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Patch Island, the Rose/Xiǎo Lóng farm, Gayangkie 54 Treichleam, mid-afternoon (Tōkyō time: Thursday 5 April, three hours after midnight)…
"There! Was that so difficult, Miss Xiǎo Lóng?"
Gaping as she took in the sheer level of destruction that her semblance had been able to unleash on a suitable target through her new prosthetic, Yáng Xiǎo Lóng stared at the new extremity she just received from Isaac Thomas for a moment, then shook her head. "Are you sure about that, Professors?" she then asked Bartholemew Oobleck and Peter Port. "I mean…!"
Both experienced huntsmen exchanged looks, then the taller of the pair walked over to squeeze the blonde huntress' shoulder. "We're more than sure, Yáng," Oobleck declared. "Isaac understands that it'll take time to adopt people to technology — yes, even medical technology — that isn't powered by Dust. He had an idea that something like this was going to happen on Gaysaw evening, so he consulted with people like Penny's creator to have prosthetics prepared when necessary."
"Indeed so," his co-worker affirmed with a nod. "You're not the only one who lost limbs that night, Yáng. Fortunately, Isaac feels it only right to make use those who suffered could get back on their feet as soon as possible. Since our planet's biosphere precludes healers such as Monica there, much less Healer Laverne from Earth, from helping people, well…"
Yáng took that in before gazing on her girlfriend and the other woman who had joined them in bed last night. Both Blake Belladonna and Monica Khan were in their new fighting suits, which really did fit their bodies well. While neither of them had joined in on the remedial lessons that Oobleck and Port had started just after a wonderful brunch made by Osamu Shirayuki (before she went back to Earth to get some sleep due to differences in time sectors between that planet and this part of Remnant) — to say anything of her own father Tàiyáng — she could tell that both seemed ready to jump into a fight in an instant; there was a barely visible aura of alert readiness in both girls that Yáng hadn't seen even in experienced Aura-trained huntsmen before.
Noting her staring their way, both the Night Moulder and the Healing Tigress got up from the rock where they had been sitting on to warmly embrace Yáng, that making her blush as the three older hunters smiled knowingly. Footfalls then echoed from the direction of the main farmhouse, making all of them turn as Fukushima Shirayuki came towards them with a service of tea and cake. "If you're taking a break from workups, Yáng-san, I made some of Nē-sama's special tea cake for you."
With that, Tàiyáng moved to spread a blanket over the grass for people to relax on, then everyone gathered. "Okay, I don't get it!" Yáng stated as she took her seat, then nodded thanks as Blake handed her a cup of tea. "Shirayuki — I mean Küchenchefin — is a normal girl; she's just turned twelve a month ago our time back on Earth. Yet you call her 'elder sister'?"
The now-declared Pure Blizzard of the Kitchen, Hyatorike ("Shirayuki"), smiled impishly. "Well, I only served in Tennō's navy for nearly fifteen years from commissioning until I was sunk, so in that way, I'm 'older' than she is. But given that my social, cultural and technological knowledge of things back on Earth is seven DECADES out of date, I feel it's only right to defer to her. Besides, I fell in love with cooking as soon as I was salvaged and brought to Hinako-chan's home in Niigata some weeks ago; her mother Michiko was more than happy to teach me things my own cooking staff wouldn't have any IDEA of making!" She sipped her own tea. "Ever since we volunteered to help Isaac-san out here on Remnant, I've read about my other-self, the one who's a magical bioroid fighting humanoid versions of your Grimm called 'Abyssals' on the high seas." As the locals all winced on hearing that, the adopted native of Yokohama shrugged. "Well, something went rather strange when they were summoned from the Realm of the Kami to fight for their version of Tennō and the people of Japan. Even if they're human, they must consume HUGE levels of food to help replenish their internal stores, so they'd be in good shape to fight those yōma."
"You really should concentrate more on things in THIS multiverse, Shirayuki," Blake warned, making Yáng gaze her way. "I mean, yes, you're human; even if your new 'hull' was a synthezoid made by the second Healer of Destruction to fight off the lar'beke when they tried to seize the Great Crystal, it's fully organic now." She pointed to her nose in emphasis. "Yes, you smell a lot of the mesonium that went into that body's construction, but other than that, you're as human as any of us."
"Hence, no doubt, the reason this other version of Lady Tariko making a human name for your other self," Monica added.
"And thus, of you," Blake finished.
"Wow…!"
Both feline Faunus perked before gazing apologetically at their shared intimate friend. "Oh, Yáng, I'm sorry!" Blake then apologized as her ears drooped with shame. "I didn't mean to scare you like that…!"
The blonde waved her off. "N-n-no! No, it's okay, Blake! It's okay!" she sputtered out. "I mean, I get the whole 'absorb gobs and gobs of memories from the past' thing about this whole Gifting you went through yesterday, but damn! It sure is changing you like no one's business! I just got to get used to it!" She then sighed. "Isaac wants me to do this, right?"
"The offer is always open for anyone of an open mind to accept becoming one of the Forge," Monica declared. "Still, as I'm sure you gentlemen will agree, training with the prosthetic is a good thing."
"Indeed so," Oobleck affirmed with a nod before nibbling the cake he received. "We're learning about a vastly different culture — No, excuse me, TWO vastly different cultures! — by interacting with people like young Shirayuki here as well as those who are more directly touched by the world of the One Above the Gods like both you and Blake, Monica. It is quite the lesson."
Tàiyáng hummed. "Still, it is quite a change." He then sipped his own tea. "Is it true, by the way?" he asked Blake.
"What's true?"
"That the other Shirayuki actually thought it'd be good to change everyone alive in Vale to metahumans?!"
The Night Molder considered that before she laughed. "What?! What's so funny?!" Yáng asked.
"Well, if I remember correctly, Shirayuki said that she couldn't do it — and Master Neville confirmed this, by the way — because of all the interference from the naquadah that's in Remnant's biosphere left behind by the Two Brothers that helped see the Grimm created and that death-cheater made what she is now," the daughter of the founder of the White Fang declared. "She would think of if as a challenge to her, but Isaac later told me that such a thing would be a 'slow Tuesday' to Shirayuki."
