Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

"Okay… Right… Put that there… Move that in… Take that out, move it over there… Yes… Yes…" Shin muttered to himself as he poked and prodded at a holographic interface displaying the ShinLiner, drones following his orders and slowly disassembling the train and adding new parts to it.

Cart stood next to him, fidgeting nervously. "Master Shin, while I'm always up for upgrading the train, I really would feel more comfortable if Mistress Nushi were here to supervise."

"It's fine, she's overseeing through the Buzzing," he said dismissively. "Fantastic bit of parallel processing there. While most of her is focused on having fun with Ariel at the reunion, another part of her brain is running in the background feeding me the information I need."

"She's got a once in a generation mind," Goro marveled, shaking his head in amazement, arms folded over his chest. "I'm plugged into her mind too, and I still cannot understand barely a fraction of the thoughts running through her head."

"Truly, she will change the world," Mibojin remarked.

"That's right, she will," Shin agreed, rubbing his hands together maniacally. "But right now, she will help me make a train mecha so great it'll blow that stupid Travelion right into the water!"

"Don't you mean out of the water?" Caelifer pointed out.

"What? No, don't be silly, trains don't belong in the water," Shin scoffed, then paused, getting a brilliant idea. "Wait. A submersible mode! Bet the Travelion doesn't have that!"

"It's a magic train, and its owner is married to a water mage. It wouldn't surprise me if it could," Goro pointed out.

"Yes, but mine will have a periscope!" Shin declared, eagerly making more modifications to the schematic.

Antares sighed in irritation. "I do not understand the point of this."

Mibojin glanced at him. "You don't think that another powerful mecha in our arsenal will be of use against the Swarm?"

"No, it's a good idea, I should see if something similar can be done for the Imperiarch," he replied. "It's the motive I disagree with. Shin wants to modify his train solely because he is jealous of somebody else's? That level of pettiness just seems so… Juvenile. Unbefitting of a true warrior."

"It's not about jealousy!" Shin snapped, then recalled it probably might not be a good idea to mouth off to a centuries old extremely seasoned alien scorpion warrior bigger than he was who was so strong he could casually throw a train around like it was nothing. "It's about Philia."

Antares gave him a perplexed look. "The Princess? What of her?"

Shin grimaced. "When she said that the Travelion was a better train than mine, it…" He sighed. "I used to be a Kamen Rider, okay? I mean, technically I still am, but now I'm a Sentai Ranger… Anyway, the best Riders are all supposed to be friends to children. Role models, icons, someone who, if you saw them coming down the street, you'd want to get there autograph. No matter how bad things were, if one of them appeared, you'd know everything was going to be all right.

"But me? For decades, whenever someone looked at me, all they saw was a monster. Kids ran away screaming when I came down the street. People called the cops. Even other heroes sometimes mistook me for a bad guy and beat me up. I had no job, no home, no family… It's only fairly recently that my life has started to turn around."

He sighed and glanced away from the schematics. "Philia is one of the first children who not only wasn't freaked out by my appearance, but said she thought I was cool, and so was the ShinLiner. And that… That really meant a lot to me. So for her to start talking about how some other guy has a much better train than me, after all the incredible time tours I've taken her on, it just…" He gestured in frustration.

Goro nodded in sympathy. "Kids can be fickle that way," he lamented. "I've always been Mira's hero, but for the longest time my kittens thought feline heroes like Zyuoh Lion, Zyuoh Tiger, and Zenkai Gaon were cooler than me. And the thing is, I think they still might think that, even though I'm an actual superhero now!"

Formic scoffed. "Just because you aren't a cat… So unfair. What's so great about them, anyway?"

"They're cats," Caelifer pointed out.

"Yeah. Well. Still."

"There was a time, when she was younger, that Kagami looked up to Takaharu Igasaki," Mibojin recalled, a haunted look on her face. "After I had ascertained that she was not an imposter and had not been brainwashed, I immediately told her to stop it. It was one of the worst arguments we've ever had."

"Kagami. It has come to my attention that you are idolizing Takaharu Igasaki. You are to cease this at once," Mibojin commanded.

