Chapter 9 - Senti Shenanigans
St. Freya Academy, Headmistress's office - Honkai Impact 3rd World - July 2016 - Three days after the end of the previous chapter
(General P.O.V)
Today is a fairly average day for those who study to become Schicksal Valkyrie at the St. Freya Academy, with many candidates either looking hard or training diligently to become a Valkyrie of some renown when they're finally ready to leave the Academy.
Well, it's a fairly average day for everyone except Theresa Apocolypse right now…
"I don't know how this prankster keeps getting in, but they seem quite enamored with messing with my terminal…" Theresa says with clear annoyance written all over her face, staring daggers at the screen of her terminal as she can see what's been done to it this time.
The last time they messed with her terminal, she was hit with a particularly dated internet joke that from what the IT department told her was known as a Rick-roll by the still-unknown prankster, not to mention the Prankster has somehow managed to figure out her password to the terminal again as she had it changed to avoid this exact scenario before her.
This time though her screen was completely blank, devoid of shortcuts and any taskbar Icons on her terminal, which had freaked her out as she was worried her terminal had been wiped, only to find that the data was still intact.
This led her to conclude that the prankster went out of their way to drag all of the shortcuts to the recycle bin, something she was quick to check and was relieved to find all of the shortcuts intact and not yet deleted.
"Hmph, I bet they got cold feet at potentially being on the hook for tampering with Important Schicksal Documents if I decided it was serious enough!" Theresa says as the incredibly short white-haired young woman looks at the terminal with a smug face, restoring the shortcuts and watching them all return to their original spots.
With a sigh of relief, she gets her chair and opens the shortcut for the program to start typing up a fresh new Schicksal Document, only to look on in shock as the program she wanted didn't open but an internet browser did instead.
And opened up the YouTube page for Nyan Cat One Hour Loop…
Theresa freezes as she hears the cutesy beat go on repeat, Soon her eyes turn to the sheer amount of open tabs she has on the internet browser, all of them open with the exact same YouTube video playing in concert.
She quickly closes the massive block of opened tabs and grumbles, deciding to use her IT assistance program shortcut to get this fixed, only to find to her horror that it only opens up the same YouTube video and fills up her internet browser tabs to maximum with Nyan cat on loop all over again.
"No No NO NO NO!" Theresa says in a panic as she tries with as many shortcuts as possible, each one of them doing the same thing over and over again, each time her ears are buffed by Nyan cat briefly before she's forced to close her internet browser every time.
Just as she's about to give up though, she finally notices a document that she never made herself is also listed on her desktop, which has the title Nyan Cat Solution. As she opens it, she sees that it's a simple Word document prompting her to check her downloads folder.
It's here that she locates a second set of all of the shortcuts, prompting the frustrated headmistress to delete the ones she just restored and move the second set of Shortcuts onto her desktop in their place…
"Finally, I can get some work do–" Theresa says as she opens up the shortcut for the program she was trying to access originally, only to watch in stunned horror as once again the internet browser opens but this time it opens up a different video alongside a document page on a second tab, as for the Video though…
It was DasBoSchitt's "Wanna Hear the Most Annoying Meme in the World?"
This finally gets Theresa to scream in utter frustration and rage as she stomps off to the St. Freya Academy IT Department in hopes she can get her Terminal rolled back to yesterday so that she can actually get some work done.
But had she taken a look at the document on the second tab, it would have ironically given her legitimate instructions on how to restore her true Shortcuts…
St. Freya Academy, Fuchou's Classroom - At the same time
(Fuchou's P.O.V)
I can feel it from here, the pure frustration and rage of the bratty Headmaster as she leaves her office, nothing like a good prank to get through a slog of a lesson after all and the best part is that there is no way for the brat to ever find out it is me~!
"Psst, what's got you so happy all of a sudden?" Kiana whispers to me before I shake my head and mouth later to her, not wanting to get caught talking in class when I know my sister will hear of it and give me a small lecture over it.
Thankfully though, the class ends soon afterwards which is something I am very happy about, as it felt like the history lesson was gonna drag on for eternity. I quickly grab my bag and start making my way back to the squad dormitory, seeing Mei join me on the walk over to the dormitory not long after as she seems rather eager to start working on her Herrscher abilities today.