"'Slow Tuesday'?" Yáng wondered before nodding in understanding. "Ah! You mean a dreary Gayput, right?"
Monica and Blake exchanged looks, then nodded. "Seems close enough," the latter noted.
"Gayput is tomorrow here, right?" Shirayuki asked. At the locals' nods, she then hummed. "Why the equal of Wednesday on Earth? Tuesday's the day before it…!" Here, the adopted Yokohama-jin nibbled her lower lip. "Odd…!"
Laughter then echoed over the scene…
Vale City, the site of the Vanille mansion, that moment (Brockton Bay time: Wednesday 4 April, two hours after lunch)…
"You did this?!"
"I did."
"Why?!"
Shannon Ozpin smiled as he gazed upon Neopolitan. "I couldn't save you until it was far too late, Trivia. The least I could do is ensure you had something to go back to in case you had a change of heart."
Blinking, the Ballerina of the Final Darkness turned to gaze upon her rebuilt family home, a place she hadn't considered visiting in the half-decade since the death of James and Carmel Vanille and her becoming Roman Torchwick's primary partner in crime. While most of the rooms inside the building were empty — of course, the detonation of tonnes of unstable Dust wasn't good for the preservation of any sort of heirloom…not that the woman born Trivia Vanille wanted to be forcefully reminded of the dark years where she was isolated in hopes of making her talk after her voice was lost — she could tell that the structure had been rebuilt to the same general plans her family had put into place well before the Great War. Currently, the Wise Lone Sage was inside the mansion inspecting things; Neo had asked Isaac Thomas to prepare defences for the property in case there was another general failure of the city's shields against the Grimm, thus allowing the mansion to serve as a place of refuge for helpless civilians. While she had plans for what she would do after she was done training with the Amon Clan back on Earth, she hadn't progressed them to the point where she could start establishing a new base of operations here on Remnant. But now…!
"So, we're reforming the gang?"
Perking, Neo looked over her shoulder at a smirking Hēi Xióng, who had come with a considerable representation of his family to this place after the Undying Warrior Sage had visited Junior's Cabaret with the news about the restoration of this place. Flashing a curious look at Ozpin — and getting a knowing smile in return from the headmaster of Beacon — she shook her head. "Yeah, we're gonna do that, Junior. We need to do it," she declared, making the son of her late honorary uncle blink with surprise. "Do you really think all those on our side of the face-heel divide will trust any of Taurus' idiots now?"
A snort answered her. "Not only 'No', but 'Hell, no', Boss Lady!" Xióng said with an amused cackle before gazing on Ozpin. "Thing that's bugging me about this setup is WHY you're going along with it, Professor."
An amused chuckle answered him. "Something I've learned since I realized the truth behind Isaac, Hēi. Right now, regardless of how one feels about the legalities of the situation, we NEED to come together as one force to deal with Salem and her allies." As the current head of the Xióng Family grimly nodded — he and his subordinates had been filled in by Isaac Thomas over the last couple of hours concerning the ugly truths behind the attack on Beacon Academy days before — he then smirked. "In that research, I learned of a 'Haywire victim' as they call them on Earth. A person who was forced to permanently relocate from another multiverse to our own over a year ago named Taylor Hebert." At Neo's curious look, he added, "She hails from a version of Earth which fell under the influence of the 'kimfombeke' as you'd call them, Neo. Quite heavy influence at that."
Disgust crossed her face. "THOSE things?! What was going on there?!"
"What the hell is a 'worm leech', Boss?" Xióng asked.
Neo shuddered. "A death-cheating creature that can place itself in multiple dimensions all at once who allow parts of itself to be expelled and merge with potential host species — including humans like us — to turn them into metahumans." As he gaped, she held up a finger. "Oh, that's not all these things do, Junior! With those 'shards' those things eject, they force the hosts into conflict over a set amount of time, then 'cultivate' the shards — killing not just the hosts, but their whole species along the way in one mass death scene — all for them to reproduce in hopes of defying the heat death of the whole of Existence!"
He gaped. "Holy shit! And this Hebert kid survived something like that?!"
"Young Miss Hebert actually aided in the death of one such being while she was a mere host of a major shard from that self-same being," Ozpin explained, making Neo gape in shock at him. "Then, once she was brought to our dimension's Earth by that world's first interdimensional guardian and allowed to be Gifted with Padre Leno's help, she went back to her home multiverse to arrange for the deaths of several pairs of those creatures. The R'bemomadae, I believe it's called on Yiziba, Neo?"
An awed whistle escaped the young mercenary as she considered something like that. "There was an actual R'bemomadae that happened in just the last SEASON?! Damn!" she then lamented sadly. "And I MISSED it?!"
Both Ozpin and Xióng staggered at that declaration…
…before Neo tensed as her empathy picked up on the presence of an approaching telepath, her hands snapping for two dirks…
«Relax, Miss Vanille. I come in peace.»
As people perked on hearing that woman's voice echo in each of their minds — many of the people now standing close to Neo instantly tensing as they reached for weapons, much to her delight — the orphaned daughter of one of Vale City's richest families spun around, flinging one dirk in the general direction of the main gate, that making heads then snap over…
…just as a hand snared the weapon by the handle not a metre away from striking its intended target!
"Goddamn! Nice reflexes, Ice Cream Girl!"
"Vicky…!"
Neo then awked on realizing that among the small crowd of newcomers was a woman in the uniform of the Flesh-Twister, a well-known healer on the World of the Forge. "Geez! Relax, Danzy!" the very cute blue-eyed blonde in the light grey-and-gold star-dotted uniform of the Fighting Belle of Victory, Yuotuo Bolem ("Glory Girl"), declared with a smirk that reminded the Ballerina of the Final Darkness of a VERY cocky Yáng Xiǎo Lóng. Before she could say anything in return, the woman who caught the dirk then gazed on her obvious leader, a slender woman with literal legs for days possessing curly brown-black hair and green eyes behind protective goggles, she in the black-and-dark grey insect-embossed uniform of the Mistress of the Mindless Legions, Lekero ("Skitter"). "You think once she's done with the Amon Family over in Japan, she might want to come by the Bay and meet up with the Oyabun and his friends? She'd have a hell of a target-rich environment with the Empire in town."
