*Author's Note: In this chapter, it is where Tohru Honda comes in. Before you could write any nice reviews, I wanted to point out several things first: You may not see Tohru's background as good as the one in the canon, but I wanted to express my imagination of her using a bit more fighting spirit both physically and mentally. Aside from her kindness and love, I hope I can at least have her express a more serious impression, have her display a much more responsible and assertive will. Of course, she'll still have her flaws regardless since she's still human and her love will come in the later chapters. Just remember everyone, as the story progresses, things will get intense when it comes to Tohru facing not just Akito but also the sources behind her corruption. She will understand who will she be fighting for when helping the Sohma Kingdom be free from the Zodiac Cult. You'll all see very soon. For now, enjoy the first chapter of this story.*
The story begins in the year 1648, where a marine battleship is currently engaging a pirate galleon as the two ships traded intense cannon fire at each other in a naval battle.
The battleship is seen with dark-red hull and three rows of cannons at the ready as its main gun battery. Up on the main mast, in between the two masts two large black main sails are unfurled from below the spreaders. Its colors reveal a large silhouette with bright red lines drawn in the shape of a huge butterfly as its insignia. The ship happens to belong to an marine fleet of soldiers, sailors, priests, and spell-casters that believe in hope of fighting for freedom and crushing the injustice descending upon the innocent. They are known as the Red Butterfly Company.
Up on deck of the battleship, the Red Butterfly marines are seen dressed in black uniforms, red upper-right armbands, and black naval caps armed with musket rifles, attached with 5-inched bayonets. They are shooting at the pirates with loads of their black-powered rifles in keeping the pirates pinned as they are getting ready to board the pirate galleon. During the shootout of cannon and musket rifle fire, the sailors assembled on topside as they drew out their cutlasses and spears for they are getting ready to engage the pirates while boarding their ship. One of the marines goes up to the helm to make his announcement to his captain, which happens to be a young female officer.
"Captain Honda, we are getting ready to board!" The marine spoke up as he saluted the female officer. "What are your orders, ma'am?"
Responding to the marines' statement, the ship captain appeared from the shadows behind the helm, allowing one of her officers to take the wheel. She is revealed to be none other than Tohru Honda who is wearing a black naval captain's uniform sown with red badges on the left of her upper chest. She happens to be 28 years old and is seen wearing red-golden epaulets on both of her shoulders. In addition to the young female officer's appearance, Tohru has a pink band wrapped around her head and black tall boots for footwear. She has long, brown hair tied up in a pony-tail protruding from the back of her head with a pink rose latched onto its end. The moment Captain Tohru approached the stairwell leading to the deck, she replies back with immediate confidence.
"Prepare our men to engage those scallywag pirates. We'll take them down and free our captured comrades!" Tohru announced in a stern commanding voice.
"It will be done, milady!" The marine said as he slammed his fist on his right upper chest, bowing before the female captain.
As the marines and sailors are arming themselves, Tohru takes out a small cross hanging from below the collarbone of her uniform, which is hanging around her neck. The cross is seen to be made out of gold and copper attached with a black string for Tohru to wear as an accessory. She lays a small kiss on her cross, wishing herself to fight another honorable battle in the name of the Red Butterfly Company. Once she puts the cross back inside her uniform below her chest, Tohru glares at the pirates as she puts on her captain's black naval cap, which bears the red butterfly insignia embroidered with red linings, on top of her head before pulling out her two flintlock pistols from her holsters.
Hello, everyone. My name is Tohru Honda, Marine Captain and Priestess of the Red Butterfly Company. I know it may be hard to believe that I would actually take up two different roles when commandeering the marines but I have my reasons. I'll explain later. For now, I have some pirates to neutralize in the name of my late mother! Recently, I have been sent by Fleet Admiral Honda, my grandfather, to intercept a pirate galleon commanded by a female pirate warlord that I have been hunting down for over the past two years. Her name is Pirate Captain Motoko Minagawa and she has been one of my fiercest adversaries ever since I was made captain of my own marine company that my father once commanded years ago. The Fleet Admiral informed me that Captain Minagawa has recently ambushed a Red Butterfly Schooner operated by a crew of Marine trainees, capturing most of the latter and is attempting to sell them all off to slavery in one of the islands that she owns as part of her territory in the eastern seas. He wanted me to help rescue the captured marine trainees before they disappear in 24 hours. With no time to waste, I make haste in reaching to one of the islands that Minagawa's pirate crew are lounging at, ambushing them from the rear of their ship.
