Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 12
魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS（ストライカーズ）Ep. 12

SPOILER Summary: The rookies find themselves outclassed by Lutecia and Agito, so they decide to make a tactical retreat to join up with the approaching Vita and Rein. Vita (telepathically?) informs them that this was the right call as she and Rein rapidly approach the rookie’s location. Agito senses the power coming from them and issues a warning but it is too late. Rein captures the two of them in ice while Vita has Eisen go to giant form, where she knocks back Garyuu into a wall. Seeing them in action, the rookies are impressed with the power shown by Vita and Rein.

Unfortunately, all three opponents escape captivity and the sewer begins to shake as Caro reports she senses a large-scale summoning. It is time to evacuate, but before they do, Tia requests that Caro place a seal on the Relic they’ve recovered. Subaru and sister Ginga provide exits with Vita taking up the rear. In the sky, Hayate continues to take out squadrons of Gadgets while this is observed by Lt. General Gaiz and his female aide. He is not happy that the 6th Mobile has such powerful mages in its ranks and further that Hayate is their leader as he considers her a criminal (see Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s). He tells his aide that he may have her perform an investigation on the team.

Agito is concerned about killing the Bureau people, but Lutecia feels they’ll be OK if they are as powerful as Agito says. As to the case with the Relic, she can get Quattro and Sei to retrieve it if required. Agito also expresses her concern about Doctor Scaglietti using them. Lutecia sends Garyuu back as well as Jiraio (the giant bug causing the tremors) because Agito is there. However, this proves to be an apparent mistake as the rookies, Ginga, Vita, and Rein arrive and capture the duo. However, Lutecia has support in the form of a number of female mage-types.

Dieci has the helicopter with the mystery girl and Relic in her sites, ready to shoot it down. Quattro is going to help free Lutecia and Agito from her posision with Dieci while Sein “swims” to the spot where they are held, her powers allowing her to phase through any objects. Quattro, communing telepathically, has Lutecia relay a message to Vita about the helicopter’s impending doom. Dieci’s attack takes time to power up, allowing Shari and the rest of the “Long Arch” team to detect this. Dieci fires, but what should have been a hit is deflected by Nanoha, who’d just arrived in the nick of time.

Sein manages to not only free Lutecia and Agito, but also takes the case with the Relic from Elio and none of the others are able to stop it. Vita is reporting on their failure, but Tia has news for the dejected Vita. Meanwhile, Dieci and Quattro come under massive attack by Fate from a distance. They dodge the attack, only to end up where Fate wanted them. They immediately try to escape again, only to find themselves about to be smashed from one of Hayate’s massive attacks. They again flee, only to again find themselves trapped by both Nanoha and Fate. Both fire massive attacks at Dieci and Quattro, but report that the duo were rescued (by “Tre-neesama”). The signals are lost and their opponents have escaped.

Lutecia has teleported them all away, but when they open the one Relic case they recovered, they find it is empty. Looking back over the data they collected, they discover that the Relic was actually hidden in Caro’s hat. Meanwhile Tia is reporting the same thing, stating that after Caro put a seal on the Relic, Tia created the illusion that it was a small flower in Caro’s hair (in case she lost her hat). Thus in the end, the 6th Mobile Division saved the mystery girl and both Relics.

At the Saint Hospital, the mysterious girl is given a room and an IV. Nanoha gets a report of the team’s status before going to visit the girl. She buys a rabbit stuffed animal for the little girl and places it on her bed. The little girl calls for her “mama” in her sleep, so Nanoha comforts the girl.

Thoughts: Sheeze. Another anime episode where a bunch of new characters are dumped into the mix. ^_^;

I laughed when Agito warned about “something big coming” (magical-wise) and who arrives but the child-sized Vita and Rein. *lol*

One thing I rather enjoyed about this episode was the back and forth between the 6th Mobile forces and Lutecia’s team. Whenever one side “owned” the other, the other would them up the ante and trump the former. Tactically, the 6th Mobile didn’t protect the helicopter that well, but then again, who expected anything other than Gadgets, which were never a heavy threat. These girls on Lutecia’s team I think are the girls seen in the tubes in an early episode as Doctor Scaglietti walked down the corridor of his “lair.”

I noticed with interest that Agito doesn’t like Doctor Scaglietti, then I remembered episode 7 where Zest had mentioned not liking the Doctor either. That was when Agito was first mentioned and I had no clue who that character was. I figure this will come into play later on. If the series follows the previous two, Lutecia will be friends with the others in the end.

Other items — I liked seeing Lindy mentioned. This general who has a stick up his rear about Hayate and the 6th Mobile kind of explains why the bureaucracy is so tight on the high-ranking mages. Nanoha has taken an apparent special interest in the mystery girl. I wonder if she’ll do what Fate did with Caro and Elio.

So, things are getting interesting.