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Fūka-jima, two hours before lunch...

"Dimgae...!"

Shuddering as she felt her systems come back to active status and her mind fully wake up from a wonderful dream, Miyu Greer sat up in her bed and looked around the dorm room she lived in at the student residence near the main buildings of the Fūka Academy. Even if it was a school day, she had called in to her homeroom teacher reporting a stomach flu to be excused from classes; Miyu had done this every time she received a programming upgrade package ultimately from one of the world's leading experts in Shōzoki AI technology, Professor George Andrews of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (and retired major of the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) who served in the 7th Canadian Specialized Warfare Unit during the 1950s. Shuddering, the gynoid looked down at her arms, blinking on seeing a cloak of energy encompass both limbs. Shaking her head as she ran an automatic internal diagnostic to determine if there were any faults to her internal systems, the adopted daughter of the Academy's resident chaplain shifted herself to stand up, moving to stand at the window to gaze upon the manicured lawns of the all-grade school she had been made to infiltrate to help protect Alyssa Searrs and prepare for the coming of the new Festival of Fūka, when twelve "Valkyries" would gather in preparation to combat each other in a winner-take-all battle royale that would see the survivor offered to a mysterious "obsidian lord"; Miyu's sponsors knew now thanks to long and intensive research on the subject that it was some interdimensional entity who had tried many times over the last three millennia to conquer Earth through a portal that opened over Fūka-jima.

Blinking as she considered what just happened and as the energy aura around her limbs faded, Miyu shook her head. Fortunately for her, she was in a high enough apartment that people wouldn't see her nude body even if they were directly looking at her from ground level. She had been warned by Grigori Wyszynski that by ingesting a lot of mesonium into her body, she could start developing powers and abilities well beyond her basic design specifications. In effect, that would make her a "metahuman gynoid" similar in concept to the characters of Amazo or any of the Metal Men as produced by DC Comics in the United States, much less Cutey Honey here in Japan. While the concept had been just an abstract observation when it had been first raised by the Polish-born Canadian polymath serving as the Academy's advanced chemistry teacher, that something was happening to her now...

"Who pre-Gifted you?"

Hearing that voice, Miyu gasped before her combat systems came on-line, then she spun around, her left hand jutting out to allow it to morph into her mythril sword. "Who are you...?!" she demanded...

...then she blinked in obvious surprise on hearing the clang! of said sword dropping to the floor, her left arm fully intact and looking perfectly organic.

Seeing that, the newcomer smiled as she stepped out into the late morning sunlight reflected from outside, revealing her to be a slender girl who would fit well in the middle school classes at the Academy. With a beautiful and innocent face, she had spiky black hair cropped short save for twin braids that descended from her temples down to the level of her budding breasts; her eyes were a beautiful amber shade that Miyu felt herself drawn to automatically, just before her internal housekeeping wetware slammed down on it to stop her intimacy programming from activating and making her move to embrace the newcomer. Said woman was dressed in a Yizibajohei-pattern jumpsuit of the new model, dark blue overall with silver-grey belt and boots, a silver crossed sword insignia on her upper chest. Strapped to her back by a Sam Browne belt-like strap of leather looped over her left shoulder was a large black claymore-like weapon...one that Miyu instantly recognized as the combat element of one of the Princesses of Fūka, the one destined to be bound to an ogre-like creature called "Miroku" in all the stories the Foundation had gathered about the Festivals of Fūka.

She also knew this woman's real name. "Mikoto-san..."

Hearing that greeting, Minagi Mikoto — now the current incarnation of the Polar Swordswoman, Gatum ("Claymore") — smiled as she calmly walked over, kneeling to grasp Miyu's blade by its new hilt, then she casually straightened herself. With a casual turn of the weapon indicating that the middle school sophomore was expert in dealing with all types of bladed weapons and how they were to be handled, she offered it hilt-first to her "host". Seeing the acceptance on the face of the orphaned native of rural Metropolitan Tōkyō, Miyu nodded as she took her sword back. "Arigatō, Mikoto-san."

"Who pre-Gifted you?" Mikoto then asked again.

A confused look responded. "'Pre-Gifted'?"

Hearing that made the Polar Swordswoman moan. "Oh, wonderful...!"

Seeing the annoyed look on her guest's face, Miyu blinked before her chestnut eyes went wide in disbelief. "I'm...becoming Yizibajohei...?" she sputtered as she looked at her free hand.

That made Mikoto perk. "You know of us?"

An affirming nod answered her. "My sponsors have agents working in the school right now. And the presence of Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei became public news on Friday morning when Tariko Katabarbe-san and her siblings finally expelled the Urusians from Tomobiki."

"Ah!" Mikoto breathed out, a delighted smile crossing her face before she crossed her arms. "I wasn't aware that Tariko-aneue finally got rid of those homr'bu umale finally; they had to keep things secret because of some temporal paradox thing." She then hummed. "Still, given that Chie-aneue is the Rhapsode and that the Festival is coming, it's no wonder Searrs-hakase is taking interest in these things since his daughter's attending classes here. It's not anything akin to some dark umale from those magical enclaves being stupid, but it's just as threatening as when the Old Ones tried to conquer Earth twenty-five sagas ago that required the Praetorian Guardian and that death cheater from Rügen to chase off." She shook her head, her eyes suddenly tearing. "Ojii-chan...!"

Miyu's too-human heart instantly ached on seeing that. "Mikoto-san...?"

Hearing that concerned voice, Mikoto blinked before she smiled as she reached up to wipe her eyes. "Gomen ne, Miyu-aneue. I don't know if your baka jijii told you about what I was made to do to my grandfather, but..." She shook her head again, ignoring Miyu's surprised blush at being called "older sister" even if the gynoid had been quite surprised to realize that Mikoto had known of Joseph Greer's affiliation to the Searrs Foundation. "Searrs-hakase wants to try to stop the Festival?"

Miyu nodded. "To prevent it from reaching the point where the Obsidian Lord will face one 'Valkyrie'; 'HiME' as you'll no doubt know the concept. He hopes that they can assist the Foundation in ushering in the 'Golden Millennium'. For that, having the HiMEs not fight each other — thus risking the lives of their most beloved person as it happened in the past — would be of benefit to all of humanity." She sighed. "Personally, I care not for the fate of the other HiMEs. The child I care for as if she was my own is being forced to act as a 'spoiler' in case the Festival starts. That will bring her to direct harm."

"You're programmed to protect her first?"

"Hai."

Mikoto nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I sensed you were Shōzoki," she admitted, then explained after seeing Miyu's surprised look, "I've bumped into androids and gynoids like you ever since I allowed myself to become Claymore after Tariko-aneue was rescued by Ōsaka from being forced to marry that umale Lum seven months ago on Uru." She then smiled in reminiscence as she recalled getting into her first big fight scene on Phentax Twelve helping rescue the Avalonians. "Don't worry about Alyssa-chan. Both of you are under my protection, Ane-ue. Who's helping you become one of us?"

That made Miyu blink before she sighed. "I believe it's Wyszynski-sensei."

That made the new student gape; Mikoto hadn't officially transferred in yet as her entrance examination had yet to be marked. "The chemistry teacher? I don't recall Ane-ue ever helping him get Gifted."

Hearing that made Miyu blink as she took a moment to consider that point. "Sensei told me someone helped save him from the consequences of the Canadians' Omega Protocol, healing him from acute ebony mesonium poisoning. He never said anything about the Yizibajohei being involved. He hasn't demonstrated any metahuman powers that I could recognize," she then noted.

Mikoto sighed before she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "He was a student of the Grandmaster of the Tensei-ryū from just after the Greater East Asia War. If it was a recent Gifting, he would have the self-discipline necessary to control it without dealing with bouts of Post-Gifting Shock." She nodded. "I can see why he's helping you be Gifted. Your internal wetware will keep the Post-Gifting Shock to a very dull roar when it happens. Ane-ue has helped several gynoids be Gifted in the past."

"Why would he not tell me that?"

"You mentioned the Omega Protocol," Mikoto stated. "Ane-ue has had to save a couple girls from Canada that would have been killed because of that."

The gynoid stared nowhere in particular as she considered that. "I will ask him about it when I can," she admitted. "Arigatō, Mikoto-san."

The Polar Swordswoman nodded before she teleported out...

Nearby...

"Why are THEY getting involved in this?"

Shaking his head, Homura Nagi sighed as he turned back to his book...

Tomobiki High School, that moment...

"Onii-chan!"

"Onii-chama!"

"Anii!"

"Onii-sama!"

"Onii-tama!"

"Aniue-sama!"

"Nii-sama!"

"Aniki!"

"Anigimi-sama!"

"Ani-chama!"

"Nii-ya!"

Hearing those shouted voices from the direction of the east stairwell, Mizunokōji Asuka blinked in confusion before she looked at Roberta Ansaldo. "Um, Roberta-san, who are they...?"

"The ammiraglio's younger sisters!" the third of the Littorio-class battleships made human stated before she gazed intently at Paola de Lerici, then Sakō Hikaru and Hirakawa Konoe. "Get dressed, idiota!" she snarled as her brown eyes flared with the brilliant blue of Rain Flames. "Do you wish to traumatize a group of CHILDREN by presenting yourselves to them NAKED?!"