This is because the training between me, my sister, and Himeko has been doing fairly well despite having just started, with Fu Hua picking up the training much quicker than Himeko due to her prior martial arts background that technically spans roughly about 15000 years, this being thanks to the Immortality both me and my sister both have allowing for such a possibility~
As such I can devote some time to focus on Mei's Herrscher abilities now as well as bring her along to the training, mostly because I am curious as to what unique abilities might show up if she gets access to Ki and requisite training for Ki-based abilities.
Plus if I recall correctly, Himeko should be successfully bound soon, so I'm very much looking forward to that although I just hope that when Himeko realizes what the bracer truly is, she won't be too annoyed by the deception.
"I hope you're ready Mei-chan because I am going to make sure that you'll be not just a good Psuedo-Herrscher but also one hell of a Ki-user!" I say to Mei, with the ravenette smiling for a few moments before looking quite confused, likely having picked up the specific terminology I used for her~
"Psuedo-Herrscher….but I've accepted my Herrscher self already?" Mei says with a look of confusion as we continue to make our way towards the Squad Dormitory, soon enough I turn my head around to look into her eyes as I decide to elaborate on my words just a bit further before the training begins.
"Yeah, Pseudo-Herrscher, while you've gained the mantle of the Herrscher of Thunder, you lack the Herrscher core required to truly become a real Thunder-Thighs~," I say with a mischievous tone, a grin forming on my face as I watch Mei quickly blush at the nickname I gave her on a whim.
"T-THUNDER THIGHS?!" Mei cries out in utter mortification with the mischievous grin on my face growing wider, soon I start to slow my pace down to be right Next to Mei as I wrap my arms around the blushing ravenette, the two of us soon coming to a stop as I begin to whisper in her ears…
"Why yes Mei-chan, you're a very beautiful young woman that many would love to get together with, From what I know from Kiana's secret Polaroid stash, you certainly don't skip leg day~," I say, although truly Kiana doesn't have such a stash at all, I'm just implying there is one to see how the Ravenette Reacts!
"W-wha…I….Uuuuh" is all that Mei can say to that as I can tell with my Herrscher Powers that her mind is very much thinking all sorts of naughty things about Kiana-chan now, alas The teasing must end as there is training to be done~
I place two fingers on my forehead and after locking onto my dear sister's Ki signature just a short distance away in the outdoor area of our dormitory, I Instant Transmission both myself and Mei away while giving the poor blushing ravenette no time to prepare for the sudden teleportation…
St. Freya Academy, Outdoor Training Area close to the Squad Dormitory - Seconds later
(General P.O.V)
Fu Hua and Himeko were both awaiting Fuchou's arrival patiently, having chosen to hone their skills against each other briefly as Himeko was slowly learning how to perform martial arts under the School of Taixuan, a decision made by both Fuchou and Fu Hua although the discussion they had before teaching Himeko the style was a long and heavy one as both grey-haired women had long memories tied to that particular style of martial arts.
Neither woman wanted to allow the use of Ki in a slugger or brawler style of combat, as from what Fuchou knows from the memories she got from % ~#!, a disciplined fighting style helps with Ki control in some fashion although Fuchou isn't sure how exactly.
Speaking of Fuchou though…
The Herrscher pair soon appear together through Fuchou's use of Instant Transmission, with both Fu Hua and Himeko getting a good look at a still-blushing Ravenette as she is still trying to stammer out a response, amusement soon showing on Himeko's face.
"What did you do to her Fuchou, tell her something really Raunchy or something?" Himeko asks Fuchou as the Grey-haired Herrscher shakes her head with a mischievous grin on her face, simply putting a finger to her lips and focusing her attention on not just Himeko but also Fu Hua.
"Nothing like that Himeko, Either way, I shall be starting our dear little Thunder-Thighs on her Herrscher training today so I'll leave you two to spar against each other for the moment, although I will say we will be having all three of you start finishing or in Mei-chan's case, starting, the training of Ki flight since it will probably come in handy~" Fuchou says with both Fu Hua and Himeko nodding their heads as while they have made progress in Ki Flight Training days ago, fully sustained flight will be the end-goal for today for both Fu Hua and Himeko…
With that done, Fuchou is quick to take Mei to a different part of the outdoor training area as she wants to make sure this is done far enough away that any stray Honkai Energy won't hit any passing student or Valkyrie.