"No," Kagami replied.

Shin shook his head in horrified disbelief. "The mouth on that girl."

"I don't know how I'd feel if my kids ever talked back to me like that," Goro agreed.

"Naturally, I assumed my only solutions were to disown and/or kill her," Mibojin continued. "Thankfully, my mother came up with a much better solution and suggested I take her to meet her hero at the next ninja conference instead."

"I'm getting fired up!" Takaharu Igasaki shouted. "I'm going to be the Last Ninja!"

Kagami stared at him blankly, then turned to her mother. "I am so sorry. You were right about everything."

"It's all right," Mibojin reassured her daughter. "I forgive you."

"Also, I'm swearing off men forever," Kagami added, which Mibojin thought quite sensible.

Perplexed, Takaharu scratched his head. "Weird, I get that reaction a lot."

"Needless to say, ever since she's only regarded truly worthy ninjas as deserving of adoration," Mibojin continued. "And myself, of course."

"Of course," Manti said proudly.

"I was rather upset when my children told me their other parent was their favorite and not myself."

It was only when everyone gave Antares surprised looks that he realized he'd said that out loud. Shit.

"Wait… You've got kids?!" Shin exclaimed in astonishment.

"And a spouse?!" Goro cried.

"Well, don't sound so surprised…" Antares grumbled.

"Why didn't you mention this before?" Goro demanded.

"I didn't really think it was any of your business," the Scorpioni grunted.

"A fair point," Mibojin conceded.

"Well go on, tell us about them! Don't leave us hanging!" Shin urged.

Antares sighed, relenting. "I have a husband back home and a dozen offspring."

"A dozen?!" Shin uttered in disbelief.

"And here I thought four was a handful…" A shocked Goro muttered.

"A dozen is fairly small for a Scorpioni brood, but we don't love them any less," Antares said defensively.

"Is your husband a warrior like you?" Goro asked.

"No Scorpioni are warriors like me," Antares replied, puffing himself up with pride. "But he is a warrior in the same sense that all of my people are. We come from a harsh planet, after all, and are sworn to protect the Arachide royal family. He is a baker by trade, and the best in our community, in my totally unbiased opinion."

"He's not wrong," Scorpio piped up. "I've been around a while. Seen a lot of Scorpioni bakers. My partner's husband is something else. He's even won awards on several intergalactic cooking shows!"

"His trophies hold place of pride in our household next to mine," Antares bragged. "… He may actually have more than I do. Perhaps one of the reasons our children favor him over me. Well, that and he's around more. Due to my duties, I… Cannot always spend as much time with my family as I might like."

"… Yeah, I hear you," Goro said softly. Mibojin grudgingly nodded in agreement.

"Hey. Your family. Are they… Okay?" Shin asked quietly. "I mean, from what I've heard, the Ascendancy got hit pretty hard by the Swarm."

"They're all alive," Antares assured them. "We Scorpioni are tough. We don't die easy. There's a reason that we have never been conquered in our history, and the only reason the Ascendancy rule us is because we willingly submitted to them. They were all able to safely evacuate before our planet was lost, and are currently in hiding among one of the scattered colonies still holding out against the Swarm."

"Well, that's a relief," Goro commented, and Antares found himself gratified despite himself that the soldier felt that way.

"Still… To lose your planet, so many of your people…" Shin murmured. "I've had a pretty shit life myself, but… That sort of thing has to be devastating."

Antares grimaced, reluctant to admit the grasshopper man had a point. "It is… Something I try not to dwell on too much. While I am gratified that everyone I love is still alive, I am well aware that not all of my people can say the same. Still, as long as there is life, there is hope. Just as the Hive continue to fight back against the Swarm, so too does what is left of the Ascendancy. And when Lady Aranea obtains the power of the Loom, she shall restore what has been rent asunder, remake all the worlds that have been lost. It will not bring back those who have fallen – she is hesitant to attempt such a feat – but it will at least give us a home to go back to, and make it easier to rebuild."

"Do you think we could meet them someday?" Goro asked. "Your family?"

