazing the trigger, a few spheres falling and rolling, but nowhere near enough to save her from being entangled as well. "Oh, this is just great..." She looked around irritated as they approached. "No way this'll end well..." /How idiotic of me...I guess I deserve this...DAMMIT! Why can't I stop thinking about Trace at a time like this? There's no one around I can call on-/ She sighed shaking her head before raising her voice as loud as possible. "Trace! HELP!" She cried, as loud and as long as she could before they began to swarm around her.

-------

"Trace! HELP!"

"That's Maria's voice!" He gripped his staff, looking over his shoulder at Albel and Cliff as they continued to pummel the stubborn 'bots. "I'm going on ahead! I'm leaving guarding the helm to you dudes!"

"Wait! What're you talking about? I havn't heard Maria!" Cliff shouted back, but the press of foes prevented him from following behind.

"Maggot! Focus on the enemy in front of you, or I'll cut you down myself, you fool!" Albel hissed, slicing with abandon.

Cliff bit back a sarcastic comment, just swinging his fists. /Sure hope Trace can handle it himself./

--------

"I knew Trace wouldn't make it..." Maria muttered, barely conscious. /I can't even feel my legs anymore. Am I really going to die? There's so much I wanted to do./ She grimaced in pain, feeling as though her arms and legs were being crushed.

"Maria!!"

She barely had time to register the voice before a claw hand the color of pure darkness, the size of her abdomen, sliced through the 'bots holding her down. "What the hell!?" She hardly registered that the tentacles had loosened their grip before taking off, running for the gun she'd been forced to discard. She turned around to fire just in time to see a wall of what appeared to be blades rip through the robots like paper. "What the hell?" /What kind of monster is this? I've never heard of a monster that fights with blade spells! Is it a magician from Midchilda?/ She edged towards the corner, keeping her gun up. She rushed around the corner, seeing something as dark as night, and didn't hesitate to reach for the trigger.

"GHAAAA!!!! Hold up, it's me! It's me! Don't shoot!"

"Trace?" Maria watched as the 'darkness' parted. "Since when did you have a claw hand and a hand blade?" She wondered, looking over the new weapon. The claw hand was dark, the fingers sharpened into elongated claws. The handblade, on his dominant right hand, was blood red, the same color as the shaft of his wand, and it had a lunar shape imprinted on the blade. "What happened to your staff?"

"This...is my staff," Trace stared at Maria, his face growing more and more red.

"Everything ok?" She asked looking down at herself. It was then that she understood. Her armor had been torn off, and her undershirt was in shreds revealing more of her decolletage then she was really comfortable with, her white skirt had been ripped off, and her tights were in a bad state of disrepair. She didn't even have any gloves on! /No wonder he's staring.../ Maria blushed covering her bosom with her arms. "Pervert..."

Trace shook his head looking away irritably. "Not like I'd be embarrassed by a flat board..."

"What was that!?" Maria shouted, blushing deeply, grabbing her gun. Trace took off running, his claw/blade melting back into his staff. Maria pointed the gun at Trace, but stopped, putting it away. "That pervert..."

--------

"Computer, how many enemies are left?" Cliff groaned, holding his side.

[No more enemies have been detected. However, two unidentified objects are heading in this direction.]

"What? Are they hostile?"

[They do not appear to be hostile. However, caution is recommended.]

Cliff turned and looked around as Trace Kara, Adray and the others returned, except for Maria.

"So, how'd everything go. Did everything go according to plan?"

"Well, yeah! For once, anyway. I've fought harder enemies then this though," Fayt shifted his weight to the side, waving one arm. "Anyone that gets caught by them is a moron."

"They were pretty easy to beat, compared to the creator," Sophia agreed, biting her lip. "But they are still pretty strong."

"Hah! Their no challenge for a REAL man!" Roger proclaimed proudly.

"But weren't you hiding under your helmet when they attacked?" Kara asked him, tilting her head to the side.

"S-Shut up!"

"These things were no challenge for a master, such as myself," Adray boomed, laughing joyfully.

Albel and Nel both shrugged, looking disgruntled. "I find it mildly disturbing that they were able to get inside the ship without any warning. We need to find out more about these weapons, and their creators. We probably won't be as lucky next time," Nel supplied, crossing her arms.

