Author's note: Sorry this is so long. When I started writing this I felt I had gotten done everything that I wanted to get done in Seeds of hope so in the beginning it was difficult coming up with ideas so the first few chapters are a bit on the boring side in my opinion but after a while it began to take shape and I finally saw where I wanted it to go and now having finished it I'm glad I wrote this. In retrospect it feels like Seeds of Hope really only halfway fixes the ending of the series and this one seems to finish that job. It's longer than I'd intended but I think it ends well.
The M rated chapters (4, 6, 8 and 12) will have notes at the top pointing out the M rated scenes numbers in case you'd like to skip over those parts. I realize that content may not be for everyone and the rest of it is basically T rated content.
Also I'd like to thank every one who reviewed Seeds of Hope formerly known as Hagino Lives (what a crap title lol)
Blue Drop: The Kaiho Krew
Chapter 1
Flight Training
About a year has past and every one is settled into there new lives onboard Blue. Michiko has been writing but won't let anyone see what she's been writing, Hiroko, not having the access to junk food she used to, has been kept so busy that she's lost quite a bit of weight and is starting to look a lot like her older sister except not pregnant. Akane has been swapping recipes with Blue's original arume cook teaching her some forime recipes and learning some arume ones. Yuko's only activity outside of working in the kitchen helping Akane has been fending off the advances of the Arume crew members. And Mari spends what little time is not spent in Hagino's arms out on the observation tower enjoying the wind in her hair and reflecting on her good fortune in meeting Hagino. However they rarely see land anymore and Akane, Hiroko and Michiko all have family they haven't seen very much of this past year and recognizing this Hagino makes a bold decision.
One morning while Mari is out on the observation tower watching the sunrise with a cup of tea after enjoying one of Akane's breakfasts, Hagino snuck up behind Mari and wrapped her arms around Mari's waste and said "Good morning." before kissing Mari at the base of her neck.
Mari, in response, widened the smile she already had on her face and said "Good morning."
"Mari?... Have you been feeling... kind of trapped in any way?" asked Hagino.
"Trapped? No... Not at all. I've been happier than I ever would have thought possible this past year." replied Mari trying to assure Hagino that she had nothing to feel guilty about. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, It's just that... I know you and Yuko and the other girls never get to go to shore anymore unless one of us arume brings you to shore and lately I've been thinking that's not really acceptable any more. I want you all to be able to come and go as you please so I've decided to get you all trained in flying the light fighters we have."
Mari's eyes widened in excitement as she said "Are you serious? That's awesome!"
"You won't have access to the weapons systems of course. This is just so you all have the means of getting off the ship on your own when you need to visit family of friends back on land or go shopping or what ever." said Hagino.
"So when do we start?" asked Mari.
"This morning. While we've been talking Tsubael has been informing Flight Chief Koloriel and the other girls who are probably waiting in the training room right now. Shall we go?" asked Hagino.
"Heck yeah. We just need to stop by the kitchen on our way to drop off this tea cup." replied Mari.
~2~
Walking through the hangar bay Mari is distracted by the sight of the rows of parked fighters that she'll soon be able to fly.
"Mari... MARI!... It's this way. Right through this door over here." said Hagino.
"Sorry, coming." said Mari.
The two entered a fairly large room right off the hangar bay with two walls lined with these big boxes with cockpit canopies on them looking like the end result of sticking a fighter in a big guillotine and chopping out the cockpit section.
Flight Chief Koloriel and the rest of the girls are already there and waiting when Mari and Hagino enter.
Flight Chief Koloriel, standing at attention and saluting said "Good morning Admiral."
"At ease Koloriel." said Hagino. "God, I'll never get used to that.". she thought.
"Koloriel this is Mari Waketake. Mari this is Flight Chief Koloriel. She'll be training you all in these simulators. And now that I've delivered you into good hands I'll leave you to it.", said Hagino before leaving the room to head back to the bridge.
"Uhm... Flight Chief Koloriel?..." said Mari.
"Just Koloriel will be fine Mari." said Koloriel interrupting.
"I couldn't help noticing these simulators don't seem to have any hydraulics under them to simulate motion. Why is that?" asked Mari.
"Well, the fighters have inertial dampers so even in the real thing you won't feel any noticeable sense of motion. So there's no point in simulating motion you wouldn't feel anyway." said Koloriel. "Anyway, every one pick a simulator and climb in. The first thing you'll notice is that the seat will automatically change it's shape to fit the body of what ever pilot sits in it."
"Oh cool." said Akane.
"Very impressive." said Yuko.