Both of Asuka's still-synthetic lovers awked as they immediately reached for their underwear. As Paola picked up her belt buckle, then slapped it onto her abdomen to have her body cloaked with her uniform, footfalls echoed from the drop-down ladder that allowed people to come up into the attic. Soon to appear was Tanenobu Karen, she in the uniform of the Herald of Fight Scenes. "Onii-chan!" she screamed as she raced past the crowd of her brother's old classmates to put herself by the bed beside her recovering brother and hug him. "Oh, Onii-chan! We all felt it when you were Gifted...oh, my!"

As Eigo Kaho, Itō Mamoru and Sukeyama Sakuya stepped in, Karen pulled back to gaze on a face that was wonderfully familiar yet that of a stranger. The Gifting had altered and matured Moroboshi Ataru's features; his face was a little more rugged and he had a well-trimmed moustache and goatee framing his mouth. He was now draped in a dark burgundy jumpsuit of the older model with semi-detached sleeves similar to what some Shintō shrine miko wore, it complete with a black belt around his waist, black armbands keeping his sleeves secured to his top and black boots covering his feet. Black finger-less gloves covered his hands. On his left breast over his heart was a black symbol similar to a theatre mask that was often used by Western playhouses. Even so, his clearly more muscular body was apparent to all who were staring at him; that was making the girls in the room save Tsuruya Rumiko and Ataru's sisters drool at how drop-dead sexy he was. Unseen by all but felt by all the people present was the very warm empathic aura that was now radiating from the just-Gifted battle doll's body.

"Gamr'buo...?!" Karen croaked, making Sakuya groan as the other sisters climbed up into the attic.

Hearing that, the new incarnation of the Healer of Women's Hearts, Gamr'buo ("Rake"), chuckled in embarrassment as Yotsuba Dunn seemed to teleport in to take pictures of her brother dearest in his new battlesuit on the day where his TRUE life would begin. "No doubt, the last slap in the face by the akuma and yōkai that loved to play with our lives since we were trapped in this town last September." He then gave Sakuya an amused look. "I trust you won't get jealous, Sakuya-chan."

A derisive snort escaped his effective opposite number as she crossed her arms while Saeru Hinako walked around her to put herself right in front of her brother, she reaching up to touch his forehead. "Curse, curse...GO AWAY!" the Spirit of Innocence called out as she projected her own empathic power into him...then she blinked. "A-ri-ri?! No curse?! What happened, Ryūnosuke-san?!"

Fortunately, the arrival of the sisters from Ōmure-jima had shaken the Huntress of the Wild out of her hormone-induced stupor on seeing her old classmate in his new empowered form, which had woken memories of her eighth incarnation when she dated the second incarnation of the Healer of Women's Hearts for a whole month after her nesting season came. "Uh...y-yeah!" Fujinami Ryūnosuke sputtered, making the sisters laugh in amusement. "His tyuosato were all messed up, Hinako-chan. Some of the akuma still here in town had embedded themselves pretty deep in your bro-bro's body, so we had to jump-start the Gifting. Lerici-taisa here did it for him." Here, she thumbed the third of the Zara-class cruisers, who had drawn out her wine flute to pour herself a new glass of Ebrill Cabaret Ice.

The sisters all looked at Paola as she sat down beside her admiral, then Tenhiro Haruka sighed. "Regia Marina Pola, I assume?" the Quarterstaff Mistress wondered as she then gazed on Roberta, her eyebrow arching. "Third of the Zara-class cruisers, one of the three lost at Cape Matapan?"

"Sì, Donna Marchesa Haruka," the third of the Littorio-class battleships affirmed with a moan. "Paola! Stop drinking! There are children present! Have you utterly no shame whatsoever?!" she then barked.

"Oi! Oi! It's okay, Roberta-san! Given what happened to her as Pola, it's no wonder she's like this!"

Eyes locked on Hatoyama Rinrin, who was using the scanning mechanisms in her goggles to give Paola a detailed look over before she nodded on seeing all was well. "What do you mean by that, Rinrin-san?" Ryūnosuke asked as everyone gazed upon the transformed heavy cruiser.

The Technological Sorceress of the East sighed. "Battle of Cape Matapan. Near the end of March in 1941 in the Mediterranean just off the coast of Greece. In other words, it's HOT, even at nighttime! The second day of the battle, Pola and two of her sisterships — and I assume the cutie by the corner is Zita de Lerici, AKA Zara..." — here, the native of Ōsaka pointed to where the reborn name-ship of her class was standing, making Zita blush — "...gets nailed by a torpedo from one of HMS Formidable's Swordfish bombers that knocks out power. She's stuck adrift until nighttime when the British battle line — including Warspite and two sisters — finds her and her fleet mates, including Zara and their sister Fiume. The battleships sink Zara and Fiume thanks to Pola's crew putting up flares, believing the British ships were Italian ones coming to help them; the British also had radar on their ships, which helped tracking their opponents down. When they saw Zara and Fiume sunk, Pola's captain ordered her to be scuttled. Lots of crew go for a swim, but when she doesn't sink, they got back aboard, stripped down since it was freaking HOT! — not to mention given how WET they were! — then broke out the wine and got themselves sloshed to prepare to face their death scenes. Fortunately, the British were happy to get the crew taken off before they sank her with a torpedo." She waved to Paola in emphasis.

Eyes locked on the grey-haired cruiser as many of the girls present look ready to break down and cry at hearing what her crew had undergone all those years ago. Immediately, Aria des Beauchamps came over, gesturing with her hands to create a beautiful lollipop to give to Paola. Seeing that gesture by the Candy Lady, the transformed cruiser nodded as she took it. "Molte grazie!"

"De rien!" the native of Paris declared with a cute smile.

That made the newly arrived Italian shipgirls perk. "Sei francese?!" Zita asked.

"Ma mère était française."

That instantly made both Maddalena and Lucrezia Alighieri immediately come over to protectively guard Aria, which made the latter blush before she used her powers to make candy for them...then she made candy for Zita as well since she was obviously the elder sister to the nice cruiser who helped her beloved brother be Gifted finally. As the people watching this giggled and laughed at such a friendly show of support, one of Ataru's male lovers was quick to notice the still-dazed looks on the faces of Marubeya Momoe and the other girls from Class 2-4 who hadn't attended Ekō Girl's High School in the first semester of their freshman year. "Um, Ataru..." R'bemle Etase called out.

Ataru looked over, then he sighed as he got up, walking over to place himself in front of his former peers. With a tap of a finger, he jolted Momoe awake. "Momoe-san, are you alright?" he gently asked.

The woman voted as second most popular in Class 1-4 shortly after Mendō Shūtarō joined their number the previous November blinked as her eyes cleared up, then she focused on him for a moment before her cheeks flamed to the shade of ripe cherries as she took in the sheer Adonis now standing before her. Confusion then flashed across her face. "Um...I'm sorry!" she then blurted out. "You look familiar, but I don't really recognize you! Are you one of Ryūnosuke-san's friends from Yiziba?"

As those who did know that the current incarnation of the Healer of Women's Hearts was Moroboshi Ataru all blinked in surprise, he himself bowed his head as the other non-Ekō alumni from Class 2-4 all seemed to snap back to full wakefulness, they gazing upon a man who was clearly more attractive than Mendō Shūtarō could EVER be! "Forgive me, Momoe-san. My name's Ataru Katabarbe," he then formally introduced himself, waving to his chest. "If you'll recall, I'm the split-off part of my older sister Tariko's soul that was forced to live as a man after our good friend Kasuga Ayumu rescued us from being forced to marry Redet Lum back in April. I believe you and the ladies here were forced to attend that complete travesty of a 'wedding' in Onishuto against your will when you were foully KIDNAPPED and forced to go, virtually at gunpoint!" As the girls he was speaking to tittered in embarrassment on hearing his spoken concern for them, he shook his head. "How typically arrogant the Urusians are. I assume there never came any sort of apology from our would-be 'wife' because of that."

"None whatsoever," Gekasawa Kumiko advised as the others grimly nodded on recalling those dark days on a planet they never wanted to visit. "Don't apologize, Ataru-kun. Was it because of that thing with that cake Cherry baked back in November that split your sister into twins that saw you born?"

He nodded politely to her. "Effectively so, Kumiko-san. And by the way, Onē-san and I do apologize for the times we were forced to behave like sex-crazed fools when it came to you even after Onē-san regained her memories and I was allowed to live as my own person. Regretfully, the issue with the Niphentaxians stayed our hand from revealing ourselves until we could dispose of that annihilation bomb in the Ginza, though we returned those rimrae umale back to their home planet in August."

"Temporal paradox, right?" Yamagata Masako asked, making people gaze on the pretty girl with the long twintails. "When you people liberated the Avalonians in June, the time warper in your group pulled the bomb out of town from Friday, not the day of that big fight scene, right?"

"The same, Masako-san."

Laughter echoed from his old classmates as they waved him down. "Oh, don't apologize for that, Ataru-kun!" Obinata Hiromi, who had been voted fourth most popular in Class 1-4 in November, said as she waved him down. "I remember the time we found out about Lum's time travel tech! Everyone in class are Doctor Who and Star Trek fans, too! We know all about temporal paradoxes!"

