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The Dead Grove (Japan time: forty-five minutes after sunset)…

"Ōgi…why in the Maidens' Names did you do that?!"

Ōgi took a deep breath before he looked over to gaze intently at Ando and Sakimu. "Gentlemen, did you actually look forward to dying on a ship that was being shot at by over a hundred star fighters?! To say anything of a star battleship ready to rake our vessel from stem to stern along the way?!" the deposed president of Phentax Two wondered as he gazed at the two Oni officers now picking themselves off the ground within this hideously dark place; Ōgi had made use of the ship's emergency evacuation system — installed by Tsuiro and his friends — to get everyone off just minutes before.

Fortunately for all of them, they had emergency penlights on their persons so they could throw some luminescence on the situation; neither of them had been gifted as Lum or Sil had with paranormal powers. "That robot Moroboshi claims as a sister gave you only one chance to lay down arms!" Ōgi added. "She's in dead earnest now…"

A low rumble filled the air overhead, which made all three of them look up as the light medium-grey hull of what looked like Haida began to soar over the city off to their north (as Sakimu's atomic compass was quick to detect). With the running lights turned down low and the ship not throwing down any sort of bright light on the city below, it was hard for them to see what national flag was there, but the horizontal red and gold bands — along with the lower part of a very complex coat-of-arms, set offside to the left; they were looking at this ship's port side — was quick to catch their attention. "The Spanish…?" Ando hissed out. "Fates! How many of these damned things does Moroboshi have?!"

"Probably enough to make sure getting away from here is going to be very rough," Sakimu stated. "We may be alive now, but these people are hell-bent on stopping us and seeing us either dead or in chains!" He gazed at his friend and commander. "We have to figure out a way to make Moroboshi back off and let us go in peace!" A smirk then crossed his face. "If we can find a way to seize one of these things…"

Ando chuckled. "Ambitious!"

"Perhaps we have a way, my friends."

Both gazed over at Ōgi, who was now pointing off somewhere to the northeast. Both Oni looked, and then gaped on seeing someone familiar off in the distance, illuminated by the glow of a burning mushroom.

"Lum…?" Ando gasped…


U.S.S. Arizona, that moment…

"Don't move, horn-head!" a snarling man's voice said.

Dedron Sil — who had just been beamed into one of the starship's materialiser rooms — jolted, and then stared wide-eyed into the VERY angry face of a gunnery sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, dressed in the standard desert-pattern Combat Utility Uniform, holding a Zephyrite Peacemaker rifle levelled right between her eyes. Sil then jerked on hearing a horrible hissing sound, and then she turned left to stare wide-eyed at a snarling alligator now being held back by an incredibly beautiful woman — a Terran-form Avalonian, no doubt — in combat dress, no rank insignia on her person, the words U.S. MARINES on a strip above the left breast pocket and the Marine Corps eagle-globe-and-anchor badge on the pocket itself. Seeing that monster — which was as big as the average Urusian landshark! — gazing at her with those slit golden eyes, Sil shrank back, shaking her head. Noting that, Gunnery Sergeant Steve Black grinned. "Is Nicodemus a little hungry, Private?"

Private Marilyn Mortenson — she had been modelled by her former master on Phentax Nine to resemble the famous late actress, so she had taken Marilyn Monroe's birth family name as hers when she came to Earth — smirked. "Oh, yes! He's really hungry now, Gunnery Sergeant! I just wonder if he can stomach something like her!"

"No…please, get that thing away from me…no, please…!"

A corporal moved to prod her with his weapon. "You be quiet, horn-head!" he snarled with the exaggerated drawl of backwoods Tennessee in his voice. "You done gone spooked Marilyn's friend there! Mister Nicodemus don't LIKE being spooked!"

Almost in echo of his words, Nicodemus hissed as he made a step towards the shivering Sil, who cringed even further as she cried out in wild terror, waving away the hideous beast now glaring at her. Before she could summon any power to blast the monster away with her photon bolts, a hospital corpsman with a restraining collar moved in to secure it around her neck. On feeling that, she totally freaked out. "NO! NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE, DON'T FEED ME TO THAT LANDSHARK! NO! PLEASE! NO, I'M A GOOD GIRL…!"

"Oh, Lyna…!"

That was the other Avalonian-American currently on GySgt Black's team, Private Geraldine Russell, who — like Marilyn — had been fashioned in the shape of a famous actress from 1950s Hollywood. "What is it, Jane?" Black then demanded.

Geraldine — she didn't really like being called "Jane" in tribute to her namesake's more familiar public name; though Black, given his seniority in rank, was allowed to get away with it — took a deep breath. "Marilyn, hold him back," she said as she slung her weapon. "Gunny, permission to do a mind-probe?"

Black — as well as the other members of their special detachment of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion's Force Reconnaissance Company to the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit — blinked. Marilyn and Geraldine were two of over a thousand Avalonian-Americans who had gladly signed up to serve their new homeland as one of Uncle Sam's few and proud back in late March. After graduating from MCRD Parris Island in mid-June, these two — as well as several dozen others from their recruit serial — immediately volunteered for Force Reconnaissance training even before they would have been allowed to endure basic infantry training; they were even willing to forgo the standard two-week leave that is normally granted to freshly-graduated recruits to get started right away! When the news of THAT got to Washington, Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Conway gave permission for those girls to be posted to both the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Pendleton in California and the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Lejune in North Carolina to give them a chance to do some on-the-job training before they would be sent to the School of Infantry at Pendleton and Camp Geiger in North Carolina, across Stones Bay from Lejune. And while some older Marines commented that doing that would scare off these women — the training that GySgt Black and his friends endured to become members of the Corps' elite Force Recon units through the two-year Accession Pipeline at various schools was a gruelling regimen that turned normal riflemen into special operations soldiers potentially the equal of anyone from the Army's Delta Force or the Navy's SEAL Team Six — the officers and marines of the Force Recon companies at Pendleton and Lejune soon learned that they had just gained an incredible windfall. And while Black himself was a little old-fashioned and balked at the idea of two women being under his charge and fighting with the boys, Marilyn and Geraldine had proven themselves several times over in the last three weeks they had been with their battalion, even when playing aggressor against sister Avalonian-American soldiers aspiring to join the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment or sailors training to become part of the Navy SEAL teams.

He would trust them with his life; so would all of his platoon.

But to let her do that…?!

"Gunny Black, I concur with Private Russell's suggestion," the corpsman now holding a sobbing Sil — who was no longer screaming but was curled in on herself, now moaning that she was a good girl and that she didn't want to be fed to the nasty landshark — said as he gazed down at the weeping alien woman now in their charge.

A woman, many of the others were quick to realize, who was actually a teenager!

Black sighed. "DAMN it, Jane! I don't want you to muck around…!"

"Gunny, I believe she's been mind-raped."

"Oh, hell!" the corporal from Tennessee, Michael Norton, breathed out.

Black gazed at Geraldine. "You sure?"

She nodded. "It feels like it, Steve."

The gunnery sergeant sighed. When either of the Avalonians called him by his given name, it was damn serious; under normal circumstances, people like Geraldine and Marilyn were huge sticklers for discipline and proper respect for rank. "Mike, take her weapon! Everyone, cover her! Marilyn, safe Nicodemus! Jane, you know the drill!"

"Aye-aye, Gunny!" everyone snapped as Geraldine handed her weapon to Norton before she slipped off her gloves. Behind her, Marilyn was kneeling beside Nicodemus, whispering to the alligator as she used her telepathy and empathy to calm the beast down. Around Sil, all but Hospital Corpsman Second Class (Fleet Marine Force) Scott Hensley stepped back a metre, all levelling their weapons at Sil's head; they had practised this sort of thing, as distasteful as it was for either Marilyn or Geraldine when they were asked to do mind-probes. With that, she knelt before Sil and reached out with a hand to touch her face, and then she closed her eyes as she concentrated.