"What's wrong Trace? You seem kinda down," Fayt wondered, noticing that Trace was sitting in a corner by himself, depressed.

"It's nothing..." He tried to force a smile but it just wouldn't stick. "I think I'm coming down with something...I'm heading to sick bay."

"Well, OK. Can you get there by yourself?"

"I'll be fine!!"

"Well then, everyone else should go around and make sure everything's ok. Mirage, take a look through the computers and make sure that they didn't steal any of our data," Cliff decided, nodding to everyone. No one else said anything further, but the same thought was stuck in each person's mind: /How did they get in the ship without even breaking through the hull?/

"Hey, are you guy's ok?" A feminine voice shouted, right behind Cliff.

"W-What the!?" Cliff tried to recover, falling facefirst against a wall.

"Who are you?" Nel shouted, slicing at the newcomer, but a staff, with a shaft as white as newly fallen snow, easily picked off her attacks.

"Hey, hey hey~! Is this really how you treat a friend after she goes all this way to make a visit!" The newcomer, a brunette with white ribbons in her hair, and in clothes of white that matched her staff, sighed, stepping away.

Fate sighed shrugging. "I understand their rash actions, Nanoha. You do look kind of like an evil doer yourself."

"E-Evil doer!?" Nanoha shouted, staring at her companion with tear-filled eyes. "Tell me you don't mean that!"

"I'm just teasing, Nanoha," She grinned ruffling Fayt's hair. "Nice job, you managed to hold off those mechs by yourself."

"ANYWAY!" Nanoha huffed, interrupting Fayt before he could respond. "I'm Nanoha Takamachi, Trace's guardian. Where is he?"

"He just went to the sick bay right now. If you want I could show you there," Fayt supplied, holding out his hand. "I'm Fayt. Fayt Leingod."

--------

In the sick bay, Trace sighed, managing to hold perfectly still as they scanned his body. /I hate doctors.../

"Well, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. You're probably just feeling exhausted. You should probably head to your room and sleep for the rest of the day." The medic officer glanced at the readings again before nodding. "You should feel just fine tomorrow."

"That's a relief," Trace stumbled to his feet, exiting the room via the east door. "I guess I worried over nothing."

--------

"Trace! You got a visitor!" Fayt shouted, throwing open the west door. Nanoha and Fate peered into the room curiously looking at all the medical equipment.

The Medic officer frowned pushing her glasses up. "I just sent Trace to his room for some much-needed bed rest. You barely missed him."

"Oh, I see. Thanks," Fayt nodded, closing the door. "Well, let's get going." Fayt said, leading the way to the crew quarters.

--------

"Trace, you're getting way too close to Maria!" Lieber whined, glaring. He stood in front of Trace on the third floor, a few feet from the stairwell. "I'm not going to let you take her away from me!"

/What an idiot.../ Trace looked to the side, yawning tiredly as Lieber rambled on about his feelings for Maria. "You might like Maria, but it's beyond clear that she doesn't like you in that sense. You'd be better off giving up before you bring irreversible harm on yourself."

"A-Are you threatening me?" Lieber shouted, shuddering. /This guy's really giving me a serious death glare.../ He shivered slightly, mistaking Trace's tired expression for unrivaled anger and fury. "Don't think I've given up yet!" he shouted over his shoulder, running up to the previous level. /Damn it! First Fayt, now Trace! Will I never get to tell Maria about my undying love?/

/So tired.../ Trace yawned, shuffling downstairs.

--------

"Hey Lieber, have you seen Trace? The medic told me that he was heading to his room," Fayt wondered, staring at Lieber oddly. He was in a corner of the stairwell, breathing hard. His skin was pale, in contrast to his usual slightly tan color."Are you ok?"

Lieber jumped, shivering. "I can't get that death glare out of my head. I really pissed Trace off just now! My days are numbered!"

"Uh, can you break away from your mental trauma long enough to tell us if you saw him or not? We're kind of in a hurry." Lieber pointed down the stairwell, nodding. "Thanks."

"Has Trace really gotten that scary Fate?" Nanoha worried, biting her lip.

"Hmmm, maybe he has," Testarossa teased, looking away with a grin.