"Still, it had to be said, Hiromi-san," he noted as he gave the girl with the headband an apologetic look, which made Hiromi blush at his behaviour; such clearly outdid Mendō Shūtarō's ten ways from Sunday.

The girls tittered. "It's alright, Ataru-kun! It's alright!" Kumiko assured before she looked over to see the sisters. "Oh! What are you girls all doing here?! Shouldn't you be in classes now?!"

Hinako giggled in knowing delight as she came over to join her brother, allowing her own empathic aura to reach out and keep the poor girls that had often rode her brother's case concerning Redet Lum calm. "It's okay, Kumiko-san! Onii-tama just got Gifted and we came over to make sure he was alright!" Here, she waved to Ataru in emphasis. "The teachers at the College understand!"

"Well, you shouldn't skip classes all day, Hinako-chan!" Hiromi then cautioned as she raised a cautioning finger. "I can guess the flip of Labour Thanksgiving for us was to make sure Lum didn't suspect anything about the Yizibajohei being on Earth, but you guys weren't affected."

"We had the holiday on Friday anyway," Rinrin noted.

People laughed on hearing that even if Okano Yuka and her fellow Ekō Girl's High School alumni were staring at their peers in confusion. As Ataru glanced at them with a warning look to say nothing about what happened, Momoe and her friends then moved to depart from the attic; it WAS a day off for them and they didn't want to spend time here. As soon as they had departed from the attic and had faded well beyond hearing range, Shimizu Kaho took a deep breath. "Okay, I don't know about the rest of you, but that was too much a Twilight Zone moment for me! What the fuck just happened, Ataru-kun?!"

The Healer of Women's Hearts took a deep breath, reaching up to scratch his forehead. "That, we'll need Margo to finally come deal with, Kaho-san," he noted. "Asuka-san, did you and Tapuso capture those spiritual fragments that were embedded in my body before I was Gifted?"

"Right here," Tapuso said as he held up several mesonium crystals that were stained with black gunk.

"Good! Once we get Margo here, she can go out and find where the rest of those creatures who've been trapped in this town for the last year are to expunge them once and for all." Ataru then moaned. "I now have to wonder if Onē-san's killing of that arrogant fool Mujaki during the Golden Week Festival here at the school might have provoked some of what's been going on here lately."

That made everyone stare in confusion at him...

Outside...

"Ah! Negako-sensei!"

Moroboshi Negako perked, then looked over as a stream of girls in normal civilian clothes came out of the main doors, heading towards her and Renato Sinclair. "Ladies. I trust all of you are well?" the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū wondered as Marubeya Momoe and her peers came to a stop close to her and the World's Greatest Hitman, all of them bowing respectfully to her.

"Hai, Negako-sensei, we're alright!" Momoe affirmed with a reassuring wave of her hand as the other women giggled at that show of concern. "I'm so glad that Tariko-chan's brother is now Gifted. Seeing how much his sisters were so worried about him..." She then winked. "Besides, it's a guarantee that Lum will NEVER come back to Earth! And that's good enough for all of us!"

"BANZAI ATARU-KUN!" Gekasawa Kumiko screamed out.

The other girls chanted their own cheers for their just-Gifted former classmate. Outside the front gate, the few Rosebuds who had yet to be processed by the police stared at them on hearing them cheer Moroboshi Ataru of all people...but before they could yell at their "allies" because of their "treason" in supporting Ataru in lieu of Mendō Shūtarō, a voice called out from above everyone's heads, "Um...your pardon, everyone, but are any of you the gentile ammiraglio that we were told used to live here?"

Both Negako and Reborn looked up to see two smiling older teenagers in the same type of black-white-and-red battlesuits that Zita de Lerici and Paola de Lerici wore, though they had different city crests on their chests under the naval crowns of the Regia Marina. Both had brown hair, the one with protective goggles over her brown eyes wearing her locks loose past her shoulders while the blue-eyed girl wore her hair in a high ponytail to her neck. The former had beautiful freckles on her face and bore the twin-headed eagle crest of the city of Rijeka on the Kvarner Gulf. The latter was clear faced and had pale skin, bearing the badge displaying the walled city gate with protective towers of Gorizia on the banks of the River Izonso that formed the border between Italy and Slovenia. Smirking in amusement at the actions of Dean Raeburn's vintners who had brought the living spirits of the second and the fourth of the Zara-class heavy cruisers back as shipgirls, Negako called out, "Federica de Lerici and Giuseppina de Lerici, I presume." As they stared at her, the ninjutsu grandmaster waved towards the school. "Your admiral is my adopted younger brother Ataru," she then declared as the two cruisers came down to the ground. "He's currently busy with his sisters and your sisters Zita and Paola, plus Roberta Ansaldo — whom I'm sure Dean's vintners warned you about — and Maddalena and Lucrezia Alighieri."

Both newcomers blushed. "You must be Granmaestro Moroboshi Negako, then," Federica stated as she and Giuseppina properly saluted her. As Momoe and her friends took out their cell phones to take pictures of the two transformed heavy cruisers, the reborn RM Fiume who was also lost at Cape Matapan with almost all her crew — save for half who had been rescued by the Canadian battleship HMCS Erinsville in her first post-1940 refit mission during the Wars of Liberation — then gazed in confusion at Reborn before her eyes went wide. "Beata Santa Maria! Renato Sinclair?! Is that you?!"

Before the long-lived former Sun Arcobaleno could sputter a denial as he was in the midst of a bunch of civilian girls, the adopted native of Rijeka and Trieste (where she had been built) lunged over to swamp him with an embrace and a kiss that nearly sucked the air out of his lungs. Seeing that, Giuseppina gasped. "Sorella! Stop that! Don't you understand a damned thing about...?!"

"Omertà is being observed, Giuseppina," Negako calmly cut her off.

That made the two cruisers AND Reborn gape. "Negako...!" he exclaimed.

"All the citizens of Tomobiki were granted a blanket exception to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy because of the alien presence in town last October, Renato. Because of the sheer number of metahuman mafiosi and yakuza who might have also come into town, it was decided that the issues concerning Omertà would also be ignored even if such would be monitored by Konoe Konoemon's people in Mahora. There were no breaches until I discussed this issue with Bermuda in May after Tariko restored the Vindice to proper health and Kawahira Masaya was killed by Margo Black." She then focused on Momoe. "Momoe learned of the whole issue thanks to Tendō Nabiki." As Momoe blushed while Reborn glared at her, the ninjutsu grandmaster added, "Though I do admit that Momoe realized right away that such a thing should not be publicly banded about, thus kept her silence on the matter. As to how Nabiki learned of such a secret, I would suggest you speak to her."

The World's Greatest Hitman muttered something in Italian under his breath, earning him an outraged gasp from the second of the Zara-class cruisers. "Renato Sinclair!" she snapped, making him nearly leap out of his suit at that motherly admonishment. "There are LADIES present, idiota! Apologize!"

"Please, there's no need to force Sensei to do that, Lerici-taisa!" Momoe declared with a wave of her hand as the other girls nodded. "Believe me, Tendō Nabiki earns every damned profanity on the planet in every language for the crap she's caused people! She's like Sinclair-sensei's friend Gabriela Abate-sensei!" As Reborn gaped in dumbfounded shock on hearing the woman speak the birth name of his fellow Arcobaleno known more commonly among the Varia as either "Viper" or "Mammon Esper", Momoe crossed her arms. "Don't ask me where she got the name, Sensei. All she bragged about was that she would do everything to mimic your friend when it came to information gathering."

"Most likely, one of Kujaku Tsuretsu's people might know of Gabriela, Renato," Negako then warned. "Wolfgang von Etchert works for Tsuretsu as his chief scientist." As Reborn growled on hearing the birth name of a quack that was as perverted in his own way as the late Happōsai was — he first learned of the man also called "Doctor Etchi" from another of the last generation of Arcobaleno, Loden Sapienti AKA "Verde" — the ninjutsu grandmaster hummed as she gazed to the east, reaching out with ki senses to scan Nerima. "Given the times that Hayashi Kanami had threatened to have Tsuretsu's people move in to eliminate Nabiki in the period immediately after her Gifting, Nabiki undoubtedly used her own people to spy on Tsuretsu's to learn more about what she could face. No doubt, information about those possessing Dying Will Flames came up in monitored conversations. Or most likely, she learned of things through Happōsai given how much of a thorn he has been at times with your allies in country."

"Dear gods! That woman's a menace!" Kumiko spat out.

"Would she have Flames of her own, Granmaestro?" Giuseppina wondered.

Negako's face turned very cold. "She does not, Giuseppina."

Hearing that, the cruisers nodded. "Omertà has to be adhered to, Renato," Federica sternly declared.

Reborn nodded. "The current generation of Varia are here as well," he said as he reached up to gently squeeze her shoulder, making her blush. "We can handle this, Ricca. You and Seppi take the time to get together with your sisters and learn all that's going on; you'll be facing the enemies your current bodies were purpose-made to destroy five millennia ago sometime in the next day or so." As both cruisers grimly nodded, he hummed. "I won't kill her, Signorina," he stated as he gazed on Momoe. "But I WILL have her experience the hospitality of our friends in the Vindice; they're our equivalent to security specialists who ensure the magical enclaves remain hidden from normal people."