Sil's breath sucked into her throat as her eyes went wide, and then she blinked several times before her body relaxed, and then she leaned in. As the others all watched, the raven-haired Oni landed a tender kiss on the Marine rifleman's lips before she leaned in to deepen said kiss. After a moment — which was enough to make all the men watching this, even Steve Black, blush; even after coming to understand what actually drove people like Geraldine and Marilyn, some of their more intimate practices were a lot to get used to! — they slowly parted before Sil gazed at her. "You're a Marine?"

Geraldine nodded. "Yes. Private Geraldine Russell, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, United States Marine Corps, at your service." She sighed as she stood up. "Confirmed, Gunny. Miss Sil is the victim of mind-rape." A scowl turned her lips down as she darkly added, "Her bond-mate forced herself on her to convert her to the Imperial cause."

Everyone's jaws dropped. "But you people don't do that shit, Jane!" Mike Norton snapped. "God! You mean to say one of the people we rescued…?!"

"Her bond-mate didn't know better, Michael!" Geraldine called back, her golden-brown eyes flashing with annoyance, which made the corporal wince as he realized he called her by a name she didn't really like; he sure as hell couldn't stand anyone outside his own parents calling him by his full first name. "By the time Yūki was sent to convert Sil to the cause, she had been pretty much brainwashed by the Imperials to believe what she was doing was right. By her people's standards, Sil is now seen as the head of her House, a House that was traditionally pro-Imperial. Her friends on the Redemption — that's the enemy ship's name, by the way — didn't want to lose her." She then took a deep breath. "I did feel some regret from Yūki in the bond, but I'd have to fully mind-probe her to see what her side of the story is before rendering any sort of judgment"

"She was made to want me…she was afraid she'll lose me…that's why she made herself pregnant with our child recently…that way, she can never lose me…!"

That was a wet-cheeked Sil, who had wrapped her legs up close to her body with her arms as she tried not to break down and weep at what had happened to her. Seeing that, Black sent a questioning look at Geraldine. The private noted that, and then she nodded. He then cleared his throat. "Scott, take that thing off her."

The corpsman nodded, smiling. Even if they were prepared to unleash all sorts of death and destruction on their enemies, they knew mercy as well. "Aye-aye, Gunny."

The power-restraining collar was then removed. Sil blinked as she felt her powers come back to her, and then she gazed gratefully at the smiling man behind him before she slowly got back to her feet. Focusing on Black, she then straightened herself. "Gunnery Sergeant Black, I am Dedron Sil of the House of Dedron of the United Tribes of Uru." She then bowed deeply to him. "I am your prisoner, sir."

He nodded, slinging his weapon over his shoulder before he saluted. "Gunnery Sergeant Steven Black, Force Reconnaissance Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, United States Marine Corps — currently on temporary detached duty as part of the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard United States Starship Arizona, now assigned to the Volunteer United Nations Earth Defence Force — at your service, Miss Sil. I accept your surrender, ma'am, and grant you parole under Noukiite combat code-of-conduct laws." He lowered his arm as he gave her a warning look. "Much that I am personally sympathetic to your current situation, ma'am, please, do not violate that parole."

Sil nodded, inwardly grateful that the Terrans — who, if Moroboshi Hiromi's words were an indication of their real attitudes towards Urusians, didn't care to listen to anything people like her would say — were willing to be civil. Despite all her own misgivings when it came to Noukiites as a people, they did fight war with a powerful sense of professional etiquette; she understood what the whole concept of "parole" meant. "I understand…"

"Here," Geraldine said as she offered her hand to the young Oni. "Let's get you to Sick Bay so I can scan Yūki's mind and get her side of the story." She gazed on Norton. "Mike, could you call Padre John? We'll probably need him, too."

"No problem, Geraldine," Norton said with a nod; Lieutenant (Reverend) John McPherson, a Southern Baptist from Jackson in Mississippi, was Arizona's resident chaplain.

With that, they moved to step out of the room. Sil then yelped on hearing Nicodemus hiss at her, and then she hopped behind Geraldine as she gazed warily at the alligator as they headed out. Black tried not to laugh before he gazed at Marilyn. "What the hell's the matter with that damned 'gator now?" he demanded.

As the other Marines moved to get Sil away from Nicodemus as fast as they could walk while still being dignified, Marilyn smiled. "He hated her scent," she whispered to him. Nicodemus had been seen as an honorary member of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion for years; only when Marilyn joined the unit had someone finally come along to be able to converse with the alligator. "Says she smells of sulphur." As Black gaped at her, she smirked before beckoning her pet with her. "C'mon, boy! Back to the Swamp!"

The alligator slithered off after her. Black watched them go, and then he shook his head. "Goddamned crazy 'gator," he muttered before heading off himself…


H.M.C.S. Haida, the operations room…

"Dragon Six, Chancellor."

Hiromi tapped a control on her dataPADD. "Yes, Captain?"

"We think we may have an idea as to what happened to the enemy ship's crew."

"Go ahead."

Emil Weber sighed from his seat in the Bismarck's operations room. "We just did a full review of our sensor logs. Roughly a minute after White Dragon sent in their boarding team, a very advanced teleportation beam was sent out from the enemy vessel straight down towards Muzlim Madiina. We're trying to confirm exactly where now."

"Could they have beamed down, Emil?!" the captain of Vittorio Veneto, Capitano di Vascello Paolo Benso, then asked. "If they tried that, they'd be lost because of the dust cloud!"

"And there is the defensive shield over the city," Tom Kazanski added from Arizona.

"Dragon Six, Trafalgar!"

Hiromi tapped a control. "Go, Trafalgar."

"Señorita Moroboshi, per your orders, we dropped ourselves down below the dust cloud to remain close to the Dead Grove south of Muzlim Madiina," the captain of Santísima Trinidad, Capitán de Navío Francisco Uriarte, said. "We're scanning the area beyond the shield to see if they came down anywhere outside the city. We need a few minutes."

"If they made it, they'll be the luckiest sods alive!" Nathan Kerr noted from Hood.

"Be as quick as possible, Captain," Hiromi stated.

"¡Sí, Señorita!"

"Trafalgar, this is Black Devil Six," Lieutenant Colonel John Buchanan of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles then called in from his battalion command post near the Airport pond. "We copy what's happening upstairs. If you can pick out where these bastards finally got to ground, Captain Uriarte, I'll send my troops out to pick them up!"

"With pleasure, Teniente Coronel Buchanan!"


The Dark Grove, to the south of Kentei's position…

"Ukitsu-sama! You feel that?!"

Hearing that hissed warning from Bakari Mitsugi (Kyokō) nearby, Kokoni Kichimi tensed…and then her eyes came around to gaze somewhere to her southwest. "Yeah…" she breathed out. "We got company here." To the others. "Look around, everyone."

Nods answered her from Mitsugi as well as Koeru Kagetori (Chōkei), Kureru Tsutomu (Goton) and Tsuieru Kyōsuke (Hikei). As the four faded into the darkness away from where their leader was currently relaxing with her spiritual aide-de-camp, Herasu Mienka (Saien Shōki), Kichimi then perked. "Where the hell…?"

"Akimi-chan went off to be on her own with Shirotora-kun going after her…but they're both close by in case you need them, Kichimi-chan," Mienka stated as her brown eyes sparkled with delight. "As for the Three Stooges, however…!"