"… Perhaps," Antares replied, surprised to discover he was actually considering it. "They do find you humans fascinating creatures. So soft and squishy, and yet you fight with courage and ferocity equal to some of our greatest heroes."

"I shall take that as a compliment," Mibojin decided.

Much to his surprise, Antares found himself somewhat more favorably inclined to the Bugrangers now. He hadn't really thought about it too much, but he realized that they had a lot in common, more than he'd really considered. "Why did you imply that this would be a less than pleasurable experience?" He queried Pythia. "This is not quite as bad as I expected."

"Wait for it," she replied.

"Hey, you got pictures of your kids?" Goro asked, pulling out his phone. "I'll show you some of mine!"

"I don't have many photos of my kid, considering I had to give him up for adoption when he was a baby," Shin lamented as he took out his own phone. "Still, now that we've reconnected, I've taken more than a few."

"Amateurs," Mibojin sniffed. "I didn't take pictures. I painted them."

With a flourish, she produced a scroll and started unfurling it, the parchment hitting the ground and rolling quite some distance away, revealing dozens – nay, hundreds – of beautifully painted watercolors of what could only be Kagami, starting from infancy and gradually growing older with each picture.

Her face looked exactly the same in every painting. It was kind of unnerving.

Antares cringed as Shin and Goro made appreciative noises, realizing he was now socially obligated to show them his own pictures as well as looking at every single one of theirs. "Oh no."

"I warned you," Pythia chuckled in amusement.

The reunion was amazing.

The food was like a dream. The venue was simply magical, pun intended. And the company?

The Ozus didn't love Nushi.

They adored her!

They couldn't get enough of her! Everyone was constantly clamoring for her attention, wanting to know about her, not just her relationship with Ariel, but her specifically. Her hopes and dreams and aspirations, her childhood, her schooling, her family, her experiences growing up with an alien insect for a father and eventually moving into a whole city full of other alien insects. None of the families of any of her past girlfriends (or boyfriends, though she tried not to think about them) had ever been this interested in her.

Tsubasa was fascinated and appalled to learn about her experiences at university, insisting that the magical school he worked at was a much safer and friendlier learning environment, (largely) free of prejudice and open to an astonishingly diverse array of students of countless ethnicities, sexualities, and even species.

(Okay, granted they only let in students with magic, but it was a magic school, so…)

Makito and Erico were very impressed by her neural interfaces, feeling that they could be a way to bridge the divide between different peoples and maybe even make it easier for other folks to understand their son, something Mandora Man had wholeheartedly agreed with with a very loquacious and thoughtful, "I am Mandora Man" that moved Nushi to tears.

Kai and his wives were more than happy to tell her about life in Infershia and how it had radically changed following its reformation, equally eager to hear about life in Hive City, which to them was just as alien a place as the underworld was to her, with each promising they would visit the other's home at some point.

She didn't get to spend much time with Houka and the Nightmare Sisters, seeing as how Philia had them and their daughter eating out of the palm of her tarsal as she quickly charmed her way into their hearts (without using any charms, of course) as part of her long-term plan to befriend and seduce Fuuka so she could marry into the Ozu family, which Nushi felt like she maybe should be putting a stop to, but they all seemed to be having so much genuine wholesome fun together, and besides, it was incredibly cute watching Philia bond with Fuuka over their dolls, rave about Ariel's magic shows, and gush over Fuuka's pet Hades Beasts. Who would've thought a giant leech, spider, or mimic could be so adorable and cuddly?

(Well, Nushi did, of course, but most people wouldn't, for reasons which eluded her.)

Smoky eagerly regaled her with stories of all the humiliating things Ariel had done when she was younger, causing his sister to chase him off screaming and throwing curses as he laughed his head off.

Isamu and Miyuki were fascinated by stories of her battles, and the old warrior and his wife for more than happy to regale her with some of their past exploits against the forces of Infershia back during the war, with Rin occasionally needling Isamu about some of his less than stellar moments. Who knew Ariel's grandmother had been such a badass?

(Again, Nushi already did, but still.)