"Do they have something like that Gonebren place in Britain Sakura-sensei once told us about, Sensei?" Yamagata Masako wondered. "Given what that bitch Tendō's done to Momoe-chan here since she forced her to become a spy on us, she needs to really feel some heat for all the shit she's caused."

"Kanami-chan's just too noble to do it herself!" Obinata Hiromi added.

That made the World's Greatest Hitman laugh. "You can relax about that, ladies! Vendicare — that's the prison the Vindice use to deal with those who go out of their way to violate Omertà — was INSPIRED by that lovely prison on Gonebren Moor in Britain!" He then tipped his fedora at them as a lethal smile crossed his face. "By the time they're done with her, Signorina Tendō will never threaten any of you again. Atop that, she won't be able to help Kanami's fool parents, much less Akane's idiot father, to try to force them into that fool agreement when they had no certification from Dean Raeburn's people concerning their fake 'schools' of martial arts. That should bring the lunacy in Nerima to a final stop once and for all." He then raised a warning finger. "Ladies, please...keep silent about this. Ricca, you and Seppi tell Zita and Paola about this so no one new can learn of our powers."

"Sì, Renato!" Federica and Giuseppina vowed with a nod.

"Hai, Sensei!" Momoe and her friends all chanted, bowing to him.

With that, he turned and headed to the front gate just as footfalls echoed from the front doors. "Ah! Negako-san!" the youngest of the sisters called out as Saeru Hinako jogged over to join them. "Hina felt it when...!" She then stopped on seeing the two newcomers standing there. "A-ri-ri?! Who are you?!" the Spirit of Innocence asked as she pointed at the just-arrived cruisers.

"Zita-san's and Paola-san's sisters, Hinako-chan," Momoe answered.

Hearing that, Hinako moaned. "Negako-san...?"

"Yes, Hinako?"

The Spirit of Innocence then seemed to explode with childish fury as she glared at the older woman, waving her arms. "PLEASE ASK OBA-SAN TO MAKE HER PEOPLE STOP BRINGING SHIPGIRLS BACK! WE'RE GONNA HAVE NO ROOM AT WELCOME HOUSE IF PEOPLE KEEP DOING THIS!"

Negako smiled. "I will inform Dean of your request, Hinako..."

The cafeteria, an hour later...

"To the return of Roberta-san's wonderful friends of the Royal Navy! Kampai!"

"KAMPAI!"

"ZUM WOHL!"

"CHEERS!"

"SANTÉ!"

"SALUTE!"

"TAMBI!"

Wine flutes were hoisted to toast the lone battleship, four heavy cruisers and two destroyers of the Regia Marina who were there, then people took a sip of the wonderful ice wine that Paola de Lerici obtained from Dean Raeburn's vintners after her rebirth as a shipgirl. As the crowd inside the cafeteria — Moroboshi Ataru and his sisters, the shipgirls who had come to Tomobiki today, Fujinami Ryūnosuke and Shiowatari Nagisa, the Ekō Girl's High alumni who transferred to Tomobiki High the previous summer, Ataru's lovers from Yiziba and the other female members of Class 2-4 (who elected to stick around once Paola's sisters Federica and Giuseppina had come to town) — finished their wine before conversations started up again, Okano Yuka gazed at Sukeyama Sakuya. "Oi, Sakuya-san, I hope your teachers at the College don't get pissed at you all for drinking in the middle of a school day."

"It takes a bit of alcohol to affect us, Yuka-san," the Healer of Men's Hearts and the matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan of Mutsu stated as she looked over, amusement crossing her face on seeing that Paola was obviously competing with Catarina von Savoyen for her dear brother's attention. Fortunately for Ataru's own sense of sanity, both Roberta Ansaldo and Ashikaga Akemi were not overreacting to the two cruisers' antics. Noting that, Sakuya then gazed over to see Luisa von Bismarck shaking her head at her old mission mate's behaviour while Amélie von Zeppelin was trying not to permanently turn into the shade of a cherry in embarrassment at the sight of such open intimacy. "Sure, we can get drunk, but we know to keep it to one glass of wine at any given period. Besides, we'd be insulting Paola-chan if we didn't have at least one glass of the wine she got from Oba-san's people in Canada."

The heroine of the Ekō Girl's High incident chuckled as she sipped her wine, then she gave the other girl a knowing look. "I want in," she stated, making some of her friends perk before they grimly nodded.

Sakuya nodded in turn. After a nasty incident with terrorists, then living over a year in a town where the very concept of "sanity" exited stage right the instant Ataru found himself "married" to Redet Lum, it didn't surprise her that Yuka and her peers were now considering being Gifted themselves. "Two ways of doing it. Either have Onē-sama's wonderful black forest cake that she specially prepares people to help being Gifted..." She then saucily winked at the second smartest student in Tomobiki High School. "Or enjoy a wonderful pillow scene with Onii-sama or any of his friends," she added.

Some of the girls seated with her blushed. "Well...!" Sanokura Emi trilled.

"I wouldn't mind that," Nishimura Tina noted as she glanced over at Ataru. "He was pretty nicely built before this, but God...!" Here, the native of Sweet Valley licked her lips in anticipation. "That is pure one hundred percent beefcake now! No wonder Marubeya and the others went ga-ga over him after he got Gifted! He's way more pleasing to the eyes than Mendō ever could be!"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that idiot for a while," Sakuya noted. On sensing the other girls' curiosity, she added, "We have other sisters. All clones created by that psychopath Ran in that 'clone gun fight' in March, the same day that Hinako-chan ran into Fukushima Fujiko-chan." As the others nodded, the Healer of Men's Hearts added, "Lum's so-called 'most faithful' captured twelve clones Ran created, then had their souls shifted into Avalonian bodies modelled after the characters of Colourful Kiss; that's the hentai dating sim game that has the player character do pillow scenes with his own SISTERS!" As the others winced on hearing that — seeing how much Ataru loved to dote on his sisters, they didn't doubt for a moment that he would just HATE such a game — Sakuya added, "One of the characters is Mishima Akira. She's the token sick girl of the group in the game. When our Akira-chan got Gifted, she became Pandemic; she has the ability to create disease organisms in her body to infect people in bio-war operations." As the other girls winced, the matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan smirked. "Though I never asked her to do it, she went out to target Mendō and his 'fan club' outside the gates to make them shut up finally. With an open threat from al-Qā'idah in the air now...!"

"Ugh! Don't say anything more, Sakuya!" Tina muttered before she sipped her wine. "Hell, I'll do it as well, Yuka!" As the other girls nodded in understanding, she then looked over her shoulder to see Catarina sharing a warm kiss with Ataru while Paola was shuddering with impatience to get her own turn at those lovely lips. "Do you think those two might get upset if I tried to cut into the action?"

Sakuya blinked before she gazed intently at the two transformed heavy cruisers, her empathy reaching out to scan their minds. After a moment, she hummed. "If it's a pillow scene you want, Tina-san, it'll be shared with one or both of them. You'll definitely be treated well since you're from Sweet Valley — which is Onii-sama's favourite place to visit in America, by the way! — but they'll be on the lookout for those who might want to hurt Onii-sama for whatever reason strikes their fancy!"

As Tina's friends all laughed while the transfer student blushed madly at the fact that HER hometown had earned such a high rating from Ataru, the amateur cyclist sighed as she reached for a wine bottle. "Better get ready!" she muttered as she filled her glass, then proceeded to drink it down.

"Not too much, Tina-san," a new voice then hailed. "While having alcohol to serve as 'liquid courage' is understandable, Anigimi-sama won't initiate a pillow scene if he senses any hesitation in your heart."

Tina stopped, then looked over her shoulder to see Tenhiro Haruka gazing with concern at her. The freckled blonde yonsei blinked before she winked at the Quarterstaff Mistress. "You know, even if your brother had to act like an idiot to keep Lum from suspecting what was going on here, he was always kind to us. Sure, he wanted to go on dates with us, but given how much Lum loved to lord it over him all the time, I can't blame him for wanting time away from her." She shook her head. "I just hope this other clone of Ataru's that went after Lum won't get into that situation, too. It's not fair to her."

Sakuya smirked. "Oh, don't worry about Hiromi-onēsama, Tina-san! Given that she's Gifted and has a touch of Onē-sama's powers atop her own Gift, Lum won't be too much of a bother to her. Besides, Hiromi-onēsama's was turned into an Avalonian when she was given her new body; she had her 'time of the month' after she got Gifted and began subbing in for Onii-sama in classes here. Lum always wanted someone who could love her for herself. That's why she wanted to get as far away from the ushitora that was her fiancé before the Tag Race." As many of the others scowled on hearing of Seq Rei, the Healer of Men's Hearts shrugged. "She won't be nasty to her new fiancée, especially with Onē-sama keeping a loose eye on things. With the Goa'uld breathing down on everyone's backs now, it's stupid to cause friction with the Mother of All Fight Scenes coming up sometime tomorrow..."