Kichimi smirked as Mienka tried not to roll her eyes. The Gogun team sent out into the Dead Grove also included the school's two other A-rank tōshi, the contemplative Wan Akimi (Ōrō Keikō) and the blatantly sexual Koro Mihyō (Ryūhyō Satokiō). Also with them were Mienka's two official husbands in her first life — and Mihyō's rivals for Mienka's heart — Tadasu Matsuri (Tōshi) and Mamori Nakamichi (Eichūdō). Given the propensity for the two C-ranks chasing after Mienka's pretty backside — they had been part of Tsutomu's group to stop Mago Tsueko at the gates of Gogun when she came to duel Kichimi and had been effortlessly blasted aside by the reborn Little Conqueror — to fight each other to see who would win the right to "date" her…

Sighing, she tapped her headset. "Boxer Six to Noble Six."

"Noble Six, go," On Tsuguta called back from somewhere to Kichimi's east.

"Please tell me Ninja-girl's new squeeze is with her."

"She is," Ebisu Kyoko's voice then cut in. "I take it two of Sad Poet's would-be lovers are misbehaving and need a little lesson in etiquette via ki mallet?"

"That's why I'm asking you, Koshaji," Kichimi stated.

He sighed. "Sadly, she had to go after them, Ukitsu. Tell Saien-chan she can relax."

Mienka moaned. "Dōmo…but I think we're not alone here now," Kichimi warned.

A titter echoed over the line. "Noticed, didn't you?"

"We got Oni to fight?!" a bright voice then cut in.

Kichimi jerked, and then she groaned. "Sonsaku…!"

"Yeah, we're not alone here, Sonsaku," Futoshi Itsuku called out from his place to Kichimi's west. "Stay sharp, people. These bozos aren't here to have tea."

Affirming chants came from the other school leaders…


Haida

"Director…"

"I overheard," Hiromi stated as she tried to ignore her wife's tight grip on her arm. "Dragon Six to Trafalgar," she then called out to the Trinidad. "What's the status of your scan of the Dead Grove? How many are down there?!"

"We just finished it, Señorita," Francisco Uriarte called back from his ship's operations room. "Confirm that the Urusians and El Presidente Ōgi are now on the ground. Nearest group is a hundred metres southeast of your children's position."

"Bokuroku-dono, did you overhear that?!"

"Hai, Majesty!" Ki Kenshika called back.

"Bokuroku-dono, take Lìngxiōng, Reverend Klein and Lady Naoko, then go!" a haunting voice then barked out. "Get them to safety! Move!"

"HAI!"

Hiromi shuddered. "Xié…!" she hissed out.

"Enough, Father!" Kentei called back from the surface. "I can defend myself!"

"I'll stay close to Kanami-chan, Onē-sama!" Takanashi Naoko added.

"'Kanami'…?!" the reborn Xiàoxiàn Emperor then sputtered.

Watching the reborn emperor struggle with the idea of HER children now in the range of over two hundred people — one of which would probably kill poor little Arami all on the pretext that she was a "mere machine"…if not do something WORSE to her! — who would be in a rather bad mood after having their ship shot out from under them, Brian Gamblin grimaced. "Officer of the Watch!" he barked out.

"Sir?!" Michelle Anderson called back.

"Get us down there! Pull us alongside Trinidad!"

"AYE, SIR!"


The Dead Grove, a half-kilometre east-southeast of Kichimi's position…

"Nicely done, Akane-chan."

Miyamoto Akane smirked as she allowed her ki mallet to dissipate, and then she glared down at the unconscious lugs who reminded her a little too much of the idiots she had once dealt with back at Fūrinkan High before Ranma had come into her life. "My pleasure, Ryūhyō-sempai," she said as she gazed on a smirking Koro Mihyō. "I've heard of how much these two goofs always love to fight over Saien-sempai all the time."

"They are not the only ones, though," Mihyō said with a smirk and a wink.

Akane blinked, and then she sighed. "Does she know?"

"She knows. Sadly, my own lusts tend to make me come on to her too strong at times, but Mienka-chan knows of my feelings," Mihyō — a beautiful senior with a tanned body possessing Sebone Shikuko's quite generous proportions, possessing long black hair extending to mid-shoulders and dark blue eyes peeking out of a very nicely-proportioned face — then stated. "In my first life, I missed her very much when she was ransomed off and sent back to Xǔchāng thanks to Torusuke-kun's past-self…"

"FILTHY LESSER! DIE!"

Mihyō snarled as she back-handed an Oni man the size of Saotome Genma in the jaw, causing that to shatter and him to fall back on his ass as blood exploded from his mouth thanks to a few wrecked teeth. At the same moment, another Oni man — which reminded Akane a little too much of her own father Sōun — came out, levelling a pair of futuristic pistols at her face. As Akane braced herself for the attack, she then gasped as the two men she had knocked out moments before surged to their feet and nearly crushed the poor Oni's face with punches to both cheeks! "How…?" she then gasped out as the hapless fellow collapsed to the ground, blood now leaking from his nose, mouth and ears.

Both Tadasu Matsuri and Mamori Nakamichi laughed. "No offence — and we do understand what made you do that to us, Akane-chan — but Ryūhyō-sempai hits worse with her fists than you do with that mallet," the former — a spiky-haired, thin fellow with lean, hard muscles and a scarred face — stated. "Sides, they brought guns to this fight."

"And that's not right to us," the latter — a more normal-looking fellow with shaggy brown hair and expressive brown eyes — finished before he scowled as he and Matsuri both tensed. "Put it down, girl," he then warned in an icy voice.

A gargled croak of breath made Akane's head snap to her right…

…and then she jerked on seeing a shivering Seishin girl standing with her back against a mushroom, her hand trying to hold the pistol she had up and aimed in the Gogun tōshi's direction. Quickly sensing how scared the newcomer was on seeing how easily three of the Terrans here had taken out her friends, Mihyō smirked. "Think it through, cutie," she purred as she seemed to lance the younger girl — Akane put her age at around fifteen or so; as to what that meant in Urusian society, she had no idea — with a stare that was part-sexual and part-lethal. "You're not so hot with that gun and you're realizing we 'tailless monkeys' are far much better at hand-to-hand than you probably once believed. See that ship up there?" she then asked as she pointed up to the hovering Santísima Trinidad. "We got TEN of those beauties here with us now. What do you think your chances of getting off this planet are after learning that?!"

Suddenly, the hissing shiing! of a sword being drawn made the girl gasp as she felt the sharp end of a VERY beautiful katana pressed against her throat. "Do as they say, young one," Bakari Mitsugi calmly instructed as she turned to gaze at him with wide eyes. "You are no fighter by any sense of the imagination. I don't know what brought you here to this place, but there is no honour in this battle for you and your kind."

The girl jerked as her mind ran through what he had just said before she hissed out, "You would TRAP Lum into a marriage she doesn't want?!"

"Don't kill her, Mitsugi-san."

Gogun's top swordsman perked. "Daremo…?"

"Or should we really say 'Ōbijaku?'" Mihyō noted with a smirk. "Ne, Miwaka-san?"

Wan Miwaka walked out of the darkness. The Gogun fighters and Akane were quick to see her carrying an unconscious Oni girl about the age of the girl now facing Mitsugi's sword. On seeing her, the Seishin teen then croaked out, "Hiyo…?!"

"Relax. She's just stunned unconscious," the Nanban senior stated as she moved to place the dazed Joth Hiyo on the ground close by. "No fatalities, people," she then advised the other tōshi. "This one — and Mitsugi-san's friend here — are bonded to the Avalonians our friends took off that ship before the fighters engaged in some welcome target practice. If we kill any of them, we kill their lovers as well. Any unborn children, too."

