DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.
Somewhere in Brockton Bay, Tuesday after midnight (Tōkyō time: Tuesday, two hours after lunch)...
"...and WHY did you do that, Sophia?!" Taylor Hebert demanded. "I can't believe you!"
Hearing that question from the Mistress of the Mindless Legions, the Ghost of the Night could only wince. Given it had taken Sophia Hess hours to recover from the harsh influxes of cosmic telepathy and empathy from one Enoshima Junko and one Saeru Hinako — forced on her within MINUTES of each other fourteen hours ago! — it was a miracle that the matter-phaser was coherent right now!
"To be fair, Taylor, I can understand why Sophia did what she did," Lisa Wilbourn noted, making the others of the Brockton Undersiders look her way. As Sophia gave the Collapsar of Knowledge a surprised look, the second-in-command of the team added, "All that Junko did back in her home universe clearly made Sophia want to ensure the 'ultimate fashionista'..." — here, she made finger quotes in emphasis — "...couldn't get a chance to try it again, even if all her peers and the other Bullet Deniers were brought here with her and were Gifted." Here, the clairvoyant/empath with the very sharp deductive skills gazed on her friend. "Still, you should have asked for help first, Sophia!"
A tired sigh escaped the high-order psychic at that frank analysis. "Yeah, you're right, Lisa," Sophia then admitted, reaching up to scratch the back of her head. Even if they were in their normal meeting place, the current issue haunting their team had made them forego the use of battle names; fortunately for them, Chris Cullen had turned on ALL the room's defences to ensure no outside intrusion by ANY means imaginable. "I just thought if someone didn't act to put Enoshima down as quick as possible, we'd have a crisis on our hands once she tried to unleash the Tragedy here."
Hearing that, her friends grimly nodded. Taylor got Isaac Thomas to send over scans the latter made of a dimension similar to the Bullet Deniers' home universe, taken when the event that unleashed ultimate Despair on that Earth's population occurred, then had it transmitted to the other Undersiders.
To say it had been GRISTLY was putting it LIGHTLY...!
"So I wanted to go alone so that we wouldn't get into a fight with Tariko's sisters or Ataru's shipgirls and all that, HOPING that Enoshima's classmates wouldn't get in the way!" Sophia finished.
"And you totally forgot Mukuro," Lisa noted.
The Night Ghost's shoulders slumped. "Yeah! Feel like an idiot now...!"
"You need to control your anger better, Sophia-san."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"How'd YOU guys get in here?!" Chris demanded as everyone spun around.
An embarrassed chuckle escaped Naegi Makoto as he scratched the back of his head. Both he and his companion were in their normal civilian clothes and not their new battlesuits. "Well, I AM a reality warper, Chris-san," the Travelling Angel of Fortune explained as he and the Ultimate Warrior came over to join them after teleporting in from Ōmure-jima. "Ma...! You guys really do go for the whole 'Organization XIII' look, don't you?" he then asked on seeing their black hooded cloaks.
The Americans all blinked before Taylor giggled. That was enough to get everyone laughing; even Sophia felt a light smile cross her lips. She blinked as Ikusaba Mukuro calmly walked up to kneel beside her. Sensing the intensive look the former member of Fenris was giving her, the matter-phaser from Brockton Bay winced. "She fucking KILLED you in that school, Mukuro!" she hissed.
"Hai, she did," the native of another universe's Machida calmly noted. "And yes, there is a part of me that is VERY upset at her for doing that to me. But then I remember what I had to do to make sure we could survive. Our..." A tired sigh escaped her. "Our home situation was nowhere NEAR what it should have been. I'd rather not say what exactly happened; that's how bitter the memories are for me." She took a deep breath. "We may not look it now, but Junko is my twin sister. There was a bond between us all along even if we weren't Gifted at the time of the Tragedy, one as deep if not deeper than what most twins have. And yes, there is a strong chance that Monokuma did something to us both to unleash what he did on Makoto-kun and the others, not to mention our sempai going all the way to Angie-san's class far in the future. But to deny Junko is basically denying part of myself." Standing up, she stepped back from the other woman. "And no matter what, I simply can't do that, Sophia-san."
"I think she gets the point now, Mukuro," Emma Barnes spoke up before looking over. "Atop what happened with Sophia, we sure weren't helped by YOU causing more damage than you should have, Vicki! Especially FLYING to Ōmure-jima when everyone's been warned by Rinrin to NOT DO THAT!"
The Fighting Belle of Victory winced as people gazed her way. Even now, her body echoed with ghost pain thanks to her slamming into something with the metaphorical strength of depleted neutronium almost a day before! "Yeah! I should have damn hell remembered that Darth Eizō of all people reinforced everything R-squared set up around the island!" she muttered, rubbing her neck.
"So you won't do it again, I hope."
Everyone jolted, then Taylor sighed. "Aren't you supposed to be in CLASSES right now, Chikage?!"
People turned around as a woman in the beautiful dark robes of a student at Britain's famous wand-magical school came up to join them, a slightly wry smile on her face. "Fortunately, classes just let out," Hirosaki Chikage said as she reached into her tunic to pull out a can of Coca-Cola, then tossed it to Victoria. "Pain-relieving potion, Victoria," the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos said...
...before she blinked as Mukuro literally zipped over to gaze intently at the trimming and house badge on the arch-mage's uniform. "Is there a problem, Mukuro?" the native of Tōkyō asked.
"You're a Hufflepuff."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
One of Chikage's eyebrows elegantly rose. "What is the matter with that?"
The Ultimate Warrior shook her head. "You don't strike me as a Hufflepuff, Chikage-san," she explained, making Chikage blink. "I'd think you would be in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, not Hufflepuff."
An amused laugh answered her. "Mukuro, I realize that the universe Rose and her would-be peers operate in is fictional to you, but clearly you don't understand what it means to be Sorted in the first place," Chikage declared. "What is the virtue of being part of Hufflepuff?"
"Hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty and fair play," Mukuro automatically answered.
"And?"
The other woman flustered for a moment before she perked as Makoto chuckled. "Makoto-kun...?"
"I think what Chikage-san is trying to say is that her ultimate loyalty to Ataru-san — and Tariko-san — made her perfect for Hufflepuff, Mukuro-san," the native of another universe's Chiyoda in Tōkyō itself explained. "Sure, she's clearly very intelligent, quite cunning beyond belief and is as dark in her own way as Junko-san is." As the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos snorted, he shrugged. "It fits her."
"Indeed so," Chikage noted before she gazed on Victoria, who winced. "Victoria, Rinrin and I don't put out those warnings concerning approaching our island just on a mad lark. We have many reasons to keep those shields up. Do remember to use a PAA the next time you want to come visit. And not in the middle of the NIGHT, please! Keep in mind those arcane things called time zones!"
And in a flash of energy, the arch-mage/dark lady of the Sith vanished back for the Scottish highlands. As the Fighting Belle winced, her boyfriend squeezed her shoulder. "You're lucky Chikage was being NICE today, Vicki," Dean Stansfield warned. "Remember what she did to the Memni?"
That made the high-end FISS-type pale. People in Tomobiki weren't the ONLY ones who had bloody nightmares in the wake of that aborted invasion and Chikage's rather dark and lethal response to same because of the alien centaurids' effective insult to her brother darling. "I'll try to remember that..." she admitted, scratching the top of her head. "Still, I AM getting better in controlling my strength..."
"It was a pretty good scrap from what I saw," Dennis Wells noted. A minor reality warper with the ability to manipulate time in local areas, he was He Who Freezes Time, Tamikier'ba ("Clockstopper"). "Pity I couldn't get into the fight before Hinako crashed it like she did. You guys really rocked for a bunch of people who only got Gifted a couple days ago," he added, gazing on Makoto and Mukuro before a delighted smirk crossed his face. "I truly wanted my time to SHINE in that fight!"
The other Undersiders groaned at that bad pun before a tired sigh escaped Missy Biron. "More things seem to change between dimensions, the more they stay the same. Eh, Taylor?" she then asked.
A roll of the eyes answered the Hostess of Eternity, Umtyuo ("Vista"). "You can say that again, Missy," the Mistress of the Mindless Legions noted as the Fighting Belle popped open the can of soda to drink it. "Especially how BLAND Dennis' jokes can be no matter WHICH dimension I'm in!" she sarcastically added, making Dennis wince as people gave him knowing looks. "Still, I suppose we need to cut it short given what time it is for us," she advised before gazing once more at the team's resident hothead, who winced once again. "Now, Sophia, much that I DO understand why you did what you did, you still messed up! Are you going to TRY to keep that temper of yours under check from now on?!"
