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.
The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei
Shipgirl Short Stories: Taffy Three Returns: The Scooby Gang Goes to War!
By Fred Herriot
Based on characters and situations from Katekyō Hitman Reborn, created by Amano Akira; Kantai Collection, created by Kadokawa Games; Sister Princess, created by Kimino Sakurako with Tenhiro Naoto; Worm, created by John C. McCrae; RWBY, created by Monty Oum; Harry Potter, created by Joanna K. Rowling; The West Wing, created by Allan Sorkin; Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; normalman, created by Jim Valentino; Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon; and Stargate SG-1, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner.
Also including characters and situations from Urusei Yatsura — The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.
PREFACE
This particular omake was written on the very same day that the wreckage of United States Ship Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) was discovered off the coast of the Island of Samar by Texan billionaire investor/explorer Victor Vescovo.
This story is fondly dedicated to the lost crew of the Destroyer Escort Who Fought Like a Battleship who fell at their posts on Wednesday 25 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
In low orbit over Brockton Bay in Massachusetts (thirty kilometres/nineteen miles north-northeast of Boston), the last Saturday of October in 2012, an hour after lunch (Sunnydale time: Two hours before lunch; Tōkyō time: The last Sunday, two hours after midnight)...
"DAME DESU NO, WILLOW-SAN!"
Hearing that annoyed shriek from behind her, the Arch-Mage of True Passion winced before she and her friends from Sunnydale turned to gaze warily at the Great Chef of the West, who was standing at the entrance to the wardroom of DD(S)-605, United States Starship Murphy, her foot thumping on the deck while she held up a large tray filled with food, such interspersed with two carafes with hot liquids in same, no doubt one of tea and one of coffee. "Damn! Shirayuki, you scared me!" Willow Rosenberg moaned as she gave Osamu Shirayuki a pleading look. "Would you mind WARNING people before you show up like that?!"
"Dame desu no, Willow-san!" the teen chef from Nagoya again snapped as she marched in, ignoring the several wincing culinary specialists — both native-born Terrans and Avalonian-American volunteers from all the NOSCs based in the state of New York — before placing the tray on the table beside the scattered PAAs, dataPADDs and two Tinker-built laptop computers on the surface. As a smiling Jenn McLeod Murphy — who was seated at the head of the table where her executive officer normally would sit as head of the wardroom, pair of parahuman Tinkers seated to either side of the adopted native of Westchester County outside the Big Apple — sent a grateful look towards the sister of the admiral who gave the reborn sixteenth of the Benson-class her human name, Colin Wallis and Tess Richter tried not to snicker at the verbal smackdown that was about to come.
Shirayuki did not disappoint. "Hime heard what happened to Willow-san and her friends last night when those silly people showed up in Sunnydale to start that silly SlayerFest thing!" the powerful trofikinetic said as she leaned right into the older girl's face, wagging her finger. "Jenn-san told Hime Willow-san and her friends haven't got a WINK of sleep since Filch-fukushichō was killed by those stupid terrorists! How can you get a proper revenge scene if you don't SLEEP, much less EAT?!"
"Traitor!" Xander Harris croaked as he gazed in faux-pain at the Amphibious Engineer of the Lënapehòkink; even if he didn't say anything, the Wild Scavenger of the Plains himself had got concerned about his oldest friend's moving to research the past of their new potential "big bad" to such a degree that even would leave a normal hyper-genius polymath on Yiziba breathless.
The blonde reborn destroyer shook her head. "NCA himself asked Admiral Osamu to come here directly so you guys could hit the racks and sleep before moving to finish off this Wilkins bastard, Admiral Harris," the geokinetic whose earth-manipulating skills — which had developed almost as soon as she had been salvaged and Gifted in early May at the prompting of the Grey Ghost herself — had her effectively drafted into the United States Army Corps of Engineers before the Navy's construction battalions could snare her for themselves declared, making Willow, Xander and Tara Maclay gaze wide-eyed at her. "Yeah, you guys work your butts off to keep the battle record you have. Civilians in Sunnydale have suffered next to NO casualties since you started going out at nights to sweep the streets clean of the creepy-crawlies that have lived in the town for whoever-knows how long now. But shit happens! That's what war's about! You got to take the hits if you want to stay combat effective."
"And EAT and SLEEP when you need it, people," Tess added. A beautiful twenty-something with long black hair and dark eyes, she was physically a Terran-form Avalonian whose shell had been specially prepared to accept the living soul of a remarkable AI program known commonly by her battle name Dragon, the creation of a Tinker from Newfoundland — who was also a member of the Rock's local infantry unit, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Gallipoli and the Somme fame — who became the first such being to ensure a "trigger event" and become a parahuman; this was when terrorists later calling themselves the Dragonslayers had come to her creator's home to force him to work with the rogue Thinker known worldwide as "Teacher". Now seen as one of the greatest Tinkers alive, the adopted native of Deer Lake was a captain in the Specialized Warfare Regiment of Canada, a specialist in their Advanced Technologies Development Squadron; it was that sub-unit of the Dominion's metahuman fighting group which helped in the development of Earth's growing fleet of starships, helping fuse ancient Karollan technology found at the base on the slopes of Barbeau Peak on Ellesemere Island — where the Regiment was headquartered alongside the country's only magical prison, Quttinirpaaq Magical Penitentiary — with the incredible mixture of Sagussan/Avalonian and Yizibajohei technology already at the effective beck and call of the planet's equally-growing large fleet of shipgirls.
