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Ōmure-jima, the north end of Centre Street, Monday, an hour before midnight...
"Oh, stop it, Junko! You enjoyed it!"
A stricken look crossed the face of the Herald of Cosmic Doom as she seemed to cringe from the knowing look the Ultimate Warrior gave her while the pair were walking into the small bit of parkland at the northern end of the reclaimed lands opposite from the northern reach of Odawara's urban area two kilometres to the west. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she protested.
"Chunch'ŏl-san's flirting with you throughout the whole party didn't mean anything to you?" Ikusaba Mukuro wondered as her eyebrow arched knowingly.
Enoshima Junko sputtered. "He was just obeying his social interaction programming, Mukuro..."
"Duck."
Reflexes honed by years surviving practically on their own on the streets of metropolitan Tōkyō, enhanced by the uncontrolled chaos of the Tragedy and boosted to the nth degree by their Giftings made the sisters instantly drop as an arrow made of ebony-shaded energy whipped through the air where Junko's head had been a second before, that smacking against the trunk of a nearby tree! Rolling on the ground as her civilian clothes instantly morphed into her battlesuit, Mukuro snap-drew her weapon, bore on target, then fired, eliciting a surprised yelp from their hidden attacker while Junko put on her own "business suit". Then a small fusillade of arrows streaked out, again aimed at the poverty-born fashion model from another universe's Machida. As she nimbly avoided the well-aimed attack, a voice snarled out in recognizable New England American English, "Stay the fuck still!"
Mukuro fired her pistol, sending a triple-tap of "grapeshot" fragmentation rounds at the small shifting humanoid form who was well-hidden by a nearby grove. That elicited a yelp of surprise from the attacker. "Hey! Stay the fuck out of this, Ikusaba! I want your bitch sister, not you!"
"Nice to know I'm appreciated!" Junko taunted back.
Two more arrows snapped her way as the strange woman — who was wearing a solid black hooded ankle-length cloak over what had to be a modern battlesuit of some sort — moved to get into a better attack position to take down the dimensional-displaced reality warper/empathic vampire. As the architect of the Tragedy used her powers to literally catch those shots with the fingers of her hands before disintegrating them, her twin sister lunged over to vault off a rock and strike from above.
Fortunately for the newcomer, years surviving in some of the more rougher parts of Brockton Bay helped her dodge clear of a well-aimed kick to her head, even if she got clipped perfectly to knock clear her hood and reveal the face of one Sophia Hess. Hissing at that near-blow from the veteran of Fenris, the Ghost of the Night allowed her body to phase out to avoid being snared by Mukuro, she slipping through the rock the latter used to try to ambush her with, then she charged at Junko.
Sophia yelped as a bullet from Mukuro's pistol cut a shallow swath in the Bay Stater's left arm, causing her to scream as the hyper-charged ebony mesonium warhead actually burned her shifted atoms and molecules. Finding herself phased back to normal, the dark-skinned street warrior then had all the air knocked out of her lungs by a well-placed kick thanks to her target.
"Ah! Poor Sophia-chan!" Junko teased, making the American curse as she tried to bring one of her arm-mounted crossbows to bear. "Did you really think Mukuro is just a dumb, stupid grunt?! She had you and your pals pegged long before you vanished on Taylor-chan hours ago!"
"FUCK YOU, ENOSHIMA! YOU'RE NOT BRINGING THE FUCKING TRAGEDY HERE, BITCH!"
In a blonde-and-black blur, the Herald of Cosmic Doom instantly appeared in the other woman's face. "Now why would I want to do something like that here...?!"
A punch caught her in the gut, making the ultimate fashionista double over. "Not taking a chance!" Sophia snapped as she levelled her good arm's crossbow at the back of the fashion model's head...
...before she screamed with shock and pain as a bullet from the Ultimate Warrior shattered that weapon! As Junko kneed her attacker, the Ghost of the Night dropped to the ground, giving Mukuro time to lunge over to secure the American, then get some answers. Before she could make contact, Sophia phased and spun clear, regaining her feet before back-flipping to open the range, then she levelled her weapon only to see the maw of the child soldier's pistol aimed her way.
"Why the FUCK are you fighting for HER, huh?!" the Bay Stater challenged as she was forced to revert to normal, no thanks to the wound on her arm. "She fucking KILLED you in that death trap of a school, remember?! Yeah, you had to fight for everything back home, but she stabbed you in the back...!"
"Yo! Sophie! What the HELL, girl...?!"
Heads snapped over...
...before a gargled croak of horror escaped the woman who just appeared out of nowhere close to her teammate. Noting the same model cloaks the two were wearing, Junko smirked. "Characters from Worm who are fans of Kingdom Hearts?" she noted as she moved to put a little distance between herself and her sister, bracing herself. "Tōko-chan was right, Mukuro! This place is a damned smörgåsbord of fictional series! So you're on the side of the angels here, Aisha-chan?"
A squawk escaped the newcomer before she whipped off her hood while her friend levelled her remaining crossbow at her target. "Fucking reality warper!" Aisha Laborn snarled as she crouched a bit, glancing out of the side of her eyes at her teammate's wound. Knowing the Master At Arms would ensure the Ultimate Warrior would be properly equipped and supplied to survive all sorts of potential threats on Yiziba, the current incarnation of the Fading Warrior of the North, Lanuto ("Imp"), snorted. "Yeah, I heard how much of a bitch my other-self was. What's it to you, Junko?"
An eyebrow arched in return. "Shouldn't you be home with your mother?"
That made the grey-eyed woman with the curly black hair tense, her eyes flaring. "Oh, you did NOT just go there!" she snarled as she cocked her fists. "Much that I know those kids back on Phentax Two did the right thing, you need to get seriously knocked off your fucking high horse, Enoshima! You really, seriously think people give a shit about your opinions about despair?! You had it GOLDEN, girl!"
"I say kill her and be done with it, Aisha!" Sophia snarled.
"You're welcome to try, Sophia-san," Mukuro warned.
"Cool, Sophia!" Aisha bade, gripping the other woman's upper arm softly to not exacerbate the torn muscle and tendons thanks to the child soldier's bullet. "You busted your ass off to become one of the top models on the planet, Enoshima! I know it couldn't be because you gave out to your managers; you aren't the type! So why throw it all the way by making the whole damned WORLD hate you, huh?!"
"Because I was BORED in the end, Laborn," Junko replied as her eyes flared. "You ever take a chance to sit back and look at society around you? You ever notice how much people drift around from day after day, never using their heads, just punching the ticket on their way to whatever death awaits them in the end? Never caring at all about what's happening around them?" She shook her head. "You're right! I never gave into the damned game others like me did! I didn't care for that because I'd become just like them! And I sure as hell didn't want to become like them! So I stirred the pot a bit...!"
"A 'BIT'?!" Sophia snapped. "How many died in that universe, anyway?!"
"Don't know, don't care!" Junko leered back. "Want to know what I DO care about?!" She pointed to the apartment blocks she and her peers had taken over when they came to Ōmure-jima. "That by the time Miu-chan and Angie-chan were made to feel despair, they turned it into a REALITY TELEVISION SHOW! More entertainment for the stupid masses! That's NOT what I wanted people to see!"
The Americans gaped. "You are seriously FUCKED in the head, girl!" Aisha hissed.
"Fuck this!" Sophia snarled, aiming and firing.
Junko's hand blurred to snare the energy arrow out of the air, giving Mukuro the chance to charge at the Ghost in the Night. As Sophia yelped in shock at the charge by the Ultimate Warrior, the Herald of Cosmic Doom spun around to send the American's arrow at her teammate...
Meanwhile, in Welcome House...
Nesu...RUOMER'BO!
Nesu...RUOMEDAM!
Delighted screams escaped Inoue Tamako and Sŏ Yŏn'i as their sweaty, naked bodies were instantly covered in modern battlesuits. As a panting Moroboshi Ataru gazed upon the two now-former gynoid "field agents" of North Korea, the virtual twins grasped the other person's shoulder as the mixed abilities of the Trouble Twins of the West, Ruome ("Gemini"), settled into their newly-organic flesh and organic brains. As Yŏn'i's former classmate reached over to gently stroke his latest beneficiaries' dark brown hair in a show of comfort, the two gazed into the other's eyes, those orbs glowing as a telepathic bond like nothing that could be forged by the likes of Mizuhara Koyomi of all people was made.