Amelia Lavere moaned as she took the dirk from her adopted sister's hand, then walked over to hand said weapon back to Neo, the latter trying not to fluster; she KNEW what could happen to anyone on Yiziba who had the sheer balls to attack a HEALER of all types of metahumans on that planet. "Peace, Neo! Peace!" the daughter of the Marquis of Brockton Bay said as Neo slipped the dirks back into their holsters. "We didn't meet when Oracle brought me here yesterday to look in on some of your would-be opponents after one of them was selected to be Warwind's latest punching bag after her Gifting. Amelia Lavere!"
She held out her hand. Neo smirked, then allowed her hand to be grasped by the Bay Stater, she then relaxing as she sensed the healer's biokinetic powers do an automatic scan of her body. "Damn! Master Amon and his people really are working you over! At least that childhood injury on your larynx is fully healed!" Amelia breathed out in disbelief before waving her companions up to join them. "Lady Danzatrice, I have the pleasure of introducing my beloved adopted sister, Lady Glory — she goes by 'Glory Girl' in mark of her unfortunate time under the direct influence of the kimfombeke — and my dearest pillow scene partner and my battle group leader Lady Skitter." She then indicated each girl as she added, "Victoria Dallon. Taylor Hebert."
All three members of the Brockton Bay Undersiders bowed their heads respectfully to their host. After a minute, Neo then laughed. "Healer Shaper, Glory Girl, Lady Skitter, welcome to my reclaimed home and hearth," she ritually returned with a wave of her hand. "And may I compliment the good healer on her exceptional good taste in pillow scene partners," she then added with a wink as she gave Taylor an appraising look. "While I'm still grieving over the loss of my beloved partner several episodes ago, it doesn't mean I cannot join in the rejoicing at the sight of such an exceptionally beautiful couple!"
As Taylor and Amelia both blushed at such a compliment, Victoria laughed. "Damn! Pity that the Padre couldn't get to your boyfriend before it was too late! He really cleaned you up there, girl!"
"Actually, Miss Dallon, you have it the wrong way," Ozpin then declared as he adjusted his glasses. "It was Neo who helped clean Roman up when they partnered together as the Malachite sisters can clearly attest."
"She did that, Professor," Melanie Malachite said as her sister Miltia laughed. "So, I can guess what Healer Amelia can do, but what about you two guys?!" she then wondered as she pointed at Victoria, then Taylor.
"Vicky's like Coco Adel is now," Amelia responded as Victoria levitated herself off the ground to assume a crossed-legged sitting stance about a metre off the ground. As some of the younger people who had followed the members of the Xióng Family and their allies to the Vanille mansion all gaped in awe on seeing something so "superhero-like" demonstrated, the famous healer asked, "Does everyone know about what happened to Coco and her friends?" Seeing most people nod, she then smirked as she gazed fondly on the woman's whose arrival in this multiverse had effectively saved the "saintly Panacea" from an emotionally cold home. "As for my dearest Tay-Tay here…" she purred as a rumbling sound echoed from all around people.
As they looked around, the rumbling turned loud…
…as massive swarms of local insects representing multiple species surged out from the ground, nearby trees and bushes to form swarming groups all over people's heads. "Tay-Tay brings ALL THE BEES!" Victoria said with a wink.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
Neo roared with laughter. "Damn! You MUST have been a heel before you turned face, Skitter!" she declared as she waved everyone towards the main doors. "C'mon in and let's get things set up! Junior, get the kitchen going! We got guests here!"
"Damn straight about that, Boss Lady!" Xióng whooped as people turned to head inside…
Sano-wan, that moment (Local time: Thursday 5 April, two hours before breakfast)…
"The Brightest One still sleeps, Jójsha."
Hearing that statement from the young gamájun chick who had effectively helped allow her to make peaceful first contact with other metahumans from the World of the Forge the previous afternoon, the Ice Warrior of Eternity nodded, she then reaching over to squeeze Nebesyákh' Bélogo's shoulder. "That is good, Little One. For all her power and her willingness to spread peace and happiness wherever she travels, young Hinako is still a child; your age, in fact." As the niece of the representative of the Dúma Gamájuna to the Ministry of Magical Affairs in Sankt-Peterbúrg nodded in understanding, Itō Yoiko turned to gaze towards the north. Civil twilight had faded from this part of Siberia over an hour before and already, members of Yoiko's crew were busy doing their daily calisthenics on various flat parts of ground around the wide cove where she had been trapped as Yonaga for so long. Allowing her ki senses — inherited primarily from her junior navigation officer and his knowledge of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū; Moroboshi Kyōsuke was ranked a jōnin in that esoteric fighting form even if he didn't qualify to bear his clan's most sacred treasure, the sentient being born from twin merged mental databases of fighting knowledge spanning for a millennium each which awoke in 1808 to eventually earn the name "Moroboshi Negako" — to reach out and scan all those whose dreams and beliefs helped make her what she was now, the adopted Maizuru-jin nodded before tensing as footfalls heralded the approach of a fleet mate from Kōbe. "Iku-dono," she greeted the third of the Junsen Otsu-gata cruiser submarines without turning.
"Sempai," Narahara Shōko greeted in return before smiling as she reached over to playfully rub Nebesyákh's head feathers, that making the young chick squawk in embarrassment. "Your own sempai-tachi would be shocked at what you became."
Yoiko snorted. "If any of them endured what I did, they'd be allowed to comment on it, Shōko-san. Until the time comes that they seek to become what we've become, I shall not ponder it. I've other things to worry me."