"Right, before we get started I want to grant you access to Ki so that when we start working on your Ki Flight later today, it'll have already settled in nicely," Fuchou says, explaining what she has in mind right now as she did just say to Fu Hua and Himeko that they'd be focusing on Ki flight by the end of the training session today.
Mei finally has calmed down from her blushing from earlier and nods her head, hoping to focus on the training ahead as Fuchou walks over and places a hand on Mei's shoulder, The grey-haired Herrscher soon lets her Ki flow through her body and begins to slowly leak into the ravenette's own, the warmth of the overflowing energy from Fuchou has Mei smiling and silently embracing the soothing warmth of Fuchou's Ki.
As seconds pass however, Mei begins to feel a strange feeling start to build within her, like something essential to her very existence is slowly waking up for the first time and has begun to finally make itself known, something that Fuchou picks up on as she pulls away with a smile.
"Seems like what happened with Himeko was no fluke, I am able to grant others the gift of Ki by enveloping others in my own for a time…" Fuchou says under her breath, as with the intentional awakening of Ki performed on Raiden Mei, she has confirmed that what happened with Himeko can easily be replicated with others.
Soon enough though, the Herrscher of Sentience pulls away from Raiden Mei as she grins at her new pupil as she fully intends on getting started on the nascent Herrscher of Thunder's training regarding her Herrscher abilities in earnest.
At least, that was the plan if it hadn't been for something else happening in that exact moment that Fuchou pulls away…
Midway through the sparring between Himeko and Fu Hua, the Red Head's bracer has finished completing the binding process on Himeko, resulting in the buxom major not only becoming a part of Fuchou's Retinue but also hitting her with some rather startling information thanks to the company skill-downloads granting relevant information towards any skills she may not have access to yet.
Such as information regarding a certain battle suit and why it was used in the first place, The information floods Himeko's mind while something else is happening to her body at the same time, as the damage of her use of an artificial stigma begins to heal rapidly to the point one would assume she had only received it very recently.
The moment the binding process was being finalized, Fu Hua noticed what was happening and thankfully stopped sparring with Himeko right as the process began, allowing Himeko time to gather her thoughts once the binding itself was complete.
"...Excuse me for a moment…" Himeko says with a blank look on her face as she begins to march over to where Fuchou and Mei have begun training the latter's Herrscher abilities, saying absolutely nothing before slugging Fuchou in the face the moment she gets close enough.
Fuchou staggers slightly from the force of the punch before rubbing the cheek that Himeko had punched, the grey-haired Herrscher looking more amused than anything while Mei looks flabbergasted at the fact that Himeko of all people flat out punched a Herrscher…
"Got it out of your system now Himeko-chan?" Fuchou asks as the bruise from the punch to the face is soon gone with Himeko scowling but nodding, The Herrscher of Sentience grins as she swaggers over to Himeko before pulling the Taller woman down slightly by wrapping her left arm around her shoulders.
"So, how much did you find out?" Fuchou asks Himeko as something the Herrscher of Sentience learned from both Fu Hua and Mei during the last two days is that the binding process also gave them some rather distinct information regarding the future depending on who it is and their relevance to the overall plot through downloaded skill information from the company itself.
"Beyond the fact that if you hadn't bound me, I would have died bringing Kiana-chan back from the grasp of the Herrscher of the Void you mean…?" Himeko asks in a rhetorical manner, While she knows that she has been given a lot more information than simply the fact Kiana was the host of the Herrscher of the Void, it's also clear that there is a fair bit of context still missing.
Himeko is also admittedly annoyed for falling for the ploy of what the bracer was, but if the alternative was her dying in the future to save Kiana then an eternal bond to a Herrscher that is more of a bratty teenager at times is something she can get behind at the very least.
Still, she had to at the very least slug Fuchou in the face for the deception…
"Indeed, still we really do need to find some time to compile all the additional information as it's going to be essential to figuring out how to handle the immediate future…" Fuchou says, grimacing as while she has Fu Hua's complete memories of the last fifteen thousand years in her head, she still lacks certain pieces of context that Mei and Himeko could provide to add to the mental picture forming in the grey-haired Herrscher's mind.