"Geeze, I'm gonna have to teach him about proper social etiquette again, aren't I?"

"Um, I'm sorry, I couldn't help over hearing. You said you're his guardian right? Is it ok if I ask how old you are? You don't look past twenty," Fayt wondered, looking at them.

"How rude! I'll have you know I'm only 19!" Nanoha groaned, rubbing her forehead. "Work's making me look old..."

"I'm 19 too ya know," Fate sighed, shrugging. "Boys."

"I'm sorry," Fayt hesitated, another question on his tongue, but shook his head. "Anyway, Trace's room is down here."

--------

"Trace!" Maria called, just outside of her room. She waved to the boy has he started to the descend to the fifth floor, motioning him over. "If it's alright, I'd like to talk to you for a little bit. I'm just wondering about a few things." Trace nodded, following her to the hallway connecting the east and west apartment wings together. "You said earlier that that claw weapon you had was originally your wand/staff, right? What did you mean by that, actually?"

"Oh. My weapon's a Midchildan-specially designed staff. It belongs to a calibre that they usually give only to S rank or higher mages. I'm still only a B-rank though..." He sighed, scratching the side of his head. "Anyway, it's a special weapon, that has three different forms. The claw/blade you saw before is the 2nd form."

"Why don't you use it more often?" Maria wondered, putting a hand on her chin.

"It takes up alot of energy to make it shapeshift, so I usually try not to use it unless I have no other choice. That would explain why I'm so tired right now, actually," He rubbed his eyes yawning widely. "There's some spells I can only use when I'm using that form though, so it can be convenient."

--------

"I hope he's ok," Nanoha sighed, thumping herself on the head. "I havn't had a lot of time to be with him lately."

"Can I ask what you work as? Trace mentioned that you both worked for the government, but he didn't say anything specifically," Fayt paused in front of Trace's door, knocking. "Hey, Trace! You've got a guest!" He paused for a second, opening the door. "Huh? He's not here."

"Didn't that person say that he was supposed to be resting?" Nanoha looked around, sighing. "It looks even messier then his old room," she looked around with a sigh, shrugging. Drink cans, empty plates, used clothing, books, magazines, and other paraphernalia adorned the room. "There's not even a visible piece of floor. How can he sleep in this?"

"This is a...room? It looks more like a garbage dump," Fayt groaned, sighing.

Nanoha walked in, picking up cans and things. "That's it, I'm going to have to scold Trace later. He needs to learn to pick up his things!"

"I feel bad for Trace. Nanoha tends to go overboard when she's scolding," Fate whispered to Fayt, grinning a secretive smile. "I don't think he'll forget anytime soon." Testarossa grinned a little, moving to help out. "Can I help?"

"Sure! That should be fun!"

"What did Trace get into?" Fayt sighed before going to help as well.

--------

"There we go! It's good as new!" Nanoha grinned, rubbing some sweat off her forehead. "That didn't take as long as I thought it would!"

"Somehow, we managed to finish in an hour," Fate agreed, nodding. "Anyway, we should try to find Trace again. He needs a severe talking-to."

Fayt looked around for a second before speaking. "Computer, where is Trace Kudou Takamachi?"

[Searching...Trace Kudou Takamachi is currently in Captain Maria's room, on the third floor.]

"Do you know where that is Fayt?" Nanoha wondered, looking at him.

"I sure don't," Fate said with a sigh, shrugging. "Why don't you try asking Fayt?"

"I was asking him!" Nanoha sighed rubbing her forehead. "This is gonna be a long day."

"What else is new?"

--------

"Anyway, I'd better let you go Trace, you look pretty wiped out," Maria sighed, sitting on her bed. Trace stood up, holding his half empty bottle of soda.

"It was really nice talking to you. I'm glad you're ok," He rubbed his eyes yawning. "I really need to get some sleep..."

"Let's talk again another time," Maria stood up as Trace opened the door. "Have a good rest!" As she took a step, her foot caught on the edge of the small table in the center of the room, sending her falling headfirst. She closed her eyes for the expected impact, but Trace managed to catch her, cradling her against him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, before noticing how close their faces were.

