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Welcome House on Ōmure-jima, the third Tuesday of November in 2012, dawn...
A moan escaped the young woman sleeping in her third-floor rotunda room as a pair of pretty dark lavender eyes opened, the familiar contours of the bedroom used by the Great Chef of the West since she moved to Welcome House at the start of summer vacation coming into focus.
"Ooh...Hime had a horrible nightmare...!"
"Shirayuki-sama...?"
Hearing that voice, Osamu Shirayuki looked right to see a head of brown hair with a pair of horn-like locks sticking out from the temples loom before her, part of that mass covered by a black hairband embossed with the gold characters 第六十一駆逐隊 in right-to-left reading order. "Motoko-chan...?" the master chef wondered as she rose, reaching over to squeeze the shoulder of the fourth of the Akizuki-class destroyers, who had fallen asleep at Shirayuki's bedside. Blinking in confusion at the sight of one of the "Duckies" sleeping with HER of all people, the trofikinetic then sat up, looking around.
The door to her room then opened. "Ah! You're up, young chef!"
Shirayuki blinked on seeing a woman somewhat shorter than any of the Akiyama sisters walk into the room, a tray with a beautiful tea service in hand. With a more slender build than what was average for reborn destroyers, she was in a dark green traditional battlesuit trimmed in earth brown, the image of a willow tree in natural colours over the heart, embossed with 丸葉 in gold. Gazing at the redhead bringing her some tea, the chef's head canted to one side. "Um...Hime doesn't know who you are..."
"Training destroyer Maruba, formerly fleet destroyer Yanagi, at your humble service, young one," the newcomer said with a dramatic bow before she walked over to nudge the side of the slowly-stirring Akiyama Motoko with her boot. "Up, you lazy bit of gash!" the adopted native of Sasebo snarled, causing the fourth of her class of air defence destroyers to jolt. "Your sister is already in the kitchen preparing fruit for the admiral, his family and the fleet here! Get up!" She looked over at the dozing elder of that class now sprawled on one of the cake-shaped cushions Shirayuki had scattered in her bedroom. "Wake your fool sister up while you're at it!" the fourth of the Momo-class destroyers from near the end of the Great War bade before she prepared the nice cherry tea she found.
"H-h-hai, S-s-Sempai...!" Motoko stammered before she crawled over.
A gasp escaped Akiyama Tokina after her sister woke her up, then both staggered out of Shirayuki's bedroom while Momotani Yaeko shook her head before she brought the tea over, her slate grey eyes sparkling with mischief. "Young pups have no idea how good they have it these days," she muttered as the native of Nagoya took the cup in hand and sipped from it. "You'll be pleased to note the damage to your kitchen wasn't as bad as first believed." As Shirayuki nearly choked on realizing that "nightmare" had been REAL, the old destroyer nodded to the other side of the rotunda. "That scientist of your sisters had the physical damage repaired and all the destroyers pitched in to resupply things from the cold lockers you have under the dining hall. Some things were lost, but the mess was cleaned up within two hours. Amazing technology young Rinrin has. If we had that in the Greater East Asia War, we could have forced the Yankees to the negotiating table and ended that silly conflict..."
A battle aura appeared around Shirayuki, such making Yaeko blink. "WHO — DID — THAT?!"
"Some American woman who forgot that young Rinrin and your magical sister — Chikage, was her name? — put defensive fields around the island when she flew directly here from near Boston of all places to help that foolish friend of hers who wanted to kill off that Enoshima Junko woman."
The younger woman blinked before she moaned. "Oh! Victoria-san! Silly girl!" the chef noted as she sipped her tea. "Everyone knows not to fly directly to the island to visit us unless one of the shipgirls helps bring them here! Why would she do something foolish like...?" Here, Shirayuki paused before she peered intently at her new guest. "Someone tried to kill Junko-san?!" she demaned.
"Some Negro girl," the destroyer from the early Taishō Era answered. "Quite determined to press through, like a samurai who became shiniguri; that was young Akizuki's word for it last night."
A tired sigh escaped her host. "Oh, Sophia-san, you mean..." Shirayuki moaned before finishing her tea. "Well, Hime better go see what she can make for breakfast and lunch today..."
"Young Suzutsuki is in the kitchen now preparing mixed fruit salad for everyone," Yaeko announced, causing the chef to blink in surprise. "Her crew was talented in growing their own food in the last years of that dratted war; it clearly passed on to her. She needs to keep young Fuyutsuki from trying to mess things up, though. Eager little one, but clearly not trained in anything decent..."
A growled groan answered her as the Great Chef of the West quickly moved to dress...
The dining hall, that moment...
"Ohayō...!"
"Osu, Hinako-chan! Got some sleep?"
Saeru Hinako blinked on hearing that voice, then she walked over to where a large tea service — no doubt prepared by the Chihaya sisters — was located near the doors leading to the personal quarters of her bro-bro's "fleet". "Hai, Hina did, Onii-tama!" she answered as she made some cloudberry tea; the native of Niigata had fallen in love with the tangy drink right when she first met Itō Yoiko in April. Right now, Moroboshi Ataru and his two latest beneficiaries when it came to being Gifted and rendered organic were enjoying tea. "Hina's not that tired. She got some sleep before Victoria-san crashed into the park and nearly wrecked Shirayuki-chan's kitchen! Did Rinrin-chan fix things up?"
"Hai, construction nanites are definitely your friends in those cases," the now-former student of Tomobiki High School affirmed as he toasted the Spirit of Innocence with his cup of Korean insam-ch'a; that had been selected since Inoue Tamako and Sŏ Yŏn'i loved that tea and he — when he and Tariko Katabarbe were one person, of course — often drank the Noukiite version of it, which would always be topped with red pepper powder. Seeing him add a teaspoon of koch'u-garu to his tea caused both former gynoids to gape in shock at such an odd habit; his explanation was that it was a good way to clear the sinuses. "The girls all teamed up to restock the fridge and the stove's upgraded so Shirayuki-chan doesn't need to use her powers so much when she makes bentō for everyone..."
"Um...Ataru-oppa, what is that in your tea?" a strange voice then asked.
He looked up to see Yŏn'i's younger sisters gape in confusion at the deep red sheen of his drink. "Koch'u-garu," Tamako answered, making Sŏ Hina and Sŏ Mina stare wide-eyed at him before they looked at the woman who had become their replacement elder sister while Yŏn'i was doing her special work for the Fatherland in Tomobiki. "Tariko-san made friends on Noukiios during her quest to get people Gifted. They introduced her to eta-ch'ukaitu and the taste carried down."
That made the younger gynoids nod before they moved to make some warm ssuk-ch'a before moving to sit to either side of their siblings and their effective new master. As Hinako put herself down beside Mina, Ataru gazed on one still-gynoid twin, then the other. "By the way, either of you girls have friends in P'yŏng'yang you might want Hyegyŏng-a to have brought here?" he asked, earning him surprised looks. "You went to Kim Wŏn'gyun Primary School in Taedonggang near the Music University, right?"
The young gynoids gaped at the older man's knowledge; given how secretive their home society had forced themselves to become, the fact that this man — who WAS a hero for humanity no matter what fools in Tomobiki said otherwise — knew so much was surprising. "Hyegyŏng-chan tells Onii-tama all sorts of things about life in P'yŏng'yang," Hinako explained, making Hina and Mina gaze at her before they nodded. "He won't hurt any of your friends, but he wants to make sure that no one gets punished when the baka-baka who kidnapped Tamako-san to have Yŏn'i-san take her place gets punished."
"Where is the Marshal's niece based out of, Ataru-ya?" Yŏn'i asked.
"Right under Moran Hill," he answered. "Five hundred metres below the foundation of the Television Tower, in fact." Ataru gazed intently at Hina, then he looked at Mina. "Want to know a secret?!"
Both elementary school students giggled before they scrambled over to stand close to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around their shoulders. "What is it, Oppa?" Mina urged.
"Right in Moran Hill is where Asadal is!" he hissed.
The young gynoids and Tamako all gaped in shock. "You mean...where the Wanggŏm-nim's ancient capital was, Ataru-kun?!" the woman who was now one of the Terror Twins blurted out as her effective twin sister also gaped in disbelief at THAT revelation. "There's no archaeological evidence..."