"I can't count the amount of times that Tess got on my case to get me to sleep even when I was in a Tinker fugue," Colin dryly added. Known commonly as Armsmaster to the general public and being quite the famous Tinker in his own right, he was the field commander of the Massachusetts Protectorate's main branch based out of the Commonwealth's second largest seaport, which was finally reopening after decades of gang-induced neglect to augment Boston when it came to international and coastal trade. While the local Protectorate was dropping in popularity in comparison to the Bay's resident team of Gifted adopted Yizibajohei, the Brockton Bay Undersiders, the native of Worcester in the middle of the state was still very well-known mostly thanks to his blue-and-silver battle armour he designed for work in the field, echoing the days of the knights in medieval Europe...though brought up to date thanks to his using a specially-built motorcycle on the streets and not a living horse.
"There! You see!" Shirayuki then snapped as she wagged her fingers. "Hime was able to get Buffy-san and her friends to get some sleep even if they're sleeping here on board Jenn-san's ship! Hai, hai, what happened to Fukushichō-san was a terrible thing! Hime hates it whenever some innocent person gets hurt or killed whenever something stupid or silly happens! Hime has to help her sisters comfort Nii-sama every time that silly 'wife' of his tries something which ends up hurting someone who can't defend themselves! But Hime knows you can't fight this silly death cheater if you're falling asleep on your feet! Especially given what Hime read about him from all of you when you took Fukushichō-san's flash drive and downloaded the information for people like Taylor-san and Colin-sensei and Tess-sensei and Rinrin-chan and everyone else to read! You need to SLEEP!"
Willow, Xander and Tara exchanged looks, the hesitation in their eyes all too apparent to the others in the room.
"Miss Rosenberg, it'll be a full military funeral for the Deputy Mayor."
Everyone turned to see the senior non-commissioned officer aboard Murphy standing near the doorway, having been called up from his office by the senior culinary specialist in the wardroom. "I arranged with the chief steward to leave all your kit here while you guys get some serious shut-eye," Command Master Chief Petty Officer (Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist/Fleet Marine Force Specialist) Joseph Nagashima said, waiving at the table which had been taken over by the Scooby Gang. Given the unique story of Jenn Murphy's namesake and the interest the Army Corps of Engineers had in supporting her, the senior rating aboard DD(S)-605 was set aside specifically for one who came up in the ranks of the famous "Seabees" who were the maritime warfare surface's mobile construction engineer experts. The former construction electrician from Richland in Washington's Yakima Valley had been set to become command master chief of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 in Little Creek near Norfolk when the opportunity to become the senior rate on a starship came up, which Nagashima gladly took, Star Trek fan that he was. "Even if the non-pure sea trades aboard ship aren't expert in using her guns and missiles, we can still kick ass!"
Jenn herself laughed as Tess giggled and Colin covered his bearded mouth to hide his own grin. "We're outvoted," Xander breathed out before he nodded to the cakes. "Nice stuff to make us sleep deep, Shirayuki?"
"Hai desu no, Xander-san. Even has some of Chikage-chan's dreamless sleep potion mixed in for good measure."
The two natives of the city on a Hellmouth and the lover of one — the Tailor of Pure Chaos was a native of Birmingham in Alabama, she and her mother had moved to Sunnydale in the summer of 2010 after fleeing a rhabdophobic father who had to be obliviated of all knowledge of magic by a local team of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement — exchanged looks again, then Willow reluctantly nodded. "Okay, we'll go to bed," the reborn arch-mage breathed out.
The others in the room relaxed...
The bridge, minutes later...
"They're all turned in, Mister President," CMDCM(SCWS/FMF) Joseph Nagashima declared. "Commander Akiyama Tokina reported direct from Welcome House that Miss Osamu went right back to bed once she teleported herself back to Japan."
Hearing that from his current host, Josiah Bartlet took a deep breath. "Thank God," the former governor of New Hampshire breathed out before he gazed out onto the long forward weather deck of the ship now possessing the radio call-sign "Navy One" due to his presence aboard. Also with the president of the United States was his secretary of magic, several historians from the Magical Advanced Research Projects Agency based out of Mount Greylock in a hidden part of the grounds of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, plus the headmaster of the American school's sister institution in Britain; Bartlet trusted Albus Dumbledore FAR more than he did the current Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards in Geneva given how rapidly the famous veteran of the Wars of Liberation had been unseated by Cornelius Fudge months before.