Then again, it was understandable. In their first lives, the Trouble Twins came from an experiment done by scientists in Kutotuto to allow metahuman warriors the chance to develop an unbreakable psionic link that would keep them alive when confronting multiple opponents. That succeeded wildly: Tamako's and Yŏn'i's first selves proved to be quite dangerous opponents, developing a whole host of psychokinetic abilities, low-level FISS powers with great emphasis on super-speed movement and a touch of cosmic clairvoyance to top it all off. It came at a hefty price, however; if one twin was killed, the other would die instantly from the catastrophic shattering of such a deep psionic bond.
"You two okay...?" he gently inquired.
The now-former "field agents" of the DPRK blinked on hearing that concerned question, then they reached to the belt buckles of their gold-trimmed sky blue jumpsuits, tapping the buckles there to allow said jumpsuits to be retracted away from their very beautiful bodies. Setting aside those items of clothing, they instantly attacked him with probing fingers, making Ataru squawk as Tamako and Yŏn'i giggled madly before he tried to push them off. "Oi! Cut it out, you two! That...!" His voice then disintegrated into a storm of helpless laughter as his latest set of lovers moved to snuggle...
...before a knock echoed from the direction of the doorway that led into the dining room, making them stop before they turned to see a tired Roberta Ansaldo standing there, she in a very sexy crimson Chantilly lace babydoll with thong. As the former gynoids tried not to drool on seeing the adopted native of the Eternal City so dressed, the third of the Littorio-class fast battleships approached. "Mi dispiace, Amato, but I'm hearing what sounds like gun shots echoing from somewhere north of here."
He perked. "Gun shots?!"
Immediately, he was on his feet, slipping on a nightshirt as he followed his "fleet flagship" towards her quarters located west of the dining room. As Tamako and Yŏn'i moved to get their own night clothes on so they could see what was happening, Ataru and Roberta reached the small living room shared by the members of his personal "fleet". Currently, Ashikaga Akemi was peering outside, she flanked by the Kumamoto sisters Kiko and Otsune. "What do you guys see?" he asked as people nodded greetings.
"Can't see fucking shit from here whatsoever, Ataru," the quite profane eighth of the Ayanami class destroyers reported as he moved to comfort her from behind, that making her cheeks redden slightly as she sensed his "little admiral" — still quite erect even after giving the two Korean-born gynoids who were his intimate companions for the evening wonderful orgasms if the voice of the Conservator hinted at anything — press into the crack of her buttocks. "Gotta be from the park north of where we parked those kids that bunch from Phentax Two saved from those death trap schools..."
"Mukuro-san?" Chihaya Heather asked.
"Sounds like her pistol," Otsune stated. "But she wouldn't be firing that thing this late at night just to zero in the weapon. The neighbours would complain."
Dramatic pause.
"Fight scene," Ataru breathed out.
"She and Junko-ssi are facing two opponents now, Ataru-ya," Yŏn'i stated as she moved to stand beside Kiko. "Both Miguk-saram by the feel of them." Now that she was "known" to the man who had just given her a totally new life — never mind her being reunited with her brother and sisters — the Korean member of the Terror Twins felt comfortable using both her native honorifics and other terms.
"Checking something now..."
Eyes locked on Chihaya Isabel as she scanned her PAA for a potential update from Hasegawa Chisame's news boards. "Well, whoever it is, they're being rude!" her eldest sister Anne stated, putting fists to hips. "Tamako and Yŏn'i want to spend time expressing their burning love to Ataru!" As the ex-gynoids tried not to laugh at the British-born fast battleship's most-used catch phrase, she wagged her finger. "That matters more than some silly fight, especially after what poor Mukuro, Junko and the others went through before those nice kids Yoiko and Hinako met on Phentax Two saved their lives!"
"Unless Junko-san's the target," Ataru noted.
"Because of what she did back home, Ataru?" Paola de Lerici asked.
"Sì," he answered in Italiana before he sighed. "Isabel, search for all people who've been Gifted from America who are players of Danganronpa," he bade the adopted native of her namesake city in southern Kyūshū. "That should give us a clue as to who's wanting to make all this damned noise."
"Hai, Ataru, right away."
"Onii-chan! What on Earth's going on?"
Everyone turned as Tanenobu Karen came into the living room, having walked in through the main door into her big brother's bedroom. "Karen, can you scan out towards the north end of the island?" Ataru asked as the diplomat's stepdaughter from Odawara tried not to blush madly on seeing how intimately close he was to the Orchid Nova. Echoing his words were the sounds of gunfire.
Karen blinked before her eyes narrowed, gazing northward. After a moment, she sighed. "It's Sophia Hess-san, Onii-chan. Aisha Laborn-san's with her now. Sophia-san's trying to kill Junko-san because she's concerned about what Junko-san did back in her home dimension with the Tragedy and all."
"She's on the list, Ataru," Isabel added.
A tired sigh escaped him. "That hothead...?!" he snarled. "Give me my PAA, someone!" As Catarina von Savoyen raced off to do as he bade, Ataru gazed out the window. "Much that I understand why'd she do that, the idiot should know not to pull any sort of fight scene HERE of all places...!"
The others grimly nodded. While Ōmure-jima was protected from potential probing originating from Tomobiki thanks to extra layers of notice-me-not charms and other defences magical and technological alike shielding the whole of the landmass which were set up over summer vacation by Hirosaki Chikage and Hatoyama Rinrin, something like a GUN FIGHT was more than enough to arouse the attention of locals both on the island and across the waters in Odawara itself. And while the natives of Ōmure-jima were quite clannish when it came to people from the mainland probing into local affairs, all it took was for some idiot ashore to call the police or the media to really put a screw on things...!
Two kilometres north of Welcome House...
"HEY!"
Ikusaba Mukuro and Enoshima Junko deftly dodged in different directions just as bolts of super-heated concussive magic raced down from the heavens to knock them off their feet; such attacks wound up churning soil in the clearing. As the Herald of Cosmic Doom and the Ultimate Warrior looked up, a beautiful crimson-haired, green-eyed amateur model from Brockton Bay dropped to a three-point landing next to her teammates. Like Sophia Hess and Aisha Laborn, Emma Barnes was in the unique black hooded ankle-length cloak modelled on what was worn by members of Organization XIII in the various Kingdom Hearts series of rôle playing games. Underneath that was the gold-lined crimson jumpsuit of the Living Plerion of Sunlight, R'buonie Budur'ba ("Light Guardian"); Mukuro and Junko knew she would be a powerful sorceress whose first-self hailed from the northern polar continent.
"Got you!" the last member to join the Brockton Undersiders snapped as she waved her hands; her other-self whom Taylor Hebert once saw as her best friend never gained metahuman powers before her death during the interdimensional attack unleashed on multiple Earths known to Worm fans as "Gold Morning". That produced a pair of brilliant gold bolts of restraining power to snare the dimensional-displaced alumni of Hope's Peak Academy and bring this mess to an end before someone got really badly hurt or people at Welcome House intervened, especially the shipgirls living there.
Before Junko could use her abilities to block Emma's move to restrain her and her sister — she could sense her fellow model from across the Pacific wanted to bring the fight to the end, not help Sophia kill her — the air around the three Americans seemed to twist and convulse, making those bolts veer off in different directions before zeroing back on the Night Ghost and the Fading Warrior. "Oi! What the FUCK...?!" Sophia yelped as she and Aisha dived clear. "Who's doing that?!"
"That would be me, Hess-san," a new voice called out. "Public or private, ladies?"
"You're welcome to join in, Celestia-san," Mukuro hailed as a lithe form in the black sleeved jumpsuit with the winning uoti gaekuoti hand in traditional bebae over the heart landed by her peers. "Sophia-san wants to kill Junko and Aisha-san came to help. Emma-san is a bit of a surprise, though."