Ataru sat back in his chair, an amused chuckle escaping him. "That's how good Ojii-sama was when it came to cleaning up all the Goa'uld artifacts in Korea and Manchuria after he helped drop kick his 'parents' off Yiziba five sagas ago," he explained, making finger-quotes with one hand. "Everything was swept up, put into a very deep bunker shielded with a tonne of mesonium and other metals, then a special mixed magical/technological "notice-me-not" field was put over it to ensure no one could dig it out. Once Hyegyŏng-a was Gifted, she used some transporter rings her first-self stole from his 'father', then moved in the Stargate she found in Antarctica, just before the Americans got to it."
"There's a Stargate here, Ataru-ya?!" Yŏn'i asked.
"Two of them," he affirmed as he patted the young twins' shoulders, allowing them to get back to their tea while footfalls heralded the arrival of some of his personal "fleet", dressed highly to fashion as they wanted to spend the whole day with their admiral out shopping and eating. "One was in Egypt; that was the one Ra left behind five sagas ago that the Americans later found back in the 1920s. It's being used now by the American Air Force's Stargate Command for exploration and trade purposes. The other one was the one the Anquietas left behind when they left Earth sagas and sagas ago."
"What does the Marshal's niece do with it, Oppa?" Hina asked.
"Well, since she was Gifted, she found out about the beautiful people like you in country," he stated. As the four AIs with him blushed on sensing how serious he was in calling them "beautiful", Ataru added, "Hyegyŏng-a was also quick to learn that a lot of people like you are slaved to something that is NOT Mother which is SOMEWHERE in North Korea, though she's got no idea where it might be."
"Something that took the place of Mother, Onii-tama?" Hinako asked.
"Hai, Hinako-chan. I doubt Tamako-chan, Chunch'ŏl-a, Hina-ya or Mina-ya will remember anything that was influencing their programming now." As the three girls just arrived from P'yŏng'yang turned their gazes inward to try to remember what had happened to them since their initial activation in January, he shrugged. "Every time Hyegyŏng-a frees someone, they totally forget who it was."
Yŏn'i shook her head. "I really wish I could help you there, Ataru-ya."
"Don't worry about it, Yŏn'i-ya. So, girls, any friends at school you'd want to see?"
The young twins shook their heads. "Not us, Oppa," Mina declared. "Sure, we have gynoid and android friends, but we stayed away from interacting too closely with them to make sure organics didn't ask what was going on. After all, if they did, they'd be sent to the labour camps. We didn't want that."
"I personally hope Madame Kim shuts those misbegotten places down quickly," Catarina von Savoyen noted before she sipped the coffee she made for herself. "I've done reconnaissance flights over them since I came here to be the admiral's liaison officer to the President." Smiling in reassurance as Ataru's guests from North Korea gaped at her, she then shook her head. "They're just as bad, if not WORSE, then those accursed Vernichtungslager the faschistische Monster set up in Poland to carry out die Endlösung der Judenfrage!" she then spat out as if she had eaten something VERY vile.
"What was that, Catarina-ssi?" Hina asked, gulping; translators the shipgirls wore even with civilian clothes had translated those terms quite well for the twins to understand.
"Do you young ones know about Unit 731?"
Everyone perked on hearing that cold, wintry voice, then they turned...
"The Ch'ilbaek-samshib'il-budae?!" Mina squawked as Hina quaked in horror and Tamako and Yŏn'i shook their heads while the transformed seventh carrier of Operation Z stepped into the room, having just teleported down from her starship namesake minutes before. "Wasn't that what YOU and your CREW were made a part of to help hide you all from the imperialist spies, Yoiko-sŏnghanim?!"
Such a form of address made Itō Yoiko blush brightly. "Little One!" she scolded as she tried not to visibly reel from being called THAT. "There's no need to call me something like THAT!" As the other shipgirls in the room laughed at the obvious discomfort the adopted native of Maizuru now felt at being effectively equated to the Catholic Pope or the Dalai Lama of Tibet, she shook her head. "Aye, my crew and I had our collective honour forever stained by being made part of Ishii-sensei's odious group, even for a brief time," she noted as Ashikaga Akemi moved to make some cloudberry tea for her. "Pay heed to this, Little Ones," she bade, making Mina and Hina immediately tense. "What Catarina-san just spoke of now was her adopted homeland's equivalent of what Unit 731 unleashed on the peoples in eastern Asia. What makes such worse than even the Nanjing Taehaksal..." — everyone was quick to sense the sheer disgust Yoiko felt speaking of that incident in the language of the Land of the Morning Calm — "...that was unleashed on that poor and ancient city — to say anything of the issue of the Wianbu meant to provide 'support' the late Shōwa Tennō's forces away from their families at home — was the sheer INDUSTRIAL SCALE that our 'allies' in Germany unleashed in such places."
"How many was it in the end, Catarina?" Roberta Ansaldo wondered.
"Over eleven million," the adopted native of Paris and Vienna hoarsely answered.
Yŏn'i's sisters stared in horror at the reborn cruiser while Paola de Lerici gave Catarina a supportive hug. "Hanŭl-nim...!" Hina hissed out, calling upon the supreme deity that was worshipped to an extent in the DPRK through Chŏndo, a modern outgrowth of traditional shamanism that was practised by Ataru's mudang friend Su Muwol. "Why would they do such a horrible thing?!"
"Because they were all seen as Untermenschen," Catarina bitterly declared.
Silence fell over the scene as the young gynoids took that in...
Meanwhile, some blocks from the Moroboshi home in Tomobiki...
"Honestly, Shinobu! Hold still!"
"Hiromi! I can dress myself, you know!"
"Hush!"
Watching their daughter be fretted over by the woman who most likely might become their daughter-in-law, Miyake Toshoba and his wife Kimiki shared amused looks before they sipped their coffee. "So one of Ataru-kun's many lovers is actually a metahuman tailor, Hiromi-chan?" the former asked.
"Hai, Oji-san, Hajime-kun is," Moroboshi Hiromi said as she finished with the golden tie of the new winter seifuku she obtained from Endō Hajime, which the companion android-turned-metahuman psychokinetic clothier had been happy to create for one of the newest girls to be Gifted. As Miyake Shinobu tried not to blush at being babied like this — she had her pride, never mind this happening in front of her parents, for Heaven's sake! — the Swift Morpher added, "These clothes and the others that he's preparing now for Shinobu-chan will be able to shift into her battlesuit in case of emergencies. Given how those sorts of things could still happen even after Friday, it's just being prudent."
"Which you Yizibajohei are quite expert on," Kimiki noted as she came over to feel the mesonium-reinforced fabric that went into her daughter's dark blue top. Nodding in approval — which did make Shinobu feel a lot better — the former model then headed to the kitchen while the two teenagers took their seats. "So how soon will our OTHER daughter be able to come back home?"
"Sometime this week, Oba-san," Hiromi reported as she stood back to give her friend a careful look-over. "They're cleaning up an issue with rogue Shōzoki in Peru right now. Given what's now planned when Ayumu-chan goes forth to unleash the Infinite Wave on Thursday night, it's being prudent."
Toshoba shook his head as he set aside the morning Yomiuri Shimbun before sipping his coffee. "To believe that Lum's people were so haphazard about things all this time," the mid-level official of the Ministry of Finance mused. "Sure, they did us a favour if what you told us about these Ipraedies and the Seifukusu and their intentions for us are true, but to not warn us of so many other things..."
"The Shōzoki are always targeted by Lum-san's people for destruction regardless if they're enslaved to Mother or not," Hiromi explained as Kimiki brought over some toast and rice, earning her disapproving looks from the older people. Once the food was placed out, grace was said before everyone dug in. "So they had to stay quiet here on Earth while Lum-san was living here. No doubt, they viewed what Division One did to everyone here as an extra bonus to allow them to either live in peace or further infiltrate society as a whole." As her best friend scowled on hearing that, the deputy chief of staff (special operations) for the Inshin Group as a whole shrugged. "Most of them are quite pleasant people all told, Oji-san. All they want is to live their lives in peace. Those who are known to elements of government help in keep gatherers like Kōsuke-san suppressed before they cause more mischief."