The moment Tohru walks on deck from the helm, she approaches the starboard side of her ship "The Crimson Guardian," Tohru's body started to glow in a harmless, red-flaming aura, giving her blessed agility and strength thanks to her prayers. She sees that her ship is closing in towards the pirate galleon in about 25 feet apart, close enough for Tohru and her marines to board. The moment she fires one of her guns up to the sky, Tohru gives the order to have her marines engage the pirates as they held onto the huge halyards dangling from the spreaders of all three masts, swinging themselves to the other side of the 25ft gap.
"FOR THE RED BUTTERFLY COMPANY!" Tohru shouted at the top of her lungs as she held onto a nearby halyard before swinging herself towards the edge of the pirate galleon.
When the first wave of her marines jumped onto the deck of the pirate galleon, they drew out her sabers and cutlasses as they engaged the pirates head-on, clashing their weapons against theirs.
The pirates are seen as dirty-looking hellcats and thugs dressed in ragged, black clothing, dark-headbands, and dark blemishes all over their dark-colored skin. The pirates are seen mostly armed with clubs, hand axes, swords, and flintlocks. If the male pirates are seen as nasty thugs, the female pirates are a lot more worse.
The female pirates are seen with black and green ragged vests, nearly exposing their white-tanned bare skin and shoulders where they have white dress wraps covering up most of their upper bodies. They make a disturbing ululating chant before they hurl themselves at the boarding marines, kicking mostly them off their ship before attacking their second targets with their handheld weapons.
For Tohru, she lands onto the galleon's deck both feet on top of the wood and fires her second flintlock at a female pirate that failed to charge straight at her, ending the hellcat's life as the bullet struck the pirate in the skull. After firing her shot, Tohru dodges a mere inch of a swinging sword aiming directly at her face by another female pirate. Smirking while her head is below the pirate's neck, Tohru drops her flintlock and draws out a small hammer before swinging its heavy mass at the pirate's right leg.
The moment Tohru's hammer punches the female pirate in the exposed flesh of her leg, the hellcat bucaneer screamed in pain. The female pirate is then forced onto her knee onto the wooden deck only for the female marine captain to smash spine with her hammer, breaking it in two, forcing the pirate to collapse onto her stomach lifeless.
Regaining her bearings, Tohru's marines are rallying towards her as they fired their musket rifles at the charging pirates, blasting them to kingdom come. Even though some of the pirate went down instantly after getting shot at, another wave of them arrive in their place as they charged at them with fearless fury. With no time to reload, the marines jammed their rifle bayonets at the next wave of enemies while Tohru continues to batter two more pirates with her hammer, which is shining bright with rubies on its golden handle. Just as one pirate is about to strike back at Tohru with his cutlass, she blocked it with her hammer before shooting him in the gut with her third flintlock, punching out flesh before falling flat on his back, dead.
Once she sees her shot down pirate taken care of, Tohru slams the butt of her pistol at one female pirate in the face and a male pirate with her hammer at the same time. In the next second, another pirate attempted to lunge at Tohru with a musket rifle by the tip of its bayonet. However, Tohru hurled her third pistol at his face, stunning him for only a second before slamming her hammer in his groin, making him groan in pain. The next thing he sees before his face breaks is Tohru slamming her hammer flat on his left cheekbone, shattering his jaws and spewing out his teeth. Just like that the pirate landed onto his side with a thud as he bleeds to death on the ship's deck.
While the fight continues with Tohru and her marines pressing forward towards the galleon's helm, one female pirate appears from the starboard side of the galleon and attempts to aim her flintlock at the marine captain. Before she had the chance to fire at the Marine captain, the female pirate get impaled by another marine as a huge spearhead came out of her exposed lower abdomen. Gurgling in pain, the pirate could feel blood coming out of her wound and from her mouth before the marine makes an appearance from behind.
The marine coming out of the shadows of the ship's starboard happens to be another female officer, just like Tohru, except that she has long, yellow hair and a small scar cut on her lower right cheek. She glared at the impaled pirate with sheer fury in her eyes before pulling her spear out of the pirate's back. In a few seconds, the female pirate collapses onto her left side as more blood came watering all over the ship's deck before the female marine proceeds further into the fight during the boarding party. She is none other than First Lt. Arisa Uotani, 29 years old and is armed with a long spear. She happens to be several feet taller than Tohru, though she still is one of the few marines that is very close to her captain and friend for a long time. Into the light, Arisa is seen with a marine trench coat hanging on top of both of her shoulders, with white dress wrappings covering up her exposed upper body, a black long skirt reaching down to her ankles, and small combat boots.