"Oh, that simply won't do!" the Mistress of Chance said as she made a gesture.
Emma squawked as the air around her folded even further, forcing her to cancel her attempts at restraining Celestia Ludenberg's peers to defend herself from the new arrival. That was more than enough for Sophia and Aisha to dodge in opposite directions, giving the former a clear shot right at the author of the Tragedy while the latter moved to knock her sister down to try to settle this before more reinforcements came in. A bolt of energy lashed out at the smirking blonde supermodel, making the Ghost in the Night grin in anticipation as that deadly arrow zeroed right on Junko's face...
...then a pair of fingers snared said arrow right out of mid-air!
"No way...!" Sophia croaked, her dark skin turning quite sallow.
The native of another universe's Machida smirked. "Way!" she teased...
...before the Bay Stater who started this mess howled in horror as she felt something sear right into her head. As she staggered back to slam her back on the large rock that Junko's classmate Ōgami Sakura used to meditate on earlier in the evening, the ultimate fashionista was right in her face. "How different are you from the one that loved to fuck around with Taylor-chan's life, I wonder?" the poverty-born fashion model calmly demanded as she gestured absently with one hand, such causing Sophia's remaining crossbow to be ripped off her gauntlet and sent flying somewhere in the distance.
"GET OFF HER, YOU PSYCHO MANIAC!"
Junko threw up one hand, creating an energy shield to block Aisha from moving to shove her clear from her friend...then she made a back-slap motion, sending the Fading Warrior flying right into a tree close to Mukuro! The veteran of Fenris was on the shuddering invisibility mistress from Brockton Bay in an instant, clamping HARD on the area where the neck connected to the shoulder. Aisha squawked as her eyes widened before she collapsed into a dazed heap, then Mukuro moved to help Celestia...
"THAT'S MY SISTER, YOU FUCKING BITCH!"
Without pause, the child soldier leapt into a series of very complex somersaults to avoid the bolts of ebony magic stabbing down from the hands of the handsome yet lanky teen descending on her from the heavens. As the newcomer's hood flew back to reveal the lantern-like jaw and cornrow-styled hair of Aisha's older brother Brian, he mover to hover close to the moaning Fading Warrior while he summoned magic to overcome Celestia's reality warping fields so he could put down the idiot defending her psychotic sister. "Stay still!" the current incarnation of the Black Pulsar, Rimsekro ("Grue"), snapped as he dropped down between Aisha and Mukuro, all humour gone from his mind as he gestured with his hands to make the ground churn up and knock the reborn urban warfare fighter off her feet...
...just as a finger tapped his shoulder. "Yo, dude! You got a big spider on you!"
A laugh escaped Brian as he shifted around. "Nice try..."
KK-KRACK!
"SAYONARA RIGHT INTO THE CENTRE BLEACHERS!"
People stopped — save for the moaning Sophia and the dazed Aisha — to look...
Junko whooped. "Wahoo! Home run, Leon-kun!"
A delighted laugh escaped Kuwata Leon as he lowered the mesonium-reinforced steel bat he received immediately after his Gifting not a half-hour before as the Demon of the Pitch, Rutotyo'o ("Speedball"), while the now-stunned Brian instantly gained a TONNE of air miles thanks to the super strength-powered underhand swing from the native of another universe's Okazaki near Nagoya. "Oi! Just because I pitch loads better doesn't mean I don't know how to bat, Junko-chan!" the spiky orange-haired would-be musician with the matching goatee declared as he relaxed himself.
"Hit THIS, asshole!"
KK-KRUNCH!
Leon squawked after a black-sleeved arm smashed him down THERE with a handy rock; even if he had the invulnerability to NOT be driven to his knees by such a low blow, it still stung like hell.
Mukuro twisted in mid-air, bearing on target. "Duck, Leon-kun!"
He dove for the deck as Aisha vanished into darkness while bullets soared her way...
Meanwhile, fourteen time zones away (local time: An hour after breakfast)...
Growling as the automated reports coming in over her PAA told her about what was now going down on Promised Island — thanks to the "fight scene alert" functions Elizabeth Wakefield's past-selves built into the design which updated people on things even when there was no conscious input into the various chat lines that supported the Great Show of Life — Taylor Hebert sighed as she tapped controls to send warning signals to her teammates still in country. "Damn you, Sophia...!" the permanently dimension displaced Mistress of the Mindless Legions snarled before steeling herself as icons flashed to acknowledge that those of her team who were still in Massachusetts were paying attention. "Code Red, people!" she called out. "Sophia's just gone and done something REALLY stupid!"
One icon marked LISA WILBOURN/TATTLETALE then flashed...
"She's trying to kill Enoshima Junko!"
Laughter echoed as other icons flashed; both Taylor and her second in command said that together. While Taylor allowed herself a brief smile at her friend's replicating Isaac Thomas' "Your next line is..." trick, the Collapsar of Knowledge added, "I suspected Sophia might pull something like this, people. Given how shocked she was on hearing Enoshima's name at Saturday's meeting, it was a no-brainer. Still, given what Enoshima was Gifted as, one would HOPE that Sophia would have ASKED for help...!"
"By the looks of it, she got some already there, Lisa," a new voice cut in, that echoed by the icon VICTORIA DALLON/GLORY GIRL flashing. "Brian, Aisha and Emma are already on the island, Taylor. Enoshima's got her sister, Ludenberg and Kuwata backing her up now...!"
"Ouch!" came from another person, the icon CHRIS CULLEN/DOCTOR WIN flashing in echo. "I thought Leon was a pitching expert, for God's sake! He hit Brian with a freaking baseball bat?!"
"Agreed, that is surprising," Taylor noted. "Still, Sophia's actions starting this on Tariko's damned FRONT LAWN should be our main focus right now." As moans echoed from her teammates, the high-level psychic pinched the bridge of her nose. "She's hotheaded; we all know that. She probably thought she could catch Enoshima off guard to put her down. Since she can't do that now thanks to Ikusaba being there to watch her sister's back, she'll go all out to see to it Enoshima goes down."
"Even at risk of her own life," Lisa Wilbourn warned.
A moan escaped the current incarnation of the Genius of Upgrades, Takro Erba ("Doctor Win"). "Man, it's no wonder people where you came from HATED working with Sophia's other-self, Taylor." As Taylor smirked in understanding, Chris Cullen added, "Soon as she gets enough head of steam, she's willing to smash her skull through a block of solid neutronium if it helps her win the damned fight!"
"Ditto with my other-self," came from Carlos Garcia, now the Regenerating Strongman, Lo'or'belom ("Aegis"). "Hell, there have been times HERE that she's gone totally off the rails...!"
The sounds of knuckles being cracked then echoed over the communications links. "Still, if the others are taking on two freaking reality warpers in Enoshima and Ludenberg — plus someone who could go toe-to-toe with Rosarita Cisneros of all people in Enoshima's sister! — we'd better get over there to help out," Victoria Dallon advised. "I'd love to see some of these people in action to learn what's the what about them, but this sure as hell ain't the right time OR the right place for that!"
"Yeah! HOW many shipgirls are with Tariko's brother now?!" Chris demanded.
Suddenly, a new icon appeared, making Taylor cringe. "Oh, shit...!" the Mistress of the Mindless Legions hissed on reading the name. Shaking her head, she tapped it. "Hello, Ataru."
"Taylor-san, WHAT is going on?" Moroboshi Ataru asked in a calm voice that belied how angry he was. "Much that I understand Sophia-san has a major issue with impulse control — and does have a right to be concerned because Junko-san is now living with us — we all would like to get our SLEEP!"
Rueful laughter escaped the other Undersiders. "She probably feels she could take Enoshima down while she wasn't looking, Ataru," Lisa answered for her team leader.
"That clearly didn't work, Lisa-san," Tanenobu Karen cut in as her own icon appeared on Taylor's communications screen, which was followed by icons marking many other people moving to listen in. Each of them having either a hull classification code or a pennant number beside their old warship names; seeing THAT made Taylor's heart sink quickly. "Right now, Junko-san is giving Sophia-san a nice dose of despair, Emma-san's having a lot of problems dealing with Celestia-san and Leon-san and Mukuro-san are teaming up to put down Aisha-san. Hiromi-onēchan and Shinobu-san will have to deal with Brian-san thanks to Leon-san sending him on a home run flight right into Tomobiki!"