Shōko nodded as she gazed around Sano-wan. Being a cruiser submarine — meant to be a far-forward scout for fleet forces — she had been quick to observe how much Fujita Hiroshi, much less his subordinates, had changed since they last were in the Home Islands seven decades before. Yes, they still adhered to Bushidō…and to the TRUE Bushidō at that, not the bastardized version which had run rampant through the armed forces in the wake of the Great War and the advance of the militarists who wanted as big of an empire under Tōkyō's control as possible. This place so far from normal civilization of any sort had purified the over twenty-six hundred souls who had been trapped here by the will of a creature so beyond human, it defied even her considerable imagination…and she had the memories of her synthezoid-self and what that being had done five millennium before to the lar'beke who wanted to claim the Great Crystal of Power for itself! Even more so, the constant interaction with the gamájun living here had chased away whatever racism lurked in the hearts of Yonaga's crew, they having realized over the decades in Sano-wan that such 'superior' beliefs in the Japanese race were no less different than what the idiot Nazis tried to make the natives of Germany believe in the same damned period of time that she had been built as I-19.
Reading of the Holocaust…!
"Wonder how'd they feel," she then mused.
"Who?" Yoiko asked.
"The U-boats and the others from the Kriegsmarine," Shōko noted. "We got…what? Two of the Type IX-Cs directly…?"
"Yū Steinhoff-san and Emi Prüß-san, formerly U-511 and U-1224 respectively. Several more joined the Kaigun after the surrender of Germany in May of 1945, but those two would be definite potential targets for your own 'subgirl hunt',"
Shōko pulled out her PAA — glad that such an incredible device was so simple to operate — then tapped the control as she felt her mind probed to understand the question she wanted answered; the device would then tap through hyperspace links into Earth's information network to give her some needed answers. "Okay, Emi-chan got sunk by a Yank escort destroyer near Cape Verde on her post-commissioning voyage from Kiel in 1944. Yū-chan got scuttled post-war in Wakasa-wan."
"Go for Emi-san first; most likely, she'll be eager," Yoiko advised. "Cape Verde time is 1712 hours on Wednesday." Here, she drew out her own PAA to scan the position of the Sun. "Sunset would be closer to 1900 hours, so wait a while before moving to convince her to rejoin our service. As for Yū-san…" She waited for the device to draw up new information. "Ah, she wasn't alone when the Allies scuttled her. Both I-121 and Ro-62 — Kobayashi Mitsuko-sempai and Horie Yoshimi-sempai respectively — were scuttled the same day at the same location in Wakasa-wan. Again, if you approach them, do it after dark."
A snicker answered her, making the adopted Maizuru-jin stare at the just-reborn submarine. "What?!"
Shōko had an irrelevant look on her face. "'Hitojii' for Mitsuko-sempai?"
Nebesyákh' blinked. "'Grandfather', Shósha? You'll all be girls!"
Both shipgirls gazed on the young gamájun, then Yoiko and Shōko roared with laughter…
In geosynchronous orbit over Earth at the meridian of Výborg in Leningrádskaja Óblast', Russia (directly over a point west-southwest from Butembo, Nord-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo), that moment (local time: Wednesday, a hundred minutes before midnight)…
Standing on the bridge deck of the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship Kosmonávt Alekséj Arkhípovich Leónov made the Bloody Siberian She-Bear — as one Svetlána Il'ínichna Múrometsa had been referred to for years despite her being born in the European side of the world's largest country — often feel quite small when she took in the vast scale of the Universe.
To believe that SO many of her magical comrades from the Ródina found it so difficult to understand how small they were in the face of what lurked beyond the shielding biosphere of the third world of Sol…!
And while she had no fear concerning losing the link to the magic she had come to wield with terrible efficiency over the decades despite her being bednjakí by birthright with no known kuláki ancestors — no thanks to the shoddy records keeping in the rural parts of the Motherland where she had spent the first decade of her life before getting the incredible invitation to the Akadémija Volshebsvá "Gamájuna" on her eleventh birthday in the spring of 1908 — thanks to the fact that the technology that had built this ten-to-one scale version of a sturdy Soviet-built spacecraft from a rather acceptable American science fiction movie made in 1984 was mesonium-powered, she still felt a sense of great humility whenever she walked on Leónov's decks to visit its creator.
Had it been the same way for her dear friend Pjésnja Bélogo when the young gamájun herald was introduced to the Emperor of the Arctic to receive his blessings to become the Dúma Gamájuna's spokeswoman to the MMD in Sankt-Peterbúrg…?
"Továrisch Márshal?"
Svetlána turned as one of this ship's gynoid crew — the same type of beings that her host's American counterpart had constructed correspondingly with the creation of her version of the USSC Discovery One years before — came up. "Da?"
Nána Kolésnikova — as an artificial intelligence, it seemed ridiculous to give her a patronymic in the standard Slavic way, though she did use the matronymic "Tat'jánovna" when she was called down to Earth for some reason — waved her towards the doors leading into the central hull of this vast spacecraft. "Tánja is waiting for you in the large starboard workspace now."
Múrometsa nodded. "Spasíbo, Nánasha."
The two walked off the bridge, heading down a well-lit corridor that ran through the middle of the 840-metre-long craft towards where — in the movies and the original novel by Arthur C. Clarke — the large living modules were attached to the main hull; since Tánja Chapáeva's starship had artificially-produced gravity, there was no need for the 432-metre-wide mass to rotate on the ship's central axis. Thus, the native of Výborg had the spaces converted to research laboratories which could be programmed to exhibit multiple environments, including zero-gravity and micro-dimensional vortexes. Given the task that the President of the Russian Federation had given the Passionate Historian of the Circle of Thought when the news of the effective rebirth of THG Fubuki into the person of Fukushima Fujiko thanks to one Saeru Hinako came to Moskvá the previous month, the veteran of the magical side of the Great Patriotic War had no doubt that whatever ship spirit the half-Karelian model's daughter was about to make human would be reborn in as safe and sterile an environment as could be made with the power of the Seeker's Forge.
Given the special ingredient to make such reality…!
After a few minutes walk — while she wasn't as old chronologically as several of her contemporaries from the Liberation Wars like Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald or William Harlan, the mesonium in her blood gained from the steppes where she had been born had kept the farmer's daughter from Chaadávo near Múrom some distance east of Moskvá quite young physically to this day, so she wasn't winded — they arrived at a sealed airlock leading to the ship's starboard side. Nána tapped controls to unlock the door, then waved the older woman through, said portal closing behind Múrometsa.