"I'll try..." the Night Ghost quietly replied.
Taylor faced the others. "As for the rest of you guys, that fight this morning escalated BIG TIME! That always seems to happen with us and we can't afford to keep GETTING into these sorts of situations, okay?!" As the others nodded in determination, she indicated their two new acquaintances from another universe's Japan. "As I'm sure our guests and their friends are now aware, we've got something VERY big coming up in the next couple of days. Tariko's 'fiancée' was kidnapped this morning by her own 'fiancé', which means the Tomobiki morons are going to get up in arms..." Here, she paused as she pointed up. "Right before it ALL crashes down on everyone's heads! Remember?!"
Winces answered her. "Yeah, we remember, Boss," Chris affirmed.
"Fortunately, thanks to the idiots in the PSIA that ambushed Tariko like they did last fall, it can be contained within Tomobiki itself," Lisa added before she gazed on the two Japanese metahumans with them. "Anything you guys can pipe in about this? I know the adventures of 'Ataru' and his 'wife' were published in manga and shown in anime where you guys came from, so if there's an issue..."
"Mushrooms, Lisa-san," Mukuro warned. "Yaminokuni mushrooms, brought into Earth's biosphere by Rupa-sama's TRUE fiancée, a woman named Carla. Either she or Ran-san — I don't recall which — accidentally unleash them when they were having a meal at Ataru-kun's house. Naturally, they threatened to plunge the whole planet into darkness. Since there was a big fight between Ataru-kun and Lum-san going on at the time, she took advantage of same, then demanded he either admit to loving her or tag her horns in a tag race to have Rupa-sama's pigs used to remove the plague. Shortly after, she added another condition: He either submit or a memory-erasing device would be used to make all on Earth forget the Oni and their allies were ever on the planet. Ataru-kun barely won that."
Hums escaped the others. "Well, a mushroom plague won't get beyond Tomobiki," Chris noted. "Rumiko's got control of the energy fields that kept people outside town ignorant of what was going on inside town until Tariko's birthday in April when Ayumu rescued her from marrying Lum. So there's no threat there. If Lum tries to force a tag race, Tariko can delay things to Friday morning."
Dark chuckles escaped the others. "Yeah! I'd LOVE to see the look on that idiot's face when she watches her 'most faithful's' big battle fleet go BOOM!" Brian declared as he made an exploding motion with his hands. As the others laughed, the Black Pulsar added, "And with Ōsaka letting loose an Infinite Wave on the planet Thursday night Japan time?! I wish the stupid umale LUCK!"
"Would Lum-san's father try to intervene, Brian-san?" Mukuro asked.
"Right now, the Urusians are dealing with a very nice 'dowry' of mushrooms Rupa's great-granddad sent their way to make sure there couldn't be a rescue coming from Uru, Mukuro," Lisa explained. "I doubt we'll have issues unless idiots in the Imperial Round decide to be more stupid than normal. And if they did, they've got a BIG surprise or THREE awaiting them come Friday morning."
Chris cackled. "Yeah! A SPACE FLEET of ships that make a Kashin-class look like a kid's toy...and those are just the FRIGATES!" the Genius of Upgrades stated. "Not to mention nearly a THOUSAND first generation battle dolls from every major country that fielded a navy during Big Mistake Number Two! And that doesn't include what Liz Wakefield and her friends set up at the Ceres orbit line!"
"That's going to be the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot: Take Two!" Dennis added.
Everyone laughed that time. "Okay! Okay!" Taylor said as she waved her hand to get people to calm down, then she gazed on their new friends. "Makoto, Mukuro, you think your friends would be willing to do bouts in the Battlezone once this idiocy with the Oni is finished and we all go totally open?"
Both natives of another universe's Japan nodded. "I'm sure we can do that, Taylor-san," Mukuro answered on behalf of her peer. "Sakura-san, Tenko-san and I can help Sophia-san remain calm when she's in battle. And it would be good to get into hard practice for future battles, especially with the issues of both the lar'beke and the roenor'beke having expressing such interest in Earth."
"If the shipgirls don't steal all the damn fight scenes!" Victoria dryly noted.
"Yeah! HOW many lar'beke prim'ta did Mama Cass recover in Steveston?" Dean asked.
More dry snickers escaped people there. "Okay! It's well past bedtime for all of us and I'm sure Makoto and Mukuro have better things to do being here instead of being on Ōmure-jima," Taylor declared to wrap things up, clapping her hands once. "Let's have a nice day today and tomorrow before all hell potentially breaks loose on Thursday. Makoto, Mukuro, PLEASE don't blurt out where this is!"
"Hai, hai!" Makoto declared as Mukuro nodded. "Oyasumi nasai, minna-san."
With another flash of energy, the two Japanese metahumans teleported out.
"Meeting adjourned," the Mistress of the Mindless Legions then declared...
Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, that moment...
For Shigaten Benten of Bensaikyō on the planet Fukunokami, this was surreal.
"You and Moroboshi...were once the SAME PERSON?!"
Never mind the man she had a secret crush on becoming a WOMAN of all things...!
And a pretty damned SEXY one at that...!
"Hai, hai. No thanks to your friend and her inability to realize she wasn't living on Uru and didn't have a local 'fiancé'," Tariko Katabarbe said before sipping the cloudberry tea her youngest sister introduced to her, such a taste ultimately coming from the crew of her granduncle's old warship.
As Benten exchanged looks with Oyuki, Aruka Ran nodded her thanks as more tea was poured for her by Akamatsu Tsukiko, who had come up with her sisters to help keep watch over this very necessary meeting. And while the three alien girls were quite intimidated by the presence of the four reborn destroyers, the fact that they didn't have to deal with Tariko's selfish mother was a bonus. Moroboshi Kinshō had been dragged upstairs by the veterans of Destroyer Division Six — with their "mom boats" Shimosuwa Tamiyo and her sister Tadako present — then dumped unceremoniously into her bedroom after hogtying her to ensure she didn't race back downstairs to confront her transformed child.
This meeting between Tariko and the oldest friends of the second woman recorded in The Book of Pretty Girls was far more important than the wishes of a short-sighted, selfish idiot.
"So...once Lady Ayumu rescued you from the wedding attempt in Onishuto and returned you to Yiziba..." — even if she had been fully cured of the childhood brainwashing forced on her to make her fear the natives of the third world of Kaeyu, saying that name still struck the crown princess of Neptune as quite odd — "...you were Gifted, then it as discovered that Ataru was now a separate person."
"Yeah," Tariko noted. "You can understand how pissed off he was at that point."
Ran visibly winced. Even if she was now coming to understand why Moroboshi Ataru had become like he did, she was still pretty upset with him. She wasn't going to do anything about it, though. Given that the male-half of the Trickster of the Show had still to be Gifted, she didn't want to have any hand in turning him into a real monster! "Yeah! What he did to Lum-chan following that was NASTY!" She trilled. "Not that she didn't deserve it, of course! I always wondered why so many people began asking about Oni mating rituals after the thing with Elle. Now I know." She shook her head.
"Still, couldn't you just have explained this shit to Lum?!" Benten wondered. "I'm sure she would have understood, especially after you helping her like you did when you first met all those years ago!"
"Um...excuse me, Bénten Ebísovna, did we forget something?" Akamatsu Himeko asked as she gave the biker-babe from Fukunokami a steely look. "Especially in the wake of what Lum Invádrovna did when she was six, just a little while before she met the Komandír?" She indicated Tariko in emphasis.
All three alien girls winced. "Ōgi...right!" Benten breathed out. "Forgot THAT asshole...!"
"Did you actually unleash THAT on his people?" Oyuki wondered. "There is a reason that we've long deferred to the leadership on Phentax Two, Lady Tariko. To rip that all away like that...!"
Tariko sighed. "Why was the Tag Race launched in the first place?"
"The Ipraedies," Benten asserted. "Everyone knows that!"
"And would THEY come here now?"
Redet Lum's best friends blinked before Ran snickered. "With you guys here?! Not likely!"
