This is something I've been thinking about since I watched the season two finale and was disappointed to see there wasn't a chance of season three coming out any time soon so I decided to make my own. This is as I believe it would happen, and I will try and keep to the other characters and have as few OC's as possible, which is odd for me, considering what my track record for OC's is. So let's get it going shall we?

Chapter 1

Imperial Northern Palace, Special Region

Prince Zolzal wasn't happy, that much was certain, his armies were a shadow of their former self, his people were split, and civil war was inevitable. Not even his family's great palace high in the northern mountains, with was more of a fortress, could quell those feelings. With its mountaintop views, hot spring bath houses, fantastic fresh seafood, and the crisp winter weather was easily named comfortable, but too much was on the mind of the young Zolzal.

He sat within his throne room, snow falling behind him outside the clear windows. In front of him was a white marble floor with a long mirror pool built within a golden border. Tall polished pink granite pillars ringed the edges of the long rectangular room with each having metal torches eight feet up, adding light and heat along with the crystal and gold chandeliers hanging from the elaborately painted ceiling. There were guards standing silently in front of the huge doors into the room, fully armored and armed and ready to protect their emperor.

Standing to his side was the white Bunny Warrior Queen, now a slave, that he'd come to trust so much. But she'd been an invisible thorn in his side, her advice having ulterior motives, yet to him, it held great merit.

"A coin for your thoughts majesty?" Tyuule asked, leaning against the throne.

"We cannot sit here in the mountains, each day I sit here Pina gets stronger," Zolsal said, resting his chin on his clenched hands.

"The people of the North have pledged their loyalty to you sire, they've yet to see the Japanese in combat. But their loyalty will not last if they are bloodied the same way as the Empire was before," she responded.

"Have you not seen the Japanese? They're almost unbeatable!" Zolzal roared in fury, the emotion having been building up for several months now.

"No one is unbeatable majesty, it merely takes a different way."

"Hmph," the man grunted, "You wouldn't say it if you didn't have a different method in mind," Zolzal said hopefully, knowing that she usually had an idea.

"The Barbarians of the East, send messengers and gold," Tyuule slyly suggested, "Promise wealth and glory and they will come."

"Those primitive hordes?!" Zolzal roared in laughter, "They have no hope of even facing the Japanese!"

"Who says it is the Japanese they shall face?"

"Go," Zolzal responded, "send the messengers."

"Yes, your majesty," she said with a bow, and started walking out, a plan forming in her mind that went beyond the one that the foolish prince had in his mind.

Japanese Operating Base: Arnus Hill, Special Region

The base, as usual, was busy, yet relaxed. The JSDF personnel by now had realized that they were the undisputed masters of the battlefield in the Special Region. The hordes of monsters and legions of hardened soldiers and even dragons had proven no match for their 21st Century firepower. So there was nothing to fear, and the mood on base reflected that.

Within the barracks of the Third Recon Team First Lieutenant Yoji Itami sat within his unit office, leaning back in his soft swiveling chair, a thirty-page doujinshi being the object of his attention. The young officer had changed little in his time deployed here in the Special Region, going so far as to skip Princess Pina's coronation to go buy doujinshi in Ginza. His pure and simple logic that he loved his hobby more than any job was still front and foremost.

The stacks of doujinshi and manga on his shelf in his room was clear evidence of this. And during inspection the other day he'd earned several demirts, one for the mere presence of the items another for the unorganized manner that they'd been stowed, and the third because the Captain probably just didn't like him. He'd just returned a week ago, and he'd already earned the ire of his new CO. Even worse, Rory, Tuka, and Lelei were still hanging all over him, which had drawn the ire of even higher authority.

"First Lieutenant," his senior NCO, Master Sergeant Kuwabara, spoke as he entered, standing to attention.

"Kuwabara," Itami greeted him, placing a piece of paper into the page he was on.

"Sir, we've been called to the command center," the older man said calmly, "Something happening in the outer villages."

This got Itami's attention. He'd developed a closer connection to the people than many, and when things began occurring that affected the villagers it affected him. In fact he sort of took it personally. That was what made the young officer the first to be sent out to settle issues with the locals. His history of somewhat insubordinate behavior in the field had earned him a few disciplinary actions that never actually amounted to anything.

"Let's go," Itami responded, getting up and grabbing his pistol belt and patrol cap.