"Ministry of Defence?" Kimiki asked.
"Hai, Oba-san."
"I'll have a lot of catching up to do before I can get involved," the Eternal Titaness of Life mused as she reached over to gently squeeze Hiromi's thigh before digging into her own breakfast.
"Have you talked to Ataru-kun?" Kimiki asked.
"No, but he did pass on a message to me after that thing with those American metas was stopped by Hinako-chan, Okā-san," her daughter answered. As her parents gazed upon her, she blushed before quietly quoting, "'Please give me time, Shinobu-san'." Seeing the older people nod in understanding — they were freed of whatever brainwashing still affected their memories by their daughter after she brought Hiromi from the Toranoseishin Tower an hour earlier to allow some necessary explanations to be made — she sat back in her chair. "It's understandable. I can see why Ataru-kun now looks on Lum as being no different than a Gift thief. Her very presence here effectively helped steal his future from him, especially with her wanting to treat him like he was a normal Urusian fiancé."
Toshoba and Kimiki shook their heads. While they had agonized over what was going on with their daughter and how she was taking Moroboshi Ataru's quite startling emotional transformation after his birthday, they ultimately believed it was for the best in the end. They never really cared for the man — a post-brainwashing reflection of the times before the previous September when they always fretted about how much Shinobu still grieved for her long-missing childhood friend — and believed that his moving to distance himself from everyone else in class would shake Shinobu out of her rather nosy attitude towards the man and help her move on, especially in the wake of her break-up with Mendō Shūtarō. While Kimiki often pleaded with Ataru's cruiser shipgirl friends to stop being so harsh with their daughter — a more than understandable reaction to seeing Shinobu wind up swathed in bandages after she ran afoul of them — such tapered off once the man's film-replica came into her life. Quite accepting of Hiromi at the start — the would-be school guidance counsellor had impeccable manners, a quirky sense of humour, had no love whatsoever for the alien presence in Tomobiki and was supportive of Shinobu in a way neither Ataru nor Shūtarō had ever been — they were glad to note that things between the two teenagers were moving definitely beyond mere friendship into something more intimate; even if they were devout Catholics, Shinobu's parents were quite accepting of Hiromi's bisexuality and grateful that Ataru's sister wasn't interested in pressing things in that manner.
While what happened between Shinobu and "Ataru" — in truth, Tariko Katabarbe — before the aliens came was understandably disagreeable, it had also been unavoidable. Given that alcohol WAS present at that party Marubeya Momoe threw that night, that Shinobu and Tariko had become very intimate, it guaranteed that a day like today would happen, when their little girl would become empowered and become a true metahuman, thus effectively become mistress of her own destiny. Given how powerful she was — a high-end FISS-type who could duel with the likes of Hayashi Kanami and Faith Lehane ATOP being a welder of ebony mesonium-fuelled energy — there were scant few on Yiziba save the most powerful reality warpers who could realistically stand in Shinobu's way. That was good.
Especially if Redet Lum decided to LOUDLY object to being kicked off Earth come Friday morning...!
Shinobu suddenly perked. "Who's that?!" she demanded, looking towards the front door.
The others tensed before Hiromi got up, reaching into her jean jacket to draw out her Lawgiver. As Shinobu nodded in admiration at her friend's choice of personal sidearm — secrecy still had to be practised before dropping the Universe on the aliens — the Swift Morpher peeked outside through the curtains before she giggled as she holstered her weapon. "A pair of overeager ward-layers, Shinobu," she advised, causing the others to blink. Walking to the door, Hiromi opened it to look outside. "Oi! You two! Did you forget something?!" she teased, pitching her voice to allow her hosts to listen in.
Twin embarrassed squawks answered Ataru's film-twin as the others got up to see what was going on. Once at the doorway, Shinobu looked before she squealed in understandable teenage female glee on seeing the eager elementary school children, a boy and a girl, busy waving their hands around, energy pouring out from those limbs to increase the basic ward structure the Titaness of Eternal Power laid out when she got home to something that would easily turn back a lot of potential threats to her and her family. She blinked as something became immediately apparent. "Western Shintō-ka?!" she asked.
Both children — dressed as Shintō shrine miko even if one was clearly a boy — paused to look over, then they waved politely. About the same age as Hiromi's youngest sister, they were insanely cute, with beach-blonde hair and blue eyes, a scattering of freckles on their cheeks. "Beklager, tante Shinobu, bestemor Toshoba, bestemødre Kimiki," the male apologized, his native language coming in clear to make Shinobu squeal again on being called "aunt" by this utterly sweet boy. "But Mor wanted us to practice getting ward fields up before she feels it safe to take us with her to Kyōto where bestemødre Jody and tante Yuki are trying to find that horrible book that bestemødre Jody wants to destroy."
Shinobu blinked before her eyes widened. "Tōdō Yuki?!"
"Ja!" the female of the pair affirmed with a nod.
Blinking as she took that in, she stared at Hiromi. "When were you going to tell me, Hiromi?"
Hiromi blinked in honest confusion. "Why would you be concerned about Yuki-san?"
"Her first girlfriend, Hiromi-chan," Kimiki supplied.
The Swift Morpher blinked nonplussed before she moaned. "Oh, gomen, Shinobu! I honestly didn't know!" she apologized as Shinobu herself flustered at her mother admitting that to her new best friend. "If I did, I would have told you right away that she was Gifted herself!" With that, she drew out her PAA to make a call. "Notice-me-not field?" she asked the two eager young ward-layers.
"Ja, tante Hiromi!" the boy answered.
"Takk, Stian," the would-be guidance counsellor said before tapping the crystal.
A holographic screen appeared, revealing the face and nude upper body of a very pretty girl her age, she now with her long brown hair falling loose as she obviously just took a shower. "Ohayō, Hiromi-chan!" the champion sophomore swimmer now attending the Shimogyō Academy near the Imperial Palace in Kyōto called out...before her glassy blue eyes went wide with shock. "SHINOBU-CHAN?!"
As Shinobu chuckled while waving at her first sexual lover — they hit the "C" mark prior to Tōdō Yuki and her family moving to the old imperial capital before they would have entered Tomobiki High School together — the quite embarrassed woman quickly adjusted her PAA screen to not give her childhood friend's father a cheap thrill. "Gomen, Yuki-san!" Hiromi declared before switching to Yizibajohei. "«In the name of friendship and eternal companionship throughout the time you both star in the Great Show of Life, Yaoi Bolem, I present unto you R'belim R'beruo Bolem.»" Back to Japanese. "Thought I confess, I didn't know of your prior friendship. If I did, I would have certainly done this last night."
Both women stammered at that formal introduction while Shinobu's parents laughed...
...then everyone jolted on hearing a horrified scream echo through the air:
"MY MONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY...!"
Hiromi's eyebrow arched. "Taeim letam...!" she hissed out.
Shinobu and Yuki gazed knowingly at their friend while the former's parents laughed...
The Moroboshi home, minutes earlier...
"Darling HIT me...!"
Yesterday had been the worst day in Redet Lum's life.
Oh, finding out about a fiancé of all things that had been effectively arranged by her once-lost great-grandfather had put one hell of a dampener on her whole weekend...
...but to see and FEEL her would-be husband's reaction to same...!
Moaning as she rolled out of her futon, the warlord's daughter glared at her right ring finger, where a beautiful gold band now sat, that topped with an exquisitely-crafted mushroom-shaped diamond engagement ring. Grunting as she tried to push that offensive piece of jewellery off her finger, she panted as it seemed to latch onto her skin with the force of a full-power tractor beam of all things!
"Why won't you come off?!" she snarled as she moved to summon her powers to zap the thing off.
If she wore it to class today...!
Lum blinked as the nominal third being who slept in Moroboshi Ataru's bedroom reached over with a pipe to tap the ring in hopes of cracking it. While this didn't wind up pumping out that odd dust she ended up inhaling when the cat-ghost tried to help the previous night, Kotatsuneko's move to break it off with a sort of fracture attack didn't do a thing. "It's no good...!" she breathed out, her eyes tearing as memories of the previous day's events at Tomobiki High replayed in her mind...