She then looked at what clearly was a micro-dimensional bubble in the middle of the vast space.
And what was now floating serenely in the middle of same.
"Bózhe moj…!" she breathed out.
Her host looked over her shoulder from her floating work chair before the main control station. "Bábushka…!"
Walking up to stand beside Tánja to gaze upon the near-completely-rebuilt first-generation dreadnought floating serenely in null-gravity, the former minister of magical affairs and leader of the Soviet Union's magical troops in the Great Patriotic War could only shake her head in awe. "Why such a large ship, Tánja?! Are we trying to scare our young Japónskie továrischi?!"
A snort answered her. "Unlike our American comrades, we never maintained a high naval tradition through the transition from empire to union to federation, Bábushka. Fortunately, given this one's service — her crew received the Órden Krásnovo Známeni in 1944 — I'm sure that when it comes time to bring other ship spirits back to serve the Ródina and our former sister republics from the old Union, they'll gladly flock to her call to arms." She then winked. "Besides, it turns out that Fudzíko Sidzúovna Fukusíma is fully fluent in Russian; she even gladly taught her sisters Sirajúki Rokoróvna, Hatsué Josiróvna and Mijúki Shódzikiovna how to speak it as if they were natives of Vladivostók!" As Múrometsa gaped in shock at that revelation, her host turned to tap some holographic controls as she supervised the fitting of the mainmast. "Something tells me you're here to talk to me about a whole host of dead poachers whose severed heads were delivered to your comrades in Magadán."
That made the old warrior witch grimace. "Some of your comrades from Jidzíba were involved?"
"Two from America, three from Japan. Including Ájumu Dzjódziovna Kásuga and Fejt Filíppovna Lekhéjn!"
Múrometsa blinked, surprised that THE most powerful of the Children of the Forge — to say anything of one of the two living vampire Slayers alive today, she now ALSO being the most physically powerful of the Children of the Forge — had taken interest in the whole poaching issue targeting the gamájun. "Wait! That mana burst from far east Chukótka…?!"
"Imperátor Túndra's reaction to the existence of the alconóst descendants on Rémnant."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
Gazing at the nearly-rebuilt warship before her, the veteran of the world's first magical world war gaped as the words of a certain reborn nuclear rocket cruiser spoken days before echoed in her mind. "A dóchka flóta?!"
"Exactly as Naómi Evgén'evna warned, Bábushka. She was even there and helped it happen."
Múrometsa blinked before she sighed, remembering what Naomi Haight-Ashbury also said. "Japanese, no doubt."
"Da. The person who discovered the Cove of Svjetjjílische had the devil's own luck to run across it. Somehow, I think the Imperátor allowed it; poaching of gamájun chicks was quite common back in those days, da?" At the older woman's grimaced nod — being a graduate of the Gamájun Academy, the farmer's daughter from Chaadávo had always been ashamed of her fellow magicals for treating the metamorphic aliens so shoddily, especially since they had guaranteed rights of protection from the Tsars themselves, such having been passed down through the leaders of the Union to the present day! — the Passionate Historian added, "With such a vast ship — it was an avianósets converted from a linéjnyj koráblʹ típa 'Jámato'; her name is Jonága — secured in the Cove, there was no way that any of those disgusting monsters would get away with such a crime…"
«Then this Jonága and her crew are all Velikorossíjskij in my eyes, Tát'jana Andrévna…!»
Both women gasped as a faint glow formed around the great ship before them. "Galína Nikoláevna…!" Tánja hissed.
«Sah! Get my hull fully rebuilt so I can be like the others being brought back from the realm of Bátjushka Vólos! Then I'll go see this Jonága personally and THANK her and hers for doing the duty YOUR fool subordinates should have done all along, Továrisch Márshal Múrometsa! I'm sure this one will welcome a chance to unleash a PURGE…!»
As a low, cold chuckle echoed through the chamber, Tánja and Múrometsa exchanged wary looks…
Sweet Valley in California, that moment (local time: Wednesday, thirty minutes before lunch)…
An amused chuckle escaped the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as he, his wife Laura and America's first shipgirl stepped into the underground bunker created by the Wise Genius of the Circle of Thought for work she could do on Earth in lieu of going into orbit and doing same on the Discovery. "Need an absentee note from school, Liz?" Percy Fitzwallace wondered.
Elizabeth Wakefield looked over her shoulder before smiling as she tapped controls while monitoring the finishing work on the island superstructure of the mostly-rebuilt ship now floating in a pocket dimension that was visible through a special looking glass. "I have my gynoid replica attending classes at Sweet Valley High now in my place, Admiral," the smartest person bar none on the World of the Forge declared. "She'll be ready by Friday morning if the President's asking."
"He knows already; Naomi's keeping him up to date," Fitzwallace declared as he gave Naomi Haight-Ashbury a smile. "You ready to work with a girl who comes from 'squaresville' there, Mama Cass?" he then teased.
The Cosmic All-Seer shrugged. "Big E here almost made it to the Summer of Love, Uncle Fitz," the adopted native of Long Beach and Quincy in Massachusetts explained as she waved to the great warship now safely tucked away as the legion of repair robots brought in directly from Yiziba itself continued to finish fitting her out for the big day in less than thirty-six hours. "Kinda pity that Granduncle Bull's attempts to have her preserved as a memorial failed. Yeah, showing off her fantail is one thing…"
«Only thing that kept me tied to Earth…»
Hearing that voice with its mixture of Virginia Tidewater and Metropolitan New York accents made people gaze on the nearby warship; with a flick of a finger, Elizabeth turned on the metaphysical projection functions to display the ghostly figure now reclining on a lounge chair overlooking the fantail. As Laura covered her mouth in disbelief and awe at the fact that she was looking at something a devoutly religious person would immediately claim was an angel of some sort, her husband sighed. "Are you sure you're okay with this, Captain?" he gently asked. "Given how tired you must have been at war's end…"
«I'll be fine, Admiral. Besides, given what that nice girl accidentally did last month, it's a guarantee that things like this will start happening all over the planet sooner or later, especially if this Healer of Destruction's come back and decided to let his army of snake murderblenders go to live their own lives effectively merged with ship spirits like Naomi and myself…»
"Relax, Yvonne, relax," Elizabeth gently urged. "Let the knowledge come to you. I don't want to bring you back into the physical world and leave you totally lost like Steve Rogers was when he was pulled out of the ice."