The two walked out, and Itami saw his team gearing up in the team room as they passed, as per Kuwabara's own orders, which he trusted. They walked out into the sunny normality of the late morning with soldiers and other personnel moving about to and from breakfast and doing their own jobs. The walk was quite quick and General Hazama was waiting with a map and the commanders of Recon Teams One and Two were already standing there.

"This must be serious," Itami whispered as they saw the gathering.

"Yes sir, very serious."

"Lieutenant," the general called out, "We have a situation, we're receiving reports from the outer villages that rogue forces are raiding their towns. Several villages have already been burned to the ground, aerial recon has confirmed this but coming weather and the long range is preventing us from launching helicopters to aid them."

"Weather sir?" Itami asked as he came to the map and saw several red marks on the map, confirming positions in four villages way out in the country had been destroyed.

"Yes, we've gotten a new weather radar dome in place at the airfield, and just in time, a major storm system appears to be working its way west from the east," the commander of the second recon team piped up, handing a printout to Itami.

"That's a lot of rain," Itami grumbled, "if it's a natural storm."

"You believe it could be something else?" Hazama asked.

"In this place general I'm never surprised anymore."

"This is true enough First Lieutenant," one of the others said with a soft grumble.

"Right then, now for your assignments."

Base Garage

The 3rd Recon Team was waiting in their vehicles, the Type-83, LAV, and HMV, doors ajar to prevent from overheating in the ninety degree vehicles. Their senior NCO's wouldn't allow them to turn on the vehicles to conserve fuel, as they were going on a very long-range mission over the next few days. The sun just continued beating down on them as the minutes dragged by, even as the other two recon teams waited beside them. Nine vehicles of three types just sat, just out of the way so that a single LAV rolled in unimpeded. It wasn't one of the normal ones, this one had a Minimi in the mount and it was camouflaged differently.

The reason for this difference was apparent when four Special Forces operators hopped out in dirty worn uniforms with silenced M4's clipped to their chest. They each had boonie hats on, with long microphones going to their mouths and top-of-the-line equipment clipped to their chests and jackets. They were all talking quietly, aware that they were being watched by some of their SDF compatriots, one of whom was looking at them similarly to that of a dazed fangirl.

Sergeant First Class Shino Kuribayashi was looking at them out the back of the Type-73, leaning on her hand with her chin resting upon her gloved left hand. She sighed longingly as the elite team walked out of sight, and several of her comrades had noticed. Azuma and Sasakawa smirked at her and easily figured it out.

"You gonna go ask one of them out or what?" Azuma laughed as Kuribayashi tried regaining her composure.

"N-no! We're professionals, not school children. I don't ask men out, they come to me, I'm not that desperate," she said in a classic huff.

"Sure…" Sasakawa laughed as he gave her a shove.

"Knock it off!" Kuribayashi snapped at him and punched him hard on the arm.

"What's going on here?" it was Master Sergeant Kuwabara, and he announced his presence with a quick pat on the tailgate of the vehicle.

"Nothing Master Sergeant," they all replied.

"Uh huh, sure, anyway, saddle up, we're heading north. It's going to be a long trip."

"Yay…" Azuma grumbled as he tried to get more comfortable where he was along with everyone else.

The nine vehicles all started their engines and began rolling through the open gates of the base, and rolled off onto a worn dirt path heading north. On a hill a ways out a trio of hooded men with bows and arrows and swords riding horses watched. One of them had a hawk on his arm, and a piece of leather on his lap along with a piece of coal as a writing utensil.

"Send word, they're coming," the one in the middle said as the nine JSDF vehicles drove towards the north as they all watched.

"Fly," the man with the coal pencil beckoned his hawk after he'd attached the message. He lifted his arm up and the red feathered raptor took off with a screech and began flying fast northward.

It was the start of a new war for the Japanese in the Special Region against a new enemy that had no intention of fighting them the same as the Empire had. None of the Japanese soldiers knew that this was coming, but this new foe did. This was dangerous, and the danger would soon become a deadly one.

Well, there it is, kind of short, but meh, gotta start somewhere. There'll be none of the "Plug in my nation's military into the story" crap that other fics have done. Instead I'll try and do this as a third season with the same themes seen in the show.

Next Chapter Preview: The storm approaches as a new and different storm begins