"So what did those kids find out so far, Peter?" Samuel Quahog wondered from his place in the captain's chair; naturally, the Union's chief executive was given the right of primacy in a specially-placed admiral's chair in the aft centre of the bridge.
Professor Peter Candlewick took a deep breath. "Mister Wilkins was born in 1850 in Boston; state archives confirmed that at the time as his parents had yet at that time to properly register with the local DMLE. No invitation to any school when he came of age in 1861 just as the Civil War started, confirming his nimmib birth status. His parents both volunteered to serve as support staff for the 7th Cavalry Regiment USCT, active in support of General Sherman's campaign in the Western Theatre from the start of 1864 to the final surrender of General Johnston's forces a year later; they were both awarded the Magical Medal by President Lincoln for their work in clearing out a daywalker vampire nest near Atlanta at the start of the March to the Sea after the '84 elections." As the military people on the bridge nodded in appreciation, the man who had befriended a ton of people spanning from the famous British magizoologist Newt Scamander to New York native Isaac Thomas AKA the Wise Lone Sage, Raer'buo Erba ("Doctor Renaissance") — all three of them having recently teamed up to discover what was the truth behind the Grimm of the planet Remnant in April that year which ultimately saw the start of mass salvage and Giftings of America's large World War Two fleet of warships into shipgirls — took a deep breath. "Being a nimmib, Wilkins fell off the radar of the local DMLE in California around the mid-1890s, which corresponds to what the late Mister Filch discovered from town picture records."
"Sunnydale was founded in 1899, correct?" Leo McGarry asked, he standing beside his principal.
"That's correct, Colonel McGarry," Candlewick said as he tapped his PAA — a present from the hyper-genius polymath otaku who had opened the man's eyes to many incredible worlds of study — to draw up a holographic picture. "This is a picture of the 'original' Mayor Richard Wilkins at the dedication ceremony for the first version of Sunnydale's city hall. Date as you all can see here is the thirty-first of October in 1889, All Hallows' Eve. The picture's normal quality of the time period. Given we've known of the existence of the Hellmouth since the Spanish learned of the place when they began exploring the area, local DMLE officials in Sacramento avoided the whole area like the plague given the standing agreement with the Watchers Society when it came to dealing with 'demon-possessed'..." — here, he made finger-quotes; the Scooby Gang's discovery of the truth behind such beings had been enough for the founding members to be awarded the Magical Star of the United States, the nation's second highest magical-only award of gallantry/excellence, two years ago — "...vampires and other such beings, especially when it comes to dealing with locations of various Hellmouths. That agreement is obviously something Mister Wilkins knows of."
"His seeking empowerment from whichever entity he might have come into contact with once he came to the site of Sunnydale was possibly driven by his wanting magic," Dumbledore added. "That is often a common desire for nimmibs given how helpless they've been seen to feel when confronting the vagaries living in normal society forces on them. Despite the refusal of many magicals to expand their knowledge beyond the borders of the enclaves, it does possess a very stable social condition."
Bartlet nodded in understanding. "No doubt, Mister Wilkins confronted something which forced him to make a literal 'deal with the devil' to keep himself alive and well in such a place," he noted. "Professors, do any of you have any idea what he will do to himself given what the late Mister Filch revealed in his flash drive concerning what he's done so far?"
"It's clearly a drive to evolve himself into a different, higher state of being, sir," the head of MARPA, Professor Stacey Waterstone, then noted as she crossed her arms. "Mister Filch actually saw the man make use of a dedication ceremony. As written in the Books of Ascension which Commander Roberts here looked into..." — here, she waved to Brooke Roberts, who was standing post to the President's right side, the reborn fifth-fifth of her class of destroyer escort nodding in confirmation — "...using THAT particular empowerment is a necessary step to 'ascend' into a different state of being. As to what...?"
"An Old One," Candlewick cut in. "The only thing that makes real sense."
"Why that?" Josh Lyman asked; he was the only one beyond McGarry who had accompanied his principal aboard Murphy from the West Wing beyond the small troupe of Secret Service agents who always shadowed the chief executive.
"Right now, Mister Lyman, we have THE two strongest FISS-types ever to rise on Yiziba in Kanami and Faith, a lower-level FISS in April, an experienced empathic fighter in Buffy, two arch-mage sorceresses in Willow and Tara, a ki master in Xander and an actual VETERAN of the Second Great Banishment against the Goa'uld in Coya," James Newman explained. A freshly-graduated auror from the school co-located with the Seven Hills Wizarding Academy in the mountains of Virginia, he was a true rare breed among American wand-magicals: An actual NATIVE of Sunnydale! Having been in elementary school a few years ahead of Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, James — "Jim" to friends — had been the young freshmen students' guide to Sunnydale Elementary before his parents moved to nearby Sweet Valley, where the nationwide sensors attuned to seek potential wizards and witches picked up on his accidental magic, thus seeing him invited to Ilvermorny in 2002.