"I do hope you have a plan at least for Wendy…" Himeko says, to which Fuchou grimaces as her mind has been so focused on the far-flung future due to a certain kin-slaying bastard, that she hadn't yet considered the more immediate future in detail just yet.
As such she hadn't yet planned for what will come before long, and Fuchou knows that she only has so much time left to plan for the Herrscher of Wind's awakening which means she needs to come up with a way to get a bracer on Bronya without arousing suspicion.
Seeing that Fuchou seems to not have a plan for the Herrscher of Wind's awakening, Himeko sighs and grumbles something under her breath as she rubs the bridge of her nose between her right hand's thumb and index finger to nurse a phantom headache.
"Had I known about all this earlier, I probably would have waited to organize this later but oh well…girls, our squad is heading to the beach tomorrow as I've managed to arrange time off because of what happened with Kiana…" Himeko says, that she had genuinely been intending to do her girls a favor by allowing them time away from the Academy in order to properly destress from the event, especially Kiana herself as well but she does wish that she had been aware of all this future-related information earlier so that she could delay the beach trip for later on.
It's silent in the outdoor training area as all three young women take a moment to process this information but when they do….
"YATTA!" Fuchou immediately screams out as she begins to bounce on the spot in excitement, making Mei giggle at how much both Fuchou and Kiana are alike in many ways, while Fu Hua chuckles while shaking her head in amusement at the Herrscher of Sentience that is her sister.
Himeko watches with amusement written on her face as she is made witness to the surreal sight that is a Herrscher bouncing about with a wide beaming smile of excitement, something she does admit to herself that she never thought she would ever be privy to weeks ago.
"Alright alright, settle down Fuchou-chan, save your energy for the beach trip tomorrow, and let me be the one to tell Kiana-chan and Bronya-san got it…?" Himeko asks Fuchou who rapidly nods her head with the same smile on her face, which prompts Fu Hua to chop her on the top of her head with her right hand.
"OW, why did you do that sis?!" Fuchou says with annoyance as she rubs the top of her head, with Fu Hua looking at her gray-haired Herrscher of a sister with a stern look on her face before she sighs and deadpans at Fuchou.
"You were acting like a child who just got fed a double espresso latte coffee…" Fu Hua says, making Fuchou freeze as she looks fairly sheepish at that, which confuses both Mei and Himeko regarding the hyper-specific example given by Fu Hua and the unusual reaction from Fuchou, something that the two sisters take note of.
"Don't ask" Both Fuchou AND Fu Hua say at the exact same time, as while Fenghuang Down has cleansed Fu Hua of many particular memories from her mind, there is one incident that has been a source of embarrassment regarding the double espresso latte coffee that neither of the two desire to share.
It doesn't take much longer after that for the day's training to be brought to an end as the four girls are quick to return to the Squad dormitory, Himeko goes to inform Kiana and Bronya about the trip, and for the other three, it's to get ready for the trip themselves…
Public Beach not far from St. Freya - The Next Day
(Fuchou's P.O.V)
(Quick Author's Note: Main Characters will be wearing their earliest Summer outfits)
As we show up at the beach in our various swimwear, I can't help but gaze out towards the waters of the beach as the salty sea air fills my nose while the sound of waves hitting the sandy slope buffets my ears as I smile brightly.
"C'mon Kiana-chan, the first one in is a rotten egg!" I cry out as I rush toward the beach in order to be the first one feeling the salty waters of the sea hit my skin, although I do admit I was trying to help Kiana-chan pull her focus on actually enjoying the trip too~!
"Mou Fuchou-chan, wait up!" Kiana yells before she starts sprinting over in an attempt to try and race me to the waters of the beach, I sense Mei briefly hesitating before she starts to rush over with us, a mischievous feeling from Himeko's Ki illuminating me as to why Mei is joining us so quickly.
As for Bronya, she seems to be content with taking out a beach chair and playing hand-held games under an umbrella with absolutely no interest in getting herself into the water for the time being, with Himeko joining her to get herself a suntan once she moves away from the Umbrella with my sister helping her put enough sun lotion on so she doesn't end up with sunburns.
Once we're finally in the water though, it turns out that the three of us actually ended up not actually keeping track of who got there first as Kiana is quick to splash me with enough water to get my long grey hair utterly drenched.