The others grimly nodded as Akane walked over to take the gun away from the shaking Seishin girl's hands before she dropped it on the ground. A mallet strike later — which made Mitsugi's captive gape at such a display — said weapon was crushed. "So what do we do with these ones, Sempai?" Nakamichi asked.

"Tie them up. No doubt, the Black Devils of Manitoba are coming here as fast as Sumiko-sempai's friends can transport them into the Grove," Miwaka stated…

…before she twirled her shakujō around to belt an Oni man on the top of the head, dropping him into an unconscious heap behind her. "Lucky thing I brought some ropes with me," Mihyō stated as she pulled out bundles of heavy-duty hemp rope from somewhere. Tossing two bundles over to her rivals so they could tie up the two Oni that had been bashed down earlier, she then handed a bundle to Akane. "Last one's yours, Akane-chan. Did Kyoko-chan teach you all the wonders of hojō-jutsu and shibari yet?"

Akane's cheeks flamed to life. "SEMPAI…!"

Mihyō then yelped as Miwaka swatted her on the head with her staff. "DOWN, girl!"

The reborn Wise King of the Left snarled back, "Meanie!"

Mitsugi could only shake his head as the girl he had captive blinked in confusion…


North of Kentei's position…

"Everyone, this is South Six!" Kashira Emi called in as a large group she was with now moved towards the position where Hiromi's children were located. "Listen up, bakayaro-tachi! Daremo warned us all that we can't — I say again, we CAN'T! — kill any of the idiots we find here! If you spot them, knock them out! If it's an Oni, rip off their horns; they can't fly and if they got powers like Lum's, they go bye-bye, too! Tie them up and we'll give them to the Black Devils when they get here! Everyone…?"

"DIE!"

Before the wide-eyed Oni man with the rifle could scope out a target, Emi's sister Yutako swung with her jiàn. One of his legs instantly was ripped away just above the knee, which made his eyes go wider and his mouth open for a painful shriek. Before he could do that, the blunt end of the Sky Piercer smashed into the back of his head, which dropped him to the ground. Immediately, Sebone Shikuko knelt to physically yank his horns out of their sockets in his skull as Noberu Miyako slapped down her hand on his mouth to keep him silent. "Get a tourniquet on his leg!" Shikuko hissed.

A low sound then echoed through the air as a bolt of blood-red ki ripped out of Ataru's hand to slam into the severed limb, which heated the severed tissue — making Miyako, Shikuko and Yutako all recoil as the stench of burning flesh assaulted their noses — and cauterized the wound. After a moment, there was no blood. As a weak moan escaped the poor Oni's covered mouth, Miyako gazed up at Ataru. "I'll stay with him," she whispered as she gave him a look. "But you owe me for this one, buster!"

"Five orgasms?" Ataru coyly wondered.

All the girls around him turned to gape wide-eyed at him — with Hensō looking as if she wanted to break down and cry at losing the chance to be close to such a man — while the men in their group had a mixed look of awe and disbelief. Miyako's own eyes widened as she felt a sudden surge of raw lust rip through her as memories of their lovemaking over the last few days quickly replayed in her mind, and then she rapidly nodded, her lower lip twitching as she considered what would soon happen to her. "Is he good for that?" Emi then asked.

The Rakuyō tōshi both grinned. "He's good for double…" Miyako began.

"In one three-hour period!" Shikuko finished.

Quickly sensing the truth from them — despite what the tōshi from the other schools had once thought of people like Shikuko and Miyako, they knew neither would lie about that subject! — whatever disbelief was on the faces of any of the men around Ataru instantly disappeared, replaced with total awe. The girls were gaping before they turned to give the Rakuyō pair very envious looks, even Sakan Somumi, who — despite her awful past experiences with sex — did recognize that Shikuko and Miyako both loved Ataru and that he loved them both in return. "You are a pair of lucky bitches, you know that?!" Emi then said. "Fuck! Tōmi and I…!"

"Onē-san, do you REALLY have to…?" Yutako moaned.

A sudden hissing sound from Ataru made everyone clam up as people gazed at him. He was perked and alert, eyes scanning around him. "Where?" Tano Susumi whispered.

Ataru pointed to his right forward. "Three at twenty." A nod to his left side. "Two there at twenty-five." A glance to his rear. "And we got some tail-end Charlies — about four of them — at thirty. Two to the left are pretty scared, by the way."

"We'll go right," Omomuro Haeko suggested. "Susumi, you guys go left. Shikuko, Somumi, Hensō, Kamen, Benten, Lum: You go with Ataru-kun to protect Arami-chan, Kentei-sama and their companions. Emi, get the heat off our tails before the Rifles get here."

Nods all around, and then the group with Ataru raced off towards the still-burning embers of the mushroom Kentei had used her magic and lightning on many hours earlier. As they did that, both the Gods and the Angels headed off to either side as the Nanban people ducked back into the darkness to intercept their targets…


"LUM-SAMA!"

Hearing that voice, the green-haired woman perked before she turned…

…and then yelped in shock as a flying form in a silver high school gakuran with a tiger-striped cummerbund around his waist flew out of the darkness to give her an overwhelming glomp. She couldn't dodge out of the way in time before her vision was filled with the rather up-close and twisted image of a raven-haired man that closely resembled Moroboshi Ataru's classmate Mendō Shūtarō…save for his elegantly tapered ears. As she was not able to dodge, she found herself flung backwards for over a metre before she crashed against the side of a mushroom, the breath exploding from her as her head bounced off the semi-hard surface before she dropped to the ground. Before she could react, he landed effortlessly in a crouch straddling her legs. "Oh, Lum-sama! You're safe and sound!" Ōgi tearfully called out as he moved to grasp her hands…

…before a screeching noise echoed through the air as a bolt of energy slammed into the Niphentaxian right under his left armpit. He cried out in shock before he dropped to his side as unconsciousness overcame him. At that moment, a woman in a combat suit then emerged from behind a nearby mushroom. "Well, here's one idiot for the brig!" Takanashi Naoko then stated as she moved to help Kentei up…

…and then she yelped as a storm of particle laser fire shrieked out from somewhere to her right rear. Quickly diving for the ground, the green-haired bioroid spun around as she sent a fusillade of shots from her Lawgiver to rip through the darkness and the trunks of nearby mushrooms. Hearing two men scream out in fear, Naoko quickly rolled over to a kneeling position with her weapon aimed ahead of her.

Another bolt of energy zipped past her directly from her right, which made her drop as she send a fusillade in the direction of whoever was trying to shoot her now. Naoko then cried out as a bolt of energy ripped into her right thigh, burning a good amount of the suit away, not to mention her pants and skin underneath. Before whoever had hit her could aim for a more fatal target, a pair of legs covered in a pair of tiger-striped boots and dark loose-fitting slacks then dropped down in front of Naoko.

"STOP SHOOTING!"

Silence fell over the scene before a voice called out, "Lum?! Is that you?!"

Kentei fought down the urge to smirk. What gullible idiots! the reborn last emperor of the Hàn mused to herself before calling out, "Tcha! Of course it's me, Ando!" she then spoke out in a perfect imitation of Lum's/Hensō's voice, right down even to the lilting accent. "Why are you trying to hurt my friend, idiot?!"


Nearby…

"Oh, well done, Kentei-sama!" Ki Kenshika hissed out.

He blinked on hearing the quiet chime of a materialiser; fortunately for all the people in the heart of the Dead Grove — unlike places close to the edge — the air was quite thick and didn't transmit sound as good as it did elsewhere. "Bokuroku-dono!" a voice whispered.