Despite losing touch with his favourite "frosh", Jim found himself soon reuniting with Willow and Xander a few years after their "sempai" began his "special school"; while staying with his parents in the summer of his graduate year in 2007 — the equivalent of OWL year at Hogwarts — Jim was caught by a rogue demon when he was walking through the forests separating the two towns north of US Highway 101, but got saved by two pre-teen spitfires who hacked the idiot to bits with considerable élan. Naturally once assigned to the local DMLE office in Los Angeles, Jim volunteered to be that group's liaison to the Scooby Gang. "Now add Captain Zitzewitz — who's a known user of Dying Will Flames — and Commander Roberts — with strength that equals Faith's and Kanami's — into the situation," he added, waving to Brooke, then the reborn USS Gambier Bay, now looking over the Murphy's navigation station. "That would make any 'heel' feel VERY vulnerable. Since Wilkins likely made a deal with some monster to stay alive over a Hellmouth of all things, being the strongest person in the area makes a world of sense."
"Any guesses as to when he'll do this, anyone?" Bartlet asked.
"Hallowe'en is a very opportune time for magicals of any sort, Mister President," Dumbledore warned. "Given how unbelievably saturated Sunnydale's physical being has become over the years as reported by Willow and Tara in their quite revealing articles about life in that town they published in various magical magazines across the planet, there should be enough power to allow Mister Wilkins to actually bind himself body-and-soul to the dormant bodies of any of the Old Ones who were active in this part of America at the time of the End War, the ones not banished to the Deep Well or killed by the Great Old Ones, much less the Rittmeister. Since what few fully alive Old Ones have diligently kept themselves isolated from this dimension — as reported by the Department of Mysteries in Britain as well as MARPA here in America — whoever DOES merge with that man will have what remains of his soul subsumed to Mister Wilkins' conscious control. That would make him a VERY dangerous threat."
"Agreed," Quahog breathed out. "Josiah, I'll have First of the 75th Marine Regiment stand to until after Hallowe'en to assist with both civilian aide and news suppression duties. Colonel Murphy, can we use this starship as a field headquarters?"
"Done, Colonel," Jenn affirmed after she exchanged looks with her command master chief, the Washingtonian nodding in agreement. "As a matter of fact, Mister President, we could take the ship and set it into the oceans beyond Honda Point to make it easier for the colonel's friends to teleport themselves on and off the ship without disorientating them using the materializers."
The normal people gaped at such a suggestion while the magicals exchanged surprised looks at the adopted New Yorker's offer. "That might be a danger vis-à-vis Tomobiki, sir," McGarry instantly warned. "We're keeping these ships secret."
Lyman shook his head. "No real issue there, Leo. Any of Lum's friends always approach Tomobiki from straight up. That's on the other side of the Pacific from California, virtually out of sight. Letting the ship land on the ocean — as long as she stays clear of any major shipping lane — would make it easier to hide her than if she was in orbit, especially at geosync levels."
"Especially that high up," Bartlet added as he patted the hand of the retired air force colonel who had persuaded him to make his run for the White House years ago. "Fine, we'll do it that way. Colonel Murphy, prepare the ship for atmospheric and ocean entry, stay within a safe distance of the coast to ensure Professor Quahog's people can move to and from the decks without the need of portkeys. Do that very late tonight so people won't notice." He then gazed on Brooke. "Commander..."
The adopted San Franciscan snapped to attention. "Sir."
"I'll have an Executive Order — a magical one, of course — signed as soon as I'm back in the White House concerning Mister Wilkins and his friends to see both yourself and Captain Zitzewitz covered legally in case some idiot decides to protest two NON-state naval militia officers assisting law enforcement groups in a matter like this," the former Dartmouth economics professor advised, making Chloe gaze his way. "My order will be simple: Terminate Wilkins and all his allies in Sunnydale in case he goes through this ascension and turns himself into a credible threat against the safety of the United States."
His eyes then narrowed as the magicals stiffened on sensing the current chief executive call upon the spiritual strength of his very office to drive that order home. "With extreme prejudice, Brooke," he added before nodding at her friend. "Chloe."
Hearing that, both veterans of Taffy Three stiffened before then nodded, saluting him. "Aye-aye, sir!"
Aboard United States Starship Murphy, twelve hours later...
It was the very gentle rocking of the ship's hull under Xander Harris' bed that woke the Wild Scavenger of the Plains up.
Blinking in confusion at such an odd feeling — starships normally did not physically shake unless something had slammed into it (or its surrounding defence fields) with either considerable velocity or sheer mass — the raven-haired teen slipped out from under the covers, snatching his uniform belt buckle to put it over his navel, one finger tapping it to cover his body in his black-trimmed dark brown battlesuit with the beautifully-designed ki-channelling gloves given to him by Elizabeth Wakefield years before to help him manage his abilities. Such an act awoke his current bed companion, making her gaze curiously at it. "What is it, Xan?" Coya Gutierrez wondered before she blinked in confusion on sensing the ship — which massed 2,474,000 tons full load in Earth gravity — shifting slightly under her. She then perked as her own magical senses came alive with feelings she hadn't expected to experience while aboard a starship. "We're in the embrace of Mother Cochamama!" she hissed out.