Taylor winced. "Please deal with this, Taylor-san," Ataru sternly declared in a voice that would have his former classmates babble that the world was coming to an end. "Or I WILL deal with it!"
The links were cut with Japan. "Oh, shit...!" Chris hissed out. "He's pissed!"
"Dude just got finished helping Gift that spy 'droid that was in his class!" Carlos advised. "Not to mention the 'droid modelled after the girl the North Koreans kidnapped shortly after the rich idiot joined that class in January! Yeah, he's got a right to be pretty pissed at that...!"
Even more rueful chuckles escaped the others. "What's the mission plan, Taylor?" Lisa asked.
"We go in to save Sophia," the dimension-displaced leader of the Undersiders announced. "If we fight the Bullet Deniers, don't go all out and don't let it spread beyond that park at the north end of the island. TRY to calm things down before they escalate. These people just came out of being made to KILL EACH OTHER just to get out of those schools, remember?!" As gulps escaped some of the people listening in, Taylor rose to put on her black cloak. "I'm worried about Enoshima, but the others have the potential to be allies in the future. Even more, I'm sure her peers and the others will be glad to help keep Enoshima in line. That should be enough to stop Sophia from pulling this stunt again."
Responses came from the others before the other Undersiders cut the links to indicate they were moving to teleport to Ōmure-jima. Shaking her head, Taylor noted her adopted mother Annette Hebert standing at the doorway to her bedroom. "Sorry, Mom!" she said as she walked over to embrace the woman who had lost her daughter to a bus crash...then effectively got her back thanks to a near-apocalypse in another dimension. "Got to go stop Sophia from getting herself killed AGAIN!"
"You've never let your friends down either here or back where you came from," the English literary professor who had tenure at Boston University stated as she squeezed the younger woman's shoulders. "Still, if this Enoshima Junko person is like what that Danganronpa video game described her as..."
Taylor smiled as she kissed her mother's cheek. Ever since she was Gifted to ensure she could survive in this vastly different world from the one she was born in, she established a team from dimensional counterparts of people she had known back on Earth-Bet. In doing so, she ended up fighting counterparts of many of the same people she had faced back in the dimension of her birth.
Helping her as she carried out her "public service duties" in this universe was her experience in dealing with threats back in her home dimension. She had survived nearly being killed by the leader of an organization which had been dedicated to stopping an eldritch abomination. She understood why she had been targeted by Contessa in the first place; the woman had been forced in the past to deal with other paranormals like Taylor whose powers went totally out of control, driving people crazy. Still, in a weird sense of the term, she actually owed that woman a bit of thanks; hadn't Contessa done what she did in the end, Taylor would never have been transported into this dimension, reformed a family, gained even greater metahuman powers — with the accumulated memories of many LIFETIMES in those powers' use added to boot! — and built a much better life for herself and those she cared for.
Still, she hoped one day to return to her birth dimension, just to ensure all was peaceful...
...and maybe deliver a smackdown or three on Contessa.
Taylor had her pride, after all.
But that was for later.
Now, she had to do what she did best:
Be a hero.
"Be safe, please," Annette advised as she gave her daughter a warm squeeze. "I'll let your father know what's going on. Still..." she sighed as she pulled away. "Try and RELAX for a few days! Things are going to go totally crazy by Thursday night if what you told me about what's going on in Japan is true. Even if Tariko and her friends have long prepared for that day, things can still go wrong."
A daring smirk answered her. "Will do, Mom!"
And in a flash of teleportation energies, the leader of the Undersiders was many time zones away. Watching her go, the professor hugged herself. You must be happy for your other-self, Taylor, she thought as she headed downstairs. You gave up your life to let her have a happy ending after all she went through on that other Earth. Sure, I worry about her...but I know she'll be fine.
She saved her WORLD, after all...
Fifty-five kilometres north-northeast of Ōmure-jima, a half-hour before midnight...
"Ouch...!"
For Brian Laborn, this certainly wasn't the WORST Monday morning he had in a while.
It was getting there, though...
Being hit by a freaking BASEBALL BAT of all things, then sent flying at near-sonic speeds away from where his sister and her friends were trying to put down a nutcase of a fashion model from another dimension of all things...to smack back-first right into the roof of a rather tall skyscraper!
While he was grateful that his battlesuit was modified by Chris Cullen to project a special defensive field to prevent him suffering body damage from high-speed impacts — something that was needed in a place like Brockton Bay, where there was a larger amount of FISS-types who were more than happy to exercise their muscles, especially against faces — the fact that he had flown much farther thanks to what had to be Kuwata Leon was definitely NOT welcome, especially at THIS particular time.
Damn! I thought Kuwata was some sort of super ace pitcher! the Black Pulsar grunted as he tried to pick himself up, surprised to note the concrete roof of wherever he had smashed into hadn't cracked that much. That hit could have outdone Oscar Charleston ten ways from freaking Sunday...!
Footsteps made him pause before he looked to his left...
...just as a VERY sharp katana hovered right before his nose.
"Fu-fu-fu-fu-fu...ya scared?"
A moan escaped him as he laid back, finding himself staring into the face of a tough tomboyish girl with shaggy purple-fringed black hair and golden-brown eyes, the left one being under a black patch. Being as she was no doubt on a standing patrol to ensure the alien bastards living in this crazy town didn't get uppity, the adopted native of Okaya near Nagano and Yokosuka was in her black traditional jumpsuit. "Good morning, Captain Shimosuwa," Brian greeted as he held up his hands in a show of surrender; with the way Shimosuwa Tamiyo could get at times, it was just being very prudent. "Sorry about this..."
"Brian-san."
Hearing his name with the honorific made the Bay Stater relax even more. Tariko Katabarbe didn't normally care for honorifics unless she was addressing a girl. "Hey, Hiromi...sorry about this..."
Footfalls heralded the arrival of the Swift Morpher in her jumpsuit, who was now gazing upon the Black Pulsar with a veiled amused stare. "I hope to Heaven you were trying to stop what's going on down on the island now, Brian-san," Moroboshi Hiromi stated in an eerie calm voice. "Do you have any IDEA what could happen if certain parties saw that someone who is clearly a Yizibajohei is on Earth?"
An embarrassed chuckle answered her. "Y-yeah, well..."
"Do you want me to go down there, Hiromi?"
Blinking at that unknown voice, Brian turned...
...then he tried not to openly wince on seeing someone neither Tariko nor her other-self/twin brother really wanted to deal with approach, she dressed now in the red-and-gold flame-trimmed black traditional jumpsuit of the Eternal Titaness of Life, R'belim R'beruo ("Prometheús"). That was more than understandable. Never mind that Miyake Shinobu of all people — who had quite the reputation of flying off the handle for some of the dumbest of reasons if her sense of propriety was offended even slightly — was now Gifted, it was what she had become. The reborn priestess of lost Tiritetuto on the south shore of the western equatorial continent was one of the few true masters of ebony-form mesonium, which she would normally project in a dark burning flame that could destroy almost anything conceivable, even objects forged of neutronium! Because of that, the various incarnations of Prometheús often leaned from pure heels to anti-heels over the years. And while Moroboshi Ataru's former girlfriend was quite a devout Catholic when she didn't have to deal with the alien fools being here, the several months she faced the wrath of her ex-boyfriend and those who fell in on his side wouldn't have left much of a good impression on her when it came to Yizibajohei in general.
Unless Ataru's film twin that normally held the fort here had done something...
"No," Hiromi bade as she turned to tenderly cup the other woman's chin. "Much that you do need to burn off some of that post-Gifting shock, you might as well save it for the morning after Rupa-san removes his fiancée from town." She gazed on the reborn light cruiser who was literally atop the Black Pulsar after he crash-landed; no doubt, this was the roof of the Toranoseishin Finances Tower in downtown Tomobiki. "Tamiyo-san, would you escort Brian-san back to Ōmure-jima, then get an idea of what's going on? I doubt Onii-san is going to be in a good mood given he'll be busy with Tamako-san and Yŏn'i-san ensuring they're Gifted and made organic. Come back here when you can."