"Oh, it's like that huh?!" I say with a mischievous grin before I add a touch of Ki to my hands before hitting Kiana with an even bigger wave that she is unable to dodge and gets utterly soaked drenched in the salty waters of the beach, her facial expression right afterward being the purest deadpan expression I've seen which makes me begin to burst out laughing.
What happens next though surprises me as I am suddenly buffetted by a wave of water from none other than Mei who seems to be smirking in amusement herself, the sudden turn of events making Kiana grin as the two start ganging up on me while I try to splash them however I am able to.
I can spot Fu Hua looking over at the three of us with a single raised eyebrow before sighing and going back to…..wait since when could sis make a fucking artistic rendition of a fucking dojo using nothing but sand?!
Unfortunately, the shock of seeing Fu Hua making a rather elaborate sand castle so to speak, ended up resulting in me losing track of where both Kiana and Mei were, thus allowing the two to suddenly tackle me and make the three of us fall into the water.
It takes moments for the three of us to get our heads back up above the waves but when we do I can't help but look at both Kiana and Mei with a strange feeling welling up in my heart, a bursting feeling of joy that I can't properly describe at being so close to them.
For a brief moment my mind is immediately wrenched back into the events of the future and their deaths but this time I'm able to push past the pain and just hug both Kiana and Mei tightly, a bright smile coming onto my face to hide the crushing pain that I am still trying to move forward from.
The two are surprised but give smiles while giggling and just enjoy the hug, I just want to spend as long as I can just being in the presence of the two of them as it's strangely helping to numb the pain just a bit, with us eventually leaving the waters after that tender moment.
Thankfully there is no awkward atmosphere between the three of us brought about by the sudden hug, only a feeling of closeness I can't describe that is making my heart pulse with joy and warmth.
It makes me remember the promises I made to the images of their future selves back in Kiana's dreamworld, so with that in mind I think I can make myself a promise as well, to protect those I care for and ensure that they never end up like they did.
Perhaps I'll figure out what this warmth in my heart is while doing so…
Author's Notes
By the Will of the Honkai, this took WAY TOO LONG to finally finish, let it be said that Writer's block is and shall always be a pain to get through in a timely manner!
Either way, with this finally finished I can start getting back into the swing of things on a wider level, which reminds me it is time for the Plot Discussions again.
Pranking Teri Pt.2
This will become a frequent occurrence for the poor Headmistress of St. Freya Academy as she'll be buffeted by dated memes and internet references to the point that she'll never want to ever get anywhere close to Youtube or pop culture stuff for a decent amount of time.
Of course, Theresa will eventually figure out who is doing this to her and will bang her head on the desk when she sees how obvious it is when you put the pieces together, with Fuchou likely cackling in amusement even as she's likely going to get punished.
Fuchou and Mei Interaction + Himeko Capture
Mei and Fuchou have an interesting situation ahead for them, as Mei has only just come into gaining the mantle of Herrscher of Thunder while Senti is a proper Herrscher who doesn't really do all that much with her domain despite its sheer potential.
As such while technically Fuchou is the senior Herrscher between them, she hasn't truly dived deep into her Domain yet beyond certain instances where she was forced to deepen her level of understanding, like the Kiana Dreamworld Fight.
Of course, Senti being Senti, she can't resist making our poor future Herrscher of Thunder all flustered just before Instant Transmissioning the two away. Not to mention Mei now has Ki at last, although her training with it hasn't progressed much due to another event that happened…
Himeko's binding was locked in as a certainty at this point, although Himeko was able to give Fuchou at least an idea of what exactly she thought about the deception right afterward, by slugging the Herrscher of Sentience in the face~!
Of course, this segway into the foundation of planning out the arrival of the Herrscher of Wind's arrival, as none of the four women want to have the poor girl experience a betrayal from someone she considered a friend.
Short Beach Scene
While I had originally intended to give a proper beachside scene for the girls, It was kind of my first attempt at trying to write one of these scenes so I think I'll have to take another shot at this later in the story.
However, that doesn't mean that things aren't happening as Fuchou is starting to show signs of recovering from the trauma of what happened before she arrived in this timeline…
Now then, Next time on Sentient Wrath: Fruits of Training, Teri Prank No.3, and PROMETHEUS makes contact!
See you all Next Month!