"On the oceans?!" Xander demanded as the Volcanic Handmaiden of the Dark Gaol summoned her own belt buckle to dress herself; like the man who had saved her life and whom she enjoyed a very intimate friendship with it, the native of Cuzco had just been in panties since neither had been in much mood for a pillow scene. "What the hell...?" he then snapped.
Heading over to the windows — the Scooby Gang had been given guest quarters on the Murphy's sixth upper deck level near where the wardroom would be on the surface warship — he tapped a control to open the screens before blinking. "Okay...!"
Coya came over herself, now dressed in her khaki-white-and-red traditional jumpsuit which had Inca-like art designs on the arms and legs along with a flaming sword insignia over her heart; when she was Gifted the previous October, the young princess-turned-energy vampire — no thanks to exposure to a doctored version of the Draught of Living Death she had been made to consume by a Spanish wizard when she was put in a form of suspended animation way back in 1547 — had got her uniform modified with the help of one of Moroboshi Ataru's small legion of Shōzoki android lovers, Endō Hajime AKA the Haberdasher of the Great Show, Laehor'buomem ("Mercier"). "Those are the islands just south of our home, Xan!" she gasped.
"Yeah, that's Tuqan," he affirmed, calling the westernmost of the Channel Islands by its Ysleño name in lieu of the Spanish "San Miguel". "Wi'ma should be ahead of the bow," he added, pointing forward towards the island also known as Santa Rosa. "Why the hell are we on the ocean? Never mind most of the islands being a park, passing ships would spot this...!"
A knock echoed from the doorway. "Admiral Harris? Your Highness?"
"C'mon in, Brooke!" Xander called back.
The door opened to reveal the Escort Who Fights Line Warriors, whose hand was now pressing against the small of her back. "Are you well, Brooke?" Coya asked as she came over, drawing up some energy to project into Brooke Roberts' spine.
"Yeah, the keel's still recovering from my hull breaking in half when I hit the bottom of the ocean after I got sunk," the adopted San Franciscan noted before she hissed out in relief as the Volcanic Handmaiden's energy poured into her. "Damn...!"
"What are we doing riding the waves, Brooke?" Xander asked. "Yeah, it's nighttime, but come daybreak..."
"The magical Marines put up notice-me-not screens — same type of kit that the Canadian magical battleships use — on the hull to keep her out of sight to anyone who's heading in or out of Los Angeles or Long Beach, sir," the reborn destroyer escort/frigate explained. "The Seventy-fifth will be aboard helping us keep the peace while we deal with Wilkins and his idiots."
That made the reborn hunter sigh. "Uncle Jed's already written up an assassination order?"
"Yeah! Colonel McGarry brought it aboard three hours ago," Brooke stated...
KK-KRANG!
...then the deck heaved slightly. "Oh, shit! Now what?!" Xander demanded.
On the forward weather deck, that moment...
"OI! WHICH ASSHOLE'S PUNCHING MY HULL LIKE THAT?!"
As Jenn Murphy stormed forward from one of the airlocks that allowed people to get onto the open main deck — the forecastle deck on the original Benson-class design, which wasn't built as a flush-deck ship to save weight under London Naval Treaty limitations — her starship-self seemed to slightly heave as something with CONSIDERABLE levels of strength tried to push her away from her current point of anchorage in deeper waters well clear of Sandy Point, the westernmost tip of Santa Rosa Island.
"GODDAMNED ALIEN BASTARDS!" bellowed from near the jack staff. "BUILT A SHIP LOOKING LIKE MURPHY AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTUALLY AMERICANS?! NICE TRY!"
Now accompanying her host, Chloe Zitzewitz stopped, her jaw dropping. "Maki...?!"
Jenn halted herself, looking back. "Who...?!"
"Makassar Strait, Jenn," the adopted native of Xootsnoowú declared as she picked up her pace to race the final twenty or so frame lengths to the bow itself from the area of Turret One. "OI! MAKI! COOL IT OFF, YOU BLIND IDIOT!"
A burst of Sky Flames escaped the blonde reborn carrier, they leaping forward to create a burst of light well beyond the tip of the bow, that causing whoever was trying to physically lift the Murphy out of the Pacific to gasp before the rush of air passing a human body echoed over the slight nightly winds flowing around the Channel Islands. A second later, a woman appearing to be the same age as Chloe flew up to hover close to where the jack staff normally was; given that no starship of the Union had been formally commissioned into the United States Navy — such would happen when the ships would be publicly unveiled near the end of November — neither the stripes-with-snake First Navy Jack nor the fifty star-dotted Union Jack currently flew from the aerodynamically-shaped mast. Said newcomer had pail brown hair in a long side-tail tied off the right temple, blue eyes peeking out of a childish face, her canine teeth showing something of noticeable fangs. "Gamby...?" she then eeped, her eyes going quite wide as she noted the spiritual aura of her older and more famous sister around the blonde with the fluffy ponytails.