He looked back. "Here, Majesty!" he whispered back, beckoning with his hand.

Hiromi and Mioko crouch-walked their way from their beam-in point — Kenshika was quick to note out of the corner of his eye that Haida had just joined Trinidad in the skies over Muzlim Madiina — to kneel beside him. "What's happened?" Hiromi quietly asked.

"He just tried to embrace your child," Kenshika said as he indicated the unconscious Ōgi. "Naoko-chan shot him down, but got shot herself in the leg!"

Hiromi nearly croaked on hearing that before Mioko's hands squeezed her shoulders in reassurance. Leaning her head to one side to look around the mushroom Kenshika and his wolves had hidden themselves behind, the reborn emperor was then quick to notice Kentei greeting both Pochik Ando and Tenwan Sakimu…acting as if she was Lum — or rather Hensō! — herself! "Well done, sweetie…" she whispered before closing her eyes. «Naoko?»

Naoko — who was now moving to lean against a mushroom while still keeping "Lum" in her sights — perked before she relaxed. Given how much the green-haired would-be medical technician had worked with Hiromi over the last four months, that they could communicate telepathically without touching each other was understandable. «I'm okay, Onē-sama…!»

«Where are Arami-chan and Reverend Vincent?»

A grunt responded. «He moved to the north with her just before Ōgi appeared,» Naoko reported. «I'd put him about twenty metres away.» Naoko then concentrated, thanking her lucky stars that Ando and Sakimu were so intent on assuring themselves that "Lum" was okay, neither of them were paying attention to the Terran-form Avalonian nearby. «They're alright, but Arami-chan is really tired, Onē-sama. I…!»

Hiromi then tensed as Mioko suddenly went VERY pale. "Oh, no…!" the latter gasped.

"Hiromi!"

She reached up to the communicator affixed to her jacket collar. "Onii-san?"

"We got a bit of a problem," Ataru warned with a tired sigh.

Mioko tensed. "No…!"

"Relax, Mioko!" Lum then whispered. "I recognize the woman that's with Reverend Klein and Arami-chan now. She's Uio Toma. Major in the Marine Corps. She's alright."

"Is the good major alone?" Hiromi asked.

"Negative. Some guy's with her," Benten answered.

"Toma's little brother Samei," Hensō then provided with an amused giggle. "He's a typical Imperial goon-boy…but Toma's keeping him in line right now."

Hiromi then sighed as she gazed up at Mioko. The latter nodded as she then headed off into the darkness. "Onii-san, Mioko's coming your way," Hiromi called out over her communicator.

"I'll make sure she doesn't go too crazy," Ataru stated.

The reborn emperor smirked as she clicked off the link, and then she gazed on the reborn king of the Bānà Grotto. "Shall we go find the idiot that shot Naoko-chan and upbraid the dishonourable slime for attacking a healer, Bokuroku-dono?"

"I'm in the mood for that, My Emperor," Kenshika said with a humourless cackle…


Muzlim Madiina, by the Airport…

"Jesus H. Christ!" John Buchanan exclaimed as he gazed on the dataPADD readout before him; the information on how things were going in the Dead Grove had just been transmitted to the Royal Winnipeg Rifles' command post from the Trinidad two minutes ago. "How the fuck did they all get scattered THERE of all places?!"

Looking over the colonel's shoulder, the officer commanding E (Combat Support) Company, Captain Heather Brown — she had become a Terran-turned-Avalonian two months ago after she had been appointed the first OC of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles' in-house combat support company in four decades — could only grimace. "Luck of the Te'a, Colonel," the quite attractive brunette, hazel-eyed history professor — she was part of the University of Winnipeg's Centre for Rupert's Land Studies in civilian life — stated as she gave her commanding officer a smirk. "No doubt, whoever augmented that ship's teleport units made them powerful enough to punch through the gunk over our heads." She thumbed up. "When those girls from the Bluenose Squadron get that materialiser aboard Haida…"

Buchanan nodded. "How many can you take down?"

"Every Avalonian in the battalion right now; the Kōshi Kasshi and their friends are ready to carry us over," Heather answered. "If the rest of you folks can follow us…"

He nodded. "Professor Brown, get down there and clear that lot out," the colonel then stated. "I'll get Major Seo to send down everyone from his company right after you people. Don't take chances with prisoners either, unless the Director clears it."

She smiled as she smartly saluted him. "Roger that, Your Honour," she said to the current mayor of the town of Stonewall north of Winnipeg. "Sergeant-major!" she then barked out.

"Yes, ma'am?!" E Company's sergeant-major, Warrant Officer Don Parkland, called back.

"I'm taking every Avalonian in the battalion with me into the Grove," Heather stated as they marched out of the tent towards the parked hovercycles now being manned by the Kōshi Kasshi and the volunteer riders from the other tōshi schools under Natsukimi Makoto's charge; Tsukasame Yoiko had gone into the Grove with Tsukasa Torusuke. "Get all the members of the band gathered up with all their first aid gear and follow us in. Make sure Doctor Blackwood's medics go along for the ride! We'll…"

She stopped as her eyes picked up flashes of energy arcing into the sky far to the south. "Oh, shit…!" Heather then spat out before keying the communicator on the left strap of her web belt. "Black Devil Echo-Six to South Six! What the hell's going on down in the Grove, anyway?!" she immediately demanded.

"Some minor shooting into the sky, Echo-Six," Kashira Emi called back from the Grove. "This party's getting good. We got some serious hard-asses down here…but there are a whole bunch of scared kids here, too! Better get down here quick!"

Heather moaned. "Oh, joy…" she hissed out.

"Black Devil Echo-Six, this is Black Devil Foxtrot-Mike-Six!"

Heather tapped her communicator. "Foxtrot-Mike-Six, go!"

"I've got my people and all of Black Devil Foxtrot-Bravo at the western edge of the Grove," the commander of the detached platoon from 17 Field Ambulance assigned to augment the Rifles, Captain Natalie Blackwood, called out. "Main Triage is on the dirt road at the west end of the Grove; I've put out our position on the dataPADDs. Our tricorders haven't picked up enemy troopers close to our position."

The OC of E Company tried not to smirk on learning that the medics that were now operationally under her command had jumped the gun. "Have you sent in casualty clearance teams, Doctor Blackwood?!" Heather asked as she hopped onto Makoto's hover-cycle while WO Parkland — joined by the Rifles' regimental sergeant-major, Chief Warrant Officer Carter Wallace — waved others onto the machines awaiting them.

"I've got two groups already heading in, Professor Brown," Natalie — like Heather, the trauma surgeon from Saint Boniface General Hospital was a Terran-turned-Avalonian; most of her medical technicians and both physicians assistants in her team were Avalonians as well, either Terran-turned or Terran-form — called back.

"We'll be there in a few minutes, Natalie!"

"Roger that, Heather."


Meanwhile, north-northeast of Kentei's position…

"Why did we come along on this trip?!"

"Because they murdered our parents!"

Standing behind three large mushrooms each, the members of the Three-Pillared Gods all relaxed themselves as they listened to the two Oni girls — twin sisters, both looking like they still belonged in middle school, possessing curly black-hair cut to tapers at mid-neck and hazel eyes out of cute faces, dressed fortunately in full tiger-striped bodysuits that were, at least, keeping them warm — sat near the mushroom now closest to the one Tano Susumi was hiding behind. The three senior tōshi from Kyoshō had been more than capable of sneaking up to them; there wasn't too much in the way of ground clutter to cause unwelcome noise and these two girls — they had overheard their given names, Chii and Moka — were miserable and wondering what in the name of whatever gods they believed in possessed them to go along with this whole trip that brought them to the Dead Grove. "Really?!" Moka — she was the one with her back facing Omomuro Akira — then asked. "When Amka and Tota showed me the video, I saw that both our parents went and charged out into the security forces AFTER they were given a chance to surrender!"