Hikaru and Urara couldn't stop talking about how happy she made Ariel and how glad they were that their daughter had found such a compassionate, brilliant, beautiful young woman to be her partner, thoroughly embarrassing her, though not as much as Ariel was embarrassed whenever they whipped out the baby pictures.

And Magiel… Well, Nushi was a little too intimidated by the giantess to approach her, and she seemed fairly busy talking about magical history with Aranea, but whenever the Arch Saint noticed her, she offered her a warm, grandmotherly smile.

Her actual grandmother had never smiled at her like that.

At that thought, suddenly the reunion didn't feel quite as wonderful. Did she really deserve to be here, taking part in the lives of such a happy, thriving family, especially when her own was-

"Hey, if it's okay with you guys, can Nushi and I step out for a bit?" Ariel, immediately sensing her girlfriend's change in mood – not like the Buzzing made it hard – asked her parents, giving her partner a reassuring squeeze on the arm. "I think she's getting a little overwhelmed by all this."

"Oh, of course," Hikaru said, giving Nushi a friendly, understanding smile. "Feel free to come back whenever you like. There's no rush. The festivities should go on for a few more hours."

"Thank you," Nushi said gratefully, clasping Hikaru's hands and giving him a somewhat watery smile. "All of you… You've been so kind, welcoming me into your home, accommodating me-"

"Think nothing of it," Urara assured her. "Ariel loves you, and so do we. As far as we're concerned, you're already family."

It took Nushi a great deal of effort not to cry at that as Ariel gently escorted her from the room, everyone wishing her well as they left.

Why hadn't any of her past partners' families been this nice?

Why couldn't her own?

Feeling like Nushi needed a change of venue, Ariel decided to take her girlfriend outside the palace entirely, to take a stroll around the surrounding island.

Just like everything else in Magitopia, it was a magical – pun intended – experience. The sands glittered like stardust, with shining bejeweled shells littering the beach occupied by astonishingly friendly hermit crabs. The trees had leaves in shapes and colors she'd never seen before, bearing fruit in seemingly impossible geometric forms which tasted unlike anything she'd ever eaten before, the flavors rapidly changing with every bite she took out of them. The animals, many of which bore only a cursory resemblance to wildlife on the surface, looked at them in curiosity, approaching them without fear and happily interacting with Ariel, who seemed to know every single one of them by name and was happy to introduce them to Nushi, rambling excitedly about all the childish adventures she'd had with them back when she was younger.

Nushi knew all the stories by heart, of course. She knew every nook and cranny of this island, for she had reviewed them through her girlfriend's memories as if they were her own. That didn't make being here in person, walking the trails through this mystical jungle, dipping her toes in the warm sparkling sea, or petting the fantastic beasts who lived here any less of a miraculous experience.

Nushi realized, all of a sudden, that she wasn't sure the last time she'd felt this completely, absolutely, unequivocally safe. She loved living in Hive City, of course, it was a dream come true, a utopia the likes of which she'd always envisioned ever since she was small… But even there, the looming threat of the Swarm kept it from ever feeling 100% safe, even though it was probably the most secure city on the planet.

But here, in Magitopia…

Nothing could harm her. Nothing would harm her, or ever dream of it. After all, this was basically heaven, and it couldn't be heaven if there were even a whiff of danger, could there be?

Everything here loved Ariel, from the mightiest Heavenly Saint to the smallest glittering beetle, and she loved them in return, and since Ariel loved her, that meant Magitopia, the realm itself, loved her as well, even though she was (more or less) mortal, without a drop of magic in her. She hadn't felt this accepted since… Well, since she joined the Buzzing. It was enough to move her to tears.

"So," Ariel said at last, when they stopped at her favorite lagoon, watching as mermaids sunning themselves on the rocks and dolphins flew through the air, trailing rainbows in their wake. The two of them were sitting on the sand, toes in the water, with a winged chipmunk happily getting fed in Ariel's lap. "Now that it's just the two of us…"

"And us," Coccinella and Lepidoptera reminded them.

"And us," the entire Buzzing added. "Don't mind us, we're just watching."

"Ready to talk about what's bothering you?"