"Good," the Trickster of the Show breathed out before she held up a sheet of paper. "Now, I think you guys are all smart enough to understand why Tennō and the Diet have gone along with this, I believe," she said as she gave her current guests a knowing look, getting visible winces in return.
"Lum's not going to like that," Benten warned.
Tariko sighed. "I honestly don't care what she thinks anymore, Benten. And if you guys think ATARU cares for Lum's feelings, you're just as crazy as some of his fleet think Lum has been all along."
Eyes locked on the reborn destroyers now with them. "Hai!" Tsukiko said as she gazed at the three alien girls. "Honestly! Shirei-kan has said it again and again and again! He doesn't want to marry Lum-san! She's no lady, that's for sure!" As her sisters rolled their eyes at the first of their class speaking of being a "proper lady", the adopted native of Sasebo gave Benten a knowing look before doing the same to Oyuki. "Never mind you two having crushes on Shirei-kan...!" she added, making both women squawk in embarrassment as Ran gaped in disbelief at them. "Why are you so afraid of what Lum-san's reaction could have been?! If you two showed any sort of proper lady-like behaviour with Shirei-kan, it might have turned Lum-san away from being such a MONSTER to him!"
"Oh?!" Ran teased. "What's this about wanting Darling, you two...?"
"Ran-chan!" the crown princess snapped before she flustered. "H-hai, I do care for Dar-..." She quickly caught herself before turning a very interesting shade of cherry. "F-f-for Ataru, that is...!" As Tariko smirked on seeing the normally quite taciturn woman turned into a stuttering wreck like that, Oyuki shook her head. "But I couldn't even THINK to do anything about that, not with Lum-chan involved! We're quite weak in comparison to a power like Uru! You don't understand how much Lum-chan can influence things even if she says all the time she doesn't care for politics! If she felt I was stabbing her in the back like that when it comes to Darling — even if we ARE part of the Galactic Federation! — it'd be a tag race for sure! I can't afford to have something like that happen to my people! I can't!"
Silence fell as the silver-haired woman lowered her eyes, squeezing her fists to try to gain some sense of self-control in the face of admitting something like that. She then perked as the youngest of the Akamatsu sisters reached over to squeeze her shoulder. "It's alright, nanodesu," Akamatsu Inoue soothed. "It's okay to have nice feelings for Shireikan-san, Oyuki-san! I have those feelings, nanodesu! Even if I'm not part of Shireikan-san's personal fleet, I still have them! You just have to stop being so afraid, nanodesu! After all, those silly Imperials on Uru aren't going to like what ELSE we've done to keep Earth away from them, nanodesu!" She pulled out her PAA and put it on the table, tapping the crystal to allow a hologram to appear over it. "See? Isn't that nice?!" she wondered.
The three aliens looked...
...before they gaped on seeing an image of THU Inazuma shown alongside that of Redet Invader's flagship UDFS Kashin. "How the HELL...?!" Benten began, gaping at the fact that something which would obviously be classified as a destroyer was the same size as a combination battleship/aerospace warfare carrier like the Kashin. "How the fuck did you guys build something like THAT?!"
"Benten-san, don't swear, nanodesu!" Inoue scolded.
"We missed out on it, but when the Komandír and her friends attacked Phentax Two, they did more than destroy the fleet built by those nekul'túrnaja imitátsija svinéj!" As Benten and Ran snickered as the omniversal translation fields projected by the destroyers' uniforms rendered that term into something they understood, Himeko added, "They liberated a RACE of bioroids, blood descendants of the same planet where the people you call the 'Maidens of the Eternal Voyager' currently reside." Ignoring the stunned looks crossing the alien girls' faces, the adopted native of Maizuru and Nakhódka added, "Even better, Ájumu Dzjódziovna Kásuga and Kharukhí Nagárovna Sudzúmija — Továrisch Beskonéchnost' and Továrisch Tkachíkha to you — found an abandoned fleet built by the people who built the factory where the Avalónki were born; that's what the bioroids call themselves. It was seized as abandoned property, cloaked and brought to this solar system." She brought out her PAA and tapped the crystal, allowing a rather frightening image to appear, with a tiny elongated dot beside that.
"Um...what's that beside that spacedock, Himeko-chan?" Ran asked, pointing.
"My starship-self, Ran Mákotovna."
Oyuki covered her mouth in awed shock. "Oh, my...!"
"Shit! I can imagine how Rei's uncle would react to that," Benten muttered.
"Pity the fool won't be able to do anything about it THIS time," Ran dryly noted.
"Still, unless these Avalonians are involved in crewing such vessels..." Oyuki began.
"Oh?!" the native of Shingetsu cut in. "Did we forget what Tariko-chan warned us about the people she got Gifted last before she was trapped here and forced to be Darling? One being Lum-chan's classmate Tsuruya Rumiko-chan, also known as the Sage?!" As the other alien girls winced on realizing their host effectively had access to the skills of the Circle of Thought, Ran sipped her tea. "If that force shield that's around the school is nasty enough, what do you thing Rumiko-chan and her friends — with one in America and another in Russia! — could do to protect the PLANET in case Rei-sama's uncle gets a case of the 'clevers'?!" She made finger quotes on saying that. "Good riddance to them all!"
"And you guys have plausible deniability," Akamatsu Ikue added. As Benten, Oyuki and Ran focused on her, the adopted native of Yokosuka held up a finger. "After all, everything goes into effect Friday morning. It's Tuesday afternoon right now and you got to go rescue Lum-chan from the creep who kidnapped her, remember? How long's that going to take? A day? Two days?" She shrugged.
"Still...!" Oyuki hissed.
"Oyuki, would you like it if WE dumped OUR problems all on you?" Tariko asked.
That made the future queen of Neptune squawk. "NO!"
"Then, what on Earth makes you think that we here on Earth like you people dumping all your problems on US, huh?!" the reality warper who initiated Earth's second Age of Metahumans wondered. "Doesn't all that snow Miyuki-chan is sending BACK to you tell you something?! Especially with notes saying you don't have a DUMPING PERMIT there?! Much that I'm sure Yoiko's friend up north wouldn't mind all that snow, there are places here that can't deal with that stuff, especially at the loads you send through the Central Warp Chamber! Whatever the hell happened to your decision to only dump snow in the Arctic and the Antarctic, huh?! You told Lum you were going to have that happen, remember?"
A moan answered her even if Oyuki tried not to visibly cringe on remembering the reborn seventh carrier of Operation Z. Having encountered Itō Yoiko when the great local ch'uongtechhu visited her homeland alongside Tariko's granduncle Moroboshi Kyōsuke two months before, the silver-haired crown princess had been cowed into not doing ANYTHING to support her friend's claim on Tariko's brother. The one statement — layered with levels of scorn that would make even Seq Yethis feel insignificant! — coming from the reborn THG Yonaga put it succinctly: "You are Lum-san's friends? How disappointing. I expected more civilized behaviour, especially from one of YOUR high station, Denka-san."
"Sadly, the Minister of the Chamber doesn't listen to anyone save my father. And he doesn't care at all where the snow goes, no matter how much either Pukaze-chan or I try to persuade him," Oyuki advised.
Tariko rolled her eyes. "He's being stupidly senile, in other words," she sarcastically noted, crossing her arms. "Fine! They'll get a lesson about it once the special shielding system at the Ceres line goes operational on Friday." As Oyuki paled, the Trickster of the Show waved her down. "Relax! Relax! You can still warp snow through the Chamber...but it's going to Mars from now on."
As the crown princess blinked in surprise, Himeko added, "We know the roenor'beke are based out of Mars. Don't worry if they start to complain. We'll be dealing with them soon enough." She then blinked on seeing the confused looks cross the alien girls' face. "The Mor-Tax?" she emphasized.
"Never heard of them," Benten noted, shaking her head. "I know that there are people living on Mars, but they stay pretty much to themselves. Oyuki?" she then asked her friend.
In answer, Oyuki pulled out a LARGE clipboard filled with artificial parchment from under her robes, making her friends blink. "Do you always carry that thing with you?" a bewildered Benten asked.