Maria opened her mouth to say something as well, but stopped, looking at him. /He's so close...if I moved my head just a little, I could kiss him...wait, what? What's wrong with me?/ "Um, you can let me go now!" Maria pushed Trace away, trying to look irritated and hide the growing redness on her cheeks.

"Oh, sorry! I'll uh, I'll go now!" Trace stumbled out the door, running for the western stairwell as Fayt and company ascended the eastern stairwell.

"Hey, Maria! Have you seen Trace? I want to talk to him!" Nanoha called with a wave.

"W-Who, Trace? What makes you think that Trace was ever here?" Maria frowned, turning to go into the room but slipped on a loose piece of carpet, falling flat on her face. "Ouch..."

"Your sudden clumsiness says otherwise," Fate commented sagely, shaking her head.

/W-What am I? A stereotypical heroine of a romance anime?/ Maria groaned sighing before realizing what she was thinking. "Please tell me I didn't fall in love..."

"Anyway, are you sure Trace isn't here?" Fate sighed, holding her head. "This is taking forever..."

"I think Trace just went back to his room..."

"I see, thanks!" Nanoha nodded, heading back down the stairs.

"This is annoying," Fayt sighed, both of them following behind Nanoha.

--------

/Finally, some shut eye./ Trace curled up on his bed, not bothering to remove his robe as he relaxed, ready to set sail on the vast ocean of slumber.

At least, until someone knocked on his door. "Hey, Trace! Can I talk to you?"

/That voice sounds familiar...come to think of it, why is my room so clean? Wasn't it a mess earlier today?/

"Trace! This is Nanoha! It's time for you to endure a special training session!"

/Oh...oops./

Description
"It's apparent that we are dealing with someone that really knows what he's doing..." Trace finished, eyeing the screen closely. Maria stifled a groan, sighing.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you can get? It's already rather obvious we're going up against professionals," Maria crossed her arms. "Please tell me you got more information."

"I'm familiar with the weapon's design though. Those spherical robots were made in a planet called," He hesitated scratching his chin, "Shenzhin, I think. I'm sorry I can't be more help."

Maria blinked staring into Trace's apologetic eyes. /Wh-What's going on? My heart won't stop pounding, my face is feeling flushed and I'm going weak-kneed.../

"Maria, are you sure you're feeling ok? You don't look so good. Maybe you should get some rest," Trace stood up offering Maria his shoulder. "I can help you to sick bay, if you don't mind."

/B-B-But the medical officer said i was just fine! She didn't detect any viral contamination!/

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that Trace. I can assure you she's not sick at all," Mirage laughed a little smiling.

"I-I'm fine! I'm going to take a walk. Make sure you have some more information before I get back," Maria practically ran out, crashing into Cliff as the door opened.

"H-Hey, are you ok Maria? You don't look so good!" The Klausian reached to help her steady, but Maria stumbled back, running off. "Hey Mirage. What's her deal? She's been acting really weird lately."

"Oh, she's fine. She is still a teenage girl, after all. It's normal for her to have this kind of problem at her age," The Klausian fem stood up with a smile clapping her hands. "Now Trace, we really should get back to work. You can help us out as well Cliff."

"Alright then. If that's how it's supposed to be, I suppose I'm just gonna have to live with it. Oh, speaking of age, you never did say how old you were Trace," Cliff sat at a computer, looking at Trace expectantly.

Trace kept quiet for a few moments before sitting back at the computer he'd been searching on. "I'm fourteen, why do you ask?"

---------

Fayt stared down at his com, unsure what to do. /Fate's gone back to work with the Midchildan government to try and find the Holy Orb. I want to call and talk to her, but she's probably busy. I really shouldn't.../ Fayt sighed, sliding away his com intending to go for a walk. /Living in the Diplo day in and day out is ok, but things tend to get boring really fast. I'm worried about Maria too. She hasn't been herself since Trace showed up./ "I really should go check on her." Fayt nodded, looking down the hallways before heading to the simulator room. "About now, she's usually practicing her gunwork in the simulator."

---------

"What's wrong with me? I'm really not acting like myself," She lay back on the bed in her room, staring at the ceiling. "I need to lead Quark in the search for the Holy Orb, but I just can't stop thinking about..." She left her sentence incomplete, sitting up in an attempt to clear her thoughts. "I need to get back."