The image of the soon-to-be-reborn Virginian/New Jerseyan blinked. «Your friend from Queens found that out, right? He went to the very universe that the Captain and the other Invaders came from that the War Hawks had to deal with, Commander?»
"That he did, that he did."
«And Major Raeburn's a GENERAL now?!»
"That she is, Captain. That she is," Fitzwallace declared. "You'll like her and the troopers under her command a lot. She helps run a school for metahumans — mystery men and mystery women to you — up in British Columbia at a farm the kobaloi helped her buy after she got the Power Jewel to keep the cave where it was found well away from other people's hands. Soon as you're ready for duty, you'll head up to Clayhurst to get your phoenix wings as a specialized warfare operator."
«Will we have to deal with supporting state metahuman militias, Admiral?»
"If necessary and at the President's say-so, Captain. Posse Comitatus and all that…"
A snort echoed through the chamber. «We're NAVY, not Army, Admiral! Posse Comitatus doesn't affect us!»
Laughter escaped the others at that statement…
Vale, the Vanille mansion, a half-hour later (local time: Gayangkie, two hours before supper)…
"Uh…hey, Neo."
"Yáng."
Hearing that voice escape the Ballerina of the Final Darkness, the blonde heavy-hitter of Team RWBY — and yes, she was now starting to feel like she could keep that title despite the amputation of an arm days before — blinked before she hummed. "Heard that you lost your voice because your dad was being a serious dick with bad Dust, then refused to take responsibility for it."
Neopolitan's eyebrow arched before an amused chuckle escaped her, she then reaching over to grasp Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's good hand to pull her into the massive reception room of her rebuilt family home, such now somewhat filled with a tonne of people, including some welcome and recognizable faces like Isaac Thomas, Hēi Xióng, the Malachite sisters…and much to her personal delight and joy, Shannon Ozpin as well! Sensing the blonde energy manipulator visibly relax even more on seeing the Undying Warrior Sage who had done much to prepare Yáng and her friends to be huntresses, the woman born Trivia Vanille gazed on her. "Yeah, that's what happened to me. You're lucky, Yáng. So are your sister and the others as well, even Blake there."
Following her girlfriend into a place she personally never thought she'd walk into willingly without being ready to fight, Blake Belladonna smiled at that compliment from her host while grasping Monica Khan's hand. As Tàiyáng Xiǎo Lóng exchanged knowing looks with Bartolomew Oobleck and Peter Port while Fukushima Shirayuki politely covered her mouth in amusement, the new arrivals were quick to draw the attention of the headmaster of Beacon and the Wise Lone Sage. "Yáng, Blake, Monica, boys!" Ozpin greeted as he and Isaac came over. "Nice to see you're adopting to the prosthetic, Yáng. How do you feel?"
Yáng blinked as she considered that before tears welled up in her eyes. "I don't like leaving Ruby out in the open like that, Professor," she confessed as Blake came up to hug her from behind. "Yeah, she's got the Silver Eyes and all that…"
"We're watching over her right now, Yáng-san," Shirayuki immediately assured her, making everyone gaze on the adopted Yokosuka-jin. With that, the Pure Blizzard of the Kitchen pulled out her PAA. "Shirayuki to Murakumo!"
"Murakumo here, Shirayuki," a voice called back as a holographic image appeared over the device.
"Status of Team RJNR?"
Fukushima Mayako's image was replaced by a topographic map of the region east of Vale City proper, a target icon showing that Ruby Rose and her new teammates had made considerable progress from the place of their last encampment on the East Vale Road close to the nearest edge of the Forever Fall Forest which was now nothing more than cinders. "Lucky thing those motorcycles Isaac provided these four have cold fusion batteries powering them," the Raging Storm of the Seas noted. "They're making pretty good time and should hit the crossroads for the Central Highway by the start of the first watch tonight."
"Sazanami here, Shirayuki," the voice of the just-arrived Ashikaga Namiko cut in from the headquarters site of Renaissance Industries on the other side of the city. "Otsuchi and I'll go out to relieve Mayachi and Hatchi at the start of the first dog watch."
"Make sure you have an early supper before you go, Namiko-chan," Shirayuki advised.
"Hai, hai! We'll be alright, Shirachi…!"
"Are there any signs of Grimm in the area where the team is at, Mayako?" Ozpin then inquired.
The adopted Ōsaka-jin — like her fellow "tsundere" destroyer Ashikaga Akemi, the silver-haired FISS/meteorkinetic was built at the Fujinagata Shipyards — hummed as her image appeared over her sister's PAA. "Nothing I can smell, Kōchō-sensei. Maybe if there are packs of those akuma running around, they're lying low after we burned the Forever Fall down last night."
"Hatsuyuki here," a new voice cut in, allowing people to see the image of the Silent Blizzard now in the middle of a forest, no doubt close to the East Vale Road. "I'm doing low cover while Mayako stays airborne, Kōchō-sensei." She stuck out her tongue to taste the air. "Yeah, they were crawling through this area; can't tell how long since they last passed my position."
"Probably ran like hell away from the Forever Fall last night," Mayako proposed.
"Concentrating at the crossroads, maybe?" Shirayuki asked.
"Possibly," her younger sister trilled out. "Hatsue, can you stay on the deck and scout ahead?"
"Need to do a big wheel away from Ruby-chan and her friends if I do that to stay unseen, Mayako."
"Do it. I'll lower down to treetop level south of the road and pace them."
"Yokai!"
The links over the PAA were cut. "There you go, Yáng-san!" Shirayuki assured as she walked over to squeeze the taller girl's shoulder. "Your sister and your friends are safe and sound! If there's anything that they can't handle, we'll deal with it."