"It's my copy of Neptune's trade logs," her silver-haired friend nonchalantly answered as she moved to scan the sheets. As the destroyers shook their heads — once they adjusted to Yizibajohei-level technology, they all fell in love with the personal administrative assistants that had come immediately after their Giftings, giving them many opportunities to learn about so many things — she then gazed on one page. "Ah, yes...! There was an encounter with people based out of Mars just before the Tag Race. It was a warning to leave them alone and not approach Earth. When it was passed on to Onishuto, that was totally ignored even if the Urusians didn't send anyone to Mars to conduct a first contact mission since the planet doesn't have any decent habitation areas to run a tag race."
"Do your people ALWAYS do that?!" Ikue asked Ran.
"Sadly so," the native of Shingetsu muttered, rolling her eyes. "You'd think the Mother of All Fight Scenes would have made people lay off that. But NO!" She shook her head before finishing her tea, then she nodded thanks as Tsukiko refilled her cup. "The Imperial morons back home just don't care! Tag Race, then invade! Tag Race, then invade! 'It's the right thing to do!', they say!"
"Which means, you people probably never learned of the invasion the roenor'beke launched on Earth back in '53, just after the Korean War ended," Tariko then said before clicking her tongue.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"There was an INVASION?!" Oyuki exclaimed as the other aliens gaped wide-eyed at their host.
"Hai!" the Trickster of the Show trilled. "Oba-chan — that's Dean Raeburn, by the way — put a stop to that with her buddies." As the alien girls winced on hearing the name of Earth's Jewel Warrior, she sipped her tea. "Turns out certain germs running loose here on Earth knocked the aliens out, putting them in mental deep freeze. All of the roenor'beke were collected, put into sealed toxic waste dumps, then people were made to forget what happened thanks to the Red Scare happening at the same time. Skip ahead to just before I started my casting drive and some idiot broke open one of those dumps, which got a whole tonne of them running loose! Lucky for me others from Yiziba got in on the casting bandwagon for Earth and helped bring in exterminators who have experience with the roenor'beke."
"Why didn't the Niphentaxians warn us about THAT?!" the crown princess demanded.
The locals gaped. "You people actually depended on THEM for intelligence?" Tamiyo wondered.
"Foolish," Tadako quietly cackled, covering her mouth.
"Well, they won't anymore," Tariko noted as mixed looks crossed her guests face. No doubt, learning of the final and total defeat of the Church of Lum made them feel quite joyful; that meant that their personal diaries were safe from being probed. But the loss of the Niphentaxian military and intelligence machine meant that Earth would become an effective black hole to the surrounding powers.
And with the Yizibajohei and the Avalonians now involved...!
Meanwhile, outside Onishuto on Uru (local time: Two hours after supper)...
"Invader!"
Gasping on hearing his own supreme leader out, the heavy-set battlewagon warlord that had led the first contact mission with Earth perked before he turned around and saluted as a small hover-skiff came down on a small piece of cleared ground within a massive grove of VERY tall alien mushrooms. "Boss!" Redet Invader called out as Hozan Lana stepped off his personal transport to join him.
"How goes it?!" the president of the Urusian Union wondered as he looked around.
It wasn't a pretty sight.
Right now, spreading almost everywhere save the Terrible Swamps located to the west of the Invader home, there were massive sprouts of mushrooms that reached into the sky. Even Onishuto off to the east appeared to be consumed by the alien fungal plague from the only inhabitable world of Hika'aki. And while the Urusian military was in a good position to try to arrest the spread of the mushrooms given how detachments from the Defence Force were obliterating the giant stalks, the spores being spread by those stalks — even the ones killed off by the locals — was just compounding the issue.
"It's bad, Boss," Invader declared with a tone of regret, his body quaking with outrage at the actions of the Yaminokuni first patriarch to ensure no interference from this world when it came to having his great-grandson married. "Unless we get something that's a proven fungal killer — say Zephyrite wind-daisies modified for our planet — we're just slowing this mess down, not stopping or removing it!"
Lana grimly nodded. "The main power grid in Onishuto is down," the veteran naval infantry commander added, making the younger officer hiss in outrage. "I've ordered a complete travel quarantine to ensure this doesn't spread to the colonies or aboard any ship of the Defence Force. No transport up until we're sure we can contain the spores, understood?" As Invader nodded — it was a logical solution — the balding grand general gave him a knowing look. "What of Princess Oyuki, Makoto's daughter Ran and Ebisu's daughter Benten? Have they gone to get help to rescue Lum and get her back here safely?"
"They arrived on Earth about twenty minutes ago. No contact since that time, but I'm sure they're getting Mamoru's daughter involved, not to mention Yethis' nephew," Invader answered. As Lana nodded in understanding — a small strike on Muzlim Madiina could succeed where a major attack clearly would not — the younger man breathed out. "But as far as Miss Sakuya and her family are concerned, there's no help coming from them, especially Mr. Groom or any of those sea warship ch'uongtechhu that have gathered around them. Much that I hoped he might go to help my daughter in this case, his sisters' influence is total. He's staying on Earth as far as they're concerned. If that one ch'uongtechhu whose crew survived all these years in their northern polar region gets involved..."
Lana nodded. "Invader. Please answer a simple question: Did you actually see Mister Ataru tag your daughter's horns AFTER he tagged them to win the Tag Race last year?"
The young battlewagon warlord blinked before he sighed. "Actually, no..."
"What happened?"
"Well, I heard the gun fire that indicated the Tag Race was won, then flew down to see what was going on from my bridge," Invader explained. "By the time I got there, Lum was announcing that she and Mr. Groom were married, so I assumed that he tagged her horns again to properly marry her."
That made the president of the Urusian Union moan, slapping his forehead. "In other words, it's your daughter's words against Mister Ataru's! Is that what you're saying?!"
Invader tensed. "But Boss...!"
"RELAV'SH!" the older warrior snapped at near the top of his lungs, making Invader bolt to attention as the work crews looked their way, shocked that Lana was moving to give the younger warlord the type of sharp dressing down only a veteran Marine could do. "Even if there was a later agreement with Mister Ataru's parents — which was FORCED because of that idiocy with Queen Elle, by the way! — that was ultimately overridden by the MATRIARCH of his clan! Atop that, I just got an interesting call from the Men In Black in New York City!" As Invader gaped, Lana glared intently into his eyes. "The government in Japan just RENOUNCED any adherence to the Tag Race Treaty! Which means that within two to three days, your daughter and all her friends will be EXPELLED from Earth FOREVER!"
The battlewagon warlord's jaw dropped in disbelief. "B-b-Boss...I didn't know...!"
"I'm not blaming you, Captain!" Lana declared as he crossed his arms. "But I want a TRUTHFUL accounting of what's been going on with your daughter on that planet since she began living there! Some of the things Chief Zed told me about were practically equal of what we've feared the You Know Whos could do to US if one or more of them took interest in someone from OUR planet!"
Invader gargled. "Th-th-the Y-y-You Know Wh-wh-Whos...?!" he eeped.
"Yes! Because there's something else I've learned," the president of Uru snarled. "In the official Rescript released by Japan's monarch to coincide with the government's decision to expel Lum and her friends from that nation, a woman's name was mentioned: Moroboshi Tariko!" Noting the flash of confusion crossing the younger man's face, Lana sighed. "Don't you recall Lady Ayumu telling all of us in the Congress that she had been Gifted as Infinity with the help of a woman named Tariko?" he wondered. As Invader turned VERY pale on recalling those words by the Goddess Who Walks Among Men when this damned situation begun days before, the veteran naval infantry officer added, "Who FLED from Earth to You Know Where because her PARENTS had become quite abusive to her?!"
"No...!" Invader eeped.
"You recall what Lady Tariko was destined to become, don't you?!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
The man who had led the first contact mission to Earth sank to his knees.
"Tuyuki...!"
Back in Tomobiki, that moment...
"AH-CHOO!"
"Bud' zdoróva, Komandír!"
Moaning, the Trickster of the Show rubbed her nose. "Spasíbo, Khíbisha!" she said as she moved to wipe her hand with some Kleenex, then reached over to squeeze Akamatsu Himeko's shoulder in thanks. "Damn! Someone was talking about me!" she then muttered, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Hopefully, it's not some fu-...!" Here, Shigaten Benten caught herself as Himeko's youngest sister Inoue sent her a warning look. "Ah! Ha-ha-ha...!" the biker-babe from Fukunokami sputtered. "Some freakin' heel back on Yiziba wanting to call you out for some fight scene, Tariko!"