Chii — whose back faced Haru Kazua — blinked, and then her shoulders slumped low. "They w-wouldn't l-lie about th-that, w-would they…?"

"Amka said she'd allow me to see her memories of it," Moka whispered.

A shudder raced through the other girl, and then a pained sob escaped her, which made Moka move to comfort. Hearing that, Susumi tried not to grimace. Even if she herself did not have Avalonian powers, she was sensitive enough thanks to her empathy to realize what was going on. These girls were "casualties of the situation" as a certain American Navy SEAL-turned-cook aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in the early 1990s would have described it. It was the twins' parents who were the Imperials; Chii and Moka had no doubt been pushed into going along with it because they were their daughters and clearly hadn't been experienced enough life to really understand and accept or reject it. Even more so, Susumi had been quick to sense the disbelief in Moka's voice. No doubt, the twins' parents were sleepers, keeping their true feelings totally suppressed from friends and neighbours before they would be needed to launch a revolution.

Still, the good news was this: Their parents' personal choices had spared both Chii and Moka from facing jail time if not an early grave. It would be simply inhumane to hold these two at the same light as the people who had commanded that ship to race to Yaminokuni from Urusian space. They would have to be approached cautiously and carefully, in the same manner Padre Vincent Klein had approached Kentei hours before. Taking a deep breath, Susumi whispered a calming prayer, and then she glanced right and left. Quick to see Akira and Kazua relaxing and doing their own prayers before they would leap into battle, she waited. They were quick to sense their friend glancing their way. She pointed to herself, then straight up to the gills of the giant mushroom overhead. Both men nodded. They braced themselves as Susumi rolled to her feet, and then crouched down low before making a very impressive ten-metre leap to the edge of the cap of the large fungus she had been hiding behind. Hanging on with arms and hands, she took a deep breath before rocking her legs, and then, once enough momentum was gained, she flipped her body hard, tucking herself in to make as minimal of a profile as she could. With that, she landed with feet touching the edge of the mushroom's cap. Sensing she was about to slip off, the female member of the Three-Pillared Gods forced her body forward to fall into a somersault, thus getting back on her feet on a safer part of the mushroom's cap. Once there, she took a deep breath as she calmed herself…

"DIE, FILTHY LESSER!"

…and then propelled herself forward just as two heavy bolts of energy slammed into the skin of the mushroom she had been standing on. Susumi quickly leapt over the very apex of the cap, and then threw herself into another somersault…not realizing she didn't really have that much room left for that sort of manoeuvre!

"HEY! WHERE'D THE MUSHROOM GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…?!"

On the ground, Chii and Moka — who had turned to stare up into the sky on hearing those shots — screamed out as what appeared to be a black-haired girl in black robes fell right for their heads. Instantly, both Oni leapt clear…and landed right into the outstretched arms of two rather BIG fellows, who quickly moved to get them out of sight right under the edge of the cap. As the twins watched in wide-eyed awe — their own low-light devices were strong enough to give them a view of what was happening two metres in front of them — the older woman spun herself to land on her feet, and then threw herself into a front roll that had her back standing again right between the two surprised, wide-eyed Oni teenagers.

"I HAVE YOU NOW, YOU PATHETIC…!"

Before the twins could react, Susumi crouched down, allowing two heavy wood hanbō staffs to appear out of her tunic sleeves. They were put together end-to-end, making a perfect bō staff. Without hesitation, she fired it straight into the air…

CRUNCH!

A croak of awful pain escaped from somewhere above, and then that became a rolling moan as someone stumbled off the edge of the mushroom cap and dropped right down towards the ground. As Susumi's staff came down, she caught it with one hand, and then twirled it just as the falling person came right to eye level.

CRACK!

A yelp escaped the Oni — on seeing that person's face, Susumi was quick to note this one was not much older than Chii or Moka! — and then said person dropped flat on the back before rolling over as hands reached for the crotch as the poor person curled up and began to weep in a less deep, almost feminine, voice…

Wait…!

Susumi's eyes then went VERY wide on seeing blood on the end of her staff which she had used to strike her attacker through the…

Oh, no…!

She then set her staff aside as she moved to aid the now weeping girl — who was nicely disguised as a man: Male clothing, properly short-cut hair, a rather boyish face to help and (after a quick, efficient feel in the right locations) breast bindings like a sarashi under her top! — into a sitting position. By then, the others had approached, even Chii and Moka (Kazua had let the older twin go so he could get hold of his friend's staff; one quick sniff near the top to detect the meaty odour emanating from it made him grimace as he realized what Susumi just discovered). Staring at the shaking girl as Susumi slipped off her black outer tunic to draw around her, Chii and Moka blinked as they also realized what this person was. "Um, Shō…how come you're a girl?" the latter asked as Susumi deftly undid the fallen girl's top under the cover of her own tunic to reveal bound breasts, and then she began to slowly undo them, revealing small yet perky mounds underneath.

Shō — up close, the Kyoshō seniors were quick to see that she had very dark green hair with black low-lights and deep green eyes that were now awash in pained tears — shuddered. "What do you care, Moka…?" she wondered before a new lance of agony arced up from her now very abused crotch. "It hurtssssssssssssssss…!"

Susumi smiled as she moved to draw her close. "I'm sorry…"

As the younger girl cried, the would-be monastic quickly shifted Shō onto her lap as she moved to press certain shiatsu points she knew of to cut down on the pain that was making the poor Oni feel as if someone impaled her on a big sword right through the nexus between her legs. Feeling that, Shō shuddered as the pain ebbed, and then she closed her eyes as fatigue — she had been in a near-blind panic since she was beamed down to this terrible, dark place — finally forced her into the realm of Morpheus. By then, Kazua had taken off his own tunic, handing it to Chii so she could move to cover Shō's lower half; her crotch was now becoming dark red with blood and the rip in her trousers was rather noticeable. As that was done, Susumi smiled at the older twin, reaching over to gently ruffle her hair, which made Chii freeze before she giggled, her cheeks turning quite red at that tender touch.

"Excuse me?"

Voice, female, speaking English. "Hai?" Kazua said as they all turned…

…just as a squad of Canadian soldiers — all Avalonians, the Three-Pillared Gods immediately sensed — came up from the west. Seeing them, the three would-be monastics from Kyoshō were quick to note the weapons in the hands of the younger women as the older one — a Navy petty officer 1st class as noted by the black Saint Edward's Crown on her green epaulette slip-on over the 17 FD AMB unit marker — immediately knelt beside Susumi. "What happened?!" Petty Officer 1st Class Emily Hamilton — she had been a senior medical assistant assigned to H.M.C.S. Chippawa before she was reassigned to 17 Field Ambulance when it was switched to the control of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group at the turn of the millennium, corresponding to the reassignment of first-line medical personnel to local health services units — asked as she pulled off Kazua's tunic to gaze at Shō's wound.

Akira and Kazua politely turned away, which made Chii and Moka giggle. Susumi sighed. "I thought she was a man, so I gave 'him' a 'low blow' with my staff. I've eased her pain and tried to shut down the bleeding with shiatsu…"

Hearing that, PO1 Hamilton grimaced as she pulled out her tricorder — How the hell did we ever survive without these wonderful things?! she mused to herself — and did a scan of the sleeping Shō's groin. "Damn! Ripped up her hymen, the vaginal walls and the cervix good!" She gazed on Susumi. "Just like some of the weird stuff that appears on 1000 Ways to Die. I hate to be on your bad side, Miss Tano. Clarisse, get a DNA sample."