Nushi didn't respond for a moment, instead stroking the fur of the happily purring displacer beast lying on the sand beside her. "Your family is wonderful," she said finally. "They were immediately willing to accept me for who I am, without reservation, simply because you love me. No family of any girl – or boy – I've ever dated has ever been this welcoming.

"Not even my own."

"I thought your parents adored you," Ariel pointed out.

"Oh, they do," Nushi was quick to reply. "They've always been incredibly loving and supportive, and I'm eternally grateful for that. It's… The rest of my family that's the problem."

She stopped petting the displacer beast and folded her arms around her knees, much to the creature's dismay. "The rest of the family hates us. Dad for not being human – and for killing my sperm donor, I guess, but mainly it's the alien insect part that gets under the skin – my mom for loving him, and me for… Well." She started counting off her fingers. "Being the wrong gender. Being too smart. Having the wrong interests. Loving the wrong kind of people. Having the wrong political views. Refusing to stick to tradition. And on, and on, and on. You know, they knew what my sperm donor was doing to us and they didn't bat an eye, so long as he kept up the appearance of being a good, traditional Chinese patriarch, loyal to the Communist Party, and adhering to tradition. It's only when he died that they started getting on our case about my new dad being a 'corrupting influence.'"

"I'm sorry," Ariel said gently. "I wish you didn't have to go through all that."

"You and me both," Nushi said bitterly. The displacer beast nudged her demandingly, and she faintly smiled and started petting it again. A tiny Dragon with butterfly wings landed on her shoulder and started licking her cheek, and her smile grew as she stroked it on the snout. "It was a relief to finally get my visa to leave the country. While Japan has its own set of problems, at least there I felt like I could finally be who I wanted to be."

Her smile grew more genuine. "And then I was invited to join the Hive as a Bugranger. And met you and everyone else."

"And now we are your family," Ariel said gently, putting a hand over Nushi's. "And so will mine, once we get married."

Nushi raised an eyebrow, her heart beating rapidly at the prospect. "Is that a proposal?"

"More like a proposal to propose, later down the line," Ariel replied. She hesitated. "That is, of course, if you're amenable?"

"Oh, of course," Nushi was quick to assure her, squeezing her hand. "I'm absolutely planning to spend the rest of my life with you. I just don't think it's the right time to… You know."

Ariel nodded in agreement. "Right. I'm absolutely planning to ask you, but it's a little too early for that. We shouldn't get married until just before the final battle at the earliest, like my parents did. Call it an Ozu family tradition."

Nushi smiled and kissed her softly. "Now that's the kind of family tradition I think I can get behind."

They smiled at each other blissfully, and the flowers bloomed and the birds tweeted and the mermaids sang as all the lagoon seemed to rejoice in their joy.

"My family are disgusted that I'm a superhero, you know," Nushi said suddenly. "They think it's unbecoming of a Chinese girl like me getting involved in this Japanese nonsense."

"Fuck them," Ariel said without losing her cheerful expression. "Once we've beaten the Swarm and gotten married, let's go to your hometown and rub it in their faces. And move your folks out of there, set them up in luxury back at Hive City."

"Oh, absolutely," Nushi agreed. "Hell, I was planning to go back to China anyway. After we save the world, I fully intend to remake it in Queen Apista's image using the power of Hive science, turning it into a utopia. I will bring humanity into a new golden age of peace and prosperity, even if I have to drag them kicking and screaming, and I think China would be a good place to start."

"I'll be there beside you," Ariel promised. "Every step of the way. Forever and ever, right lovebug?"

"Forever and ever," Nushi happy replied.

They kissed again.

Coccinella and Lepidoptera exchanged happy glances. "Have any of our previous partners ever been this adorable?" The butterfly wondered.

"I don't think so, no," Coccinella replied. "I rather like it."

"I rather like you," Lepidoptera cooed, causing Coccinella to flush.

Suddenly, the displacer beast stiffened and… Well, displaced itself. The tiny Dragon flew off, the winged chipmunk shrieked and scurried away into the bushes, the mermaids dove into the water and swam away. Everything suddenly turned uncomfortably still, and an oppressive feeling filled the air.