"Hai!" Tamiyo said as she gave the Swift Morpher a jaunty salute.
As the two teenage girls headed downstairs, Brian was pulled back up to his feet. "Damn!" he moaned. "Glad it wasn't Tariko I bumped into after that Leon guy hit me like that...!"
KK-KRUNCH!
A moan escaped him after he had been smashed face-first into the roof by a cinder block!
"I think she heard you, pal," Tamiyo calmly noted.
A pained grunt escaped the Black Pulsar...
Back on Ōmure-jima...
"Excuse me, Miss Enoshima! She may be a hard ass, but she's OUR hard ass!"
Enoshima Junko perked before she turned...
...then a pained squawk escaped her thanks to an armoured foot smashing her in her cheek, sending the poverty-born fashion model flying away from the very dazed Sophia Hess to skid several metres along the topsoil before she smacked head-first into another large rock like the one the Ghost of the Night was leaning against. Before the matter-phaser could shake her head clear, whistling noises heralded the arrival of small packages that affixed themselves to her gauntlets before morphing into fully-functional crossbows. Seeing that, she nodded her thanks as a man her age in an armoured suit similar to Iron Man's — save for an exposed lower face — landed next to her. Instantly, fields of warped air appeared around the newcomer as a growling snarl escaped the Herald of Cosmic Doom.
"YOU — ARE — SO — DEAD!" the bruised Junko shrilled as she rolled to her feet.
Bolts of concentrated energy lashed out from her hands right at Chris Cullen. Smirking, the technokinetic allowed his battlesuit's defences to merge several of the shields that had formed around him, they absorbing the reality warper's attack as more fields formed in mid-air. Junko shrieked as she felt the torrents of emotion-charged energy race back at her — no doubt, the bastard that just nicely bruised her face was using some space warps to force her attacks back her way — then she teleported clear, said bolts of energy colliding to disintegrate into harmless nothingness.
"Dance, buddy!" the native of another universe's Machida bade.
As Sophia dodged clear to rearm herself before finally putting the psycho bitch down and ending this insane fight, Chris cried out as the ground under him erupted, forcing him to take flight using the repulsor lifts in his gauntlets and boots. "Knock it off, Enoshima!" the Genius of Upgrades snapped as he sent back twin pulse bolts to stun the fashion model, hoping that his friend hadn't recovered enough to turn this fight scene up into one to the death...as was often Sophia's want at times.
Sadly, the darker-skinned woman disappointed him...
...even if the author of the Tragedy was far more capable of dealing with that.
A fusillade of shadow arrows were sent Junko's way by the Night Ghost as her friend poured it on with his own attack. To Chris' increasing frustration and Sophia's growing apocalyptic rage, Junko summoned her own spacial warps to ensure she stayed unharmed...
...though other members of the Undersiders didn't fare so good.
Both Aisha Laborn and Emma Barnes screamed as warps appeared behind them, allowing a mixture of energy blasts and shadow arrows to slam into them. Ikusaba Mukuro and Celestia Ludenberg nodded — the latter clearly quite surprised by the actions of her peer — as their opponents collapsed onto the ground, quite dazed by such an attack. Meanwhile, Kuwata Leon then reared back before sending his enhanced baseball bat twirling at Chris. Said projectile slammed into the technokinetic's side at near-sonic speeds, making him grunt from that strength-enhanced blow, forcing the Upgrade Genius to split his attacks on both the ultimate fashionista/mistress of despair and the ultimate pitcher/poet.
Seeing that, the Night Ghost phased herself out in hopes of closing the range on her ultimate target...
...before she was caught by a bubble of energy and elevated into the sky. "HEY!"
"I'm sorry, Sophia-san! I can't let you do that!"
Heads snapped over...
"Oh, hell! HE became THAT?!" Chris exclaimed.
The people from another dimension looked over...
"MAKOTO?!"/"MAKOTO-KUN?!"/"NAEGI?!"/"NAEGI-SAN?!"
Standing at the tree line to the east of the current battleground was a shaggy-haired native of another universe's Chiyoda Ward in Tōkyō proper, he dressed in an orange-red traditional jumpsuit with dark red belt and boots, the symbol of a sailing ship over his heart. Noting Naegi Makoto hadn't come alone — his old classmate Maizono Sayaka was standing to his left rear, a very determined look on the pop singer's face — Chris shuddered as it fully registered into his mind what the ultimate lucky student had been just Gifted as: The Travelling Angel of Fortune, Tyuo'omsu ("Bonaventure").
Crap! That makes THREE reality warpers! the Genius of Upgrades thought. What the HELL was Millennium thinking of, giving THAT much power to THIS crazy bunch?!
"Sayaka-chan?!"
"Hai, Makoto-kun!"
Chris gaped as the ultimate idol leapt into the air, her civilian clothes morphing into a halter top-and-long skirt-type uniform similar to the one normally worn by Sukeyama Sakuya, though it was a glittering silver-gold shade. As part of him hoped the Healer of Men's Hearts and her sisters were NOT on their way to deal with this mess — Chris knew Tariko Katabarbe did not care for ANY sort of metahuman battles being fought close to her family — he was quick to note what the native of another universe's Kurashiki near Hiroshima was: The Phantom Superstar, Doluo ("Eídōlon"). Before he remembered what she was empowered to do, the ultimate idol phased into the bubble now restraining Sophia Hess, then Sayaka snared her with a full nelson hold before her fingertips landed on the dark-skinned woman's face. "Now settle down, Sophia-san!" the invisibility mistress/empath declared, her voice warbling in a perfect hypnotic pitch that — thanks also to her Avalonian-descent touch telepathic abilities — would literally ram into the Night Ghost's mind with the force of a runaway missile!
"Sorry, cutie! Can't let you do that!"
Sayaka jolted before she vanished just as Makoto's restraint bubble faded...
...thus allowing Sophia to be hit HARD in the back by twin empathic blasts thanks to the just-arrived Dean Stansfield! "SHIT!" the current incarnation of the Soul-Charger, Yotammem ("Gallant"), snapped on seeing that his attack had struck the wrong person, then he lunged over to catch his teammate before she made a most undignified landing head-first on a nearby rock.
Someone got to her first.
"LEAVE ONII-CHAN'S FRIENDS ALONE, YOU CREEP!"
The American stopped before he careened right into Makoto's sister Komaru, who had appeared out of nowhere to catch the falling Sophie; she had been teleported in by her brother. Allowing her body to absorb the impact of the larger girl running into her, the newcomer somersaulted back-first before coming to a soft landing near where Junko was standing. Before either men could react, the survivor of the Demon Hunting Game grabbed the stunned Sophia by her face, allowing her powers as the Forcer of Eternal Sleep, Kumkro ("Śpiączka"), to effectively finish what Makoto's old classmate started.
"There!" the huffing high school freshman said as she wiped her brow clear; that had been the first big use of her abilities after allowing herself to be Gifted in the wake of Makoto and Sayaka empowering themselves. As Sayaka appeared next to her while Makoto dropped his holding bubble on Chris and Leon jogged over to keep close guard on the younger girl, the girl derisively nicknamed "Slowpokemaru" by the members of the Warriors of Hope glared at the Genius of Upgrades. "What on Earth set THIS baka off in the first place, Cullen-san?!" she demanded, pointing at Sophia. "Just because Junko-sempai was a heel back home doesn't mean she'll be that way here, you know!"
Chris moaned as Junko found herself blushing before she perked as her sister came over to squeeze her shoulder in emphasis. "Try telling HER that, Miss Naegi!" he complained as he moved to land on the ground nearby, waving to the now peacefully-sleeping Sophia. Deep down, he was glad that Makoto's sister hadn't used her coma-inducing psionic abilities to their fullest possible extent, which could drive someone totally insane from the complete loss of all tactile feeling.
"In other words, Cullen-san, you're saying that Hess-san is as much a loose cannon here as she was depicted in Worm?" a strange voice then challenged from nearby.