"No one messes with our Captain Tohru!" Arisa snarled as she aimed her spear at another group of female pirates. "Let's dance, bitches!"
"LOOK OUT, lassies! It's that Yankee!" One of the female pirates screeched in fright, seeing Arisa approach them with malicious in her eyes.
"IT'S MARINE YANKEE TO YOU!" Arisa snapped as she stabbed the frightened female pirate in the gut, letting the 1st Lt. make another kill.
After hurling the stabbed pirate overboard, Arisa swung her long-shafted weapon over her head before knocking several pirates off their feet. One male pirate attempted to lung at Arisa with his own spear only for her to dodge it by over a foot away from her exposed stomach before slamming her spear's rear end into his abdomen, reeling him backwards in pain. Before the pirate had a chance to strike again, Arisa pulled out a flintlock pistol and blasted him in his heart, putting a crook out of his misery. Once the black powder struck the pirate squarely in his chest, he was sent flying like mangled fish, stripped of its flesh before falling into the sea of Davy Jones' Locker.
In a few seconds of clear space, Arisa had enough time to plunge the tip of her spear into the hard wood of the ship's deck as she raises herself up high a couple of feet off the floor with both her legs reaching up to the sky. Before they knew it, Arisa hurled herself up into the air before slamming her spear down onto the deck, slamming her weapon down with full force, creating a small shockwave of pressure and splinters that sent three startled pirates backpedaling. The next thing they could feel is when all three pirates had their limbs get punctured by several medium pieces of wood entering their skin, making them scream in pain before they writhe in agony on top of their deck.
Arisa regains her posture before continuing her fight as she made several more whacks and thrusts with her spear at a few more pirates. Afterwards, she eventually finds Tohru getting closer to the helm while bashing every nearby adversary with her hammer, rallying to her side.
"Thanks for dropping in Uo-chan. I was hoping when you'd show up!" Tohru smiled with delight as she smashed a nearby pirate on her left upside the head with her hammer.
"My apologizes, Tohru!" Arisa laughed in embarrassment. "I almost fell into the ocean due to some stupid accident with the swinging halyard!"
"Well, we can practice later, Uo-Chan. Right now we have a pirate captain to take care of and some sailors to set free!" Tohru said, getting back into their current assignment.
"With pleasure, Captain!" Uo grinned as she whacked a female pirate across the temple with her spear's long shaft.
As Tohru, who is still glowing red due to her blessed abilities, and Arisa continued towards the helm, knocking out and taking down every pirate that got too close to them, more of their marines rallied to their cause as more of them boarded the pirate galleon, overwhelming the enemy crew. However, before they had a chance to reach up to the helm, Tohru, Arisa, and a group of their marines are met with 6 pirates, aiming their flintlocks and 2 of their small cannons mounted on the handrails at them. Amongst the 6 pirates, the female pirate captain herself makes an appearance, along with her first mate who is aiming a flintlock at Tohru's face.
The pirate captain is identified by Tohru and Arisa as Motoko Minagawa. She has grey long hair flowing behind her ragged, blue trenchcoat that has a few tears and blood stains on its cloth. The skin on her face is as pale as the moonlight but has small spots of black charcoal on her neck and head, making her just as ugly as her fellow female pirates. She also has a black eyepatch covering up her left eye as she glared at the two marine officers up front. While her men are aiming their small cannons at the approaching marines, Motoko holds one of the captive sailors hostage.
As for Minagawa's first mate, Minami Kinoshita is seen hissing at Tohru and Arisa while holding her gun with both of her hands. Unlike her pirate captain, Minami is seen with two pigtails hanging from the back of her head while wearing a yellow headband. Also, she is wearing a grey tunic with a ragged blue vest on top of it, and has brown ragged pants stained with dirt, blood, and gunpowder.
"Captain Honda! Lt. Yankee! Not another step forward, you two!" Motoko snarled as she drew out her cutlass, holding its blade up against the sailor's throat. "I'll kill him first and you two second."
"We already went over this for a dozen times, you loser!" Arisa sighed as she hissed at Motoko. "You can't keep holding us back forever just because of something like this. Do you know what happened the last time me and Tohru faced you on one of your past ships, and the last time before that?!"