"Sure glad I lost weight. I don't think this seat could stretch as big as I used to be." said Hiroko.
"Okay now this first session we're going to start out already in the air skipping the take off procedure. We'll start in the air at about thirty thousand feet and just get a feel for them. So everybody grab your control sticks and be ready. I'm going to start the simulation now." said Koloriel.
Once the simulation started they all found themselves flying in close formation in a virtual sky. Mari, Akane and Yuko had shaky starts but quickly learned to at least keep their birds in the air while Hiroko and Michiko both immediately spun off control plummeting to the ocean below screaming in panic the whole way down.
"Hiroko and Michiko, Try and relax. The beautiful thing about simulators is you can feel free to crash and burn all you want with out hurting yourselves or any equipment. As soon as you crash you'll automatically restart from the same starting point."
"Mari, Akane and Yuko, You three try to follow me. I'm going to circle the starting point where Michiko and Akane will reset so this is a good opportunity to get the hang of turning.", said Koloriel.
Once Hiroko and Michiko reset they both began falling out of the sky again.
"Why is it doing this?" screamed Michiko.
"How come I can't control it?" shouted Hiroko.
"Judging by your voices you're both way too tense so it's probably just too much stick input. These fighters are very responsive. It only takes very gently movements of the stick to maneuver them. Try again but this time just try not to move the stick as much." said Koloriel
After restarting again they both had the same shaky start the other three had and managed to keep their fighters in the air.
"Okay good. That's it. Now try turning and see if you can join up with the rest of us and remember, easy on those sticks." said Koloriel.
"Hey... I think I'm gettin the hang of this." said Hiroko.
"Yeah, now I get it." said Michiko.
"Okay, good. Now let's Head towards land and just fly around for an hour enjoying the scenery while you get used to the controls." said Koloriel.
~3~
Meanwhile on the bridge...
"Admiral on the Bridge." said Blue.
Tsubael, Azanael and Anzinel, all having long since abandoned the formalities of standing and saluting now completely ignore Ekaril's entrance and continue on with there own conversations wondering if they should start a pool on who crashes and burns the most during the simulator training.
"Well, you don't have to salute but you could at least say hello.", said Ekaril.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Hello Ekaril." said Tsubael.
"Yes, of course. Hello Ekaril." said Azanael and Anzinel.
"So what's next on our agenda?" asked Tsubael.
"Well, We seem to have made significant progress shortening leashes this past year. It seems most of the arume on this planet are behaving them selves even if not willingly for the time being so I think it's time to try to meet with the leaders of this world. Yuko tells me that the best place to address all of the nations together is at a place called the UN building which is on a continent on the other side of the planet so we have quite a journey ahead of us." said Ekaril.
"If you can give me exact coordinates we could just do a leminov shift and be there in an instant." said Azanael.
"Well, I don't know the exact coordinates and there's no rush as I'm going to want Yuko with me when I try to make contact and she's in flight training right now. Just head due east and by the time we get close Yuko should be done in the simulators and she can guide us from there." said Ekaril.
"Right, heading due east.", said Azanael.
"Blue taking off.", said Blue as the massive ship slowly lifted it's self out of the water flying eastward.
~4~
About an hour later in the simulators the girls are all flying over a virtual Japan taking in the sights.
"Wow, everything looks so real." said Michiko. "Look the trees are even swaying in the wind." she added.
"Yeah, this is pretty awesome." said Mari.
Just then a small flashing orb appeared in front of Yuko's face so she tapped her left ear to extend her visor as they all have one now.
"Yes, Oh... Hello Hagino." said Yuko.
"How's the flight training going Yuko?" asked Hagino.
"Well, I'm probably crashing and burning right now since I have this visor up talking to you instead of paying any attention to what my fighter is doing but other than that it's been fun." said Yuko.
Giggling at Yuko's predicament Hagino said, "That's okay. I just wanted to ask you to come to the bridge when you're finished there. I'm going to need your help in a few minutes."
"My help?... uhm... Okay, Sure I'll be there in a few minutes." said Yuko wondering of what help she could be.
Yuko tapped her ear again to retract the visor just in time to see a virtual mountain side slam into her fighter.
"Yuko. What happened? You were doing so well." asked Koloriel
"Oh nothing I just got a call from Hagino. She wants to see me on the bridge when we're done here." said Yuko.
"Oh okay, Yeah I guess it's about time to call it a day here anyway. Good job everyone. Report back here same time tomorrow. Okay?" said Koloriel
All the canopy screens went dark and opened up as Koloriel shut down the simulation.