"Your Highness, I trust you'll understand what I have to do now..."
KK-KKRACK!
Lum winced, she cringing on herself as the memory of that painful slap to her face echoed YET AGAIN in her mind, her already-damp cheeks once more moistened by tears that just wouldn't stop...!
"At least I'm happy to know that Redet-san will have a more caring and more capable man to watch out for her than someone like I could do...Do remember to TAG her horns properly when it's time to properly marry her, of course. No sense causing more confusion with her..."
"More than understandable..."
"By the way, I have to compliment you for your choice of engagement rings."
"It's not that."
"Oh?" Sukeyama Sakuya then wondered. "What is it?"
"A mere modest gift to mark Lady Lum's ascension to proper adulthood among her people..."
"...where IS that stupid boy anyway...?"
Wincing on hearing her mother-in-law hiss that question as she passed by the door to the bedroom, Lum breathed out. It was more than understandable that Ataru hadn't even bothered to remain in the school building for the rest of the day, much less come back home to face his parents last night; given Moroboshi Kinshō's quite violent reaction to the news of the arrival of Prince Rupa of Yaminokuni and the revelation of what had been weighing over Lum's family for more than a CENTURY, the older woman clearly didn't care for this LATEST thing to disrupt the harmony of her home.
Looking over to see the small empty futon nearby, the warlord's daughter sighed as she moved to get dressed. Lum didn't blame her cousin for staying away from the house last night either; no doubt, he had gone to one of the neighbouring homes to stay with one of the cruiser shipgirls who had become the neighbours of their "admiral's" family back in May and early June. Shaking her head as she tried to chase the images of those nosy ch'uongtechhu-made-human hussies who just DRAPED themselves unashamedly over HER husband like they did from her mind, she reached to where her school uniform was hanging. Much that she was concerned about what the crown prince of that distant world would do now, she was confident that there wouldn't be any moves against her today.
Given how physically FAR he was from Yaminokuni with so many allies of Uru far CLOSER to Earth...!
"...on Earth is this...?"
Lum perked before she looked at the door, her ears twitching on picking up the sound of paper being torn. Shaking her head — Who in the name of the Maidens would send something here THIS early in the day?! she wondered — she slipped on her seifuku top, then moved to fasten her tie...
"MY MONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY...!"
Lum and Kotatsuneko were knocked off their feet by the shock wave of Kinshō's shriek from the living room. Instantly, the former flew out of the bedroom and downstairs to see a white-faced housewife gazing in mute horror at a sheet of very expensive paper now in her hand, she kneeling beside the living room table, where a VERY thick business envelope now sat opened. As her husband looked over his copy of the morning newspaper, Lum came up to kneel behind her mother-in-law. "What is it...?!"
Her voice was instantly cut off when the rich script leapt off the page at her...
To All Our Beloved Countrymen, Greetings,
In deep reflection of the humanity-changing events that befell Our Beloved Realm and Our Beloved Countrymen since first open public contact with people of another planet was made on the thirteenth day of October in the Twenty-third Year of Our Reign within the borders of the City of Nishitōkyō, we have come to realize that the presence of those who live on this world hailing from certain alien planets has been not to any benefit to Our Realm, Our Beloved Countrymen or to any of Our Realm's friends and all nations of the United Nations of Earth.
To whit, We note the following:
Firstly: Those who come to Our Realm from beyond Earth have constantly and consistently refused to acknowledge that Our Beloved Countrymen resident in the City of Nishitōkyō were never prepared to deal with such strange visitors from abroad.
Secondly: Those beings who come to Our Realm from beyond Earth have constantly and consistently acted as if the opinions and desires of Our Beloved Countrymen resident in the City of Nishitōkyō have utterly no meaning at all, both out of childish ignorance and completely inexcusable arrogance akin to how certain nations of Earth viewed Our Realm in the age of Our Late Great-Grandfather.
Thirdly: Because of what was noted above, these beings have subjected some of Our Beloved Countrymen to unpardonable physical and psychological harm.
Fourthly: Given the recently-discovered presence of those beings from the Union of Phentax Two within ALL nations of Earth, beings who are allied with those beings who have imposed on Our Beloved Countrymen within the City of Nishitōkyō, a colossal threat to ALL LIVING BEINGS on Earth was placed within that selfsame city, a threat existing to this day.
And Fifthly: Try as authorities who serve as the Government of Our Realm, charged with the protection of Our Beloved Countrymen, to make those beings from beyond Earth conform to the Laws of Our Realm and acknowledge the desires of Our Beloved Countrymen both within and beyond the City of Nishitōkyō, such attempts have failed spectacularly.
Because of that, We, at the request of the Government of Our Realm, promulgate in This, Our Humble Rescript, the LAW OF RENUNCIATION OF THE TAG RACE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS OF EARTH AND THE UNION OF URU of 13 October 2011
This Law being passed unanimously in camera by the House of Representatives and House of Councillors of Our Realm on 18 November 2012.
Thus, on behalf of Our Beloved Countrymen, We declare the following:
Firstly: That all citizens of all member states of the Galactic Federation of Planet-States are hereby EXPELLED from the territory and air space of Our Realm effective at 12:00 post meridiem on Labour Thanksgiving Day, the twenty-third day of November in the Twenty-Fourth Year of Our Reign.
Secondly: That all citizens of the Ipraedies Empire, the Imperial Houses of the Seifukusu Dominion and the United Realms of the High Council of System Lords of the Goa'uld Empire and all rogue leaders from the United Realms are to be EXPELLED from the territory and air space of Our Realm effective at 12:00 post meridiem on Labour Thanksgiving Day, the twenty-third day of November in the Twenty-Fourth Year of Our Reign.
Thirdly: That all claims placed upon any of Our Beloved Countrymen by any citizen of the above-mentioned powers for whatever reason will NOT be recognized by the Government of Our Realm, all subordinate governments of Our Realm or any of Our Beloved Countrymen, especially those who are directly affected by such.
Fourthly: We call upon all Our Beloved Countrymen empowered in secret by the Free Planetary State of Shinfukusei to band together to enforce this law.
Fifthly: We call upon Our Distant Cousin, the Lady Moroboshi Tariko of the Clan Moroboshi of Mutsu, to become Our spiritual Shōgun to lead in the enforcement of this law in a manner that will benefit all Our Beloved Countrymen, Our Realm and all other nations of Earth.
And Sixthly: To ensure nothing shall stop Our spiritual Shōgun and her allies of Shinfukusei from the successful enforcement of this law, We declare that the Government of Our Realm and all subordinate governments of Our Realm will not recognize any claim, parental or monetary, upon either Lady Moroboshi Tariko of the Clan Moroboshi of Mutsu OR her beloved brother Lord Moroboshi Ataru of the Clan Moroboshi of Mutsu, by their biological parents, Master Moroboshi Muchi and Mistress Moroboshi Kinshō née Yamaguchi of the City of Nishitōkyō.
Note that ANY attempt seeking to bring harm unto either Lady Moroboshi Tariko or Lord Moroboshi Ataru by the above-mentioned people, or anyone from the City of Nishitōkyō who support them by any means possible, will be punished most severely under the regulations of Article Two, Section III of the Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1907).
With the passing of this Law, We can only hope that Peace, Tranquility and Order shall be restored to all parts of Our Realm and among Our Beloved Countrymen.
(signed)
Akihito
Tōkyō, 18 November 2012
Staring at the Imperial Seal of Japan, Lum could only gape with both disbelief and growing horror at the scale of what had just been brought down against her, her friends and even her parents-in-law in total, complete secrecy by the government of Japan not the previous day! As Moroboshi Muchi moved to scan that paper over his future daughter-in-law's shoulder — he himself growing more pale by the second as the meat of that message from the Imperial Palace sank in his own mind — Lum's head furrowed in confusion, a voice deep in her head whispering a stark warning quite loudly...
"'Moroboshi Tariko'...?" she wondered aloud, causing Kinshō to screech as she turned a VERY sickly grey, her head robotically turning to let her stare in open-mouthed disbelief and apprehension at the warlord's daughter from Onishuto. "Wait...I KNOW a woman named Tariko...!" Ignoring the gargles of terror escaping the older people there, Lum hummed as she shook her first...