"What are these Goa'uld, anyway?" Emi asked. "Bartlet-daitōryō really didn't say much about them when he did his briefing after Spee-taisa drove those monsters away from Montevideo on Saturday."

Sakuya sighed as she moved to explain...

Tōkyō, the Imperial Palace, that moment...

"Um...excuse us, General Raeburn, ma'am...?"

Dean Raeburn perked on hearing that timid voice, then she looked left...

...before she blinked in confusion on seeing three young teenagers standing nearby, all dressed in the black uniforms of members of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, the Navy wing of Canada's military-theme national youth organization, standing at attention and saluting her even if the nervousness on their faces spoke volumes to the leader of the War Hawks. All three cadets were leading seamen in rank as the single anchor over two chevron insignia on their left upper arms indicated. A glance at the ship's crests over their name tags on the right breasts indicated they came from the same cadet corps. Blinking in surprise on seeing three kids standing in Japan in UNIFORM, she sighed as she returned their salute; the current commander of Canada's special forces had stepped outside the Kyūden to get some fresh air. "Alright, kids, I'm ready to hear THIS story," she wryly noted. "How'd you get here?"

The three young cadets flustered before the female of the group straightened herself. "Forgive us, General Raeburn, ma'am. We ended up accidentally summoning the living spirit of our corps' namesake corvette when we had a church parade." She reached into her jacket pocket to pull out a folded sheet of paper. "From the commander of our corps, ma'am," she declared as she handed the sheet over.

Raeburn nodded as she took it in hand, then unfolded the paper. Seeing the typed words there, she shook her head. "You were doing weekend exercises, then the cox'n of your corps proposed a special ceremony in honour of HMCS Alberni. When prayers were offered to her lost crew, the Conservator called out to a 'Gennifer Olive Baugh' that her Gifting was about to begin. There was the flash of energy and then this girl who looks like that young lady on the plaza at my ten o'clock arrived, reporting to your CO to get back to duty." Shaking her head as she folded the sheet of paper and slipped it into her pants pocket, she looked over. "Lieutenant Baugh! Get your butt over here, sailor!" she barked out.

A frightened awk was heard from the poor girl who looked about fifteen years old or so, then she double-timed it over to stand beside her new friends, snapping to attention and saluting the famous Army warrior who proved way too tough for those Nazi jerks who wanted to bring the war to Canada. "General Raeburn, ma'am!" the woman who now was pretty much going to live under the name "Olive Baugh" called out as if she was a recruit seaman attending basic training at HMCS Cornwallis in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley during the Second World War. "Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Alberni, pendant King-One-Zero-Three, assigned last to Escort Group Yoke-Four, reporting back for duty!"

"At ease, sailor. How much have these kids briefed you on things?"

Olive relaxed herself as footfalls heralded the arrival of the first of Japan's super-battleships, dressed perfectly as a captain in the Maritime Self-Defence Forces with a nice row of medals on her chest marking her service as THG Yamato. "Raeburn-shihan...oh!" Itō Yasuko then gasped on seeing the young navy cadets there, who had snapped to attention and saluted her. "What on Earth are you people doing...oh!" she then breathed out on seeing the girl in the blue-and-green battlesuit with the gold belt and boots, the gold pendant number K103 on her upper thighs and the beautiful ship's crest on her upper chest displaying a tree in a blue disc with three golden apples flanking each side. "I take it you just came back to duty, Alberni-dono?" the adopted native of Kure and Nara wondered.

"Aye, ma'am! Instant I sensed the prayers from the cadets here and felt that my crew wanted me to do this, I came back!" Here, Olive scratched her long wavy dark brown hair as a blush crossed her face. "Never thought I'd come back as a human being, much less a mystery man of all things!" Her blue eyes then sparkled as she gazed intently at Raeburn. "Hey, General! Everyone told me Athabaskan's back as well! I still can't believe that she got sunk by some Ratzi torpedo boat...!"

"Alberni?!"

That was a wide-eyed Randi Stubbs, who had just walked out to join her principal. The second of the Canadian Tribal class was now in the two-tone khaki dress uniform of Canada's special forces, black epaulettes on her shoulders displaying her honorary rank of commander in the Royal Canadian Navy. She had the blank red arrowhead formation insignia of the Special Operations Forces Command inherited from the famous First Special Service Force on her left shoulder. On her tan beret was the crowned golden phoenix insignia on a red maple leaf of the Specialized Warfare Regiment of Canada, it bearing the omniversal battle honour UBIQUE and the motto QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT in the same design pattern as members of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery wore on their own cap badges; miniature versions of that badge were on the collars of her jacket. She also had a small spray of medals on her chest marking her service in the Royal Canadian Navy. Seeing that as the adopted native of Newcastle-on-Tyne in England and Fort Saskatchewan near Edmonton in Alberta (the latter being the home of the Sea Cadet Corps named after HMCS Athabaskan) returned the salutes from the cadets standing there, Olive shook her head. "We're gonna be MUD-EATERS, Athabee?!"

Randi shrugged. "Hey, we're all part of the same formation as the general's old corps, not to mention the Foresters, the zeppelins the magical airedales use and the battleships the magicals built to deal with those damned sea monsters that always wanted to eat the souls of the crews of ships that got sunk in the wars!" As the cadets all gaped on hearing that, the smiling brunette with the tanned skin of a native of one of the First Nations added, "I even got a chance to walk on Lady Elgin's decks, TWICE!" As Olive gasped in awe, the transformed destroyer then awked. "Oh, hell! Sorry, ma'am!"

Raeburn rolled her eyes. "Kids, where's your corps based out of?"

"Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, ma'am," the female leading seaman reported.

"Okay, I'll give you a phone number your CO will call as soon as the lieutenant gets you back to British Columbia. You'll be let in on certain secrets that you're soon to be guaranteed to NEVER speak of, not even to your parents. It's for the safety of a LOT of people! You got me?!"

The cadets chuckled. "All part of the Specialized Warfare Act, ma'am?" one of the male cadets asked.

"Same deal."

"Aye, ma'am!"

"Good. Lieutenant, get these kids home, then report back here ASAP."

"Aye-aye, General!" Olive said as she saluted her new flag commander...

Colorado Springs Air Force Station, headquarters of United States Stargate Command, that moment (local time: Sunday, an hour after supper)...

"General, aren't you worried about Colonel O'Neill and his team? Even with Sara and E there..."

George Hammond chuckled as he gazed in amusement at Margaret Penn. Save for five of their number who were aboard the FPSYS Discovery somewhere between Abydos and Uru, the American shipgirls who had been part of the Crossroads tests in 1946 now relaxed in a meeting room. The urgent looks on their faces demanding some sort of action concerning what had befallen SG-1 twenty-four hours before made the veteran command pilot smile. Much that he knew the reborn ship spirits weren't emotionally ready for a deep space battle despite what the Healer of Destruction had made their bodies do to the Goa'uld five millennia before, he couldn't ignore the fact that they were eager and ready to get on with it. Now joined by the name ship of the Yorktown-class aircraft carriers and another of the Sims-class destroyers — Hammond knew Margaret's own sister Sonia Owens was still aboard HMCS Lady Elgin in the Philippine Sea as the reborn martyr of Pearl Harbour awaited the recovery of the reborn flagship of the Kidō Butai from her failed suicide attempt — it was quite the impressive force before him now even with the second of the Lexington-class aircraft carriers, one of the Balao-class submarines and three destroyers currently having joined Eleanor Livingston's sister aboard FPSYS Discovery in pursuit of Apophis towards a growing trap in the Oniboshi star system some distance from Earth.

"I'm fully confident that Miss Wakefield, Captain Swanson and their companions have the situation well in hand, Captain Penn," the native of Texas stated. "I've a good idea what Mister Thomas has now in mind. That sort of thing can't be tripped ahead of time. Given how normally overconfident the System Lords can be given our experience with them over the last three years, his plan of drawing them into a massive metahuman fire sack can go off with no problem at all. We just don't want to tip our hand."

"Hurry up and wait," Rayne Warner muttered before she blew a bubble of gum, then popped it, she leaning back in her chair as she gazed on the ceiling overhead, crossing her arms in frustration. "You'd figure THAT would be one thing they would've changed in the military by now..."

As the others laughed at the words the adopted native of Camden in New Jersey (where she had been built as USS Independence) and San Francisco (near whose territory she had been finally scuttled in 1951) uttered, a warning lamp began to flash. "General Quarters! General Quarters! Unscheduled off-world activation! General Hammond to the Control Room! General Quarters! General Quarters!" the voice of the duty sergeant in the control centre close to the Gate Room called out.

People scrambled out of their chairs to head out of the room, moving like pilots manning their planes. Hammond, the two aircraft carriers of the shipgirls still on Earth and all the battleships headed into the control booth overlooking the embarking ramp while the cruisers, destroyers and submarines moved to augment the security forces now moving to stand guard in the Gate Room itself. By now, the Stargate had locked two chevrons. "Report, Master Sergeant!" the general bade as he gazed on Joan Turner.

"Tok'ra identification code, General," the Terran-form Avalonian declared. "It's Thoughtmaster Selmak." She then gave the shipgirls standing a wary look. "Um, sir, is it wise for them to be here...?"