"Oh spare us your warnings, Yankee!" Minami said, as she struggled to hold her pistol at Tohru's face. "We will win this time and..."
Before Minami could finish her sentence, two purple lighting bolts struck the small cannons in an instant. Surprisingly, the cannons both blew up in the faces of the pirates holding them for aiming, killing them both at the same time. Seeing this, the pirates Motoko and Minami both freak out in terror as they turned to face the source of the unexpected lighting bolts.
"Good luck with winning, pirate scum!" The female voice spoke with a calm, gothic accent, startling the two pirates further.
As Tohru, Arisa, Motoko, Minami, and the rest of the marines and pirates turned to face the source of the voice, another female marine appeared, shrouded by a creepy dark-purple aura flowing across her head, front of handrails of the galleon's starboard. She is seen wearing a completely black marine uniform with purple linings and epaulets, with a black marine cap on top of her head. She has long black hair flowing behind her back, glaring at the two pirates with purple-glowing eyes. The third female marine officer happens to be Saki Hanajima, the gothic spellcaster and 2nd Lt of the Red Butterfly marines at the age of 27. As she approached the stairs leading to the helm from the starboard, Saki raises her right hand up to the sky as it gets encased by a small black orb of purple electricity. Saki spoke in a strange gothic-like tone that no could understand before calling forth another of her dark spells. With one wave of her right hand, Saki swung her arm to her left as she left loose a huge dark wave at the galleon's main mast, cutting it apart like it was swiss cheese. The moment the mast got cut, it came crashing down on top of the galleon's helm forcing Tohru and Arisa run to Saki's side in evading the heavy long mass of wood. At the same time, Motoko and Minami screamed in terror as they jumped off the helm, accidentally letting their hostage go as he jumped over the rails and landed right where the three female marines at at. The remaining two pirates accompanying Motoko and Minami weren't so lucky as they met their fate by getting crushed by the fallen mast, leaving behind a pool of their own blood on the deck.
As soon as Motoko got up see was met with Tohru attempting to bash her down with her hammer. In a split second, Motoko struggled to defend herself against the oncoming mass of the hammer itself while holding her sword with both of her hands. Feeling the full brunt of Tohru's weapon, Motoko almost loses her balance. However, she rolls herself to her left before kicking Honda's hammer off her hands. Motoko then retaliates by trying to swing her cutlass at Captain Tohru only for her to quickly draw out her sword as well, engaging a one-on-one duel with their blades.
In the start of their duel Marine Captain vs Pirate Captain, Tohru and Motoko made aggressive stances while lunging at each other with their swords, trading strikes both up and down.
Just before a few minutes of dueling, still empowered by her priesthood blessings, Tohru gets the upper hand as she drives her sword to her left, redirecting Motoko's sword in a unmatched parry. In a sudden whack, Tohru knocks Motoko's sword off her hands before kicking her in the stomach, making the pirate collapse as she crawled backwards at the railings on the ship's port side. For Minami, she freaks out as she went to her captain's side in trying to help Motoko get back on her feet. The moment Motoko gets up on her feet, she sees that the rest of her pirate crew has surrendered to the hands of Tohru's marines.
"You'll never take me alive, she-devil!" Motoko hissed in humiliation, clenching her left fist in frustration. "I will have my vengeance one day!"
Before Tohru had the chance to arrest Motoko and Minami for the crime of piracy, they both see Lt. Saki approach them much to their horror. As Saki got closer to them, the pirates also notice that a massive dark aura is flowing above her head like wildfire, which isn't a good sign for them.
"EEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! It's the psychic spellcaster marine! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Motoko and Minami screamed in unison.
Upon hearing this, the surviving pirates abandoned ship immediately, along with Motoko and Minami. Once they landed into the ocean, the remaining pirates swam like crazy towards the horizon before they disappeared into the sunlight, screaming like frightened bilge rats from aboard a derelict ship.
"What a bunch of sissy cowards!" Arisa chuckled while smirking. "I just wish we would hang them immediately and be done with it!"
"Fret not, Arisa. We'll get them next time!" Saki said in a calm voice, as her dark aura disappeared. "For now, lets secure this ship and the prisoners!"
Once her glowing, red aura disappears from her body, Tohru closed her eyes and smiled over another successful mission before giving out orders to her fellow marines and friends in helping the captured sailors get onboard their battleship.