For the first time since they got there, Nushi no longer felt safe. "What-"

Ariel shot to her feet, tails bristling. "Something is not right. Something is here that shouldn't be."

Moving protectively in front of Nushi, she drew her wand, pointing it into the jungle. "Come out. Show yourself!"

For a moment, there was no reply.

And then the trees – somehow seeming almost reluctant to do so – moved to the side, creating an opening through which a stranger set foot onto the beach, the sand actually trying to crawl away from it, as if in disgust.

Except, Nushi realized, she wasn't a stranger at all. Ariel knew her, and therefore so did she.

She was a tall, willowy figure, with pale green skin and long skirt made from sections of bark hanging over her long legs, flowers blossoming on small vines running up their sides as more flowers sprung from the sand with every step she took. Her sizable chest was contained in a brassiere made of more bark, with a large flower blooming over each mound, with more large flowers sprouting from her shoulders and long thorny vines coiled around her arms and dangling off her wrists, trailing on the ground like whips. Each of her long, slender fingers was adorned with a ring with a flowerlike jewel set in it. Her face was smooth and pink, with big black almond shaped eyes, a small mouth, and a sizable bouquet of flowers and leaves in place of hair.

She smiled at Ariel. "Hello, Ariel. It's been a while."

Ariel did not smile back. In fact, her face twisted into a mask of absolute hatred, revulsion, fury, and a startling amount of fear surging throughout the Buzzing. "Philia, tell my parents Floragel is here. Everyone needs to get to the lagoon, now."

"You can count on me," Philia replied, shaking with outrage. How dare the disgraced Saint show her face here again, after what she had done to Ariel?!

"Floragel," Ariel snarled, knowing she needed to stall for time. "You shouldn't be here. You were banished from Magitopia forever, and the restraining geass should mean you can't be on the same continent as me without suffering horrific, unspeakable pain."

"My current benefactor was able to free me from the geass," the former Saint explained. "Look, I understand you're probably not happy to see me-"

"Not happy? Not happy?!" Ariel shrieked, livid, nearly overwhelming Nushi with her overwhelming rage. "You raped me, Floragel!"

Floragel cringed. "That's… A rather extreme way of looking at it-"

"You used your pollen to make me fall in love with you, and we had sex while I was under the influence!" Ariel shouted. "Pretty sure that counts as rape!"

"You seemed to be enjoying it at the time-"

Floragel yelped and jumped back as rather abruptly, the patch of sand she'd just been standing on was glassed. "That doesn't make it better!" Ariel shrieked, wand charging up for another spell.

"Ariel, wait," Nushi said urgently, touching Ariel on the shoulder, grimacing as her lover flinched from the contact. "While I want to horribly kill her almost as much as you do, she said she had a benefactor. Someone powerful enough to undo a banishment cast by the Arch Saint herself. Don't you think we might want to know who that is?"

"Oh, we don't need all of Floragel intact for her to tell us that," Ariel said with deceptive calm, an astonishing cocktail of violence writhing beneath the surface. "She can still talk even if I burn most of her body to ashes."

"Wait!" The panicking Floragel cried, raising her hands. "I didn't come here to pick a fight!"

Ariel grinned savagely. "Good, that makes things easier-"

"Your parents have been lying to you!"

Ariel blinked. "… What?"

"Your parents have been lying to you!" Floragel repeated anxiously. "There's a prophecy about you and Nushi. One they've known since the day you were born. And they never told you!"

She started to reach behind her, and Ariel nearly shot her. "I'm just getting something to prove it!" She said quickly.

Ariel did not lower her wand.

Slowly, carefully, Floragel took out how a weathered, ancient book, one Ariel immediately recognized. "That's… The Book of Prophecy," she realized, so surprised she actually lowered her wand. "How… How did you get that?"

"That's not important," Floragel said, opening the book and flipping through the pages. "What's important is what's inside." She glanced up, giving Ariel a serious look. "According to this, Ariel, if you and Nushi stay together, it will lead to the end of the world."