As Oyuki and Aruka Ran both smirked on seeing how quick the normally feisty girl was cowered by the Peaceful Lightning, the eldest of the Akamatsu sisters snorted. "Well, if they don't want to be proper ladies or gentlemen and challenge Shirei-kan properly, it's their fault!" Akamatsu Tsukiko declared. "After all, meetings like this with tea and snacks are like meals on Yiziba, right?"
"Pretty much so," Tariko admitted.
As the alien girls relaxed — they had known all along thanks to Vosian observations of that world that Yizibajohei NEVER engaged in fight scenes during meals; it was a carryover from the harsh period of the Starvation Times — the whooshing noise of wind whipping past someone's body made everyone tense before Tariko looked towards the main door. "Who the heck is that...?" she demanded...
...before wincing on hearing a body slam HARD onto the front walkway, cracking it good! Instantly, Tsukiko and Himeko raced to the entranceway to throw open the door just as a voice called out, "Okinami, you klutz! Is THAT the way to act when we're about to present ourselves to the admiral?!"
"Gomen nasai...! Itte...!" another voice responded in embarrassment.
Tariko shook her head. "More shipgirls," she commented before looking over.
Sure enough, the first of the reborn Akatsuki-class fleet destroyers was moving to lay in on the newcomers. "Honestly, Nami-chan!" Tsukiko snapped. "You shouldn't scold your sister in public like that! It's not properly lady-like, especially in front of Shirei-kan and her guests!"
As surprised yelps escaped the newcomers, Himeko walked outside to help whoever had crashed to get back to her feet. "Are you alright, Nanamí Khirósiovna?" the second of her class asked.
A shocked gasp answered the adopted native of Maizuru and Nakhódka. "H-h-Hibiki-sempai...?! Akatsuki-s-s-sempai...?!" the person who had tripped stammered, her voice marked with the Kansai tones indicating she had also been built in the same place where THG Yonaga had been constructed in secret. "Ah...g-g-gomen n-nasai...!" she stuttered before being walked inside.
Everyone looked. The newcomers were in matching new-style uniforms: Purple tops, light grey pants, white piping lining the tops and down the sides of the bodies, sky blue belt with white buckles bearing chrysanthemums in gold, plus smoky grey boots. Their ship names were displayed on their upper chests as had been done with everyone given modern jumpsuits from Fukushima Fujiko herself, the symbol backgrounds indicative their possessing hydrokinetic powers. Given the sixteenth of their overall class of near-light cruisers who had returned with the others of the Ten-gō force who had been sunk on that April day in 1945 (save Itō Yasuko) had dressed similarly to these three, it was more than understandable. The girl being comforted by Himeko had multi-shaded dark brown hair tied in a stubby ponytail over the right ear, grey eyes under protective bifocal goggles. The clear leader of the group had long black hair that shined a dark pink shade in places with golden brown eyes; she wore a white hairband tied over the left ear and was remarkably well-endowed. The final of the group had short-cropped brown hair tapered at her shoulders, blunt bangs falling over her forehead over golden brown eyes that matched that of her sister/division flagship, an ahoge sticking out from the top of her head.
Thinking about that, Tariko remembered that TH Gunkan-tachi Naganami, Kishinami, Okinami and Asashimo served in Destroyer Division 31 around the time of Leyte Gulf. Tapping her PAA as Tsukiko and Himeko directed the newcomers to turn their boots into uwabaki for wearing indoors while keeping their uniforms on, she called out, "Oi, Ataru! Where's Kumasaka Asami-chan?"
As Benten and Oyuki both perked, Tariko's brother calmly called back from Welcome House, "She's getting settled into the new commons cliff-side, Onē-san. Why?"
"I got three of her sisters here at the house: Nami-chan, Nanami-chan and Nagisa-chan."
As the newcomers perked on hearing the given names bestowed to them when they were salvaged and Gifted, that man's voice called out. "Hai, just a sec'. Let me get her, then we'll be right over."
"Don't worry about the fool parental unit, Shirei-kan!" the third of the Akamatsu sisters declared. "We beat her down, then threw her into her bedroom to keep her stupid nose out of this meeting!"
"Hai, Ikue-chan, arigatō..."
"Ano...aren't you the admiral...?"
That was Kumasaka Nami, the reborn Naganami. "I'm his elder twin sister," Tariko supplied as she waved to clear spots around the living room table for them to sit themselves. "Are you guys the only ones of your class who came back outside Asami-chan?" She caught herself as confused looks came her way. "I mean Asashimo," she added. "You better get used to the new names, by the way."
"Um...not that we're aware of, Teitoku," Kumasaka Nagisa, the reborn Kishinami, answered. "I mean, we were dozing where we had been sunk, then the Spirit of the Crystal linked our souls to the Healer's creations that fought the lar'beke, then we were reborn as this!" She waved to herself in emphasis.
"How long ago?" Tsukiko asked.
"Anniversary of my sinking, Sempai," Nami answered. "Um, where's Akebono-..." She quickly caught herself, sensing what the older destroyers were now sending her way. "Um, Akemi-sempai? I know she disappeared from where she sank near me months ago; ditto with Sumie-chan! So..."
KK-KOOM!
The whole house shuddered while an echo of wind whipping down from the heavens accompanied what felt like a sonic boom blew through the doorway. "Sumie...!" Tariko moaned as she held her forehead.
"KONNICHI WA, TEITOKU!"
Everyone spun around, then Benten felt drool leak from the corner of her lips. "Damn!" the biker-babe exclaimed on seeing how TIGHT the uniform worn by the fastest destroyer in the Pacific part of World War Two was around those incredible curves and squeezable "superstructure". "She's hot...!"
"And recklessly fast at times, Shigaten-san," a familiar man's voice hailed from outside the door before footfalls echoed in the entranceway. "You think you might want to slow down a bit, Sumie-chan?"
As Tariko's brother walked in accompanied by the sixteenth of the Yūgumo-class destroyers — now in very comfortable civilian clothing in lieu of her battlesuit, which matched that of her sisters/division mates — the just-arrived Nami, Nanami and Nagisa blushed madly on seeing him. "Oi! If you gotta go somewhere, Teitoku, you gotta go FAST!" Toyama Sumie scolded. "'Sides, I got some news!"
"What news, Sumie-chan?" Tsukiko asked.
The blonde cosmic speedster pointed to Kumasaka Asami. "Muwol-sŏnsaengnim's found all the kami of Asami-chan's sisters who were never built," she declared, making everyone exclaim. "She just did summons right now! Ch'unghwa-ya's going to bring them over once they're inducted into the Haegun!"
"Shouldn't they come here, Sumie-san?" Nami asked.
"After what our people did to the Koreans ever since Meiji Tennō's government enslaved the whole country, if they want to go serve them, let them serve there, Nami-nē," Nagisa objected. "Besides, didn't you feel all that bad uneasiness from the areas north of the 38th Parallel, beyond that demilitarized zone separating the nice people in the South from the communists in the North?"
"Don't worry about the uneasiness, Nami-chan," Ataru stated as he moved to sit beside his sister, his jean jacket open to reveal the pistol grip of his Lawgiver, that making Ran tense as Benten nodded in approval. "Ladies, I assume you got quite the reveal scene now from Onē-san here just now."
"H-hai, Dar-..." Here, Oyuki caught herself, blushing.
A tired sigh escaped him. "Oyuki-san, I HOPE you understand why that's not going to happen now," he noted, giving her an apologetic look before gazing towards Benten, who also looked flustered. "Much that I'm flattered beyond belief, my own 'fleet' can be a bit of a jealous lot, especially with anyone whom we..." — he pointed to himself, then Tariko — "...interacted with before our birthday."
Benten chuckled. "Y-yeah, Darling, that's pretty understandable..."
"Who are the members of your fleet, Shirei-kan?" Nanami asked.
"Carrier Zuikaku; battleship Roma from Italy; fast battleships Kongō, Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima; heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen from Germany, Pola from Italy and Chōkai from here; light cruisers Kitakami and Ōi; plus destroyer Akebono, Nami," Asami answered as she scratched her head of knee-length purple-highlighted long silver hair in a high ponytail complete with ahoge and bangs covering her right eye to give her something of a piratical look; she had the same shade of eyes Nanami possessed. "Though I think Akiyama Suzumi-chan — I mean Suzutsuki — might want to join in." As Ataru tried not to groan, the adopted native of Ōsaka gazed at him. "You don't have nowhere near enough destroyers, Shirei!"