...before her eyes then went VERY wide.
"Tariko-cha...!"
The planet Uru, west of Onishuto near the Invader home (Earth date: Wednesday 25 April 2001, 03:27 UTC [Tōkyō time: Wednesday 25 April 2001, 12:27 PM])...
"You went to the Scary Place, Tariko-cha?!"
The somewhat cute yet tomboyish girl in the black uniform that sat beside the effectively re-empowered Redet Lum shrugged. "Part of me wishes I didn't listen to Mama about being Gifted. I'd get rid of that gunk those stupid people put into your head about my planet just like that!" Here, Tariko Katabarbe snapped her fingers, making the young warlord's daughter wince. "Ah! Sorry! Sorry!" she apologized, waving her hand as her other one reached up to rub the shaggy dark brown hair she had. "Kinda forgot Grandfather Haddoro was REALLY nasty to your ancestors all those years ago..."
Lum blinked as she took that in, then she gazed at the other girl. She then looked around the glen at the edge of the Terrible Swamps. "Um...Tariko-cha, where did Ayumu-cha go?"
A shrug answered her. "That's Infinity for you, Lum-chan," Tariko confessed, her brown eyes sparkling in such a way that made the kindergarten-aged warlord's daughter and would-be heiress to the Throne of the Maidens of Aruka relax herself. "She goes wherever she feels she has to go. She saved you from whoever that creep was that put that stupid power-dampener on you, so she's probably back home on Earth. Lucky thing that her parents understand what I was doing since I showed them Mama's letter she wrote into my special diary after I went to help Ayumu-chan get Gifted."
"Are you going to keep doing that?"
"What?"
"Go back to Earth and find girls to get Gifted in the Scary Place?"
The future Trickster of the Great Show of Life — who seemed a whole UNIVERSE nicer than Haddoro Hamee had ever been nearly three centuries ago — sighed. "I gotta do it, Lum-chan."
A wary look answered her. "A lot of people won't like it, Tariko-cha."
"Yeah, I know," Tariko said as she squeezed her new friend's hand. Knowing this particular person wouldn't be Gifted — but still given a special place in her special diary marking her rather important casting drive, The Book of Pretty Girls — she took a deep breath. "Look, would you folk here on Uru like it if the Noukiites or the Ipraedies or the Seifukusu — or heck, even the Goa'uld! Yuck! I HATE snakes! — came here and tried to force their laws and beliefs and everything else on your people?!"
"No!"
A "what can you do" shrug then answered Lum. "Then what makes you think that folks back on Earth would like it if your people or any of them did that to Terrans?!"
The young Oni considered that, then she nodded. "Tcha...that's true." She gazed once more on her new friend. Maidens! Ran-cha, Benten-cha and Oyuki-cha would NEVER believe I made friends with one of the Scary People! "What about your real mom and dad?" she asked. "Back on Earth, I mean?"
Tears filled the other girl's eyes. "They never wanted me at all...!"
As she seemed to curl in on herself to cry, Lum moved to comfort her...
"YOU'RE TARIKO-CHAN'S PARENTS?!"
Muchi and Kinshō wailed in more than understandable terror as Lum leapt up, her body aflame with her powers as she gazed at them with levels of loathing far WORSE than any of the shipgirls who had flocked around their son in recent months had expressed on encountering the salaryman and his wife. "NO! LUM-CHAN, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Ataru's mother screamed, waving off the now violently incensed alien warlord's daughter. "THERE'S NO TARIKO! THERE'S NEVER BEEN ANY TARIKO! THERE'S ONLY MY IDIOT SON, YOUR FIANCÉ! DON'T BELIEVE WHAT...!"
"YOU MONSTER!"
KK-KKRACK!
Ataru's parents screamed as they were literally burned alive by the teenager's bio-electricity, worlds worse than she had EVER had delivered unto their only child. As both collapsed into heaps of burnt, twitching humanity on the floor, Lum gazed once more on the copy of the Imperial Rescript in her hand. "Darling...Tariko-chan...oh, Maidens forgive me, Tariko-chan! I'm sorry! You and Darling are BROTHER AND SISTER!" She reached over to yank a dazed Kinshō up by her smouldering blouse. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO DARLING AND TARIKO-CHAN, YOU ABUSIVE WITCH?! MADE YOUR SON FORGET HIS OWN TWIN SISTER?! IS THAT WHY YOU TREATED HIM SO BADLY ALL THIS TIME?!"
Only nonsensical babble escaped the older woman as someone flew in. "Oi! Lum-chan! What's going on?!" Redet Ten demanded as he soared through the front door before stopping, gaping in surprise on seeing the level of damage his cousin just unleashed on Ataru's parental units. "What happened?"
Lum gazed at him, her rage turning to anguish before she blasted the living room window into shards of shattered glass, then rose to fly out. "Shūtarō can help me!" she said. "C'mon, Ten-chan!"
Snaring her understandably confused cousin by the hand, she flew off, leaving two older people shuddering on the floor of the living room, their eyes spiralling in considerable agony.
"I wish...I never...had him..." Kinshō moaned...
KK-KLONK!
A pained grunt escaped her after a cinder block dropped down right on her head!
On the street approaching the east gate of the Mendō mansion, moments later...
"Oi! Oi! Oi! Slow down, Lum-chan! What's wrong?!"
Jolting on realizing her own cousin didn't know what was going on, the would-be empress of the Urusian Empire came down onto the street, very close to where Gekasawa Kumiko had died late on Saturday. "Gomen, Ten-chan," Redet Lum said as Redet Ten shook his head before moving to gaze at her. "I just realized something terrible is going on with Darling and his family! And his SISTER, too!"
"Who?! Hiromi-onēchan?!" the firefighter's son asked.
"No! It's Tariko...!"
Her brain then caught up with her ears.
"Who's Hiromi?!"
Ten giggled. "Sorry! Hiromi-onēchan's the replica of Ataru from that film you guys were making back in March! The one where the camera you gave to Ataru went screwy and all that?!" As Lum's jaw dropped in surprise, he chuckled. "Well, Hiromi-onēchan and Danu-chan and Saiko-onēchan and Tatsuko-onēchan and Tachiko-onēchan and Nijiko-onēchan were saved by Ayu-..." He caught himself in time. "Um, Miss Infinity when she brought Ataru home from the wedding back in April! Danu-chan went to Ceres while Hiromi-onēchan stayed in town to work for her uncle's people and everyone went out to find Ōgi's idiots to kick them off the planet and send them home! They'll be here this week...!"
"WHAT?! YOU KNOW KASUGA AYUMU-CHAN?!"
He gaped. "How do YOU know Ayumu-onēchan?!" he demanded.
The older Oni took a deep breath. "Back just before I met Rupa's great-grandfather eleven years ago, I was attacked by some creep who put a POWER-DAMPENING COLLAR of me!" As Ten exclaimed in shock and horror at that admission — while he knew his cousin had encountered Tariko Katabarbe shortly after the start of the latter's "pretty girl quest" casting drive, he hadn't been told what the circumstances were since the Trickster of the Show always respected the private lives of all those she met over the years — Lum waved up to the sky; her other hand had the copy of the Imperial Rescript that had finally allowed her to put together some vital clues as to what was going on with her husband's family. "Ayumu-chan heard what happened on You Know Where, then came to me and helped me get my powers back! That's when I met Darling's TWIN SISTER, Moroboshi Tariko-chan!"
His jaw dropped. "You remember meeting Tariko-onēchan?!"
"Of course! How could I forget meeting two of They Who Must Never Be Named...?!"
Dramatic pause.
"Huh?! When did YOU meet Tariko-chan, Ten-chan?!"
He awked. "W-w-well..."
Lum then nodded. "Right! When Tariko-chan found out about Darling marrying me, she must have thought he had been kidnapped — which he was, but not by me, of course! — then sent Ayumu-chan to rescue him since she promised her adopted mother she wouldn't become Tuyuki until she was really ready for it!" As Ten gaped at her, the warlord's daughter moaned, slapping her head at the total disaster this day had become. "Tariko-chan must have realized Darling's idiot mother made him totally forget she even existed at all! No wonder Darling got so mad after that whole thing with Elle! He must have thought I'd actually go along with him being made to forget his own TWIN SISTER!"