"Well, I guess it's time to start getting lunch ready so the rest of you are with me right guys?" said Akane.
"Yup, we're with you Akane." said Mari.
"Right behind you." said Michiko.
"Funny how I spend so much time working with food and so little time eating any these days." said Hiroko.
"Well at least it looks good on you." said Michiko.
"Thanks." said Hiroko blushing still not used to having her appearance complimented.
"So what's for lunch today Akane?" asked Koloriel.
"I hadn't decided yet. Anything in particular you'd like?"
"Not really. Everything you cook is incredible Akane." said Koloriel blushing a bit.
"Wow, Thanks Koloriel." said Akane blushing as well.
"See you at lunch Akane." said Koloriel as she floated off.
"Whoa!..." Mari, Hiroko and Michiko all said in unison before proceeding to tease their friend a bit.
"I think she likes you." said Mari.
"Akane's got a girlfriend... Akane's got a girlfriend." the three of them started chanting.
"Shut up you guys." said Akane with her face turning beat red.
~5~
Back on the bridge, Yuko burst in out of breath and said "Sorry I'm late."
Hagino giggling said "That's quite all right Yuko. If you'll look at the screen there you'll notice we're over the east coast of the United States and I'd like to meet with your worlds leaders at this UN you spoke of. Can you show us where to go from here?"
"Oh uhm... Okay... uhm... Is there a smaller map I could point to or something?" asked Yuko not quite sure how to point it out on the big screen showing the whole North American continent on it.
"Yes, Of course. Over here." Tsubael hit a few keys and a hologram of earth appeared over her console which is the only one Yuko can get to with out being able to float like an arume.
Tsubael then touching the hologram as if it were a solid globe turned it so that North America was facing towards Yuko and then zoomed in on the east coast.
"Oh yeah, That'll work." said Yuko as she leaned over pointed out Manhattan and said "Right about there."
"Yuko, Would you mind accompanying me? I'd like you to be there when I meat with them." asked Hagino.
"Of course. Sure, but you should know that the building it's self may not even be there any more after the devastation of the invasion." said Yuko.
"I am aware but so far it's our best lead on where to find them so we have to at least try." said Ekaril.
"Well, okay then let's go." said Yuko.
And with that the two of them headed to the hangar bay.
~6~
Moments later Hagino and Yuko are flying over Manhattan which is now in complete ruin. "There. Over there. look." said Yuko pointing at the UN building which was still standing but not with out it's fair share of damage with gaping wholes in the roof and walls.
Hagino set down her fighter in the nearest flat space not buried in rubble and they made their way toward the battered UN building with Hagino occasionally helping Yuko over some of the bigger rubble piles.
Finally they arrive at the UN building and enter with Yuko constantly looking up to be aware of any potential falling debris.
"Hello?", said Hagino. "Can anybody hear me? I'm Admiral Ekaril representing the Arume people. Is anyone here?"
"Maybe you should let me try." said Yuko. "Hello! My name is Yuko Sugawara. I work for the Japanese government. Is there anyone here?"
After a few more tries the only sound they heard was the occasional distant falling chunk of concrete.
"I'm sorry Hagino. I don't think there's any one here. If any governments are still functioning I've no idea how we're going to contact them." said Yuko.
"All right then. I guess we should head back." said Hagino.
They got as far as the doorway when Hagino stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the ruined city.
"Hagino? Are you all right?" asked Yuko.
"Hagino no longer able to maintain her composure broke into tears and said, "No... I'm not... Look at what we've..."
Hagino collapsed to he knees crying over the devastation her own people had caused.
"Oh god... I'm so sorr... ry..." said hagino through her tears as she walked on her knees to Yuko basically hugging Yuko's legs. "and we... can't... take it ba..."
"Oh Hagino. Please try not to blame yourself." said Yuko.
Hagino cried on her knees for several minutes. There was nothing Yuko could say that would comfort her.
Finally when the tears slowed down enough for Hagino to speak again she said, "This feels like that day over Kamioki Island. I was flying over witnessing the deaths first hand completely powerless to stop it. There was nothing I could do but watch. I feel so completely helpless."
"I'm sorry I don't having anything I can say to make that feeling go away. But just please try to remind yourself that you were NOT the cause of all of this." said Yuko.
Hagino just nodded while wiping tears from her eyes.
"Can you get up? Are you ready to go?" asked Yuko.
"Yeah... I think so." said Hagino.
As they started out the door Hagino chuckled and said "Now who's helping who over the rubble."
"We'll get there... together." said Yuko.
"Yes... Together." said Hagino.