Sensing his flustering, Ran snickered. "Poor Darling! So many girls want you now...!"
He nodded. "Hai, Ran-san. After getting a hundred and eighty-six Shōzoki lovers when all of you were put into the healer's cockpit thanks to Ayumu-chan, you'd think I'd be used to it by now!"
All three alien girls bolted to their feet in shocked horror. "SHŌZOKI?!"
"Hai, Shōzoki!" Tariko snapped as she gave them a look that brooked no defiance from her would-be "wife's" oldest friends. "And if you idiots try to blab this to Lum or anyone else on Uru, I'll consider that a fight scene seed!" Noting them instantly balk at the reality warper's ugly warning, she crossed her arms. "Hai, the idiots bound to that camera-in-the-sky on Shōzoran are pains in the butt, but the free ones are very decent people. Not a HAIR is touched on ANY of them! Capiche?!"
Rapid nods answered her. "What are Shōzoki, Sempai?" Nami asked Tsukiko.
"Androids and gynoids. Androids are boys, gynoids are girls," the eldest of her class answered. "Think of us being sentient machines under our skins, with gears and motors and wiring and all that. That's what a Shōzoki is even if he or she has a living human spirit within him or her."
"Sadly, they're all designed as comfort men and comfort women, so Shirei-kan here had to go to pillow stations with all of them to keep this creepy Mother — that's the 'camera-in-the-sky' he just talked about — away from hurting them since a lot are Shirei-kan's friends," Akamatsu Ikue added.
"Like who?!" Ran demanded.
"All the girls of the Mahjong Club, well over HALF the freshmen that joined us in April, a couple teachers plus office ladies and a few others around town, too!" Ataru calmly answered. "Including four members of MY class after April: Shirai Kōsuke, Arakida Yui, Gekasawa Kumiko and Inoue Tamako."
Ran's jaw hit the floor. "Wait! Kōsuke-kun's a BOY, Darling! YOU HAD SEX WITH A BOY?!"
"I've had sex with a tonne of titemam, Ran-san!" Ataru asserted as Oyuki and Benten turned as red as cherries, their imaginations instantly going into supercharged overdrive as they considered what THAT must have been like. As Ran started to sway in disbelief at THAT incredible revelation, he shrugged. "Remember, we grew up as a girl for a DECADE!" he added, indicating himself, then Tariko.
"Damn...!" Benten breathed out. "Why you...?!"
A tired sigh answered him. "Traitors to Tennō, Benten-san," he flatly answered before waving to Ran. As the destroyers all stiffened, snarls escaping their lips at such a thing, he breathed out. "Who didn't care for Yiziba extending its protection over Earth, much less Ran-san's people moving to 'invade' us since they have a BETTER interdimensional invader in mind to conquer the planet!"
"ANOTHER invasion?!" Oyuki exclaimed.
"We haven't even touched the Goa'uld, yet!" Tariko warned.
Jaws hit the floor. "THEM?!" all three of Lum's friends demanded.
"Oh, girls!" Asami declared. "Utako-sempai's having a big cookout of nearly a THOUSAND prim'ta over where we're based at now!" She licked her lips as her sisters started to drool. "They smell GOOD...!"
"Don't you people know about Colonel Jack O'Neill?" Tariko asked the alien girls. "You know? The Slayer of Ra?! He's an American, for the Forge's sake! They have a Stargate with them right now!"
Face-faults answered her. "Guess not," Ataru mused...
Meanwhile, over at the Saotome home in Nerima...
"Oh, ye gods! This is SUCH an honour, Kanami-san!"
Hayashi Kanami was trying NOT to blush as a freshly-purchased autograph book was placed before her by a giddy Chabashira Tenko, who was trying not to have a major fan girl moment standing in the presence of — what to her — was the greatest martial artist in all of fiction brought to life! As Chloe Zitzewitz tried not to collapse on her back laughing her ass off at the sight of her admiral being so flustered, the Untameable One took a deep breath before she took up the offered pen, then moved to place a signature and note of encouragement in the book provided by the native of another universe's Minamibōsō at the southern tip of Chiba Prefecture. Watching his daughter get so flustered, Saotome Genma gazed upon Kiryū Kazuma. "So our adventures were FICTION where these ladies come from?"
"Hai, Genma, they were," the Grand Poobah of the Golden Springs affirmed before sipping the tea that Yuhara Seiko made for everyone as this meeting between the would-be "masters" of Musabetsu Kakutō and the grandmaster of the Tensei-ryū continued. "Tenko-san, did you actually study aikidō before you got drafted into that madness?" he asked the woman known back home as the ultimate aikidō-ka.
Who was much more, the Yakuza wakagashira and his hosts could sense; as did many of the Bullet Deniers, Tenko had allowed herself to be Gifted as the Mistress of Soft Styles, Duotiduo ("Tàijítú"). "Yeah, I practised it at a local dōjō," the brunette woman with the very long stringy twintails affirmed, nodding before she relaxed herself. "But not to the level that people claimed I had achieved when I got tricked to go into the Ultimate Academy. And certainly not like I am now." She waved to herself in emphasis before nodding as Kanami handed back the autograph book, then she waved her hand in a "no-no" gesture. "And no, I didn't have anger issues when I was younger, much less attending Stone College. I don't know WHERE the idiots running Team Danganronpa got that from at ALL!"
"Che!" Ōgami Sakura snarled as she crossed her arms. The ultimate martial artist from the 78th Class at Hope's Peak had accompanied her "kōhai" — along with Tenko, Harukawa Maki had accompanied them to Nerima from Ōmure-jima — for this meeting with the most powerful FISS-type to rise on Yiziba, not to mention the two supreme martial arts grandmasters in Dean Raeburn and Moroboshi Negako. "If Enoshima-san will have any use in the future, she could go back to where we came from and totally destroy that 'reality show' that they created to change what we went through into mere entertainment for the mindless masses!" As Tendō Sōun and his friend nodded, the native of another universe's Minato in Tōkyō proper sipped her own cup of tea. "Would that be permitted, Shihan-sama?"
The Protector of All Life and the woman also known as Imperial Special Agent #49 exchanged looks, then Negako sipped her own tea. "Ensure it is properly planned before asking Junko to do what you desire, Sakura. I believe given how the Gifting would have fundamentally changed her, she would be party to such a plan. And ensure it does not have repercussions in this dimension."
A bow of the head from the highly-muscled silver-haired woman. "Naturally."
Tenko put her autograph book away. "Um...so, Kiryū-san, you and Kanami-san actually fought before?" she asked the Grand Poobah before she gazed curiously at the younger woman.
Kazuma placed his tea cup down. "Well, this first started shortly before Golden Week here, a couple weeks after Tariko-chan was rescued from being forced to marry her 'wife'," he began. "It was quite a shocking time for all of Japan. Everyone knew about the 'invasion' the Oni threw last fall, but were told the matter was resolved when Tariko-chan made the tag, then everything went silent."
"Not totally silent," Raeburn reminded him.
He nodded. "Hai, Shihan-sama, the oil theft incident. But Ayumu-chan was quick to send the majority of those space taxis away with a warning not to come back to Earth lest she get 'really mad'." As people there winced as they imagined what the reaction would have been hearing THAT threat from the Goddess Who Walks Among Men, he took a deep breath. "So everything was quiet on the Tomobiki front, even in areas bordering that town like Nerima here. Then came the day after Tariko-chan's birthday, which is when her classmate Rumiko-chan — the Sage — was able to seize control of the 'notice-me-not' field put around town. At the same time, the Prime Minister's Office released a detailed report on events concerning what had happened in Tomobiki. Edited in certain places, of course..."
"The matter concerning Tariko-chan and Ataru-kun, you mean?" Sōun asked.
"Same. And the whole thing was revealed in such a way that put the onus of blame for many of the more disruptive events on the aliens' presence on Earth. Look at what Lum's former fiancé did alone!" As scowls crossed everyone's faces — with Seiko's elder sister Minami vowing that if Seq Rei ever had the ill-luck to cross her path, she'd make a tiger-skinned ushitora rug for her new quarters at Welcome House — Kazuma took a deep breath. "Because of this, calls were made in the Diet to have Shihan-sama here..." — he waved to Raeburn in emphasis — "...come escort the aliens home, then impose a worldwide ban on their presence on the planet. Since Hinako-chan was already moving to 'salvage' girls like Seiko-san and her sisters here, there was a ready-made force to deal with intrusions."