In about 3 hours later the moment the sun is setting to make way for the night, Tohru and the rest of the marines that boarded the crippled pirate galleon have safely went back to the Crimson Guardian along with their captured trainees and the pirates that are now locked up in the ship's brig. With one hand reaching out to the pirate ship, Tohru ordered her men to destroy it at once so that no other pirate can claim its salvage the moment they leave the battlefield.
In about several cannon shots from the Crimson Guardian, sank down to the watery depths below the ocean before the marines cheered. At the same time, Arisa, Saki, and Tohru also cheered while raising their melee weapons up high while at their ship's helm. In their victory celebration, some of the marines started drinking rum and playing musical instruments on deck while sitting around on several barrels and benches.
"Another mission accomplish everyone. Let's get the trainees back to Marine HQ!" Tohru smiled as she turned to face her fellow marines.
"It's a shame that we still can't apprehend that stubborn pirate!" Arisa pouted in dismay.
"There will be another time Arisa, just not right now! After all, we have our orders!" Saki said, informing Arisa not to give it another thought.
Marine Officer Saki was the first to walk down the stairs from the helm before helping the marines treat the trainees of their injuries, which were caused during their hours of imprisonment. At the same time, another young body appears next to Saki, he happens to be her little brother and cabin boy working down below the Crimson Guardian. Megumi is seen wearing a black sailors uniform during his stay onboard the ship as an able seaman who is 20 years old, even though he was a good fighter, he didn't bother being part of the marines because he was obsessed with helping the other crew maintain the ship as well as keeping the equipment and weapons clean and tidy during the voyage.
"Did you have fun out there, sis?" Megumi asked with interest.
"Indeed, I did little brother." Saki replied in a calm tone. "Come, we have to help them reorganize and clean the gun batteries."
"Oh goodie, more work!" Megumi muttered in sarcasm as he disappeared down below the topside deck, along with Saki.
As Tohru ordered one of the marines to take the helm, she and Arisa went up to the ship's bow to contemplate on what will they be exploring next.
"So Tohru, what do you think we would be doing after we drop the trainees off at HQ?" Arisa asked her friend and Marine Captain.
"I was hoping to find a good island where we can settle in for awhile. I have been longing to explore another new land out there; maybe one that's more exciting than rather just fighting against pirates all the time!" Tohru wished for.
"Yeah, I can't imagine something like that too." Arisa added in as she leaned onto the bow's rails with both of her bare elbows. "We may have survived more than one battle thanks to the training that your parents gave us before they passed away, but we lost like about 30 crew members and 18 marines over the past 2 campaigns. There is only like 89 of us left. In fact, those pirates are just getting more aggressive every time we face them."
"I'm sure grandpa will give us a better assignment after our debriefing!" Tohru said in a confident manner. "I can only pray that we'll be able to recruit more people that will survive better alongside us before then. I'm sure the goddess of the marines would grant us a better blessing one day if that were to happen."
"Yeah, you and your priesthood lectures! I can't tell if its that or our luck that made us survive for so long." Arisa scoffed in a sarcastic manner. "No offense, though."
Tohru couldn't help but laugh a little, with Arisa laughing with her as she patted the captain on the back in amusement.
As the ship continues its course to Marine HQ, Tohru and Arisa stood by and watched as they keep true to their voyage as Marines of the Red Butterfly Company. Before long, Lt. Saki approached them at the bow from behind after leaving her little brother do cleanup chores in the ship's armory. As Tohru and Arisa turned to face Saki, they all smiled profusely before they looked back to face the approaching horizon, feeling to cool breeze of the wind and the seagulls chirping from above a 100 feet into the clear night sky.
In a surprise, Saki brought a tray of mugs filled with our favorite beer to celebrate our victory against Motoko's pirate crew as she, Tohru, and Arisa started laughing while clanking their mugs against one another before singing their favorite shanty, drinking the night away.
Oh the wind was foul and the sea ran high!
"Leave her Johnny, Leave her!"
She shipped it green and none went by
And it's time for us to leave her
Leave her Johnny, Leave her
Oh, Leave her Johnny, Leave her
For the voyage is long and the winds don't blow
And it's time for us to leave her
Tohru's POV: Now that the pirates holding our trainees are taken care of, its time to go over what I have been through before I became captain of the Marines of the Red Butterfly Company. It all began like 21 years ago, when I was 7. I was raised by a great mother and father who are also in the Marines as well. In fact, my father, Katsuya Honda, was a Marine Vice-Admiral.