Yáng blinked before she reached over to embrace the cute cryokinetic/FISS and cooking student. "Thanks, Little Hime!" she said as she kissed Shirayuki's forehead before she stepped back. "By the way, why does the other Shirayuki…?"
"Call herself 'Princess' all the time?" Isaac cut in, making her look his way. "Look at the kanji of their name."
The locals focused on the snow angel insignia on the reborn destroyer's chest, that marked with the kanji 白雪 in up-down reading format. "The first character, which is read 'shira' in this case, means 'white'. Like here on Remnant, the colour white also implies 'purity'. The second character, read 'yuki' in this case, means 'snow'. So, their names literally mean either 'white snow' or 'pure snow'. It also harkens to a tale written on a part of Earth called Germany over two centuries ago, about a princess who was banished from her home and left to die in the wilderness by a wicked stepmother after her own mother died. When her mother wished for a child, she wished for one 'who had skin as white as snow, with lips as red as blood, and with hair as black as ebony'." Here, he pulled up his own PAA to project an image. "This is an animated version of Snow White as she came to be called." As the locals nodded, he added, "In the tale, Snow White was rescued by dweorg — dwarves in your language — and allowed to recover, eventually moving to reclaim her heritage. The stepmother tried to stop her, but a handsome prince saved her while the stepmother died, thus she was acknowledged as a princess once more. The tale is known worldwide…"
"Including where Shirayuki and Little Hime come from, right?"
"Exactly."
Oobleck hummed. "Weren't there tales like that in our history, Oz?"
"Quite a few," the older man affirmed with a nod. "Fortunately, most of the Academy vaults survived Cinder's unwelcome visit on Gaycan, so once the wyvern and other Grimm are wiped away and we can rebuild, people will be able to access them."
"If you need help disseminating those stories and other historical information, Professor, I can arrange for some things," Isaac offered. "One of the damned things that Salem's done to hurt everyone on this planet is to try to deny your own history, make your lives as hollow as possible to make destroying you all easier." As the locals grimly nodded, the New Yorker added, "Much that I'm sure she's noticed by now that a large amount of local real estate has been sterilized to the point where none of her Grimm could try to infiltrate Vale City anew to help her gather intelligence since Cinder's still recovering, she clearly doesn't want to stop until it's done. It's a pity that she doesn't realize that it'll be all for nothing in return with the Two Brothers gone."
Yáng snarled. "To believe I found myself LIKING that Fall bitch! I'd love to make her SWALLOW those flames of hers!"
"Whoa, Love!" Blake cut in. "First person who deserves the revenge scene on Cinder is Pyrrha! We've got Adam to think of."
That made the taller girl blink before she gazed on Isaac. "How the hell did you save her, Isaac? I saw the troopers from Atlas pull out what little was left of P-money's and the Professor's bodies from the Beacon Tower after Blake and me were found."
An embarrassed chuckle escaped the Wise Lone Sage. "Well…!"
Shirayuki smirked. "From what we heard, Yáng-san, Isaac-san here came up with this superbly complex plan to sidestep TIME to save Pyrrha-san — and Kōchō-sensei as well as both were Cinder-san's targets that night — by substituting lifelike clones for the real people for Cinder-san to kill; she'd already killed poor Amber-san, so she had the full Fall Maiden powers."
"Actually, Shirayuki-chan, I was going to stop time itself to do that swap," Isaac advised.
"You can do that?" a wide-eyed Neo demanded.
"With the Weaver's help, of course."
The mercenary nodded. "Ah, right!"
Shirayuki then pointed up. "Of course, the instant she heard this, Ayumu-chan said 'bleh' to the whole silly plan, then used her Infinite Wave power to link Pyrrha-san's soul to a synthezoid 'battle doll' body in the Doll House. She then made it look like Cinder-san killed Kōchō-sensei after almost destroying Pyrrha-san's body to gain poor Amber-san's power before she wound up facing Ruby-san. While all that was going on, Ayumu-chan teleported Kōchō-sensei to safety aboard the Normandy, leaving behind an easily-mistaken face synthetic body she damaged enough to make people think he died."
Neo held up her hand. "Okay, Yáng needs some reveal scenes here…"
"Yeah, I damn hell do! I'm sure I saw P-money's corpse that night! What's this 'Doll House' anyway?" Yáng declared.
"A creation of my old friend Ayone Ugadese, the man people on Remnant call the 'One Above the Gods'," Ozpin affirmed. As people focused on him, the man born Ozma ages ago slipped off his glasses to wipe them down. "As he told the story to me after the Two Brothers were forever banished from this multiverse, Ayone created a pocket dimension linked to the Great Crystal of Power immediately after his daughter was critically wounded by a rogue heel; this was near the end of the Starvation Times now that I've been able to compare Remnantian and Yizibajohei time scales." He slipped his spectacles back on. "She hadn't been empowered to become a metahuman and there was no healer like Monica or Amelia standing over by the windows to help." As Yáng and the others from Patch Island briefly turned to look at the Flesh-Twister — she now talking with some of Hēi Xióng's subordinates — he continued, "In this pocket dimension, he brought in the last survivors of a race of mesonium artisans who had lost their homeworld to some disaster or another — I doubt young Ayumu will remember where exactly they came from — then they moved to fashion synthetic humanoids called 'battle dolls', named in tribute to the Healer of Destruction's creations now being used by the shipgirls like the Commanders Fukushima and the Commanders Ashigara." As people glanced towards Shirayuki, Ozpin smiled. "Once one was ready, Ayone allowed his daughter — I never learned her name — to 'swap bodies' and gain a new life, not to mention a direct link to empower herself through the Great Crystal of Power."
"And since that time, any child on Yiziba who is mortally wounded before being Gifted is given a replacement body to get the chance to be directly Gifted," Monica finished, making the other locals gape at such a concept. "That's how Penny was saved," she then added, gazing at Yáng. "Given it would have been quite a while before her father could rebuild her…"
"Does he know this happened?" the blonde energy manipulator demanded. "Given how much Ruby's crushing on her…"
Ozpin chuckled. "Do relax, Yáng. James promised me that Penny's father will be informed as soon as possible about her fate. Given that there are chances that Salem has spies in all the kingdom governments…"
"I recognized one man from Atlas in that vision Kanako had yesterday, Professor," Isaac warned as he looked at the older man. "Professor Arthur Watts. Isn't he one of the people who worked with Penny's father on Atlas' defences?"