["Maria! You've got an emergency! You need to get ready right now!"] Fate's voice rang clearly on her personal communicator, causing Maria to jump in shock.

"What do you mean emergency?" Maria shouted, reaching for and loading her gun.

["Those mecha that you fought on Elicoor II are converging on your location. It doesn't take a genius to know that their planning to attack!"]

"Wait, what!? But the alarm hasn't-"

[Warning. Warning. Warning. Warning. Short range scanner shows several hostiles approaching. All available crew, please prepare for combat.]

["Dang it, it's those things again! Everyone, get ready for some serious brawling!"] Cliff's voice roared out on the intercom, shouting various instructions.

Maria ran out of her door without a second thought, slipping her gun into her holster as she rushed for the helm.

--------

"Dang it! I can't believe they got in so fast!" Trace growled, floating just above the ground, several of the enemy mecha rushing towards him. "To make matters," He twirled his staff, stabbing one of the things in an 'eye', and whacking another away before it could grip him with its tentacles, "Worse, this things have a frikkin'," He dropped to the ground, under a wild bull rush from about four that left them crashing into the walls, two getting pierced through the 'back' before they could recover, "A. M. F! Get the hell off me!" He shouted, struggling against his bonds, three of the robots holding his arms and legs pinned with their tentacles as another pair advanced, slowly.

/This can't be good!/ He struggled and thrashed, trying to bring his staff to bear, but his arms and legs were held tightly in place. "N-No...NO WAY! Tell me you're not planning to do what I think you're planning to do!" He shuddered, the tentacles starting to rub painfully. "HELP!!"

His scream echoed down the hallway, but did little to stop them. /Oh god, just kill me and be done with it./

"Get off of him!"

Right after that familiar bellow, one of the robots suddenly lurched, a certain Klausian having punched some holes in its back. Cliff threw the robot to the side into another, causing both to crack open. "Seriously, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

/He saved me! Oh damn, what am I, some kinda lame anime heroine? There's still three holding me!/ "Get off of me, slimeball!" He struggled against the tentacles tightening grip, grimacing. The sound of several loud crashes, accompanied by insane laughter, alerted him to another newcomer. "This just won't end well, will it?"

--------

"How'd these things get in!?" Maria shouted, running while trying to load her gun. She glanced over her shoulder at a group of those robots that were chasing her and groaned. "If I knew today was gonna happen like this, I wouldn't have even bothered getting out of bed!" She paused in her thoughts and sighed. "Being around Trace really has messed with my normal rhythm..."

She skidded to a stop, barely taking a moment to aim before barely grazing the trigger, a few spheres falling and rolling, but nowhere near enough to save her from being entangled as well. "Oh, this is just great..." She looked around irritated as they approached. "No way this'll end well..." /How idiotic of me...I guess I deserve this...DAMMIT! Why can't I stop thinking about Trace at a time like this? There's no one around I can call on-/ She sighed shaking her head before raising her voice as loud as possible. "Trace! HELP!" She cried, as loud and as long as she could before they began to swarm around her.

-------

"Trace! HELP!"

"That's Maria's voice!" He gripped his staff, looking over his shoulder at Albel and Cliff as they continued to pummel the stubborn 'bots. "I'm going on ahead! I'm leaving guarding the helm to you dudes!"

"Wait! What're you talking about? I havn't heard Maria!" Cliff shouted back, but the press of foes prevented him from following behind.

"Maggot! Focus on the enemy in front of you, or I'll cut you down myself, you fool!" Albel hissed, slicing with abandon.

Cliff bit back a sarcastic comment, just swinging his fists. /Sure hope Trace can handle it himself./

--------

"I knew Trace wouldn't make it..." Maria muttered, barely conscious. /I can't even feel my legs anymore. Am I really going to die? There's so much I wanted to do./ She grimaced in pain, feeling as though her arms and legs were being crushed.

"Maria!!"