"Right away, PO," Corporal (Brevet) Clarisse Hodgkins said.

As she moved to take a detailed scan of Shō's DNA, Chii and Moka blinked. "Why are you doing that?" the former then asked as she tightly hugged Kazua.

"Well, even if she did plan to hurt our tōshi friend here, she is a casualty and needs medical care," Hamilton explained. "If necessary, that'll include a body swap. Her bleeding has slowed down, but if we can't stop it, she'll die on us." She moved to pump a general stimulant into Shō's neck. "Can't have that at all."

"Thank the Buddha," Susumi breathed out…

To be continued…


WRITER'S NOTES

1) The scene with the Marines on Arizona when they took Sil prisoner was partially inspired by the Recon Marines that appeared in Tom Clancy's 1989 novel Clear and Present Danger (ISBN 0-399-13440-9); I even got the name of the alligator used in that scene from the book.

2) A Hospital Corpsman (short-form HM) is the United States Navy rating equivalent to the Canadian Forces trade of Medical Technician. They serve in all Navy and Marine Corps units, as noted by Scott Hensley's enlisted warfare specialty rating, the Fleet Marine Force Enlisted Warfare Specialist. His rank short-form code would read HM2(FMF).

3) Call sign notes:

Chancellor — Otto von Bismarck's position when he helped unify Germany;
Trafalgar — The battle where the Santísima Trinidad was eventually destroyed; and
Black Devil — The nickname bestowed on the Royal Winnipeg Rifles during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.

As an aside, the companies in the Rifles are designated over the radio by NATO phonetic letters: "Alpha," "Bravo," "Charlie," "Delta," "Echo" and "Foxtrot." The "Foxtrot-Mike" designation indicates F Company's Medical Platoon. "Foxtrot-Bravo" would indicate the Rifles' in-house band.

4) Translations: MCRD — Marine Corps Recruit Depot; Capitano di Vascello — "Ship-of-the-Line Captain" in Italian, which corresponds to the Spanish rank title of Capitán de Navío; Teniente Coronel — Lieutenant Colonel; Hojō-jutsu — The martial art that teaches people how to restrain captives with ropes; Shibari — Literally meaning "to bind," this is the nickname for kinbaku-bi ("the beauty of tight binding"), which is the Japanese form of BDSM using ropes; — A version of the fighting staff that averages 1.8 metres long (the hanbō or "half-bō" normally averages 90 centimetres in length).

5) Ikkitōsen character notes:

Kyokō (Bakari Mitsugi) is the current incarnation of Xǔ Gòng (unknown dates of birth and death), who was the governor of Wú Commandery. He would oppose Sūn Cè in the early years of infighting between the various factions across the Hàn domain, but would be forced to submit to the Little Conqueror. However, Xǔ tried to force Cáo Cāo's intervention in the eastern lands with a secret memorandum advising the chancellor to have Sūn eliminated. Officers loyal to Sūn intercepted the letter and Xǔ was executed instead…though his son and two of his servants would later gain vengeance by mortally wounding Sūn when he was about to move against Chén Dēng (170-208 C.E.). In Ikkitōsen, Mitsugi first appeared in manga episode #26; he is a swordsman and was one of the people who tried to deflect Sonsaku Hakufu (Mago Tsueko) from fighting Ukitsu (Kokoni Kichimi).

Goton (Kureru Tsutomu) is technically the current incarnation of Wú Dūn (unknown dates of birth and death), who once served under Táo Qiān (132-194) against the Yellow Turbans. As to what happened to Wú afterwards, it is not said. Shiozaki-sensei clearly got some things mixed up with this one; the kanji he used for Goton was 呉沌, which in Chinese is pronounced "Wú Dùn"…while Wú Dūn (note the different accent mark) wrote his name as 呉敦. I conformed to the latter style as it is historically correct. In Ikkitōsen, Tsutomu was sent to fight Tsueko at the gates of Gogun High and was soundly defeated by her, much to the horror of Mitsugi. Tsutomu first appeared at the end of manga episode #26.

Hikei (Tsuieru Kyōsuke) has no historical basis in the histories of the Three Kingdoms. The kanji that went into his name could be read as either "Fèi Guī" or "Fèi Jìng." He is the muscular lad who distantly resembles the famous "little dragon" who founded Jiéquándào (AKA Jeet Kune Do, literally meaning "Way of the Intercepting Fist"), Lǐ Xiǎolóng AKA Bruce Lee (1940-73). Kyōsuke first appeared in manga episode #28.

And my own creations:

Ōrō Keikō (Wan Akimi) is the current incarnation of Wáng Lǎng (unknown date of birth, died 228), a warrior who also fought under Táo Qiān until the latter's downfall at the hands of Cáo Cāo, then — after being awarded the governorship of Guìjī (modern-day Shàoxīng in Zhèjiāng Province south of Shànghǎi on the East China Sea coast) — started up a war against Sūn Cè with the support of the Shānyuè (introduced in the writer's notes of Part 1). After being made to submit to Sūn, Wáng was invited to join the imperial government under Cáo's leadership in Xǔchāng, where he worked through the transition from the Hàn Dynasty to Cáo Wèi in 220 to his retirement prior to his death. In the universe of this story, Akimi is Gogun's second A-rank tōshi; a sophomore, she didn't involve herself in the fight between Tsueko and Kichimi due to her realizing the former had really no idea what drove tōshi as a whole.

Genbyakko (Ogosoka Shirotora) is the current incarnation of Yán Báihǔ (dates of birth and death unknown), who was a bandit leader that allied with the Shānyuè during the years Sūn Cè campaigned in the Wú region. His final fate is unknown, though it is believed that Yán lived past Sūn's death. In the universe of this story, Shirotora was one of the C-rank tōshi who fought against Tsueko when she came to Gogun to battle Kichimi. A senior, he holds a very healthy respect for the reborn Little Conqueror. He also has a massive crush on Wan Akimi, which she really doesn't care for.

Saien Shōki (Herasu Mienka) is the current incarnation of Cài Yǎn (177-239), a famous composer and poetess of the Latter Hàn Dynasty who lived to see the Three Kingdoms commence in earnest. She had three husbands during her lifetime. The first was the relatively unknown Wèi Zhòngdào (dates of birth and death unknown) with whom she never had children. After the downfall of Dǒng Zhuó in 192, Cài was captured by Xiōngnú nomads and made a concubine to tribal chieftain Liú Bào (dates of birth and death unknown), with whom she bore two sons. She was eventually ransomed on her father's behalf by Cáo Cāo and allowed to return to civilization, leaving her children behind. Afterwards, she would marry Dǒng Sì (dates of birth and death unknown). Always driven by feelings of sadness in her writing, she would eventually inspire future generations with her life's story. In this life, Mienka is an E-rank tōshi; she loathes fighting as much as Ryūbi Gentoku (Koro Sonami) does. She is also exceptionally beautiful; I physically base her on her Dynasty Warriors 7 self. In the universe of this story, Mienka serves as Kichimi's spiritual adviser and living conscience, in the same way that Leonard McCoy serves James T. Kirk in Star Trek.

Note that Mienka's battle name is based on Cài's original style name, "Zhāojī" (in Japanese, Shōki). During the Jìn Dynasty (265-420), her style name was posthumously changed to "Wénjī" to avoid confusion with Sīmǎ Yì's son Sīmǎ Zhāo (211-265). That is the reason Cài is often known these days as "Cài Wénjī" (in Japanese, Saibunki…or more properly, Saien Bunki).