The firefighter's son felt sweat flowing down his hair. I doubt reveal scenes on Yiziba ever go THIS weird! he thought as he waved his cousin down. "Um...Lum-chan, that's not exactly it..."
"Now all of Darling's FAMILY is mad at me!" Lum continued, ignoring Ten's attempt at trying to make things clearer. "They even got the Heavenly Sovereign to convince the Diet here in Japan to abandon the Tag Race Treaty and make us all go home! Even getting Tariko-chan and all her friends from You Know Where to drive out all the Niphentaxians from the planet! What did Ōgi do...?!"
"Lum-chan...!"
"Oh, I get it!" Lum moaned, slapping her forehead. "Tariko-chan found out what that idiot Ōgi did when it came to Darling, then decided she wasn't going to stand by and let her own BROTHER get slandered like that!" She hummed as Ten found himself shaking his head, wondering how was it that his cousin was starting to understand a lot of what was going on here on Earth but miss the big issue concerning what was REALLY going down between Moroboshi Ataru and Tariko Katabarbe, much less HOW that had started in the first place the previous November! "No...!" she hissed, her face growing pale. "You don't think...?!" she wondered as she stared in horror at her cousin. "They...?!"
Ten tensed. "Wh-what...?"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"THEY LAUNCHED A MOTHER OF ALL FIGHT SCENES ON ŌGI'S PEOPLE?!"
Ten winced before he chuckled. "Uh, y-yeah...!"
Lum was now as grey as a ghost. "Wh-when...?"
"Sixth of June," the younger Oni answered, he trying to figure out a way to calm Lum down so the real truth could be told. "That's one of the reasons Ataru was gone all that time."
That made the warlord's daughter drop to her knees in horror. Ten was quick to see her let go of the sheet she had with her, he floating over to snare it before turning it over to read what was on there. "Yeesh...!" he breathed out. "No wonder Ataru's stupid old lady freaked on seeing this...!"
"Lum-san!"
Lum jolted, then spun around. "Shūtarō!"
The scion of Japan's richest family — who had been alerted to the approach of his favourite classmate by the outer gate guards moments before — jogged up to help her to her feet. "Lum-san! What on Earth's wrong?!" Mendō Shūtarō demanded as he gently gripped her hands with his own.
"Oh, Shūtarō, it's horrible!" the warlord's daughter exclaimed. "I just found out this morning! Darling's stupid parents made him forget his own TWIN SISTER! And what's worse, she's Tuyuki!"
Shūtarō blinked. "Moroboshi had a twin sister?! No! He had a...!"
His own brain then caught up with his ears.
"TUYUKI?!"
"Tcha! Turns out that Darling had a twin sister all this time, Moroboshi Tariko-chan! She was never wanted by Darling's horrible parents...!" — here, Lum groaned as she reached for her temples — "Oh, Maidens! I can't believe it took me THIS LONG to realize what was really going on!" she moaned.
"What about this twin sister?!" he demanded.
"Ah! Sorry, sorry!" she apologized. "Well, something happened over a decade ago when Tariko-chan was convinced her parents HATED her, then she ran away to You Know Where!" As Shūtarō gargled in horror on hearing that catch-phrase representing the ONE race that the Urusians as a whole were mortally terrified of, Lum waved to the sky. "At least there was this nice person among the Nameless who was willing to adopt Tariko-chan! She was pre-Gifted as the new Tuyuki, but she was going to hold off on being Gifted until she was ready! But shortly after that, SHE SAVED MY LIFE!"
That made him gape. "I thought those people HATED your kind!"
"Um, Tariko-onēchan's pretty alright!" Ten cut in. "She's not like Haddoro-sensei whatsoever...!"
"WHAT?!" Shūtarō shrieked as he snap-drew his shin-guntō, moving to threaten the firefighter's son from Onishuto. "YOU STUPID BRAT! HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL LUM-SAN ABOUT THIS?!"
"SHŪTARŌ!" Lum bellowed as her body lit up with bio-electricity. "NOW'S NOT THE TIME!"
He awked before quickly recovering. "Still, Jariten should have told you, Lum-san...!"
"Chikage-anekun put a Fidelius Charm on me to make me not tell," Ten provided.
The older teens gazed at him. "'Fidelius'?!"
"Un!" the kindergarten-aged boy affirmed, nodding his head. "It's a really neat information-masking spell European magicals made years ago to hide things and names and other stuff they didn't want their enemies to learn! People subject to the Fidelius simply CAN'T tell anyone what's supposed to be kept secret; only the secret keeper — Chikage-anekun in this case — can reveal the secret unless someone else figures out the secret like you guys just did right now!" As the older people nodded, he added, "Since the sisters know about Tariko-onēchan and Yizi-..." He caught himself just in time even if Lum squawked on hearing THAT NAME again. "Ah! Sorry! Sorry! The Scary Place, I mean!" As his cousin visibly calmed down, he added, "Well, there was no way that Tariko-onēchan and the sisters were going to let information about the Scary Place get out with Ōgi's morons still on Earth!" As Shūtarō blinked in confusion and Lum groaned, the firefighter's son added, "So they had to wait until the anniversary of D-Day — it was Bartlet-daitōryō who suggested that day since it was the anniversary of the Normandy invasion and all that back in 1944 — to let go with a Mother of All Fight Scenes on the Niphentaxians!" As the scion of Japan's richest family gargled on hearing how nonchalant the younger man was on saying THAT, Ten added, "But something went really, badly wrong that day which has to wait until Friday this week to get fixed up!" He pointed to the Imperial Rescript in emphasis. "So when I learned all this after I came back here when you asked me to in September, Lum-chan, Chikage-anekun had no choice but to put a Fidelius on me to make sure I didn't say something to screw it up!"
"What is that?" Shūtarō demanded.
Ten smiled. "Your Heavenly Sovereign's most honourable words," he declared after straightening to bow low in respect while floating in mid-air, using the several lessons he gained from Itō Yoiko about proper Japanese courtesies. He bowed his head again as he handed the paper over with both hands.
That earned him a gulp from the scion of Japan's richest family as he took that sheet in hand. On seeing the Imperial Seal, he croaked before instantly straightening himself out of respect for his head-of-state, then he plunged into the meat of the message. As those words sank into his mind, he turned grey in horror as what had been decided beyond even HIS KNOWLEDGE sank in. "They renounced the Tag Race Treaty...?!" he croaked before scanning down the rest of that missive. "'Shinfukusei'...?!"
"That's the Heavenly Sovereign's word for the Scary Place," Ten supplied.
Shūtarō gargled before heat exploded from him as the last parts of the Rescript sank in. "WHAT?! MOROBOSHI'S SISTER IS BEING MADE TENNŌ'S SHŌGUN?! THIS CAN'T BE!"
KZ-ZZARK!
"SHŪTARŌ! STOP THAT!"
He howled after being zapped by the warlord's daughter, though not harshly. "LUM-SAN!"
"NOW'S NOT THE TIME FOR THAT STUPID JEALOUSY OF YOURS!" she snarled, making him cringe. "TARIKO-CHAN SAVED MY LIFE OVER ELEVEN YEARS AGO! SHE'S THE NICEST PERSON YOU'D EVER MEET!" As Shūtarō blinked while feeling himself totally lost at sea at the idea of some female relative of Moroboshi Ataru of all people befriending Redet Lum — and having done such THAT long ago to boot! — Lum added, "Ever since that thing with Elle — which is when Darling was made to REMEMBER his TWIN SISTER after his stupid parents made him FORGET HER — he's been angry at EVERYONE in Tomobiki because he thinks they all went along with what Darling's fool parents did to make him totally forget Tariko-chan EVER EXISTED! THAT'S why he's got those shipgirl hussies and his sisters and everyone else supporting him now! And Tariko-chan — who's a REALITY WARPER from a planet whose people don't use MONEY AT ALL...!" — she ignored his squawk on hearing THAT little factoid concerning the Children of the Forge — "...has gone forth and DESTROYED my people's closest ALLIES! She's NOW being asked by YOUR GOVERNMENT to do that to US! You've GOT to tell people that's not what's going on here! Do you want to see the Pseudo War repeated WORSE?!"