She barely had time to register the voice before a claw hand the color of pure darkness, the size of her abdomen, sliced through the 'bots holding her down. "What the hell!?" She hardly registered that the tentacles had loosened their grip before taking off, running for the gun she'd been forced to discard. She turned around to fire just in time to see a wall of what appeared to be blades rip through the robots like paper. "What the hell?" /What kind of monster is this? I've never heard of a monster that fights with blade spells! Is it a magician from Midchilda?/ She edged towards the corner, keeping her gun up. She rushed around the corner, seeing something as dark as night, and didn't hesitate to reach for the trigger.

"GHAAAA!!!! Hold up, it's me! It's me! Don't shoot!"

"Trace?" Maria watched as the 'darkness' parted. "Since when did you have a claw hand and a hand blade?" She wondered, looking over the new weapon. The claw hand was dark, the fingers sharpened into elongated claws. The handblade, on his dominant right hand, was blood red, the same color as the shaft of his wand, and it had a lunar shape imprinted on the blade. "What happened to your staff?"

"This...is my staff," Trace stared at Maria, his face growing more and more red.

"Everything ok?" She asked looking down at herself. It was then that she understood. Her armor had been torn off, and her undershirt was in shreds revealing more of her decolletage then she was really comfortable with, her white skirt had been ripped off, and her tights were in a bad state of disrepair. She didn't even have any gloves on! /No wonder he's staring.../ Maria blushed covering her bosom with her arms. "Pervert..."

Trace shook his head looking away irritably. "Not like I'd be embarrassed by a flat board..."

"What was that!?" Maria shouted, blushing deeply, grabbing her gun. Trace took off running, his claw/blade melting back into his staff. Maria pointed the gun at Trace, but stopped, putting it away. "That pervert..."

--------

"Computer, how many enemies are left?" Cliff groaned, holding his side.

[No more enemies have been detected. However, two unidentified objects are heading in this direction.]

"What? Are they hostile?"

[They do not appear to be hostile. However, caution is recommended.]

Cliff turned and looked around as Trace Kara, Adray and the others returned, except for Maria.

"So, how'd everything go. Did everything go according to plan?"

"Well, yeah! For once, anyway. I've fought harder enemies then this though," Fayt shifted his weight to the side, waving one arm. "Anyone that gets caught by them is a moron."

"They were pretty easy to beat, compared to the creator," Sophia agreed, biting her lip. "But they are still pretty strong."

"Hah! Their no challenge for a REAL man!" Roger proclaimed proudly.

"But weren't you hiding under your helmet when they attacked?" Kara asked him, tilting her head to the side.

"S-Shut up!"

"These things were no challenge for a master, such as myself," Adray boomed, laughing joyfully.

Albel and Nel both shrugged, looking disgruntled. "I find it mildly disturbing that they were able to get inside the ship without any warning. We need to find out more about these weapons, and their creators. We probably won't be as lucky next time," Nel supplied, crossing her arms.

"What's wrong Trace? You seem kinda down," Fayt wondered, noticing that Trace was sitting in a corner by himself, depressed.

"It's nothing..." He tried to force a smile but it just wouldn't stick. "I think I'm coming down with something...I'm heading to sick bay."

"Well, OK. Can you get there by yourself?"

"I'll be fine!!"

"Well then, everyone else should go around and make sure everything's ok. Mirage, take a look through the computers and make sure that they didn't steal any of our data," Cliff decided, nodding to everyone. No one else said anything further, but the same thought was stuck in each person's mind: /How did they get in the ship without even breaking through the hull?/

"Hey, are you guy's ok?" A feminine voice shouted, right behind Cliff.

"W-What the!?" Cliff tried to recover, falling facefirst against a wall.

"Who are you?" Nel shouted, slicing at the newcomer, but a staff, with a shaft as white as newly fallen snow, easily picked off her attacks.

"Hey, hey hey~! Is this really how you treat a friend after she goes all this way to make a visit!" The newcomer, a brunette with white ribbons in her hair, and in clothes of white that matched her staff, sighed, stepping away.

Fate sighed shrugging. "I understand their rash actions, Nanoha. You do look kind of like an evil doer yourself."

"E-Evil doer!?" Nanoha shouted, staring at her companion with tear-filled eyes. "Tell me you don't mean that!"

"I'm just teasing, Nanoha," She grinned ruffling Fayt's hair. "Nice job, you managed to hold off those mechs by yourself."