"Chevron Three locked!" another technician called out.

"Settle down," Hammond stated before he gazed on Margaret, straightening himself to convey the image of how serious this was. "Captain, order your people to leave this man alone once he comes in. The Tok'ra — the word means 'Against Ra' — are rebels against the System Lords. Much that I know that you're conditioned to think of Goa'uld as food, these ones are more pleasant to deal with." Seeing the eyebrow arch on the super-dreadnought's face, he sighed. "I can make it an order, sailor!"

"Its scent will tell us if it's neutral, General."

That was Eleanor, who had crossed her arms as she gave the flag officer in charge of the SGC a warning look. "Pity that show's on now in Louisiana," Sarah Blasdel then noted as she relaxed in a chair in the back of the room. "Having Mister Reigns scare the hell out of this thing..."

"Captain...!"

A flash of energy then cause people to gasp before they looked into the Gate Room...

"HEY! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, LUMP-HEAD...?!"

KK-KLONK!

"P-COLA!"

"Oh, shit..." Hammond growled before tapping the intercom. "All shipgirls, stand down!" he barked out in his most stern command voice. "She's friendly!" he barked out before taking a deep breath. "Lady K'ekhech, does the concept of CALLING FIRST mean anything to you?!" he then pleaded.

Everyone crowded the windows to see a dazed Amber Seligman on the deck, gripping her head after a fist had smacked the reborn heavy cruiser down before she could snare the woman in the strange robes and a hooded cloak slung around her neck who just teleported into the base. As Julie Budge gave the newcomer a warning look and the destroyers and submarines present readied themselves to dog-pile her for hurting Amber like that, she allowed the huge crimson halberd with the twin battleaxe head to rest on her shoulder, gazing up at the leader of Stargate Command with glowing chestnut eyes. "Time was of the essence," she said in a quiet yet accented voice as her eyes went to normal while the shipgirls saw the guards lower their rifles. As the fourth chevron clicked into place, she added, "On hearing of the rebirth of the Healer's creations, my hochk'uo declared her intention to come visit and prevent Isaac's planned ambush of the Goa'uld from spreading beyond Oniboshi."

"Yeah, tell us another one...!" Alexandra Anderson snarled.

"STAND DOWN, COMMANDER ANDERSON!" Hammond barked out, making the adopted native of South Kearny on Newark Bay across from the Big Apple (where she had been built) and Wilmington in North Carolina (her namesake's birthplace) yelp as she stared in stunned disbelief at her new flag officer. "That lady there is strong enough to wrestle down General Raeburn if need be! And she's helped our teams out whenever they've encountered her in the past. You want to be in Sick Bay?"

As the shuddering brown-eyed woman with the dirty blonde hair gulped while Chevron Five clicked into place, the other shipgirls gaped in disbelief on hearing that this stranger was strong enough to take down the leader of the War Hawks...which, given how powerful Dean Raeburn had been shown to be, made many of then boggle. Noting the reborn warship house angels were now thinking about it, the newcomer then pulled her hood away to reveal a head of hair shaded somewhat similar to what Amber possessed, though such didn't disguise the pronounced Klingon-like forehead ridges that sprouted from the bridge of her nose. Her face was weathered yet still youthful, the cheeks dotted with flower tattoos that contrasted her tanned skin very much. Her clothing was similar to what the five reborn Kamikaze-class destroyers had worn when everyone had met at Bikini Atoll early on Saturday morning, though it was coloured with a mixture of whites, blacks and greys, a strange chain of Oriental-like script flowing down the front flap of her tunic. Bandages covered her hands save her fingers, though they didn't seem wounded...and if this woman was capable of locking horns with Earth's Jewel Warrior...

People then blinked as Julia Crane literally teleported over to stare right into the newcomer's face...

...then they gaped as the sixth of the Tambor-class submarines reached up to tap the ahoge-like strands of crimson hair, seeing them bounce before going back into place. "Damn...!" the adopted native of Vallejo in California (where she had been built as USS Tuna) hummed. "How the hell do you make your hair stand up like that?" she wondered as she put her fists to her hips.

While some people staggered at such an odd question just as Chevron Six clicked into place, the newcomer smiled as she reached up to rub her fingers through Julia's shaggy black hair, making the reborn submarine squawk in embarrassment. That earned her a burst of laughter from Hammond, which soon became contagious among the other normal humans and the Avalonians now looking at this. "You're silly," the newcomer then declared as she pulled her hand...

...just as the last chevron clicked into place and the wormhole formed. Turning around, she moved to step onto the embarkation ramp just as someone came through the event horizon. "Selmak..." she declared, her voice booming with the nigh-immortal power that had flowed through her veins in two lifetimes spread over three millennia, her face turning into a frightfully icy cold mask.

The possessed Jacob Carter stopped as he stared in confusion at the newcomer before he sighed. "With respect, Lady K'ekhech, this is no concern of yours," he then announced with an echoing voice indicating his mental guest was currently in control of Samantha Carter's father.

"With Batae Erba having returned, Selmak, greater caution is required."

That made everyone blink while the elder Carter turned as white as a sheet...

Minutes later...

"Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you and all who serve under you within your noble command, Lord General Hammond of Texas," the beautiful Noukiite woman with the long raven hair tied in a ponytail over her left ear and the long bangs almost masking the right side of her face declared as she gave the standard fist-in-palm military salute of her people to the commander of Stargate Command. "Our deepest apologies for disturbing you in such a matter, but the Most Venerable Ladies Hŭchch'uchha of K'up'suo and Klaer Redet of Dominos have recently taken note of the number of su-nechkichsyek that have risen from the World of the Forge to fuse with the immortal souls of many noble ch'uongtechhu from your recent world war. Given another issue that just gained their attention recently, they felt it necessary to come here to your beautiful world to speak of this with you and your noble advisors, plus seek out the noble Lady Flying General who bears the Keystone Jewel."

George Hammond smiled as he returned the salute of the woman known throughout the Noukiite Outmarches as the "Black-Haired Bandit Slayer", who had come with her adopted sister from the colony world of Tengsei to this meeting as heralds for the Jewel Warriors of the planets Noukiios and Dominos; as Dean Raeburn had discovered in her travels over the previous six decades, it wasn't the wisest thing for a Jewel Warrior to travel through a Stargate without wrecking it as Yvonne Swanson had effectively demonstrated on Abydos a day before. "We appreciate your willingness to warn us of their coming, Lady Kachnuk. Now, let's have some snacks and drinks before they come here so Lady Kingch'eng can be calm and not cause a ruckus with some of the new members of my command."

"KEO!" the youthful red-haired tomboy with the blue eyes snapped as she resentfully glared at the elderly command pilot from Texas. "I DON'T cause any sort of ruckus, George! You know that!"

"KYEKKYEK!" Seu-Euch Yesu-A Hechnich'-Kachnuk of K'uongno snapped as she glared at the younger free warrior, who instantly ducked from the outraged shout from her fellow native of Tengsei.

"IT'S TRUE!" Seu-Nuk Yesu-K'i Hechnich'-Kingch'eng of K'uongno snapped back.

"Kuohu. Kyekkyek. Stop that."

That was the Dragonspeaker of Noukiios, Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech — "Kyech" to her closest friends — as she looked over from consuming the large pile of steamed bāozi that had been prepared by the culinary staff on hearing that one of the most powerful beings in the local cosmos had come to visit. As the other free warriors winced from that calm admonishment from a woman who had once been seen as a monster on Okusei before it was discovered that she wanted to simply protect the wild wolf packs from poachers in the first open revelation that the Flower Youth that had dominated Noukiios three millennia ago had been reborn, she turned back to nibble on one bun, ignoring the dazed looks from the reborn submarines who had gathered around her. "We want to make sure that the return of Naoko and the others is as peaceful as possible," the native of Ryekkyuk on Noukiios' northern continent added. "Given that it was one of the traitors to the Tok'ra who had effectively saw them all Gifted as the newest generation of the senior warriors of the Unending League, their participation in the fight scene that Isaac is now preparing over Uru is a given."

"The Unending League have returned?!" the possessed Jacob Carter demanded.

"Yes."

"And they were the ones that confirmed that Batae Erba has also returned?!"

"Yes. One of the newly-woken souls of the Crystal was Yuotopam." On seeing the confused looks on the shipgirls' faces as Kuohu and Kyekkyek — as the Ladies Kachnuk and Kingch'eng were known to close friends — moved to sit down at the meeting table and Hammond headed over to the opposite end of the table to take his own seat, the Dragonspeaker added, "For those who don't speak Yizibajohei, the name means 'Shepherd'. The current incarnation was a woman of interest to Tariko: Minegishi Ruriko of Takatsuki in Metropolitan Ōsaka. She was part of a contest that was held in Tōkyō during summer vacation last year when all the contestants, Ruriko included, simply vanished..."

"The Grand Prix?" Hammond wondered. "One of Miss Katabarbe's friends from Kyūshū, Miss Higurashi Akane, lost a friend when all those girls disappeared. Were they kidnapped by the Goa'uld?"