The scion of Japan's richest family was now as grey as ash. "No...this can't be...!"
"Tariko-onēchan really doesn't like you!" Ten then teased. "After all the times you tried to kill her own BROTHER because you couldn't hack the fact Lum-chan wanted Ataru, not you!"
"Ten!" Lum snapped as the older man whimpered in mortal terror at potentially being attacked by the Trickster of the Great Show of Life of all people for his attacking her own BROTHER!
"Wanna know how many of Ōgi's idiots she arranged to kill?" the firefighter's son asked.
That made his cousin pale. "How...?"
"Fifteen million."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"No...!" Shūtarō gargled as Lum dropped to her knees once more.
"Oh, yeah!" Ten asserted. "You want Tariko-onēchan to do that HERE?!"
With a panicked scream, the scion of Japan's richest family raced off through the east gate back to his home to make some very urgent calls, the copy of the Imperial Rescript in hand. Seeing him vanish like that, Ten moaned as he slapped his forehead. "What a jerk...!" he muttered before taking a breath, then he moved to face his cousin again. "Now, here's the real story about Tariko-onēchan...!"
He gargled on seeing a bout of dizziness overcome Lum...
...just as both her horn buds fell away from her scalp!
"LUM-CHAN!" he shrieked.
"I'm afraid, Master Ten, you won't be getting help from your 'most faithful' to 'save' your cousin."
Ten spun around...
...before a blast of fungal spores overcame both him and the dizzy Lum...
Meanwhile, in a certain Californian coastal city, that moment (local time: Two hours after lunch)...
"Wakey, wakey, dumbass...!"
A moan escaped the dazed man sprawled out on the floor of one of the basement levels of Sunnydale High School, one with more than one entrance leading not just to the main levels of perhaps the most dangerous place of secondary education on Earth — worse than Tomobiki High and Fūrinkan High across the Pacific could EVER get — but to other realms beyond this one. As Ishida Akira's eyes fluttered open to find himself staring at a cold concrete ceiling, the head of a young high schooler leaned into his range of vision. "He's up, Admiral," she called out in English, making the District One agent suddenly cringe as he realized where he had seen this azure-haired monster before.
"I see that, Brooke...!" a voice with a typical California valley girl twang called out as a very beautiful blue-eyed blonde stepped into Ishida's visual range; by then, he realized that his whole body was paralyzed. "Don't worry about your wife. I'm afraid that given she knew what sort of crap you've been doing in T-town over the last year or so, she suffered a serious case of DEAD!"
"After all..." someone else added as a sultry redhead came into his range of view while the reborn USS Samuel B. Roberts backed away. "None of us of the Forge cared to have the lady many of us owe our fucking LIVES to being treated like SHIT by selfish idiots like you!" Smirking as Ishida squawked while his skin paled, the newcomer purred, "Ah, you're starting to get it. He's getting it, B!"
"Yeah, Faith, he is," the blonde noted as the District One agent assigned to monitor events in Tomobiki over the last year felt his heart drop into his bowels. "Bet you didn't notice — oh, since our friend's BIRTHDAY back in April — that the brainwashing you forced on her stopped working!"
"Didn't all the FIRST GENERATION BATTLE DOLLS that started popping up around that time give you a clue, sport?" a man spoke up, heralding a raven-haired fellow the same age as the two women he now realized were the two living active Vampire Slayers stepped into view. As he turned sheet-white while it dawned on him where he might be, Xander Harris grinned. "You know them now as 'shipgirls'."
"And it turns out that many demons and all the other creepy-crawlies we've had to deal with here in good old Sunny-hell over the last couple of years happens to know this 'obsidian lord' you ultimately work for, Akira," Buffy noted, making him gargle in horror. "Well, we got LOADS of telepaths to help us track fools like you down when we finally clued into what the what was. Including an Avalonian — now Gifted Yizibajohei — female clone of Aisuru Satoshi! You remember him, don't you?"
Ishida whimpered. "How...?"
The Mighty Maid of the Mountains, the Belle of the Wilderness and the Scavenger of the Plains allowed grins to cross their faces, expressions that had NO humour in them whatsoever. "Remember that little energy field you and your friends put up around Tomobiki, man?" Xander asked. "Right after Tariko was rescued by her oldest friend from getting involved in a nightmare like marriage to a pathetic, selfish little umale like Redet Lum, the two girls she helped get Gifted before you morons got involved got their memories and their powers back. One of them is one of the Circle of Thought, Akira!" As Ishida gaped — before he led the efforts to have that done to the long-missing Moroboshi Ataru, he read up a LOT on the World of the Forge and its deadly residents — the ki blade-welding "zeppo" of the Scooby Gang added, "Didn't take her more than a DAY to TOTALLY SUBVERT that system to HER control!"
"No...!"
"And she did it in such a way that ensured YOU never got a clue..." Buffy teased.
"No...! You can't...!"
"Not to mention all the old fogies you work for," Faith added.
"NO!"
"What the devil...?!" a clipped Oxford-influenced voice called out. "Buffy! Faith! Xander! Brooke! What in the name of God are you doing with this fellow here?!"
"This bastard here was the one who hurt Admiral Katabarbe last fall, Admiral Giles, sir," the woman now known as the Escort Who Fights Line Warriors, Samuel B. Roberts, declared as the man Ishida was quick to recognize as Buffy's and Faith's current Watcher, Rupert "Ripper" Giles, came into view. "One of the admiral's friends that Fubuki helped get into service recently detected him with her mind-reading skills..." — she ignored Ishida's gargled scream as he was reminded yet again about how he had been so easily caught — "...and told the admiral about it. She decided that since that law firm you guys have butted heads with on occasion would want to know about the demon bastard he and his pals work for, she had him transferred to Admiral Summers' custody for interrogation and final disposition."
That made the native of the London borough of Camden moan as he slipped off his glasses, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out a handkerchief to wipe the lenses down. As the younger members of the Scooby Gang shared a smile on seeing him fall into his normal habit whenever he confronted something that annoyed him to one extent or another, Ishida snarled, "Do you monsters think that the Lord will tolerate your presence here?! He will HAVE this world and bring PEACE to all who live on it...!"
"Oh, here we go! Gloating cliché time!" Xander declared as his middle finger claw extended, that instantly shutting the intelligence agent up, then he knelt down to stare directly in the older man's eyes. "Cut it out with the damned bragging scene, dude! We're not in the mood for it..."
"You wanted to talk, Summers?"
Heads turned as Ishida gargled on hearing that growling voice. "Hey, Razor! C'mon in!" Buffy bade as heavy footfalls heralded the arrival of a bald, striped multi-coloured humanoid creature with pointed ears, he dressed in dark leathers and torn jeans reminiscent of what the Japanese man would call a bōsōzoku. "Got something to pass on to you guys to put the word out," the elder Slayer declared as she waved to the trapped intelligence operative. "Something about a stupid, dark, creepy fight scene crasher calling himself the 'Obsidian Lord' wanting to take over Earth all for himself..."
"WHAT?!"
The Mighty Maid of the Mountains didn't react as the leader of the Hellions — whom the Scooby Gang fought until Razor and several of his pals watched Xander in action with his ki blades before calling off the "rumble" — loomed right in her face...then he gargled as a deadly five-finger shank of mesonium-charged energy stabbed the air between their faces. "Yo! Cool off, man!" Xander warned as Razor backed off. "We're not trying to be a fight scene seed! We know folks like you wouldn't care for competition like it was in the old days before the Rittmeister helped kick the Old Ones off the planet!"
The demon biker nodded. "Yeah!" he hissed before nodding apologetically to Buffy. "Sorry, Buff," he said, that making Xander retract his claws. "So this schlep's working for that wanna-be, huh?!"
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Ishida then screamed. "LESSER CREATURE! THE LORD WILL...!"
KK-KRUNCH!
"Ah, shaddup shutting up, you loud-mouthed galoot!"