"ANYWAY!" Nanoha huffed, interrupting Fayt before he could respond. "I'm Nanoha Takamachi, Trace's guardian. Where is he?"

"He just went to the sick bay right now. If you want I could show you there," Fayt supplied, holding out his hand. "I'm Fayt. Fayt Leingod."

--------

In the sick bay, Trace sighed, managing to hold perfectly still as they scanned his body. /I hate doctors.../

"Well, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. You're probably just feeling exhausted. You should probably head to your room and sleep for the rest of the day." The medic officer glanced at the readings again before nodding. "You should feel just fine tomorrow."

"That's a relief," Trace stumbled to his feet, exiting the room via the east door. "I guess I worried over nothing."

--------

"Trace! You got a visitor!" Fayt shouted, throwing open the west door. Nanoha and Fate peered into the room curiously looking at all the medical equipment.

The Medic officer frowned pushing her glasses up. "I just sent Trace to his room for some much-needed bed rest. You barely missed him."

"Oh, I see. Thanks," Fayt nodded, closing the door. "Well, let's get going." Fayt said, leading the way to the crew quarters.

--------

"Trace, you're getting way too close to Maria!" Lieber whined, glaring. He stood in front of Trace on the third floor, a few feet from the stairwell. "I'm not going to let you take her away from me!"

/What an idiot.../ Trace looked to the side, yawning tiredly as Lieber rambled on about his feelings for Maria. "You might like Maria, but it's beyond clear that she doesn't like you in that sense. You'd be better off giving up before you bring irreversible harm on yourself."

"A-Are you threatening me?" Lieber shouted, shuddering. /This guy's really giving me a serious death glare.../ He shivered slightly, mistaking Trace's tired expression for unrivaled anger and fury. "Don't think I've given up yet!" he shouted over his shoulder, running up to the previous level. /Damn it! First Fayt, now Trace! Will I never get to tell Maria about my undying love?/

/So tired.../ Trace yawned, shuffling downstairs.

--------

"Hey Lieber, have you seen Trace? The medic told me that he was heading to his room," Fayt wondered, staring at Lieber oddly. He was in a corner of the stairwell, breathing hard. His skin was pale, in contrast to his usual slightly tan color."Are you ok?"

Lieber jumped, shivering. "I can't get that death glare out of my head. I really pissed Trace off just now! My days are numbered!"

"Uh, can you break away from your mental trauma long enough to tell us if you saw him or not? We're kind of in a hurry." Lieber pointed down the stairwell, nodding. "Thanks."

"Has Trace really gotten that scary Fate?" Nanoha worried, biting her lip.

"Hmmm, maybe he has," Testarossa teased, looking away with a grin.

"Geeze, I'm gonna have to teach him about proper social etiquette again, aren't I?"

"Um, I'm sorry, I couldn't help over hearing. You said you're his guardian right? Is it ok if I ask how old you are? You don't look past twenty," Fayt wondered, looking at them.

"How rude! I'll have you know I'm only 19!" Nanoha groaned, rubbing her forehead. "Work's making me look old..."

"I'm 19 too ya know," Fate sighed, shrugging. "Boys."

"I'm sorry," Fayt hesitated, another question on his tongue, but shook his head. "Anyway, Trace's room is down here."

--------

"Trace!" Maria called, just outside of her room. She waved to the boy has he started to the descend to the fifth floor, motioning him over. "If it's alright, I'd like to talk to you for a little bit. I'm just wondering about a few things." Trace nodded, following her to the hallway connecting the east and west apartment wings together. "You said earlier that that claw weapon you had was originally your wand/staff, right? What did you mean by that, actually?"

"Oh. My weapon's a Midchildan-specially designed staff. It belongs to a calibre that they usually give only to S rank or higher mages. I'm still only a B-rank though..." He sighed, scratching the side of his head. "Anyway, it's a special weapon, that has three different forms. The claw/blade you saw before is the 2nd form."

"Why don't you use it more often?" Maria wondered, putting a hand on her chin.

"It takes up alot of energy to make it shapeshift, so I usually try not to use it unless I have no other choice. That would explain why I'm so tired right now, actually," He rubbed his eyes yawning widely. "There's some spells I can only use when I'm using that form though, so it can be convenient."

