Roughly an hour later, Nanoha and Fate were concluded with the time they'd allotted to their patrol, and as such, had to say goodbye to their newly made friend. They'd had quite a bit of fun, and gotten a feel for the village, enough that they wouldn't get lost just wandering about, which had been a real risk before. They returned to the hotel they were staying in, and were met with Chrono and Arf on the room that Chrono had insisted on having all to himself.
Though why Arf and Fate insisted on Chrono having his own room at times escaped Nanoha, Arf kept saying stuff about him needing time for himself, now that he couldn't visit Amy or something. Fate just turned red when those talks began and was totally useless as a source of information. When asked to explain or elaborate, Arf would just laugh and pat Nanoha's head, telling her she'd get it, eventually, when she was older.
That made Nanoha wonder how old she'd need to be. She was, after all, older than the familiar, who apparently knew… And Fate seemed to know what they were talking about, too…
Nonetheless, they gave Chrono their debriefing and gave him a basic overview of the village layout, as well as its state after the invasion it'd just withstood.
"Has Admiral Lindy called?" Nanoha asked, chirped really, as she snacked on some of the pastries that they'd bought while touring the village with Sakura.
Not as good as the ones made back at home, but not bad at all. Then again, Nanoha's mother had been baking in a more modern society with better tools and ingredients. And it wasn't a week after a surprise invasion back at home, either.
Absent mindedly, Nanoha shoved a chocolate covered one in Fate's mouth when she opened her mouth to say something. The blonde seemed to be refusing to eat the sweets during the mission for some reason. Nanoha argued that it was actually detrimental, she was acting so stiff and serious that it was obvious she was doing something important. A vital part of fitting in was to act like nothing was out of the ordinary, and Nanoha excelled at acting like nothing was wrong, even if it was. Actually, she passed off as normal better when something was wrong.
"Not yet," Chrono said. "But it's just a matter of time until we find them. I just hope we find them soon enough," Chrono said, shaking his head. "It doesn't appear as if the book has started going on a rampage yet, but…"
Fate nodded. "I know. But we'll stop it… I promise."
"For the moment, we should rest and be relaxed, we're waiting for them to show themse—"
Lindy contacted Chrono. "The Wolkenritter has been detected, four hundred kilometers east of your location. We've detected two, but don't drop your guard. Transmitting coordinates. Be careful."
Chrono nodded. "Nanoha, Fate, we move!"
"That was quick," Nanoha stated. "Are we flying there?"
"Yes. They might detect the dimensional transfer and retreat before we can capture them," Chrono stated.
The hotel room in Konoha had a window to the outside, and they quickly slipped through it. The warding barrier cast earlier by the Barrier Task Force prevented the citizens of Konoha from noticing them until they were already above the clouds. The coordinates finished downloading and they set off.
***
The area of town where Tsunade and Vita had their all out brawl was… quickly deserted. And with good reason. Vita and Tsunade had used each other as battering rams and wrecking balls to destroy the area, though they hadn't managed to do more than cosmetic damage, it had less to do with weakness and more to do with not wanting to have to pay for the property damage.
"You… you heartless bitch! I won't allow you to just walk away!" Vita screamed, glaring at Tsunade, picking herself up from the hole Tsunade had used her to dig. Such insane strength… to break through her barrier with one shot, and to make Vita feel the blow past her barrier jacket even then… "My mistress… you're her only hope…" On her feet now, Vita pointed at her with Graf Eisen. "I can't give up, and I can't lose! You will save her life!"
Tsunade, absent mindedly healing a bleeding cut from her forehead, sneered. "You want me to help her? Fine. Then drop on your knees and beg me! Beg me and I might, just might, consider it!"
At that moment, Signum expected Vita to roar in rage and attempt to kill Tsunade, the insult to her pride being the last Vita could take… which was not what happened.
Not at all.
Vita immediately dropped on her knees, bowing her head. "Please."
"W-What!?"
It seemed Tsunade was just as shocked as Signum.
"Please, help my mistress…" Vita said, her forehead now touching the floor. "You're the only one who can, so please…"
The blond medic took a step back, before turning to the more dignified of her hunters.
Signum, however, immediately dropped to her knees, as well. "I beg of you, please help my mistress."
"J-Jiraiya, what the hell is going on!?" Tsunade asked, turning around to face Jiraiya once more. "Wha-What the fuck!?"
Even Jiraiya was now on his knees. "Hime… You have the power. You have the ability. Don't be like this… I know you're better than this."
"He's right, Tsunade-sama… you're letting your hatred for Konoha make your decisions for you… you would never deny someone of help when you could save them… this isn't you," the mousy looking woman with the pig said, approaching Tsunade.
"FINE, okay, I get it already!" Tsunade said, glaring at everyone around her. "I'll go back to Konoha and heal that kid. But once I'm done, I'm out, and if anyone tries to stop me from leaving, I'm kicking their asses."
"That's my hime, I knew you'd see reason!" Jiraiya said, springing to his feet.
"Then we must hurry. I will contact Shamal. Prepare for dimensional transfer," Signum said.
"Buh-wha?" Tsunade asked, blinking.
"It'd take too long to explain, you will be briefed on the situation later, for now, just go with it," Jiraiya said.
"Fine, but this beter have a good explanation, what are we going to do now?" Tsunade asked.
"We'll be teleported all the way back to Konoha. Sort of like with Minato's Hiraishin, though without the need for seals and a lot more math involved," Jiraiya said.
"You've been briefed?" Signum asked, turning to Jiraiya.
"Just the basics. Now, ETA for the transport?" Jiraiya asked.
"Shamal will need a few minutes to set up the extraction with this many people to take along," Signum stated. "It's better if we stay close together and remain still for a minute."
Jiraiya grinned and was about to say something utterly perverted about being the only man in the group, when he suddenly got a bad feeling. He prepared to give everyone a warning, however…
The world changed color at that moment.
"You're under arrest," a calm, collected voice spoke.