People perked, then they turned...
"Oh, hell..." Dean hissed.
...just as Kirigiri Kyōko stepped into the light, she now in a dark grey traditional jumpsuit with hooded demi-cape, such trimmed in black with pouch-lined black belt and boots, a lighter grey eye-and-crossed quills insignia over her heart. This marked her as the newest incarnation of the Seeker of Truth, Kumkuo ("Investigatrice"). Both Americans knew that Gift gave the daughter of the headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy telepathic and empathic abilities matched to considerable experience in detective work from before and after the Dawn of Power; the silver-haired ultimate detective had been a front-line police inspector from the Kingdom of Tatogututo off the shores of the western equatorial continent in her first life. And given she had to have updated herself on the Undersiders...!
"Um...good evening, Miss Kirigiri," Chris greeted with a pleasant nod.
Kyōko returned that with her own nod. "Cullen-san. Stansfield-san," she curtly replied. "Much that we all do understand people's concerns when it comes to Enoshima-san, there is such a thing as the Battlezone. I doubt the good people here on Ōmure-jima would appreciate having their evening disturbed this way, especially NOW of all times." She gazed at the dozing Sophia by the feet of her peer's younger sister, she reaching out with her mind to scan the unconscious matter-phaser's brain before she sighed, shaking her head. "Naegi-san, teleport the idiot home, please?" she then asked...
...before the sound of someone flying down at supersonic speeds made people's heads snap up.
"SHIT! MOVE, PEOPLE!" Chris screamed out.
Everyone dodged away from where Junko and Komaru were standing as the Herald of Cosmic Doom lunged over to grab the Forcer of Eternal Sleep in her arms, then teleport themselves clear...
...just before a streak of black, white and blonde ripped down to smash HARD into the ground, sending the still-unconscious Sophie flying body-first into a nearby rock while dirt and shattered stone exploded outward, forcing people to dive for the deck, they covering their heads protectively!
One particular piece soared off right for Welcome House...
Inside Welcome House, seconds later...
The sound of a LOT of water being punched right out of the swimming pool behind the commons of the hostel instantly made lights everywhere snap on as people looked outside to see what just happened.
For the many shipgirls that lived in the commons itself, it was clearly obvious what was going on.
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Akiyama Tokina, the reborn THG Akizuki, first of her class of air defence destroyers often nicknamed the "Duckies" thanks to one way of Romanizing her ship name, shrieked.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, ANYWAY?!" Hamamoto Umeko, the reborn THG Umikaze, shrilled as her older sister Kodachi leapt through the hallway window to approach the wildly churning swimming pool and investigate. "SOME SORT OF BOMB ATTACK?! ARE WE AT WAR?!"
"CALM DOWN, PEOPLE!" Fukushima Fujiko barked.
"It's a big rock, poi!"
People comically blinked as Umeko's older sister leapt into the much-emptier pool to pick up a rather large hunk of rock that had splashed into the deep end before she tossed it off to the southwest into the deeper waters of Sagami Bay. "Okay, who's throwing rocks around at this time of night?!" Kisaragi Nozomi demanded as she put her fists to her hips. "People want to SLEEP...!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HIME'S KITCHEN!"
People froze wide-eyed at that shriek, then the destroyers spilled out the windows, flying as fast as they could to the area close to the new dining hall before they gazed at the kitchen in the old rotunda...
...which now had a nice-sized HOLE where the stove and the refrigerator once stood!
As many people gasped while rapid footfalls heralded the move of many of the sisters to see what the hell was going on — much less comfort a wide-eyed and stunned Osamu Shirayuki, who looked ready to keel over from heart failure on seeing her beloved sanctum sanctorum damaged this way — two reborn destroyers gaped at the sight of what, to them, was the Holy of All Holies SULLIED in this manner.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"DAI-ROKUJŪICHI KUCHIKU-TAI! SHUTSUGEKI DESU!"
Everyone awked as Tokina and her sister Motoko — the reborn THG Hatsuzuki, fourth of her class — rocketed into the air, knocking everyone else over by the back blast of their near-sonic takeoffs as they arced north immediately; it hadn't take any of the reborn destroyers long to determine where said projectile came from. "OI! TOKINA-SAN! MOTOKO-SAN! COME BACK HERE!" Fujiko shrilled.
"A-RI-RI?!"
"Uh-oh...!" Fujiko's sister Hatsue hissed.
Others winced as they imagined what was now going through Saeru Hinako's head...
The waterfront of Kitakyūshū overlooking the Kanmon Strait (five hundred kilometres south of west from Ōmure-jima), that moment...
Tene lomher'buo, Momotani Yaeko...Akiyama Suzumi...Fukuyama Furui...
Hearing the booming voice of the great kami that got involved in the salvage and transformation of HUNDREDS of warship kami into living human beings — as known by many sailors and other people associated with the sea worldwide — the elderly fisherman manning his family trawler now making his way east through the passage separating Kyūshū from Honshū looked south. Blinking as he focused on the grounds where the buildings of the local OCC Metalworks overlooking the harbour were located, he hummed as the ground leading out to a concrete breakwater glowed that silver-reddish shade that first came to public notice when the world's most famous warship salvaged herself in late August.
"Well, it's about time that happened..." he calmly mused before puffing his pipe.
On shore, the ground literally heaved and transformed, allowing the hulls of three destroyers that survived the Greater East Asia War to rise from their burial places. Flashes of energy zooming in from multiple directions soon saw weapons and other vital equipment rebuilt to pristine condition properly restored to place on the superstructures of the fourth of the Momo-class destroyers built near the end of the Great War, plus the third of the Akizuki-class air defence destroyers and the first of the follow-on Fuyutsuki-class — who were effective repeats of the previous group — as their whole hulls glowed with brilliant light to turn the foggy evening into a misty mid-day close to the waterfront of the old town of Wakamatsu. Sure enough, tiny flashes of light indicative of cell phone cameras taking snapshots of such an incredible event happening...just as beautiful women's voices echoed through the air.
Gomen nasai, minna-san...Akizuki-onēsan's needing me...!
You're not going without me, Onē-sama...!
Hmpth! Much better than just lying here doing nothing...!
And sure enough, it happened...
Nesu...NASOHA!
Nesu...SUODATE!
Nesu...KUODATE!
Instantly, the rebuilt destroyer hulls literally collapsed as if invisible giants crushed them, all that steel melting into the forms of very pretty teenage girls while the back blast of so much energy being expended to transform 8,618 tonnes of naval warship into living, breathing human beings dispersed the late evening fog that had descent over the area. Humming, the fisherman raised his own binoculars to take a look, then he nodded in approval on seeing one fiery girl with crimson hair in short shaggy twintails, one graceful teen with long silver hair partially held down by a black bandana and one childish woman with very long brunette hair; the first was in the sleeved martial arts gi-like uniform worn by the famous seventh carrier of Operation Z while the other two were in form-fitting sleeveless jumpsuits.
As the newly-transformed destroyers Yanagi, Suzutsuki and Fuyutsuki raced off to the east towards Tōkyō, the fisherman placed the binoculars down before he moved to guide his vessel to its dock.
"Good to have more of those kids back..."
Back on Ōmure-jima...
Silence had fallen — save for some distant shouting escaping the homes of those who lived near the park at the north end of the reclaimed lands — while the people who were in the park (save the unconscious Sophia Hess, of course) gazed warily at the rather BIG crater that had been dug into the ground right to the supportive mixture of concrete and bedrock put into place to support the extra land decades before by the Americans' legendary "Seabees" naval construction battalions. A grunting Naegi Makoto got up, then gingerly hopped over some rocks to peer inside that hole, blinking for a moment before he sighed. "Are you alright, Victoria-san?" he called out as he thrust his hand out.