Chuckling, Chloe reached up to scratch the side of her head. "H-hi, Maki...!" She then caught herself. "Oh, sorry! Do you go by Kelley or Wynter? Those are the names Admiral Moroboshi gave you, right?!"
The woman who had been declared by the Conservator an hour before as Kelley Wynter Berner — unlike many Casablanca-class carriers, her human name was chosen in tribute to her first captain — blinked before she scratched her head. "Um...well...!"
"Oh, Kelley's cool for you!" a new voice cut in, making Chloe and Jenn look back as Buffy Summers came up.
That made the newly named Kelley blush before she sputtered, then caught herself before straightening to attention, saluting the other woman in the VERY cool-looking fighting uniform with all sorts of daggers and short knives strapped to her arms, legs and webbing. "Sorry, Admiral! Pleasure to meet you! Makassar Strait, Charlie-Victor-Echo-Niner-One, reporting for duty...!"
That made everyone on the deck then laugh or avert their eyes from the newcomer, making Kelley blink. "What's so funny...?" the adopted native of the Prince of Wales-Hyder census zone of Alaska's unorganized borough (she was originally meant to be named after Ulitka Bay in that particular part of the panhandle near the British Columbia border) and Vancouver in Washington (where all the Casablanca-class ships had been built) then asked, her eyebrow arching in confusion.
Chloe smirked as she pointed to her own pant legs, displaying her new hull number 173. Seeing that, her younger sister — who had been effectively wrecked, then used as a gunnery target for years off the coast of Haraasnga AKA San Nicholas Island about fifty miles to the southeast — blinked before she gazed down at her own pants to see 191 written there; unlike Chloe, Kelley wore a lighter blue pair of pants given that her namesake battle in 1942 north of Java had been fought under effective Dutch command. "Okay, what feather merchant in the Pentagon is screwing around with the hull numbers now?"
That made more of the people who had come close to the reborn thirty-seventh of the Casablanca-class ships keel over laughing...
Sunnydale City Hall, that moment...
"Golly!" the immortal mayor of the city on a Hellmouth breathed out. "That's...definitely not good, isn't it?"
The effective new chief of the local police force, Detective Inspector Carla Winslow, helplessly shrugged. "We don't know what happened to everyone last night, Mister Mayor," the dark-skinned officer who had woken up to find herself the senior-ranking officer who could be accounted for when morning roll call was made confessed. "Last report concerning the chief and the others who didn't call into work this morning was that they left home around nightfall, supposedly because of something the chief himself was privately investigating. As to the 'what', he never told anyone about it to my knowledge, sir."
Richard Wilkins sighed even if he was seething deep down. "What about the reports of gunshots on Market Street around nine last night? The city clerk told me this morning that residents in the area of Market and Third called in about some sort of fight there, not to mention a very blinding flash of light being seen through people's windows around that time."
The veteran inspector — who honestly wouldn't have lasted in a "real" police department, those who were in the know about the truth of Sunnydale would immediately conclude — then apologetically flustered. "No calls to us, sir."
"Could you go check into that, please, Inspector Winslow?" he then politely asked. No sense in bothering up people he knew he needed to help keep the peace and order of the town until he was ready to finally make history as the first mortal man to merge with one of the once-rulers of the planet over two dozen millennia ago. "Check with Reginald Snyder if you could as well. Something tells me the 'trouble brigade' — as he calls certain of his students — might know something about this."
That made her groan. "Well, I'll have to see Mister Giles first before I talk to Summers and her friends."
He perked. "Why's that?"
"Corpse found on the grounds of Sunnydale High just after dawn this morning, sir," Winslow explained. "A Mister Philip Henry; he's from Glasgow. When the coroner looked him over after he was brought in, he was found to have contact information for Mister Giles, both at his home and at the school. I was going to have him come in to examine the cadaver, but then people noted all the missing officers, so we had to get people to contact relatives of same to find out what's happened."
Wilkins considered that, then he hummed. "Well, I'm sure looking into the late Mister Henry can wait for a day or two. Keeping the streets safe is much more important, Inspector. Why don't you go home and rest up for the night? Good night of sleep can do you and the others good so we can look in on what happened to Bob and the others in the morning."
Relief flashed across her face. She suspected some things about what happened during the nights in this town, but didn't know enough to ask the right questions. "Of course, Mister Mayor. You have a good night, too. Excuse me, please."
With that, she immediately withdrew from the office; much to the admiration of many, Wilkins often displayed an incredible work ethic, gladly coming into City Hall over the weekends to look over some things. Of course, such was a convenient cover for the mayor's real work in keeping himself alive in time for the proper moment he could ascend and become an Old One.
And thanks to painstaking research, asking the right questions to the right people — sometimes forcefully — and with a lot of luck, he had chosen the right Old One to become when the time finally came, hopefully on Wednesday evening at the earliest.
Olvikan.