For my mother, Kyoko Honda, she was a warrior priest that was sentenced to suspension for reckless endangerment of escorting a group of acolytes during this one pilgrimage in Juliusian Island. In fact, she was in that position while working at a Missionary in Port
The moment I turned 8, my father sent me to the Marine Academy where I studied naval warfare and officer training. Even though I was able to put up with so much hard endurance and rigorous combat training, I still felt half-empty inside my heart because I didn't spend that much time with my mom yet. So, as soon as I turned 12, my mom paid a visit to me at the Marine Academy barracks during the summer. Since we're on break from our military school, mother brought me to the Missionary Church spending my first days in learning about priesthood on summer break. There, she taught me all the good things during the days of priesthood. As much as religion is below my marine training, I went along with it so that I can understand my mom more better. I really loved her for letting me doing something flexible than just serving as a marine all the time for my father's sake.
In fact, I learned about the prayers that may be useful if I were to lead the marines out into the battlefield as one of their officers. My so-called prayers may not be effective, but the only person who can save myself in such dangerous situations is me. During her lectures, my mom did remind me that my war blessings as a priestess will soon come into fruition if you keep believing yourself. I kept that in mind before I went back to the Marine Academy to resume my officer training.
At 16, I met two cadets the moment I was promoted to a junior officer. You already knew who they are since they just showed up during my fight against Motoko's pirate crew. They both happened to be junior officers too that already went into the same training program that I was in, yet we hadn't introduced ourselves until we left the Marine Academy and went onboard our first ship that belonged to a captain that happened to be one of my father's closest friends.
Arisa Uotani, was a 18 year-old junior officer back then who was once an abandoned orphan that got brought in by my mother at the age of 7 from the ruins of Fort Ruquesh at one of the small islands southeast by east of Port Haven. She was malnourished and neglected by her parents at Ruquesh before they left her for dead. Of course, she was a hothead when I first met her at the Marine Academy. In fact, she almost broke my teeth when we did a fist-fight sparing with each other in this one boxing match. She didn't like me at first. However, during our first voyage on board my father's friend's ship, Arisa was ordered to keep the mizzen mast from flopping around wildly when we were sailing through the storm. The worst part was, she made a reckless lunge at one of the halyards that came loose only for her to fall overboard into the ocean. I was the only one who saw her struggling to swim through the savage ocean currents when she got knocked out by a small wooden debris. So, I tied my lower body with a nearby mooring line before I jumped into the ocean to save Uo-Chan. Once I was able to grab my fellow unconscious junior officer with my right hand, I used my left hand to pull us both back up on the ship. At first, they reprimanded me for making a reckless savior act without authorization. However, thanks to my swimming lessons and CPR, I was able to resuscitate Uo, making her spit out the ocean water from her lungs before shivering to herself.
Also, during this one pirate raid on a village that we were ordered to help defend and secure, Arisa almost got beaten to death by a group of 5 pirates that are battering her down with clubs and iron pipes. However, I was able to shoot most of them down with my handguns before bashing one of them with my warhammer that my mother forged for me during my priesthood training. In fact, all five pirates are dead in an instant because of me. No matter, I just save Uo-Chan once again before taking her back behind the marine formation. Eager to start over her friendship with me, Arisa accepted me as a friend and sister-in-arms that looked up to her without fear. I may feel guilty in claiming the lives of others as a marine, but if it is for the sake of my first friend, Arisa, then I will move on to help her fight for another day.
As for Saki Hanajima, her story of how she became a psychic marine junior officer is a bit of a scary, disturbing one. She was born as a natural psyker that was taken into the school of Forbidden Dark Psychic Arts by her father at age 8. When she turned 15, she was sent to the Marine Academy by her parents to help her stay in control of herself with the full extent of discipline so that she does not lose control of her dark psychic powers. During the time that I met her, I though she was just a normal girl like me who is just trying to fit right in when the other marine cadets stayed away from her out of fear.