"It is a pity we did not return sooner," Seiko noted. "The fact that Shirei was isolated like that was criminal, especially with the efforts she made to defend the planet from such an eventuality."
"We're back now, Nui-Nui...HEY!"
The very air of the room swirled after Kanami pounced on Yuhara Chikako, slamming the adopted native of Maizuru down on her back by the throat, the furious strength of the Untameable One making the fourth of the Kagerō-class destroyers gargle with surprise, fright and pain. "Look, Yuhara! I'm gonna make this DAMN clear to you!" the would-be "heir" of Musabetsu Kakutō dangerously growled, making almost everyone in the room quake in horror at such tones, which had NEVER escaped the person born Saotome Ranma before. "EVERY DAMN TIME you call Seiko that, you're saying she's OUT OF CONTROL! You're saying she's UNDISCIPLINED! Don't you damn hell realize you're INSULTING her skill in the martial arts every time you do that to her?! WELL?! DO YOU?!" she shrilled.
An incoherent stammer escaped the raven-haired woman, which earned her a disgusted snarl from the Untameable One, then she turned to glare at Minami and Kunie, who immediately hugged the other and tried to make themselves VERY small in the face of this human-shaped kaijū's wrath. "I WILL tell Ataru about this!" Kanami then threatened before she moved to sit down close to Seiko.
"Did...did I make a mistake...?"
"SEIKO!"
A stunned Seiko yelped as Negako's sharp bark froze her in place, she immediately prostrating herself before her spiritual grandmaster. As her sisters stared with both terror and horror at the woman who was the Heavenly Sovereign's personal assassin, the steward for all the younger generation of the Moroboshi Clan calmly sipped her tea. "Tennō has forbidden THOSE thoughts, Seiko," she then icily declared. "Yoshito's mistake when you were at anchor near Kiska in 1942 was not YOUR mistake. Do not allow his act of atonement for his 'failure' because of the actions of Tracey Oakley's crew to influence your behaviour. You will properly meditate on this issue."
Seiko awked, then bowed even lower. "I will do so, Shihan-sama!"
"If you fail in that, I will ensure that Ataru shall be Gifted in a way that will render you even MORE vulnerable than you would be were you confronting Hinako," the dark-haired ninjutsu grandmaster declared. As Raeburn shook her head in amusement, Negako stated. "And THAT one's most frightful attack is something called the 'Torture of a Thousand Kisses'." As all the Gifted non-shipgirls in the room save Kazuma squawked on hearing THAT — with Tenko and Maki hugging each other for dear life — Negako gave her just-returned "student" a neutral look. "If I must deconstruct you totally to make you useful to Tennō and to the family, Seiko, I will do so. And I will also inform Ataru of this."
"Who's that, Miss Negako...AWK!"
That was Miki slapping Chloe's mouth shut. "Chloe-san, do NOT speak of HIM!" the newest incarnation of the Protector of Generations, R'benuse ("Kinderhüter"), hissed.
Kanami gazed wide-eyed at Negako. "You think he'll become THAT, Negako?!"
"One hundred and eighty-six Shōzoki lovers, plus a considerable number of shipgirl lovers, Kanami?"
That made the Untameable One wince. "Oh, man...!"
Raeburn snorted. "Kids...!"
Genma cleared his throat. "So what happened after Tariko-chan was rescued, Kazuma?"
The Grand Poobah of the Golden Springs sipped his tea. "Well, after the whole shock of aliens living on Earth finally settled in, some fools in the Tōjō-kai decided that even if aliens were on Earth, what was happening here in Nerima couldn't possibly be as bad as certain websites..." — here, he gazed on Sōun, earning him a tired nod — "...made it out to be. So they came here to make some serious trouble for Nabiki." He shook his head. "Aliens made sense to them. Magic sure as hell didn't. So they believed Nabiki was exaggerating things, then moved to see if they could undermine her influence on the city, both to expand the clan's overall territory as well as form their own sub-family."
"Nabiki had made a deal with this Kyūiin creep long before then," Kanami warned.
"Hai. I knew that as well; Tariko-chan sensed it out. So I realized those fools were going to get into all sorts of trouble if they tried to take Nabiki on like that, then went to speak to Daigo-san about this." Here, Kazuma smirked as he gazed in amusement at the Untameable One. "Only to find out then that Kanami — then Ranma — had already gone to Kamuro-chō to speak to him ahead of time."
Genma gazed on his daughter. "That was when you came back one night lamenting that there were no decent marital arts challengers outside Nerima, wasn't it?" he wondered.
"Yeah," Kanami affirmed, crossing her arms. "Even if I didn't then know what was going on with Nabiki and the Incubators, I always kept an eye out for possible Yakuza moves in town. No normal folk here needs THAT sort of grief. So I popped over to Kamuro-chō to make Daigo-san call back his people." She shrugged. "I was my usual cocky self at the time, which was GUARANTEED to rub all those guys the wrong way." A lanky smile crossed her face. "Still, Daigo-san was pretty pissed himself at this move into Nerima as Aniki can confirm, so he didn't mind it when a lot of his mooks — including the dorks that started that mess in the first place — got sent to Shinjuku General when they attacked me."
Laughter filled the living room at that statement as Seiko's sisters all boggled in awed shock at the idea of someone like Kanami putting down a whole YAKUZA CLAN by HERSELF! "Now, there were a couple people there I didn't have to fight. Majima Gorō-kun, for example. That shocked me; as Aniki can tell you, that guy LOVES a scrap no matter who he's taking on! And there's Saejima Taiga, his sworn oath-brother. Taiga-kun heard of the crap we had to deal with here in Nerima, so he knew he'd lose against me and didn't want to lose face, so he backed off and convinced Gorō-kun to back off, too.
"And that's when Aniki showed up..."
Eyes locked on the former chairman of the Tōjō-kai. "I remember you telling me about Aniki, Otō-san," Kanami continued. "You respected him after he trounced you when you duelled when you were training with Oji-san under Jijii, just right after that mess that made Aniki and Gorō-kun legends."
"The time that saw the Dōjima-gumi collapse like it did," Genma added as he gazed on Kazuma. "I couldn't believe for an INSTANT that YOU were accused of killing Dōjima Sōhei of all people! Hai, you were an up-and-coming yakuza, but turn on your own family oyabun like that?! YOU?! Never!"
"What happened then, Kanami?" Raeburn asked.
"Aniki challenged me to a fight, Sensei," the Untameable One replied. "I couldn't let the Tōjō-kai handle how those idiots were punished after they got out of the hospital; I wanted to handle things myself to ensure no innocent — or gods forbid, Akane! — got involved in this!" As Sōun beamed on hearing how much his would-be son-in-law cared for his youngest daughter despite all the friction between them, she added, "But since it was Aniki who was challenging me and it was an honest challenge since he was Daigo-san's special troubleshooter — you all know how arrogant I was back then — I accepted."
"What happened, Kanami-san?" Tenko wondered.
"We went over to the Purgatory West Park near the Millennium Tower to have it out," the redhead answered. "Daigo-san called the dance. At first, Aniki didn't use any of his ki techniques, much less the powers given to him when he was Gifted. He fought like he did when he duelled my father, but he was MUCH more experienced by then. I was faster and stronger. He was more knowledgeable."
"You must have propelled him to push further, Kanami-san," Sakura observed.
"She did," Kazuma affirmed. "I knew at that time that Kanami-chan was pre-Gifted; that helped her a lot to survive and recover from all the idiocy that she was subjected to since she got cursed. I didn't want to push it to the point where she would be Gifted; even if the 'usual suspects' in Tomobiki were then on Uru healing from what Ayumu-chan did, they had loads of supporters in town who would blab to the aliens that some metahuman had risen in Shinjuku, which was NOT what any of us wanted."
"He pressed it enough to actually knock me down, then finished me off with his own version of a Kamehameha straight out of Dragon Ball," Kanami finished. As Genma and Sōun both nodded in understanding — it was just after that time that the issue with the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion happened; after it was used on Ranma by Happōsai, that forced Genma's child to develop the Hiryū Shōten-ha technique that would become the young martial arts prodigy's most devastating attack — she added, "Once I had recovered, Aniki took me out to get something to eat before I came back to Nerima. There, he reminded me of my first meeting with Tariko-chan after the Neko-ken thing."