Also sometimes known as "Olukai", this serpentine creature had been one of the countless dozens of his kind to have fallen during the End War of the Great Banishment, the final stages of a massive conflict between the Old Ones and the truly first sentient beings to rise on Earth millions of years before, those collectively called the "Great Old Ones" or more precisely the "Great Beasts". From the vast overlord of the Arctic known as Napaaqtuqarunnanngittuq (or "Túndra" to borrow the Russian name) to the ancient shark-like creature living in the central Pacific nicknamed the "Lord of the Deep" and called Samiloluto to the Rainbow Serpent of Australia named Wonambi among other names to so many others — even several who were rumoured to live and now rest in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico — these effective elder gods became what they were thanks to the Power Jewel welded these days by one Deannette "Dean" Raeburn of Queenston in Ontario, that device having attracted tons upon tons of the Atom of True Life to scatter across Earth and spread its power wholesale over the biosphere of the world as it underwent its many recent Ice Ages. As old species died and new species arose, key representatives of such creatures became empowered and evolved into sentient beings before evolving even further into something truly omnipotent in a way that even the classic gods of antiquity could never truly equal...though as they were once mere animals before becoming something more, their sentience didn't drive them as human sentience would drive Homo sapiens sapiens onward once the first modern man rose in the grassy savannas of central Africa around the time of the End War's quite shattering conclusion.
As to how the Old Ones came to try to dominate life on Earth, Wilkins never found out in his century and more of research; he had inherited his inquisitive nature from his late mother Bertha — the family had changed their family name from the German "Wilhelms" to the English "Wilkins" on shifting to the New World from the old in the late 1840s — which had helped him stay alive in the early days of his dominance over the Hellmouth when he wasn't as powerful as he was now. What he did know was that around a hundred thousand years ago, a terrific war happened over the virginal Earth, ripping holes into dozens of parallel dimensions to create gateways for creatures native to said dimensions to pour through and come live on the third world of Sol; one of those gateways would become the Sunnydale Hellmouth ironically. And while many such creatures eventually evolved themselves into human-like beings to live among the last of the pre-modern hominoid species, others found such a transformation quite revolting and moved to dominate all those who "betrayed their true blood" and "abased themselves to the naked apes". Those became the first generation of Old Ones, who moved to carve out private domains for themselves across all the known continents...but their eventual disruption of the natural order of things would soon roust the attention of the immortal nature spirits whose actions ages before had actually allowed such migrants to come to the planet in the first place!
Talk about no gratitude at all! Wilkins often bemusedly reflected to himself when he thought about the causes of the End War.
And while the End War had been quite a devastating affair, the effects of the last Ice Age which happened corresponding to same managed to effectively erase most of the physical traces of such a hideous conflict, either by the movement of glaciers or the rising of sea levels due to the melting of ice when the final cold periods faded to shape the continents as they were today. Still, such left its mark, especially in Sunnydale. And there had been MANY who had fallen in the area of the Hellmouth gateway, Olvikan being one of them. Beaten virtually into submission by Samiloluto along with local allies — whose identities Wilkins never learned — he was forced back into his dimension of birth, then the Lord of the Deep sealed that place's access through the Hellmouth to Earth...but not enough for a very willing Bavarian-American nimmib-turned-master sorcerer to locate and open.
Even better, the poor thing's conscious mind had been nearly wiped out in that fight; telepathic scans of the brain ever since Wilkins made his discovery around the time of the Second World War showed nothing but basic autonomic functions active.
Which was perfect for the man who knew he was under a deadline.
The events in Tomobiki across the Pacific — where poor Moroboshi Ataru had somehow summoned a DEMON named Velial of all things by accident even if the lad's weird luck saw to it that his own soul was saved from that creature — had prompted Wilkins to finally stop procrastinating and move to make himself as safe as possible from ALL comers.
As long as he didn't arouse Samiloluto or any of his friends, all should be well...
To Be Continued...
WRITER'S NOTES
This omake follows the previous one, leaving it twenty days before the start of Boy Meets Girl Meets Metahuman.
Translation list and source language: DD(S) — Space Destroyer (US Navy hull classification code); NOSC — Naval Operations Support Centre, a training unit of the United States Navy Reserve (English abbreviation); dataPADD — Data Personal Archival Display Device, inspired by the same device from Star Trek: The Next Generation (English abbreviation); Fukushichō — Deputy city mayor (Japanese); NCA — National Command Authority, the military short hand for the President (English abbreviation); Rittmeister — Ride master, the cavalry rank title for a captain (German).