Tōshi (Tadasu Matsuri) is the current incarnation of Cài Yǎn's second husband. Little is known of Dǒng save for the fact that after he had been charged with a capital crime, Cài went to Cáo Cāo and pleaded for her husband's life, asking if the chancellor could provide another husband to care for her if Dǒng was executed. He was spared. Throughout the incarnations, he hasn't forgot that fact…and in this life, Matsuri has a massive crush on Mienka. He is a C-rank tōshi and was one of the ones who had fallen at the gates of Gogun at the hands of Tsueko.

Eichūdō (Mamori Nakamichi) is the current incarnation of Cài Yǎn's first husband. As noted above, Wèi's relationship with Cài never produced children, a fact that haunts Nakamichi to this day. He, like Matsuri, is hopelessly in love with Mienka; the two often fight each other to "win" the right to date their reborn wife…much to Mienka's constant sorrow as she HATES boys fighting over her. Nakamichi is also a C-rank tōshi who fell in the defence of their school trying to prevent Tsueko from fighting Kichimi.

Ryūhyō Satokiō (Koro Mihyō) is the current incarnation of Cài Yǎn's lover and captor during her years living among the Xiōngnú. In Mihyō's first life, she was her tribe's literal second-in-command, the "Worthy King of the Left" (in Chinese, Zuǒtúqí-wáng) and crown prince of the confederation of the Xiōngnú. In this life, Mihyō is an A-rank tōshi and the last of Gogun's top-ranked fighters beyond Kichimi and Akimi. She is also as blatantly bisexual as Ryofu Hōsen (Sebone Shikuko); as a matter of fact, Shikuko holds Mihyō in awe because the latter is said to be able to make ALL who face her — man OR woman — fall to her charms. Like Matsuri and Nakamichi, Mihyō is very much in love with Mienka…which scares the latter as much as the attraction Kan'u Unchō (Seki Haneko) feels for Koro Sonami scares the leader of Seito! While she was not officially of the Liú Clan in her first life, Mihyō is seen by Moroboshi Hiromi as a spiritual kinsman in this life.

6) A Canadian Army infantry battalion's combat support company (usually falling in as "E" Company in the battalion hierarchy) is the equivalent of an American Army infantry battalion's weapons company. The Rifles' E Company is composed of an anti-tank platoon with TOW missiles, a reconnaissance platoon with sniper teams, a heavy machine gun platoon and an assault pioneer platoon.

As an aside, the combat support company in an infantry battalion should not be mistaken for the combat service support company ("F" Company), which contain all the logistics, medical and EME personnel supporting the battalion.

All Militia combat support and combat service support companies, in real life, were disbanded in 1970 when it was decided to centralize all reserve force support at local Army bases.

7) The University of Winnipeg (U of W or U Winnipeg) is a public post-secondary institution that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College (founded 1871) and Wesley College (founded 1888), which merged to form United College in 1938. The university itself was established in 1967 when United College received its charter. The Centre for Rupert's Land Studies facilitates scholarly research and publishing concerning the human history of the Hudson Bay watershed, known in the period from 1670-1870 as Rupert's Land, which was named in tribute to Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness (1619-82), nephew of King Charles I. The Centre also functions as a clearinghouse to assist researchers with similar interests to be in touch with each other, to communicate about their research projects and findings, and to assist researchers from out of town by putting them in touch with qualified local assistants or by providing a congenial meeting spot when visiting Winnipeg.

8) 17 Field Ambulance (17 FD AMB) is Manitoba's local Canadian Forces reserve health services unit, based in Winnipeg. Originally formed as "3rd Field Ambulance" after World War Two, it was re-designated "18 Medical Company" in 1954, amalgamated with the "Winnipeg Service Battalion" in 1965, then made its own unit in 1975 as "17 Medical Company." The unit became a field ambulance in the 1990s.

As an aside, Canadian Army field units no longer contain integral medical teams. After the turn of the millennium, independent medical and dental units throughout the military were pulled out of the control of their normal commands and placed under the aegis of the Canadian Forces Health Services Group (CF H Svcs Gp), under the direction of the Chief of Military Personnel through the Surgeon General. While all Regular Force field ambulances and Reserve Force medical companies were now administratively controlled by the Health Services Group, such units could deploy with their old formations if operational requirements demanded it. This was meant to promote more efficiency, enhance training and save money. Integral medical platoons and troops in the field battalions and regiments were absorbed into the staff of the nearest Regular field ambulance or Reserve medical company (which were re-designated "field ambulances" to put them on roughly equal footing to their Regular Force counterparts) by the spring of 2002. In the universe of this story, when the Avalonians came, they decided to ensure reserve field ambulances were manned not just to full wartime strength, but also could help create division-level health service regiments and brigade-level health service battalions, not to mention provide large manning pools for platoon/troop-strength health services teams to the field units, which would (when required) fall under the immediate command of the combat service support company/squadron/battery commander.

Also, the non-commissioned medical trades were restructured. One change was the re-designation of the trade of Medical Assistant (MED A) to Medical Technician (MED TECH) by the spring of 2004; this corresponded with upgrades in the training regimen that allowed military personnel to be qualified also as civilian paramedics in the various provinces. Long before then (informally by 1991 and formally four years later), the follow-on trade of Physician Assistant (PHYS A) was initiated for those at the rank of sergeant/petty officer 2nd class and above to allow them to act as independent senior medics in places where a medical officer can't be present (such as a Navy ship at sea). To become a PHYS A, a MED TECH must undergo a two-year course between the Canadian Forces Health Services Training Centre in Borden and affiliate civilian universities (as Emily Hamilton did via the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg; Manitoba was the first province to regulate physician assistants as "clinical assistants") to qualify. The end result is the awarding of a two-year Bachelor of Science degree granted by the University of Nebraska.

It should also be noted that all trades in the Canadian Forces Medical Services (CFMS) — after 9 October 2013, the Royal Canadian Medical Service (RCMS) — are considered "purple trades"; all members have the choice of environmental uniform (Navy black, Army green, Air Force blue). Hence, even if she is now in 17 Field Ambulance, Emily Hamilton is still addressed as a Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1) and not a Warrant Officer (WO). Note that when Navy personnel wear the CADPAT disruptive pattern combat uniform, their rank insignia is always black thread on a plain combat green/tan background; Air Force personnel wear medium blue insignia on camouflage backgrounds. Army personnel, of course, wear soft gold on camouflage.

9) Saint Boniface General Hospital, first established by the Sisters of Charity of Montréal (also known as the Grey Nuns) in 1871 as Western Canada's first hospital, is located on the east bank of the Red River at the Forks, where the Assiniboine River flows into the former as it flows northward towards Lake Winnipeg. This facility is Manitoba's second-largest health care facility.

10) The "Navy SEAL-turned-cook" mentioned in the narrative here is none other than Casey Ryback (as played by Steven Segal), who would be rated as a Chief Mess Management Specialist (Special Warfare) (MSC[SEAL]) in the movie Under Siege (released in 1992). Note that the rating of Mess Management Specialist was re-designated as Culinary Specialist (CS) in 2004.

11) H.M.C.S. Chippawa is Winnipeg's resident Naval Reserve Division. Founded in 1923 as the "Winnipeg Company" of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, it was upgraded to a division in 1936 and formally commissioned as a ship in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1941. The ship's name was taken from a captured American vessel that fought at the Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813; this is the famous battle where Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819) — in the wake of capturing six British vessels — sent the famous signal "We have met the enemy and they are ours" to his area commander, Major General (and later the ninth President of the United States of America) William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) to report on the action.