At the end of our first voyage on my father's friend's naval frigate, after three years of participating in missions of dealing with piracy, escorting nobles to their destinations, and with defending merchant convoys, we were attacked by a black kraken that came out from the ocean depths of Death's Triangle, 500km east of Port Haven. We fought desperately to drive the kraken away. Unfortunately, my prayers haven't been answered as the kraken's black tentacles have tore our entire ship apart in a matter of minutes, breaking away the masts and all of the lines all at once. Before we knew it, the frigate was smashed in two thanks to the massive strength of the sea beast, crushing most of the marines to death while I used protective barriers that I called forth to protect me and Arisa from getting smashed. That's not the worst part. Most of the marines and their captain were at the side of the stern when the ship split in two. We heard them all scream as they fell to their deaths in the ocean. Me, Saki, and Arisa are the only ones left to fend off the Kraken but with futile efforts as we are now standing at the leaning edge away from the bow.
Before me or Arisa had a chance to react, the moment the huge face of the Kraken got closer in attempting to swallow all three of us as desserts, Saki snapped. Her entire body transformed into a living dark silhouette of purple flames with two glowing red eyes. Instantly, she reached out both of her flaming hands at the Kraken's huge face. In a grim display, Saki fired two huge streams of black and red flames at the Kraken, engulfing the giant creature into a roasted squid as it roared in anger and in agony.
As a result, the Kraken became totally blinded in purple flames as it withdrew into the ocean. But Saki's outburst of power did not end there. Instead, she was losing her mind as her dark form is consuming her mind from within. The next thing that happened is when Saki knocked Arisa into the ocean with one dark wave coming out of her left hand before turning her attention towards me. Just as Saki mindlessly tried to hurl a dark lighting bolt at me, I held up my holy cross towards the oncoming projectile. The moment my cross instantly glowed into a blue aura, I summoned a huge blue, circular shield to block Saki's attack before I made an incantation to summon an exorcism.
I could feel that Saki needs to be saved from a dark spirit that she has no control over. I don't know how was Saki possessed by her own dark powers but I knew I had to do something. In fact, my mother did taught me several lessons about exorcism during my half-time training as a priestess. So, in this case, I went into her mind at the start of my exorcism to bring Saki back to her senses. Eventually, I reached out to her in her subconsciousness begging her to stop only to face the dark devil holding onto Saki himself. Ultimately, Saki finally blinked a few times before realizing that she let her emotions get a hold her when trying to recklessly stop the kraken herself, which is exactly what her little devil is prompting her to do, tricking the distraught latter. Of course, I used my light of my holy cross to subdue the black devil, sending it back into the void from whence it came. Just like that, the devil screeched as it disintegrated before me and Saki went back into the mortal world together.
Back in realty, I find myself whole again only to see Saki completely unconscious too, with her body lying on the sinking gangplank of the bow. Upon realizing that the remains of our ship is sinking, I was able to get a nearby lifeboat when Saki is sinking below the ocean. Frantically, I jumped into the water to bring Saki back up to the surface only to see Arisa on the lifeboat already. Nevertheless, she rowed the boat towards us before I brought the unconscious, half-drowned Saki up first. Once I got up on the rowboat, me and Saki are both soaking wet as I feel the heavy weight coming from my drenched uniform.
I only took off my soaked trench coat to losing up the weight before doing compressions on top of Saki, in hopes of trying to bring her back to the living. In just 5 attempts of pressing on top of her chest, Saki spits out the water from her lips as tears came down her face as soon as she looked at me. She couldn't stop sobbing over the fact that she was just trying to save us all from the Kraken when I tried to save Saki from her possession afterwards. Before I knew it, Saki immediately embraced me, telling me "Sorry" over and over again. In response, I hugged her back saying to her that everything is alright now.
For a few minutes of embracing each other, Arisa took a breather as she rowed us both to a nearby island, using the wet ropes that Arisa had onboard to gather a few floating food crates along the way. As we ate and drank during the night, we rest up for the morning before building a fire to get the attention of another marine vessel. In just 5 hours of being marooned, another Marine Frigate approached us before they let us onboard the vessel. I told them everything that happened before they took us back to Port Haven to have us recovered for a few months before starting our second voyage. Of course, my parents immediately embraced me out of worry after learning about the incident at Death's Triangle. Since the captain responsible for the incident is already dead, my father took full responsibility for foolishly relying on an incompetent captain to command me and my fellow marines. As a result for such negligence, the Fleet Admiral suspended my father from his duties as Vice Admiral until further notice.
As for me, since I helped rescue what was left of my remaining Marines, I was promoted by my grandfather to 3rd Lieutenant at the age of 20 before we started our second voyage. This time, I went with another Captain and with my mother, along with ensigns Saki and Arisa (ages 21 and 19), to venture on a pilgrimage in Port Asperion, which lies in the southern seas of Mulerien, 1,000 miles from Port Haven.