As an aside, the rate/rating code CMDCM(SCWS/FMF) (Command Master Chief Petty Officer [Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist/Fleet Marine Force Specialist]) for Joseph Nagashima indicates the following: He is rated an E-9 on the armed forces pay scale (the top non-officer/warrant officer rank), making him a master chief petty officer; as he is the senior NCO on USS Murphy, he is rated as the Command Master Chief Petty Officer, equal to a Royal Navy executive warrant officer or Royal Canadian Navy coxswain. Being declared specialists in Seabee Combat Warfare and the Fleet Marine Force indicate Chief Nagashima's enlisted warfare designations, which allows him to wear appropriate insignia (silver for NCOs) marking him as such over his medals and ribbons on his uniform. The FMF designation indicates a sailor has qualified to work in a support capacity to a Marine Corps unit, ranging from corps history and operational doctrine to field craft to specialist work with fighting elements of specific USMC units. The SCWS designation is awarded to those Seabees who acquired all necessary historical, operational and field knowledge required when assigned to a line unit of the Navy's construction engineer specialists. Also, Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 (short-form ACB 2) out of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia Beach near Norfolk is one of two such units who combines the Seabees' legendary field construction engineering capabilities with small support craft elements which can be used during amphibious or littoral warfare operations.
Worm character notes: Tess Richter (Dragon) first appeared as a body-less AI in the sixth interlude of the series, following the story arc Tangle (story arc #6). Her father/creator Andrew Richter was first mentioned in the 10.5 interlude/eighth chapter of Parasite (arc #10); note that his affiliation with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (R NFLD R) is my creation. Tess' would-be killers, the Dragonslayers, first appeared in the fifth chapter of Scarab (arc #25); their benefactor, Teacher (AKA Professor Benjamin Terrell), first appeared in the third interlude of Monarch (arc #16). Tess' boyfriend Colin Wallis (Armsmaster) first appeared in the sixth chapter of Gestation (arc #1). Of course, the "Taylor" mentioned by Osamu Shirayuki (Küchenchefin) is none other than Taylor Hebert AKA Skitter, the star and main character of Worm; how she came to be in the universe of TEOTC is revealed in the upcoming Of Gifts and Shards by Dr. Tempo.
As a spaceship, it is logical for USS Murphy (DD[S]-605) to be given the "Navy One" call-sign whenever the President is aboard; this radio designation is reserved whenever the chief executive is aboard an aircraft of the United States Navy. In real life, the last time an aircraft was declared "Navy One" was when George W. Bush piloted a Lockheed S-3 Viking from Sea Control Squadron 35 (the Blue Wolves) aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in his "mission accomplished" statement aboard said ship on 1 May 2003 in the wake of the "end" of major combat operations in Iraq launched a month before.
Professor Peter Candlewick is a character who appeared in the original version of The End of the Circus in Part 15; that was also where his top Professor Stacey Waterstone was also first mentioned in this series. Candlewick would also appear in Of Gifts and Semblances. The Magical Advanced Research Projects Agency (MARPA) first appeared in Regina Magia's Magic in Miami omake The Sunshine Troupe Assembles. It was in OGAS that Candlewick teamed with Newt Scamander (the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, namesake of the movies produced to cover his adventures after the Great War) and Isaac Thomas (Doctor Renaissance) to explore the history of the Grimm of Remnant as they appear in RWBY. And Auror Special Agent James Newman first appeared in The Lighthouse Beacon of Freedom sequel to Phoenix From the Ashes.
The American equivalents of the British Order of Merlin medals for magical merit and bravery:
MO1 — The Magical Cross of the United States of America
MO2 — The Magical Star of the United States of America
MO3 — The Magical Medal of the United States of America
In the overall order of precedence of the United States, the Magical Cross ranks below the Distinguished Service Cross, which comes after the Medal of Honour. The Magical Star falls in below the Silver Star Medal. And the Magical Medal falls in below the Bronze Star Medal. Note that I use the post-nominal letters "MO" for the Order of Merlin as the post-nominal letters "OM" means the Order of Merit, the highest non-bravery decoration of the various Commonwealth realms.
As one can guess, Cochamama is the Inca goddess of the oceans.
Endō Hajime (Mercier) is based on a dōjinshi character created by YK for his two-part Made in Male series from 2015.
The one shipgirl introduced here:
Captain Kelley Wynter Berner USN (United States Ship Makassar Strait [CVE-191, formerly CVE-91, then CVU-91])
Kelley Berner (USS Makassar Strait) takes after the Warship Girls version of her sister Chloe Zitzewitz (USS Gambier Bay); such can be seen on Danbooru at post #4801658. Note that she was originally to be named USS Ulitka Bay (following the style set for the entire class to be named after bays in Alaska); she was renamed in 1943 in honour of the Battle of Makassar Strait on 4 February 1942. Note that during her time in mothballs, Makassar Strait was re-designated as a utility aircraft carrier (hull code CVU) in 1955. After being stricken from Navy rolls in 1958, she was used as a target ship for surface-to-surface missiles; it was during this time that she found herself wrecked off the coast of San Nicholas Island (AKA Haraasnga) southeast of Los Angeles, where she would be used as a static target thanks to her hull having been snapped in two by the grounding.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer notes: Detective Inspector Carla Winslow (first name my invention) first appeared in "The Dark Age" (second season, episode eight); this was also when Rupert Giles' friend Philip Henry appeared. Of course, Richard Wilkins' would-be alter ego Olvikan made his appearance in the second part of "Graduation Day" (third season, episode 22).