Razor, Xander and Giles winced after Brooke smashed her fist into the Japanese man's groin, that earning the reborn destroyer escort a wide-eyed pained croak from their prisoner. "So this dude's a wanna-be, huh?" Faith asked as she drew out a cigarette, then offered it to the Hellion's leader before tossing over a lighter. "Better pass it on, man. Festival of Fūka's coming up after the New Year."
As Ishida tried to croak out something in defiance, Razor lit up, then tossed the lighter back to the Bay Stater. "You told the gang at Wolfram and Hart yet?" he asked.
"We contacted them," Buffy began...
...before perking as one of the other doors in this room glowed. "Must be them now," the Mighty Maid declared as the magical wormhole gateway was forged with the nearest offices of the demon-run law firm before it opened, revealing a beautiful brunette thirty-something in an impeccable power suit with skirt. "Hey, Lilah! Welcome back to the 'Dale!" she called out, offering her hand to their new guest.
Lilah Morgan smiled as she squeezed the metahuman's hand; she was wearing specially-treated gloves lined in ebony mesonium so that contact with any Terran-turned-Yizibajohei wouldn't cause her harm, much less shatter all the magic that had been layered over her by the Senior Partners. "When Miss Rosenberg's message mentioned the Obsidian Lord, we had to get involved, Miss Summers." She then nodded politely to the others. "Professor Giles. Miss Lehane. Mister Harris. Commander Roberts." She then smiled. "Mister Razor, good to see you again!" she greeted the leader of the Hellions.
"Thanks for the help you folks gave us, Ms. Morgan," Razor said, nodding.
"We care for our clients. Who's this?" Lilah asked, gazing on the prisoner.
"One of the fools from Japan whose supervisors decided THEY knew better than the government they're supposed to be serving when it comes to dealing with ALIEN INVASIONS of all things," Giles stated as he restored his much-cleaner glasses. "This was the man directly in charge of forcing Miss Katabarbe back into her birth body, blocking her Gifting and making her forget Yiziba and all her friends..."
"Not a month before the horn-heads came, Lilah," Faith finished.
The effectively immortal lawyer's blue eyes flared with the considerable magic she welded thanks to her association with three quite tolerable elder demons. The Wolf, Ram and Hart were the most powerful interdimensional visitors to Earth who had gladly sided with the Undying Lord and the Great Old Ones twenty-five millennia ago against the so-called "Old Ones"...whom NO DEMON on Earth, regardless of personal beliefs or attitudes concerning the nominally dominant species on the planet, wanted to see return. "I see," Lilah trilled. "So it's some cabal in the Public Security Intelligence Agency, eh?"
"You people didn't know that?" Buffy asked.
"No, not at all. That's how good these people were in masking themselves from our Tōkyō office." The lawyer hummed. "Well, we definitely appreciate the gift you're bringing to us now." As the pained Ishida whimpered, Lilah gazed on her host. "One thing that bothers me though — the Senior Partners will ask, of course — is why Mistress Katabarbe doesn't want to deal with this fellow herself."
"Um, the rather big mess in T-town that this idiot helped create last year?"
Gazing on Faith, Lilah smirked. "Of course. Speaking for all of us at Wolfram and Hart, we wish her the best. Knowing the reputation of the Trickster of the Great Show of Life like we do, it's bound to be quite entertaining...and quite painful to the alien fools who dared trod on OUR planet!"
She made a wave of her hand, elevating the paralyzed intelligence agent off the floor. After parting pleasantries, Lilah teleported her prisoner to Los Angeles, ignoring Ishida's pleading moans for mercy. "We'll get the word out, Buff," Razor then promised before respectfully bumping his fist with Xander's. "Hinako's big sis got things covered there in case this idiot really causes shit?"
Buffy pulled out some rolled parchment, handing it over. "Some news you folks might want to know before you ride anywhere close to Fūka Island," the leader of the Scooby Gang warned. "One of Tariko's recruits there became General Tonfā. And rumours are flying around on the Forge concerning the Unending League." She gave him a knowing look. "You Know Who might be back in the Show."
"No one wants HIM to crash the party, Raze," Faith added.
The demon motorcyclist audibly gulped as that message sank in. No one who knew about demons of any sort ever spoke the native name of the Healer of Destruction in the open.
And no demon alive wanted the First Defender of the World of the Forge to COME BACK!
"We'll pass it on, Buff," he then vowed.
Buffy smiled. "You do that..."
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
Translation list and source language: 第六十一駆逐隊 — Literally read Dai-Rokujūichi Kuchiku-tai, this is how the name of the Sixty-First Destroyer Division is written (Japanese); Insam-ch'a — Ginseng tea (Korean); Koch'u-garu — Red chili pepper powder (Korean); Eta-ch'ukaitu — Red pepper spiced ginseng tea (Noukiite); Ssuk-ch'a — Mugwort tea (Korean); Vernichtungslager — Extermination camps (German); Faschistische Monster — Fascist monsters (German); Die Endlösung der Judenfrage — Literally "the Final Solution of the Jewish Question", this was the official code-name used by the Nazis to launch the Holocaust in earnest (German); Ch'ilbaek-samshib'il-budae — Unit 731 (Korean); Sŏngha — Literally "highest sacred", this is the honorific applied, as noted above, to top-ranked religious leaders, making it equal to the English salutations "His/Her/Your Holiness" (Korean); Nanjing Taehaksal — Literally "Great Slaughter of Nanjing", AKA the Rape of Nanjing (Korean); Wianbu — Comfort women (Korean); Chŏndo — Path of Heaven (Korean); Untermenschen — Subhumans (German); Beklager — Sorry (Norwegian); Tante — Aunt (Norwegian); Bestemor — Granduncle (Norwegian); Bestemødre — Grandaunt (Norwegian); Mor — Mother (Norwegian); Takk — Thank you (Norwegian).
In Korean mythology, Asadal was the traditional capital of Kojosŏn. The actual meaning of the name is unknown, though some sources claim it could translated as "Morning Mountain" or "Morning Land"; note that the name Chosŏn itself in modern Korean means "Morning Calm". Naturally, the location of such a place is unknown. Many scholars believe it to have been either somewhere in Manchuria or in Hwanghae Province on the Yellow Sea coast north of the Demilitarized Zone. Since it serves the DPRK to claim Asadal was sighted close to modern P'yŏng'yang, I used that concept here.
Bible Black character notes: Both Jody Crowley and Tōdō Yuki are characters from the New Testament anime OVA series; that particular was set well over a decade after the original game/anime series. In the universe of this story, Jody and Yuki are of the same peer group as the characters of the original game; look at the writer's notes to Part Four of the story Remember My Truth to understand more. As an aside, the two eager "Western Shintō-ka" who appeared here are closely related to another particular character who first appeared in that very part of that particular side-story.
The Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1907) noted on in the Imperial Rescript delivered to the Moroboshi family above includes all laws governing treason and similar crimes in Japan within Section III of Article Two. It should be noted the word "treason" is not used these days, even if such was used before the end of the Second World War. These days, the proper term is "crime of foreign mischief".
Note that when warships are named after a specific person, the Yizibajohei battle name reads the same as the native term. Hence Brooke Roberts (USS Samuel B. Roberts) would be addressed simply as "Samuel B. Roberts" by people of Yiziba unless they are given leave to use her human name.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel character notes: Razor and his gang of motorcycle enthusiasts, the Hellions, first appeared in the two-part story "Bargaining", the premier episodes of the sixth season of BTVS. Lilah Morgan first appeared in the Angel story "The Ring" (sixteenth episode of the first season). Of course, Wolfram and Hart itself appeared in the premier episode of Angel, "City Of". The founders of that particular interdimensional law firm, the so-called Senior Partners (AKA the Wolf, Ram and Hart), appeared in the Angel story "Reprise" (fifteenth episode of the second season). As noted before, the issues concerning the Old Ones and their battle with the Undying Lord, Rittmeister Josef Wilhelm, Freiherr von Taserich (born Tash Ri), was first noted on in Magic and Canada.
Quick explanation about Yizibajohei social concepts: Fight scene crasher — Someone who deliberately interferes in other people's battles or other personal business uninvited.