"No, George, they weren't," Kyech answered. "They were initially kidnapped by a Niphentaxian trader named Jorath dai-Kohl. In truth, they were never to be taken from Earth in the first place; all Master Jorath wanted was to have blood samples to have them templated on Avalonian bioroids, plus copies of their memories. When the latter was to occur, tre'cha saw the girls' souls shifted into their new bodies, which convinced Master Jorath to take them back to his mansion on Phentax Two." As Kuohu and Kyekkyek snarled — like Kyech, the two other free warriors who had been a nightmare to bandits in the Outmarches were genetically Avalonians thanks to the "Arch-Heretic" himself, Ganzo dai-Louc, the man who had convinced Tariko Katabarbe to launch the Mother of All Fight Scenes on the Niphentaxians back in June — the Dragonspeaker added, "He was soon tricked by a Tok'ra named Sunmi..." — she paused on hearing Carter hiss on hearing that name — "...who disguised himself as Master Jorath's lost son returned to life to take the girls and see them Gifted in a clear act of Gift thievery."

Hammond gazed on his fellow flag officer. "Selmak?"

A growl escaped Carter as the symbiote within him seemed to writhe with hot anger on hearing THAT name. "Sunmi was a rival of Egeria, George," he then declared with a voice that was full of regret and disbelief. "While desiring to have nothing to do with Ra and his ilk, Sunmi hadn't let go of the thirst for conquest that drives any normal Goa'uld. He was also one who had long been fascinated with the Forge of the First Ones and the powers it can bestow. He also knows of the creations of the second incarnation of Batae Erba. It was his desire for many years to find out what happened to them and seize one for his use." As all the shipgirls snarled on hearing that, the possessed command pilot shook his head. "It was madness, of course. We knew from the day Ra and Apophis led the first attack on Yiziba that it was impossible for one of our kind to possess one of the transplanted Tau'ri moved there by the Ra'kalach of old during the time of the Great Expulsion when Tash Ri gained his immortality. To actually possess someone like you ladies? That was just insanity!" He then took a deep breath. "Still, confirming that Batae Erba has risen again will have the whole GALAXY shaking in fear!" he then nearly sobbed as he covered his face with his hands.

"You were there, Master Selmak...?"

That was Kuohu, who was gazing in sympathy at the possessed pilot. Looking at her, he then smiled. "Aye, Lady Kachnuk, I was," he admitted. "Much that I was, even then, revolted by Ra's and Apophis' actions concerning the use of host bodies like they had done on Earth prior to Tash Ri and Hosan expelling them from the planet, the outrage they felt at the fact that Yizibajohei had such a resistance to their possession could have caused a massacre had not the Healer of Destruction rose from the Crystal to defend them all. Yet when she did...!" Another hiss of fright escaped him. "She was a true GODDESS! A true avatar of pure CHAOS! It was SHE who did the most damage to all of our forces, not just those created by her!" He gazed on the shipgirls, who were staring at him neutrally. "One believes that the Infinite One is the ONLY child of the Forge who could literally destroy the Universe were she aroused to do such. No. Infinity is but ONE of TWO such beings. The Healer of Destruction, whoever she or he is now, is the other!"

"Ruriko believes that this new version of the Doctor will not cause harm."

Eyes locked on Kyech. "Can you be sure, Lady K'ekhech?" Margaret Penn wondered. "Much that I am appreciative of the chance I gained when I was reborn as this, I know that Doctor Destructo — as Miss Jessica Wakefield nicknamed him — was the one who created my body."

"It was Ruriko who allowed you to be reborn as such, Margaret."

Kuohu hissed as she stared in appalled shock at her friend. "Kyech!" she snapped before bowing repentantly to the reborn first of her class of super-dreadnoughts. "Most Venerable Lady, please forgive my friend for addressing you in such an informal matter without being permitted..."

"Kuohu, now is not the time for that."

The Black-Haired Bandit Slayer gargled on hearing the tone in her friend's voice, making her wilt as the Dragonspeaker glared at her. Before Kuohu could demand an explanation, Kyech then rose...

...just as a flash of light allowed three people to appear off to one corner of the room!

Immediately, the reborn Flying General of the forces of Ait'uch Nehech who tried to keep the first of Noukiios' world-wide kingdoms intact with the growing rebellion in the outmarch provinces which would unleash the Tri-Kingdoms age went to one knee as she bowed her head. "Hochk'uo-chit'!" she hissed out as she allowed a slight echo of her immortal power to create a beautiful halo around her body, that declaration instantly getting Kuohu and Kyekkyek on their feet as they bowed deeply to the lead of the newcomers, clapping their hands in the ritual salute as they gazed reverently upon the Jewel Warrior of Noukiios herself, once personal friend to Emperor Muchach himself!

A slight smile crossed the face of the woman in the traveller's robes with hooded demi-cape, her full name in Noukiite scripture on the outer flap of her jacket. Barely visible under the folds of her cape and undershirt was the pulsing jewel that had been placed on the third world of Ch'uokyuk three billion years before. As was common with those who were the true heirs of the First Race, a beautiful taiken-shaped sword was slung to her belt, it forged of purest neutronium with mesonium bracing to prevent something with the physical mass of TRILLIONS of tonnes from being pulled down by gravity into a planet's very core. Unlike the other Noukiites in the room, the newcomer had very intricate tribal tattoos marking her as a warrior of the lost kingdom of K'up'suo on her face framing her deep brown eyes, her weathered yet still-youthful face framed by long, straight hair the same shade. "Rise, my student," Ye-Hŭchhŭ Chyosu-Kakchyo Hog'ŏp'-Hŭchch'uchha of K'up'suo bade as she waved Kyech back to her feet. "So THIS is the noble keep of the people who've vexed Apophis all this time, eh?"

"Heaven's most sincere blessings upon thee, Most Venerable Lady Hŭchch'uchha, beloved friend of the Ch'uoeuk who awaits us all at Heaven's Gates," Kuohu immediately greeted. "You honour we unworthy ones with your presence, much less the presence of your sister warrior from fair Dominos."

An amused chuckle escaped the azure-skinned woman standing to the right rear of the Jewel Warrior of Noukiios. "K'ŭt'ŭsŏ, your people still are far too formal for their own good at times," she said as her own amber eyes flared with amusement before she focused on the possessed Jacob Carter. "Oh, Selmak, THERE you are!" she said as he rose, walking over to take her hand, then courtly kiss it. As people around them relaxed, she added, "So what are your siblings plotting now? I suspect that the return of the daughters of my old friend Dumti Tika would have you all hiding in caves."

"They've got reasons to fear, Mistress Titaan," he declared in a normal voice. "Your 'friend' from back then was even more of a hellion than I heard General Raeburn was during the Second World War."

"And your mental guest's siblings scattered across the galaxy expected any less?" Klaer Redet Titaan wondered. Of all her race, she was the most well respected among neighbouring races. Titaan was the one responsible for the complete annihilation of a Seifukusu noble House two millennia ago when it was proven the leaders of that House were dealing with demons from other dimensions related to the Old Ones who tried to conquer Earth before the time of the Great Banishment. Such a campaign cleared out a massive space of Class M planets to the inspin and spinward of Sol itself, resulting in their being garrisoned by frontier troops meant to keep the Imperial Houses' rivals in the Galactic Federation back even if such forces were hopelessly weak. It was only thanks to the reputation of the Destroyer of the House With No Name that stayed the forces of Uru and her allied powers from sweeping in and expanding their territories by a factor of two. "You know that answer better than I."

"Stop that, Titaan," K'ŭt'ŭsŏ — as the Most Venerable Lady Hŭchch'uchha allowed friends to address her as — chided as the third of their number giggled, covering her mouth with a gloved hand.

"So can we bring in that idiot Sunmi now?" the third woman asked.

As people gazed at her, she pulled back the hood of her floor-length chestnut brown cape to reveal that she was a pretty Japanese girl with waist length auburn hair done in a simple ponytail and amethyst eyes behind protective goggles. As Carter looked at her, she drew back her cape to reveal her jumpsuit, a chestnut brown affair with khaki boots and belt, crossed shepherd's staffs on her chest above her cleavage. Realizing this woman was the new incarnation of the Pastor of the Ranges, Yuotopam (the "Shepherd"), the possessed pilot tried not to quake; the being reborn now as Minegishi Ruriko was as much a reality warper as Kasuga Ayumu or Tariko Katabarbe. "Where is Batae Erba?" he demanded.

That made the former freshman student from outside Ōsaka blink. "Now that..."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then...

"Is a secret."

As people staggered at Ruriko's words, K'ŭt'ŭsŏ and Titaan roared with laughter...

To Be Continued...

WRITER'S NOTES

Translation list: Dimgae — Virtuous younger brother; Molte grazie — Many thanks; De rien — You're welcome; Sei francese — You're French; Ma mère était française — My mother is French; Granmaestro — Grandmaster; Zum Wohl — To (your) health; Santé — (Your) health; Salute — (Your) health; Tambi — Bottoms up; Kyūden — Literally "palace hall", this is the central building of the Imperial Palace (Kōkyo, literally "imperial residence") in Tōkyō; Ubique — Everywhere; Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt — Whither Right and Glory Lead; Hochk'uo — Noukiite equivalent of the Japanese term "sempai"; Su-nechkichsyek — First (generation) battle doll; Keo — Hey; -chit' — Noukiite suffix honorific equivalent of the Japanese "sama" honorific; Ch'uoeuk — Supreme king.