--------

"I hope he's ok," Nanoha sighed, thumping herself on the head. "I havn't had a lot of time to be with him lately."

"Can I ask what you work as? Trace mentioned that you both worked for the government, but he didn't say anything specifically," Fayt paused in front of Trace's door, knocking. "Hey, Trace! You've got a guest!" He paused for a second, opening the door. "Huh? He's not here."

"Didn't that person say that he was supposed to be resting?" Nanoha looked around, sighing. "It looks even messier then his old room," she looked around with a sigh, shrugging. Drink cans, empty plates, used clothing, books, magazines, and other paraphernalia adorned the room. "There's not even a visible piece of floor. How can he sleep in this?"

"This is a...room? It looks more like a garbage dump," Fayt groaned, sighing.

Nanoha walked in, picking up cans and things. "That's it, I'm going to have to scold Trace later. He needs to learn to pick up his things!"

"I feel bad for Trace. Nanoha tends to go overboard when she's scolding," Fate whispered to Fayt, grinning a secretive smile. "I don't think he'll forget anytime soon." Testarossa grinned a little, moving to help out. "Can I help?"

"Sure! That should be fun!"

"What did Trace get into?" Fayt sighed before going to help as well.

--------

"There we go! It's good as new!" Nanoha grinned, rubbing some sweat off her forehead. "That didn't take as long as I thought it would!"

"Somehow, we managed to finish in an hour," Fate agreed, nodding. "Anyway, we should try to find Trace again. He needs a severe talking-to."

Fayt looked around for a second before speaking. "Computer, where is Trace Kudou Takamachi?"

[Searching...Trace Kudou Takamachi is currently in Captain Maria's room, on the third floor.]

"Do you know where that is Fayt?" Nanoha wondered, looking at him.

"I sure don't," Fate said with a sigh, shrugging. "Why don't you try asking Fayt?"

"I was asking him!" Nanoha sighed rubbing her forehead. "This is gonna be a long day."

"What else is new?"

--------

"Anyway, I'd better let you go Trace, you look pretty wiped out," Maria sighed, sitting on her bed. Trace stood up, holding his half empty bottle of soda.

"It was really nice talking to you. I'm glad you're ok," He rubbed his eyes yawning. "I really need to get some sleep..."

"Let's talk again another time," Maria stood up as Trace opened the door. "Have a good rest!" As she took a step, her foot caught on the edge of the small table in the center of the room, sending her falling headfirst. She closed her eyes for the expected impact, but Trace managed to catch her, cradling her against him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, before noticing how close their faces were.

Maria opened her mouth to say something as well, but stopped, looking at him. /He's so close...if I moved my head just a little, I could kiss him...wait, what? What's wrong with me?/ "Um, you can let me go now!" Maria pushed Trace away, trying to look irritated and hide the growing redness on her cheeks.

"Oh, sorry! I'll uh, I'll go now!" Trace stumbled out the door, running for the western stairwell as Fayt and company ascended the eastern stairwell.

"Hey, Maria! Have you seen Trace? I want to talk to him!" Nanoha called with a wave.

"W-Who, Trace? What makes you think that Trace was ever here?" Maria frowned, turning to go into the room but slipped on a loose piece of carpet, falling flat on her face. "Ouch..."

"Your sudden clumsiness says otherwise," Fate commented sagely, shaking her head.

/W-What am I? A stereotypical heroine of a romance anime?/ Maria groaned sighing before realizing what she was thinking. "Please tell me I didn't fall in love..."

"Anyway, are you sure Trace isn't here?" Fate sighed, holding her head. "This is taking forever..."

"I think Trace just went back to his room..."

"I see, thanks!" Nanoha nodded, heading back down the stairs.

"This is annoying," Fayt sighed, both of them following behind Nanoha.

--------

/Finally, some shut eye./ Trace curled up on his bed, not bothering to remove his robe as he relaxed, ready to set sail on the vast ocean of slumber.

At least, until someone knocked on his door. "Hey, Trace! Can I talk to you?"

/That voice sounds familiar...come to think of it, why is my room so clean? Wasn't it a mess earlier today?/

"Trace! This is Nanoha! It's time for you to endure a special training session!"

/Oh...oops./