After 2 months of traveling through harsh storms and rough waves, we reached Port Asperion with few losses or casualties. However, the nightmare was just getting started for the pilgrimage that Kyoko and her fellow priests are drawn to turned out to be an ambush. A pirate fleet of 5 crude schooners and 3 gunboats are waiting for us at the Asperion docks. They immediately fired upon us with their main batteries. Thankfully, me and my mom both made our holy prayers in successfully casting a huge light force barrier to protect our ship from the massive barrage of cannon fire. However, my mother was the first to feel the heavy pressure of the enemy bombardment in which made her head suffer internal bleeding while struggling to maintain the summoned barrier.
But, I did my best to help her out because I still have my mother's love by lending my powers of prayer to strengthen our barrier. As for Saki, after receiving her blessings from the Missionary thanks to my mom during our recovery at Port Haven, she makes use of her dark powers for good this time. The moment she faced the enemy pirate fleet, Saki used her psychic powers to summon a black maelstrom to suck all of the pirate vessels into the massive, damaging vortex where Davy Jones' Locker awaits them. Once all of the pirate schooners and gunboats disappeared below the ocean surface, we take our chance to leave Port Asperion before anymore pirates attack us.
Just when we got closer to Port Haven, in about a week later after surviving the pirate ambush, a pirate galleon appeared from a nearby ruined naval fort and opened fire with 2 rows of 10 cannons hitting at us. We did our best to counterattack them with our own cannons as well as driving away their boarding parties off our ship but it was not before Kyoko got blasted by an enemy cannon that left her completely bloodied and broken at the port side. I didn't not notice it since I was helping both of my two best friends and our captain drive the pirates away until the aftermath.
I was sobbing horribly as I was forced to see my mother leave me when they hosted a funeral for Priestess Kyoko Honda, along with 5 dead priests and 11 dead marines, before they dumped their bodies into the ocean. As much as I wanted to get revenge on the pirates that killed my mother, I did learned during my training that my emotions will hinder my duties as a marine officer with egregious results. So, I had to move on before letting my father know of the failed pilgrimage and its aftermath.
When he learned of his wife's tragic death, my father committed suicide by dropping off from the church that my mother used to work at before he plugged straight into the water, holding a cannon ball with both of his hands. It made me even more sadder that the very parents who both loved me very much were totally distraught by such losses, leaving me behind in this world full of danger and injustice.
No matter, after my father's funeral, I refrained from my personal tragedy that costed me my parents and continued to carry out duties as a marine officer for 6 years as well as doing part-time work at the church as a priestess for their sake. Since I'm still a long way from being Vice-Admiral in the Marines, I stayed strong for my grandfather and for my best friends and officers, Saki and Arisa. Eventually, my grandfather promoted me to Captain after enduring a long campaign in keeping my best friends alive, granting me a battleship of my own naming it the "Crimson Guardian."
The moment I was officially made Captain, they gave me the right to form up a distinguished marine company of my own choosing. Since my mother was seen wearing the red embroidery of the Red Butterfly on the back of her priest gown, I decided to name my personal company the Red Butterfly Company in the name of Kyoko Honda which symbolizes redemption, honor, purification, and liberation to help serve and protect the innocent.
During my first campaign as Captain of the Red Butterfly Company, I was sent by Fleet Admiral Honda to take care of the large pirate activity occurring in the eastern seas. That's when I finally met my match against my first pirate adversary that I just faced off recently, Captain Motoko Minagawa. The rest of my story you already know.
Back to the present...
One week of sailing onboard their battleship, Captain Tohru finally makes it back to Port Haven to go over a debriefing with Fleet Admiral Honda, along with a group of Marine Vice-Admirals in the Marine HQ. Once her ship docked at port, the sailors tossed out mooring lines to help secure the Crimson Liberator before lowering down the gangplank, allowing the trainees and the marines to disembark. At first, she felt nervous for not bringing Motoko to justice. However, it wasn't long before Saki and Arisa comforted her again for a moment, telling her that everything will be fine since all 25 trainees are safely escorted from their ship.
Taking a deep breath, Tohru walks down the gangplank leaving both of her marine officer friends and chore boy Megumi onboard to take care of things on her battleship before making her way to the Marine HQ, which is located 10 blocks south of the docks.