As others got back up, a moaning Victoria Dallon was levitated out of the rather large impact crater she made before being shifted closer to where Dean Stansfield was standing. "VICKI!" the current incarnation of the Soul-Charger yelled as he raced over to gently cradle his girlfriend before wincing on seeing the beautiful blonde's pretty blue eyes spiralling wildly, no doubt thanks to the defensive fields that two of Tariko Katabarbe's younger sisters had set up around the island; in lieu of teleporting onto Ōmure-jima via PAA, the current incarnation of the Fighting Belle of Victory, Yuotuo Bolem ("Glory Girl"), had physically flown over the Pacific to help her teammates deal with the Bullet Deniers.
"Move!"
He looked up, then instantly backed off on recognizing the woman moving to examine the dazed high-end FISS-type. As the others started to relax on seeing that the ultimate nurse from the "B" side of the 77th Class of Hope's Peak Academy was on the scene — it was seen as VERY verboten to attack a healer of any type on Yiziba! — the newly-gifted Angel of the Cockpit, Yayuo ("Nightingale"), placed her hand on the panting Victoria's chest. As flashes of teleportation energy indicated other members of the Brockton Bay Undersiders were arriving on scene — that accompanied by the whoosh of air heralding the arrival of Brian Laborn thanks to Shimosuwa Tamiyo carrying him over from Tomobiki — Taylor Hebert and Lisa Wilbourn raced over to kneel to either side of the worried Dean.
"Is she alright, Miss Tsumiki?" the Collapsar of Knowledge demanded.
A smile responded from Tsumiki Mikan as the moaning Victoria slipped into a restful sleep. "Just some nerve shock after she punched through all the force fields Chikage-san and Rinrin-chan put up around the island, Lisa-san," the native of another universe's Bunkyō Ward in Tōkyō proper answered. "It's a good thing that Mukuro-san warned me about those defences just in case someone was stupid enough to try to fly through them! All she needs is a good night sleep and some food into her...!"
"Food...!"
Everyone jolted on hearing that hissing voice with its powerful mixture of Kansai and Tagalog accents before they turned to look towards the end of Centre Street...
...then everyone — even the reality warpers in the park — paled with understandable terror on seeing two ANGRY reborn destroyers glaring with undisguised, misty-eyed righteous FURY at the unconscious Fighting Belle of Victory now in the arms of a sheet-white Soul-Charger. As the locals instantly focused on the kanji 秋月 and 初月 emblazoned on the two newcomers' upper chests, the reborn air defence destroyers now known on Yiziba as the Moon Dancer of Autumn, R'bodate ("Akizuki"), and the Shiny Moon of Mid-Summer, Rudate ("Hatsuzuki"), clenched their fists in preparation for some action.
"Oh, fuck me...!" Kuwata Leon croaked.
"Food...?!" escaped Akiyama Tokina while her sister Motoko raised her hands to loudly crack her knuckles in anticipation of a very cathartic battle. "Have you stupid gaijin any IDEA of the horrible, unspeakable CRIME you allowed to have happen because one of you is completely SHINIGURI?!" Ignoring the winces from everyone on hearing the adopted native of Maizuru declare that the Ghost of the Night was "death-crazed" like a samurai of old who was determined to die in battle for his lord — in Yizibajohei terms, Sophia had simply become too "fight scene happy" to ultimately save — the pretty woman with her raven hair tied in a high ponytail dramatically pointed behind her towards Welcome House, her blue eyes now awash with tears that made all the Americans present wince.
"YOU — DESTROYED — SHIRAYUKI- — SAMA'S — KITCHEN!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Uh, guys...!" Tamiyo spoke up. "Want some quick advice?"
The Mistress of the Mindless Legions gulped. "Y-yes, Captain...?"
Dramatic pause.
"Run like hell," the reborn light cruiser flatly advised.
On hearing that, Enoshima Junko cackled as she felt huge chasms of doom flood the hearts of the conscious Americans as several moved to wave their hands in a peaceful gesture. "Oh, the sheer despair...!" the Herald of Cosmic Doom hissed out as her eyes glowed ominously. "Bring it ON...!"
Makoto moaned before he snapped his fingers.
"HUH?! HEY! WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON HERE?!"
As heads snapped over to see a confused yet conscious and alert Sophia sitting up, Junko spun around to glare in outrage at her fellow reality warper. "MAKOTO!" she shrilled in outrage.
"Knock it off, Junko-san!" the Travelling Angel of Fortune snapped, surprising everyone by the force in his voice as he marched over to glare directly into the taller woman's eyes. "You remember what the sisters warned us about when it comes to Tokina-san and Motoko-san, don't you?!"
The Herald of Cosmic Doom blinked before she gargled as she turned to stare at the Akiyama sisters, both of whom now had HUGE battle ki auras that were creating much brighter light than the nearby street lamps on Centre Street. As the two destroyers began a slow, deliberate advance — with Tokina moving on Sophie and Motoko approaching Victoria — the minds of those who had read notes about shipgirls instantly recalled what Moroboshi Ataru himself wrote about them...
...being warships that were commissioned after the Battle of Midway and the commencement of unrestricted submarine warfare against all forms of supply by sea, Tokina-san and Motoko-san — and most likely their sisters when they finally chose to join us — were BADLY affected by the sheer SHORTAGES of food that befell even the crews of Imperial Navy ships in that time period.
As soon as Hinako-chan brought them and the others from Cape Engaño to Welcome House, they PANICKED at the idea of eating the meals Shirayuki-chan made them, believing it proper to SHARE their meals with everyone! Once they got used to the idea they didn't have to live on "short rations" as their crews did back in the war, they fell totally in love with ANYTHING Shirayuki-chan made; seeing them driven to TEARS over even the simple stuff is now quite common with them.
I shudder to think of what might happen if Shirayuki-chan got hurt or her kitchen got wrecked...
"Um, Sophie..."
"Huh?!" Sophie dumbly asked. "What is it, Taylor?!"
"You're really on your own right now," Taylor calmly advised.
"WHAT...?!"
The Ghost of the Night gargled as a black-gloved hand snared her by the neck, yanking her off the ground with the force of a steel vise. "HEY! LET GO, YOU CRAZY BITCH!" the matter-phaser howled before she moved to shift her atoms to get clear of Tokina's very harsh grip...
...only to get an up-front and very PAINFUL experience of dealing with any reborn warship who — thanks to their very ship name — was spiritually touched by the Moon...!
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH...!"
Everyone winced as the Moon Dancer unleashed a tsunami of pure energy into the American's body, causing Sophia's hair to stand on end like she was being zapped thanks to Redet Lum's bio-electricity. Seeing that, Dean panicked before sending two hard bolts of energy right into Tokina...only to have her younger sister mentally REFLECT that back at his unconscious girlfriend. That woke Victoria up quite quickly...though since Dean was trying to calm the two rampaging adopted natives of Maizuru down, all that did was to deliver the Fighting Belle into a very euphoric state. "Oh, my...what pretty stars...!"
As Tamiyo moved to grab the snarling Motoko before the latter pounded the poor woman into paste and Tokina contemptuously tossed the nicely-roasted Sophia aside, a voice then bellowed out...
"HEY! WHY CAN'T HINA GET SOME SLEEP?!"
EVERYONE jolted on feeling a VERY intensive wave of empathic power rip through their bodies like a relentless tide from the direction of the end of Centre Street. As people instantly felt themselves calm down from the insane worries rocking them, Junko shrieked in agony before she dropped into a fetal position on the ground, nonsensical babble escaping the poverty-born fashion model thanks to that sheer overload of pure innocence literally sucking away the power she gained thanks to everyone's despair due to the arrival of the Akiyama sisters. Silence then fell before people turned to look...
...then most of them winced as shards of sheer GUILT ripped up their spines on seeing the Spirit of Innocence now standing there in her PYJAMAS — with her two pretty child gynoid friends from North Korea standing protectively close to her — as she glared intently at them, arms crossed.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"Okay...who started this silly stuff that woke Hina up from a good dream?!" Saeru Hinako asked.
Fingers from BOTH the Bullet Deniers and the Undersiders pointed at the stunned Sophia. Grunting, Hinako marched over to kneel beside the moaning matter-phaser, then she reached over to pinch the woman's earlobe, causing the American to shriek as her eyes opened wide. "HEY! LEGGO...!"