Genma wilted as Raeburn and Negako BOTH gazed intently at him. "Oi! Oi! Sensei! Negako! C'mon! I'm over that now!" Kanami declared as she waved them down before a knowing grin crossing her face. "Still, he explained everything about being Gifted and how much it had changed his life! When he was taking a break from dealing with issues concerning the Tōjō-kai, he actually travelled to a dimension where everything in Dragon Ball exists and learned the Kamehameha from Son Gokū himself!"
"NO WAY!" Tenko squealed.
"Way!" the "heir" of Musabetsu Kakutō affirmed as the older men all laughed. "And you know me when it comes to learning new things. So I kept the thing about being reminded of Tariko-chan to myself when I came back, but I was determined to meet her as soon as I could to take that final step."
"Because Zhòuquán-xiāng had altered your worldview to see you become a woman," Negako observed.
"Yeah!" Here, Kanami gave her father and his friend an apologetic look. "You know what happened. Hibiki showing up with his Shishi Hōkōdan that made me develop the Mōko Takabisha. Then the Weakness Moxibustion was slapped on me by Jijii because he was getting WAY too scared at how powerful I was becoming...and I wasn't even Gifted! Since the whole mess with Kūmon Ryū happened before Tariko-chan's birthday, I had finally learned all I could from you, Otō-san. It was time for me to move on. When Nodoka showed up afterwards acting like she did, it was time to go all the way."
As the older men nodded in grim understanding, she took a deep breath. "About a week before I got Gifted, I ran into Tariko-chan. She just got back from Italy handling issues with allies there..."
"The Vongola," Negako added.
Jaws dropped. "Wait! The masters of Dying Will Flames?!" Chloe exclaimed.
Kazuma's and Kanami's heads snapped over. "Che famiglia sei?!" both barked out in Italian.
That made the blonde escort carrier awk as she realized she just did the big no-no and broke Omertà of all things, then she blushed as she ducked her head. "Um...sono del Beccio...!"
"What does that mean?" Minami asked.
"Consider this a Fleet Secret, Minami," a fully-recovered Seiko then declared. As Negako nodded in approval and her sisters tensed on sensing how serious she was, the adopted native of Yokosuka took a calming breath. "There are those in this world who have the ability to draw a special form of ki from their very soul, usually triggered initially by a situation where someone finds themselves in a life-or-death battle. The result of which are what Chloe-san called 'Dying Will Flames'. They can be used in many metahuman forms of attack and are normally regulated by organizations such as the Vongola Famiglia to prevent normal people from learning of them, thus take advantage of them. It's ultimately no different than how magical societies mask themselves from non-magicals. As a practitioner of Saikō Jinseijutsu, I am privy to that secret, as are Shihan-sama and Raeburn-chūjō given their positions as grandmasters of their martial arts schools." She waved to Negako. "The Moroboshi and the Vongola have maintained relations for several centuries even if Shihan-sama's clan do not make use of Dying Will Flames. Thus, out of respect for that alliance, I must demand your silence."
Minami, Kunie and Chikako nodded. "That means you two as well," Kanami warned Genma and Sōun. "You don't want to deal with how those guys deal with people who break Omertà, you know."
A chuckle answered her. "Happōsai knew of that, my daughter," Genma affirmed. "He warned us of the Vindice and their prison at Vendicare. Not even Happōsai wanted to deal with the likes of them."
"Wow! He actually was smart?!" Raeburn wondered.
"All who are Gifted are asked to keep silent about that," Kazuma warned as he gazed on the three dimensional-displaced survivors of the aftereffects of the Tragedy. "Did you use your Flames to deal with that mayor on Hallowe'en, Chloe-chan?" he then asked the adopted native of Xootsnoowú.
A snort answered him as Chloe gestured with her hand, allowing bright orange-yellow flames to appear over her palm. "Let's just say he didn't care for the type of sunburn I gave him, Mister Kiryū," the normally skittish escort carrier declared as Seiko's sisters gaped at such a show of power.
Laughter filled the room...
To Be Continued...!
WRITER'S NOTES
Again, the scenes concerning Hayashi Kanami (Mustang), her father, would-be father-in-law and Kiryū Kazuma (Tekiya) were written by Dr. Tempo in first draft. He also was the one who wrote the first draft of the scene that started this particular part with the Brockton Undersiders.
Worm character notes: Both Dennis Wells (Clockstopper) and Missy Biron (Vista) first appeared in the eighth part of "Agitation". Dennis' family name is the creation of Dr. Tempo.
Translation list and source language: Nekul'túrnaja imitátsija svinéj — Uncultured imitative pigs (Russian); Beskonéchnost' — Infinity (Russian); Tkachíkha — Lady Weaver (Russian); Avalónki — Avalonians (Russian); Bud' zdoróva — Be healthy (said to a woman) (Russian); Spasíbo — Thank you (Russian); Kōhai — Underclassmen (Japanese); Kinderhüter — Child keeper/babysitter (German); Dōjima-gumi — Dōjima Group (Japanese); Hiryū Shōten-ha — Heavenly Blast of the Dragon (Japanese); Shishi Hōkōdan — Lion's Roaring Bullet (Japanese); Mōko Takabisha — Pride of the Fierce Tiger (Japanese); Che famiglia sei — What family are you (Italian); Omertà — Code of silence (Italian); Sono del Beccio — I'm of the Beccio (Family) (Italian).
As an aside, the term Relav'sh was first devised for The Senior Year. I never thought of an actual translation, but consider it the worst insult Urusians as a whole can use on people.
Shipgirls introduced in this part. First, from Japan:
Kumasaka Nami-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Naganami [KK-228])
Kumasaka Nanami-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Okinami [KK-238])
Kumasaka Nagisa-chūsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Kishinami [KK-239])
All three girls resemble their Kantai Collection selves. As an aside, Kumasaka Nami (THG Naganami) was sunk on 11 November 1944, on the same day and in the same incident that claimed her younger sister Kumasaka Nahoko (THG Hamanami) as well as Toyama Sumie (THG Shimakaze).
And from the United States:
Lieutenant Commander Tracey Bonita Oakley USN (United States Ship Growler [SS-215])
When Yuhara Seiko (THG Shiranui) asks "Did I make a mistake?", this comes from her secretarial lines in the game. Such references an incident during the Aleutians campaign that coincided with the Battle of Midway during the summer of 1942. While at anchor outside Kiska Harbour, Shiranui was attacked by the submarine USS Growler, where one destroyer was sunk and two more were damaged; Shiranui herself lost her bow and required two months to be towed back to Maizuru for repairs. In answer, her division commander, Captain Miyasaka Yoshito, committed seppuku in atonement.
Yakuza character notes: Both Majima Gorō and Saejima Taiga are background characters throughout the series, having first appeared in the original game. Dōjima Sōhei was introduced as a background character in the original game, but would get the chance to actually star in the 2015 "flashback" game Yakuza 0, which was set time-wise before the start of the original game.
A quick note concerning the storyline of Ranma 1/2 when it comes to this story. The actual order of story arcs in the manga series goes like this:
The Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion arc (manga chapters #125-136)
Shishi Hōkōdan vs Mōko Takabisha arc (manga chapters #202-207)
Kūmon Ryū/Sen-ken arc (manga chapters #290-299)
Naturally, the order of the storylines were changed to better fit the timeline of this story.
Katekyō Hitman Reborn character and location notes: The Vindice first appear in the manga story "The End and the Aftermath" (manga chapter #81). Their prison, Vendicare, first appeared in "Mukuro Arrives!" (manga chapter #116).
As an aside, since she is an escort aircraft carrier designed to NEVER operate outside a task force, it makes loads of sense for Chloe Zitzewitz (USS Gambier Bay) to have Sky Flames (in Italian, Cielo); since people such as Sawada Tsunayoshi have the ability to link Sky Flames with other types of Dying Will Flames, it would clearly fit a person like Chloe. Also, given the sheer number of Italians who migrated to the United States during the years between the Civil War and World War Two, it stands to reason that people who had the power to weld Dying Will Flames would move to the New World and eventually join the United States Navy just in time to serve in the Second World War.