Like with Dean Raeburn, George Andrews is one of my oldest fictional creations. Inspired by Vincent Price's performance as Doctor Goldfoot in two movies in the 1960s — not to mention John Houseman's performance as Doctor Franklin in the Bionic Woman/Six Million Dollar Man crossover story "Kill Oscar" televised in 1976 — Andrews was the man who devised a special classification code system for artificial intelligences I use in my writing to this day. As an aside, the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RCEME) is the Canadian Army's personnel service responsible for equipment and weapons maintenance support.

Yatsura minor character note: Like with Yamagata Masako in the last part, Obinata Hiromi was first mentioned in the manga story "Even Though I Wait For You" (manga chapter #26); her family name is my invention and I base her looks on the unnamed student with a hairband depicted in the second panel on page four of "The Bluebird of Happiness" (manga chapter #281).

The list of shipgirls introduced here:

Capitano di Vascello Federica de Lerici RM (Regia Marina Fiume [pendant IP21])
Capitano di Vascello Giuseppina de Lerici RM (Regia Marina Gorizia [pendant IP22])
Lieutenant (Navy) Olive Baugh RCN (Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Alberni [pendant K103])

Noted that in Kantai Collection, RM Pola (Paola de Lerici) was introduced as the THIRD of the Zara-class. That is because she was commissioned into the Regia Marina two days before RM Gorizia (Giuseppina de Lerici). If one counts the order of a warship class by the laying of one's keel, Pola comes after Gorizia, the former having been laid down a year after the latter.

Note that the names for the other Arcobaleno noted on here, such as Gabriela Abate for Viper/Mammon Esper and Loden Sapienti for Verde, are my creation. Viper first appeared in the Katekyō Hitman Reborn manga story "Varia Footsteps" (manga chapter #90). Verde first appeared in the manga story "Resonance" (manga chapter #276). Note also that Kujaku Tsuretsu and Professor Wolfgang von Etchert (AKA Doctor Etchi) are characters that often appear in Ranma 1/2-inspired episodes at various "contribute your own story chapter" websites such as the Anime Addventure and the Unending BE Addventure; as to who created these two characters, I simply can't say.

The Royal Canadian Sea Cadets (RCSC) is, as noted above, a Canadian national youth program sponsored by the Canadian Armed Forces and the civilian Navy League of Canada. The aim of the RCSC and its sister cadet services formed to mirror the land and air elements of the Forces is to develop in youth the attributes of good citizenship and leadership, promote physical fitness and stimulate the interest of youth in the sea activities of the Canadian Forces. Youth aged 12-18 can join any of the Sea Cadet units — called "corps" — located across the country. Each Sea Cadet corps is numbered and is either named after a current or former warship of the Royal Canadian Navy or the Royal Navy or named after an important person in Canadian history. The cadets that appeared here come from Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps #109 Alberni, located in the city of Port Alberni at the northern end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. RCSCC #113 Athabaskan is located in Fort Saskatchewan near Edmonton in Alberta.

Her Majesty's Canadian Ship Cornwallis was the primary basic training facility for the Royal Canadian Navy from 1942 until the administrative Unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, when the base was re-designated Canadian Forces Base Cornwallis. The base would serve as the English-language basic training facility for the Canadian Forces its decommissioning in 1995; I myself attended the last course held in 1985 when I joined the military on a full-time basis. Now serving as an industrial park and retirement community called Cornwallis Park, the former base is located eleven kilometres from Digby on the south shore of Annapolis Basin (an arm of the Bay of Fundy). The military hasn't permanently left the location, though: A Sea Cadet training camp known as Cadet Summer Training Centre HMCS Acadia (CSTC HMCS Acadia) still operates on the grounds every summer.

Stargate character notes: Jacob Carter first appeared in "Secrets" (season 2, episode 9). He would mentally merge with Selmak in the first part of the two-part story "The Tok'ra" (season 2, episode 11).

Members of the Flower Youth (Seup'uk) of Noukiios appearing in the last scenes are based on characters from the BaseSon video game (and later anime series) Koihime Musō, that itself based on the famous Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech (AKA Kyech) is modelled after Ryofu Hōsen (Ren). Seu-Euch Yesu-A Hechnich'-Kachnuk of K'uongno (Kuohu) is modelled after Kan'u Unchō (Aisha). And Seu-Nuk Yesu-K'i Hechnich'-Kingch'eng of K'uongno (Kyekkyek) is based on Chōhi Yokutoku (Rinrin). Note, here is how the Noukiite naming system actually works (using Kyech as an example):

Seu — The caste prefix, indicating which large social group the person is a part of (in this case, this is short for "Seup'uk").
P'ye — Family name.
Yesu — Gender/birth order prefix, with this one meaning "first daughter".
Re — Given name.
Hechnich' — Short for Hechnich'kye ("sacred true bone lady/lord")
K'ekhech — Courtesy name.

Thus, the Dragonspeaker is formally addressed by strangers as "Lady K'ekhech" and personally by close friends as "Kyech".

Note that the family names, given names and courtesy names (as well as the personal childhood names as used in Koihime Musō) for the Noukiite characters here are all taken from the Korean readings of the characters, then converted over using the character-encoding system I created to help compose Noukiite words and names in The Ishinomaki Years as follows:

CONSONANTS: K/G=NG, N=CH/J, T/D=CH', R=P', M=T', P/B=K', S=H. When NG falls before a vowel, it is silent (as in Korean). Mid-syllable sounds G, J, D, L and B are not used in common Noukiite.
DOUBLE CONSONANTS: KK=NG, TT=CH', PP=K', SS=H, JJ=N
MULTI-CONSONANT SYLLABIC END SOUNDS: KS=H, NJ=CH', NH=S, LG=K', LM=T', LB=P', LS=K, LT=CH, LP'=P, LH=N, PS=M.
VOWELS: A=U, E=O. I and Y stay the same. The different types of O (O and Ŏ) and U (U and Ŭ) do not matter in this case.
DIPTHONGS: AE=UO (WO), OI=EI, OA (WA)=EU, OAE (WAE)=EUO, UI=AI, UE=AO

Thus, taking the name of the character Ryofu Hōsen, the kanji is read 려포봉선 (Ryŏp'o Pongsŏn) in Korean, thus becomes "P'yere K'ekhech" in Noukiite. Thus, with the additions noted above, the Dragonspeaker's proper name is Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech. The childhood name "Ren" is read 연 (Yŏn) in Korean, which becomes Kyech in Noukiite.

However, there is a more vowel-intensive dialect of Noukiite, normally used around the city of Ryekkyuk (said locally as Ryoggyuk). Here, the mid-syllable consonant sounds G, J, D, L and B as seen in Korean appear whenever K, CH, T, R and P appear in the middle of a word. Also, the encoding of vowel, multi-consonant syllabic end sounds and diphthongs is more intensive as see below:

MULTI-CONSONANT SYLLABIC END SOUNDS: KS=H, NJ=CHN, NH=CHS, LG=P'NG, LM=P'T', LB=P'K', LS=P'H, LT=P'CH', LP'=P'K, LH=P'S, PS=K'H
Note that if the following sound is either a matching consonant or a vowel, both consonants are spoken. If the following sound is a non-matching consonant, the first consonant of the end sound is silent.
VOWELS/DIPTHONGS: I=Ŭ, E=OŬ, OI=ŎŬ, AE=UŬ, A=U, O=Ŏ, ŬI=IŬ, YE=YOŬ, YAE=YUŬ, YA=YU, YO=YŎ, UI=AŬ, UE=ŬOŬ, OAE=ŎUŬ, OA=ŎU, UŎ=AO
Please note that the underlined vowel/diphthong encoding are pronounced as separate syllables in Ryoggyuk dialect Noukiite.

Thus, if we look at Kyech's namesake as written in Korean, it would be rendered P'yolo K'oghoch in the Ryoggyuk dialect, with her personal name being rendered as Kyoch. Her full name would be said as Seu-P'yo Chyosu-Lo Hog'ŏp'-K'oghoch in her hometown; note that the caste prefixes remain the same with all Noukiites save for remote locations like the Island of K'up'suo.

Note that the Noukiite O is the same as in "boat". The Ŏ is the same as in hot. The U is the same as in boot. And Ŭ is the same as how the vowel sound in goose is pronounced in Californian English, with a close back unrounded vowel (in the International Phonetic Alphabet, written as /ɯ/).

Minegishi Ruriko is a character from Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix ("National Uniformed Beauty Grand Prix"), an adult video pictorial game that was created by Lyceen in 1996. It had groups of seven girls in five parts of Japan who were portrayed as "finalists" in a sort of beauty pageant. Eventually, the characters were recycled into a standard dating simulation video game called Find Love: Rhapsody. However, the Grand Prix girls never became popular in the face of mainstream dating simulation games as Tokimeki Memorial and later Sister Princess; Lyceen went out of business after the turn of the millennium. Like many other video game characters that I use in my stories, I discovered the Grand Prix characters when I was living Korea from 1996-2005.