Her voice was cut off like a falling guillotine as a pair of very expressive amethyst eyes on a face that was twisted into a show of VERY profound childish annoyance focused directly on her. "Ah...!" she began before a gulp surged up her throat, the anger that had driven her all this day instantly vaporizing in the presence of the very powerful cosmic empath from Niigata. "Uh, y-yo! Hey, Hinako...!"
"Sophie-san..." Hinako began. "Why are you starting a silly fight in the middle of the NIGHT?"
A sallow look crossed the Night Ghost's face. "Um...I was trying to kill Junko."
Much to everyone's surprise, that didn't make the younger girl even blink. "Why?"
A shrug answered her as Hinako let the Bay Stater go. "Because she could start the Tragedy here, of course!" Sophia complained. "You want someone like that living close to you, Hinako?!"
"Um...Sophie, you better look over there."
Hearing Lisa's voice, Sophie gazed on the Collapsar of Knowledge, then looked over...
...before her jaw dropped on seeing a piteously moaning Herald of Cosmic Doom babbling a tonne of barely comprehensible nonsense while her eyes spiralled in pain. As Mikan headed over to examine the dazed reality warper, Hinako nodded. "Hina can take care of Junko-san, Sophie-san," she stated as she stood up. "Now, you and your friends GO HOME!" she said as she wagged her finger at the Night Ghost. "Hina's now got to stay up to calm Tokina-san and Motoko-san down after Victoria-san made that rock wreck Shirayuki-chan's kitchen..." — here, she heard a yelp of horror escaped Victoria at that statement — "...and that'll make Hina TIRED when she's got SCHOOL tomorrow! NOW, SHOO!"
The Americans winced as another burst of empathic energy washed over them, that making Junko moan even more before people vanished in flashes of PAA energy. As the people who had been brought here from another dimension breathed out in relief, a teary-eyed Motoko looked over. "Hinako-chan...!"
"Oh, honestly, Hatsuzuki! There's no need to worry about starving!"
People instantly looked up...
"Huh?! Suzumi-san! Furui-san! Yaeko-san! What are you doing here?!" Hinako demanded.
In a gust of wind that knocked a lot of people over by the sheer force of the back blast, the three most recently-reborn shipgirls of the Imperial Navy were in the empath's face. "Are you the admiral?!" Fukuyama Furui, the reborn THG Fuyutsuki, immediately demanded...
...before she yelped as a fist smashed the childish brunette in the head! "ITTE! SEMPAI...?!"
"Young fool! This poor child's too young to be the admiral!" Momotani Yaeko, the fiery redhead who was the first THG Yanagi that had been a training ship stripped of her name for new construction near the end of the Greater East Asia War, snapped, making Furui instantly cower.
"Minna-san! Minna-san! Please!" pretty silver-haired Akiyama Suzumi, the reborn THG Suzutsuki, declared. "And what's this about a wrecked kitchen, Akizuki-onēsan?" she demanded as she gazed on a wide-eyed Tokina. "The war's long over with! There's no need to worry about rationing anymore!" She then smiled as she produced a pair of beautiful watermelons out of nowhere! "Besides, a nice vendor in Odawara was happy to give me these!" she added as her sisters' jaws dropped. "Something about a girl named Shirayuki always shopping at his store whenever she needs special supplies...?"
Hinako moaned. "Suzumi-san, you calm Tokina-san and Motoko-san down!" she bade, pointing to each girl to remind the new arrivals of their human names. "Hina's going to BED!"
With that, she moved to join Sŏ Hina and Sŏ Mina before teleporting they and she back to her bedroom at Welcome House and a comfortable bed. Stopping before she grasped the gynoids' hands, Hinako glared at the people still standing in the park. "NO MORE FIGHTS! HINA NEEDS TO SLEEP!"
And in a flash of teleportation energy, they left!
"Too much good stuff...too NICE...it hurts...!" escaped the still-moaning Junko.
Her peers all moaned as their heads drooped...
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
Again, major thanks to Dr. Tempo for writing the first drafts of scenes here.
Worm character notes: Aisha Laborn (Imp) first appeared in the third chapter of the sixth series arc, "Tangle". Emma Barnes (Light Guardian) first appeared in the premier chapter of the series, the first part of "Gestation", the initial story arc. Aisha's brother Brian Laborn (Grue) first appeared in the fifth chapter of "Gestation". Victoria Dallon (Glory Girl) was first mentioned in the sixth chapter of the second story arc, "Insinuation"; she would fully appear in the tenth chapter/first interlude of that same arc. Chris Cullen (Doctor Win) first appeared in the eighth chapter of "Agitation", the third story arc; his family name was chosen by Dr. Tempo and he's known in the web series under the battle name Kid Win. Carlos Garcia (Aegis) was first mentioned in the sixth chapter of "Insinuation" and would appear in the eighth chapter of "Agitation"; again, his family name is Dr. Tempo's creation. Taylor Hebert's mother Professor Annette Hebert was first mentioned in the ninth chapter of "Insinuation". The Contessa first appeared in the "Donation Interlude: Legend" chapter of the fourteenth story arc, "Prey". And Dean Stansfield (Gallant) first appeared in the eighth chapter of "Agitation".
Translation list and source language: Ruomer'bo — First Twin (Yizibajohei); Ruomedam — Last Twin(Yizibajohei); Mi dispiace, Amato — I'm sorry, Beloved (Italian); Miguk-saram — Literally "American people" (Korean); Eídōlon — Phantom/Ghost/Idol (Ancient Greek); Śpiączka — Coma/Sleepiness/Apathy (Polish); Investigatrice — Female investigator (Italian); Dai-Rokujūichi Kuchiku-tai — Sixty-first Destroyer Division (Japanese); Shutsugeki desu — Setting off (Japanese).
Tiritetuto is the Yizibajohei analogue of Greece in southern Europe.
Shipgirls introduced in this chapter:
Momotani Yaeko-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Yanagi [KK-82], later Tennō Heika Gunkan Maruba [RKK-82])
Hamamoto Umeko-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Umikaze [KK-192])
Akiyama Tokina-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Akizuki [KK-260])
Akiyama Suzumi-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Suzutsuki [KK-262])
Akiyama Motoko-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Hatsuzuki [KK-263])
Fukuyama Furui-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Fuyutsuki [KK-267])
Hamamoto Umeko (THG Umikaze), Akiyama Tokina (THG Akizuki), Akiyama Suzumi (THG Suzutsuki) and Akiyama Motoko (THG Hatsuzuki) all take after their Kantai Collection selves. Momotani Yaeko (THG Yanagi/THG Maruba) takes after the character Momotani Harune from the visual novel Harukazedori ni Tomarigi Wo by SkyFish. Fukuyama Furui (THG Fuyutsuki) takes after the character Fukuyama Mai from the game iDOLM STER Cinderella Girls, created by Namco.
As an aside, the reason Yaeko gets a new ship name was that after she was decommissioned in 1940, her name was recycled to a Matsu-class destroyer (hull number KK-322); should she appear in this series, she would get the human name Yonei Yaeko. Because the original Yanagi was transformed into a training hulk, the older Yaeko (whose, in the universe of this story, had her ship name changed to specifically honour the pussy willow [Maruba in Japanese]; in real life, she just lost her name) would be reclassified RKK-82; the hull code RKK means Renshū-Kuchikukan ("Training Destroyer").
And yes, the partially-scrapped hulls of TH Gunkan-tachi Yanagi, Suzutsuki and Fuyutsuki were sunk to serve as breakwaters in Kitakyūshū at the eastern end of modern-day Wakamatsu Ward. You can locate same on Google Maps. Look for the location of the OCC Metalworks in Kitakyūshū, then note the island where the Kitakyūshū Recycling Centre is. That breakwater connecting the island holding the recycling unit north-northeast to Hibiki-machi is where the three destroyers were buried in a row.
Now, you're probably wondering why the Akiyama sisters got VERY upset when the kitchen at Welcome House used by Osamu Shirayuki (Küchenchefin) was wrecked. Go straight over to Danbooru and look at the entries listed in pool #10990, titled Feeding the Ducks. You'll get it then.