"Yes, I recognized him as well," the Undying Warrior Sage breathed out. "He faked his death in an incident two years ago; this was after he fell from favour with the government in Atlas due to some issue. He was friends with several people, chief of them being Jacques Schnee." As some of the locals — especially Yáng, Blake and Monica — scowled on hearing that name, Ozpin raised a hand. "Yes, I'm aware of how much people on Remnant loathe that fellow, chief of which being both his daughters. I do hope, Isaac, that you find a way to properly humble the man when you move to bring Weiss into your training circle."
"Oh, fucking joy!" a strange voice called out. "Are you guys saying that this jerk's a shitty zaibatsu oyabun, Isaac?!"
Isaac hummed as people gazed on Ashikaga Akemi, she having walked over to join them. "That would be about right, Akemi."
"'Finance-clique foster father', Akemi?" Yáng asked.
The Wise Lone Sage and the Orchid Nova both snickered. "Zaibatsu were large business alliances active in Japan before and during the war where Akemi, Shirayuki and the others were sunk, Yáng," the former explained. "Many credit them for heavily supporting the leaders of the country to start that war as a way of gathering more money for their own coffers."
"Yeah!" the latter groused. "Fuckers had so much influence, it's no wonder that damned shitty war with the Yanks blasted off like it did." She then gazed on Yáng. "You got godfathers here, don't you? Junior's one; so's Neo here."
The blonde hummed before she nodded as Xióng and Neo blushed. While she could get quite wild when opportunity presented itself — and yes, her sense of humour could be downright groan-inducing; hey, at least she WAS trying to be funny! — Yáng was no idiot. One who had to grow up without either birth mother or adopted mother, plus be forced to raise a younger half-sister nearly alone, had to learn things at the double-quick to survive, even in a relatively peaceful place like Patch Island, where there was little in the way of threats from the Grimm. And with the trees and flowers that Neville Longbottom was now introducing to Remnant's biosphere in play, the chances of any grave threat to the Rose/Xiǎo Lóng family — much less any of their neighbours — were going to decrease hard. With Vale City's defences being cleared of viruses and being brought back to full strength from what Mercury Black did — and there was ANOTHER asshole who was going to face a big beatdown when Yáng caught up with the backstabbing bastard! — the chances of a repeat of Gaycan's ugly events were decreasing by the proverbial minute.
She then perked as she gazed on her host. "Gonna start a gang, huh?"
Neo smirked before sipping her tea. "I'd expect you to disapprove, Blondie, but it's all I've really known my whole life. Still, given what's really coming down on all our collective heads, I don't think we've got time to restart what we did on the bullet train, huh?" She then raised a finger in warning. "And if that deadbeat bitch you call a mother gets in the way again…!"
A snort answered her. "Do whatever you want, Ice Cream Girl. Ruby's mom was more a mother to me that Raven ever was."
Ozpin chuckled. "Well, now that we've aired all that out, time for a lesson, girls."
People perked. "Is that why Taylor-san is here, Kōchō-sensei?" Shirayuki asked. "I know she comes from another multiverse and had to deal with large threats that needed heroes and villains to work together to stop, but would that apply here?"
"Best thing to do, 'Yuki, is to ASK the girl! C'mon!" Akemi said as she nodded the others over. "Hey, Spider-Girl!"
Isaac blinked before gazing at the Pure Blizzard. "Did you introduce her to manga yet?" he hissed.
"Not yet," Shirayuki answered.
As others walked over, the Mistress of the Mindless Legions and the Fighting Belle of Victory were describing some of their battles in Brockton Bay to a group of wide-eyed listeners, among them being employees of Renaissance Industries, frequent day customers of Junior's Cabaret and members of the various gangs who came together under Roman Torchwick's leadership over the past half-decade before Cinder Fall and her allies swept in to muck so many things up. Hearing the Orchid Nova call out, Taylor Hebert smirked as she sat back in her chair. "I don't think they heard you over on Yiziba, Akemi."
"Yeah, yeah!" the adopted Ōsaka-jin declared as she waved the master telepath/insect manipulator down. "Seeing as how everyone's facing a total war situation here with the queen akuma and her pals, the locals need some…"
"Oh, my dear GOD…!"
An annoyed groan escaped Amelia Lavere as she came over to join them, accompanied by some of the people who she had been talking with, including Melanie and Miltia Malachite. "Vicky!" the biokinetic healer snapped. "I don't think Miss Belladonna or Miss Khan need you staring at them like they were those cartoon nekomusume you like so much!"
Monica blinked. "Are there Faunus on Earth, Isaac?"
Isaac hummed. "Similar beings in some ways, Monica. While I'm not aware of any direct 'species' of feline therianthropes like yourself or Blake, there are magical species who live with animal traits like you Faunus develop. The gamájun — the beings who fought the ancestors of the Grimm while they were still on Earth before the Two Brothers most likely transplanted them here to Remnant — are a group of metamorphic avians, with abilities like how Qrow's transmorphing powers work."
"There are other such species, including counterparts of dwarves and other legendary species that have appeared in myths, both the ones which have survived to this day and those that even I've lost track of," Ozpin admitted.
"That's such a pity," Taylor then breathed out before sipping her tea. As people focused on her, the permanently dimensionally-displaced slayer of Scion added, "My mother — both my late birth-mother in my home dimension and my adopted mother in this dimension — is a literature teacher in university. She'd be appalled at the loss of historical and cultural knowledge you people have suffered because of Salem and her stupid quest to wipe out humanity." Here, she shook her head. "Do you have any idea WHY your ex-wife wants to do something as drastic as that, Professor? Is it some experiment she's running or what?"
Ozpin shook his head. "Sadly, Taylor, her quest will lead to total nothingness in the end. I don't know if she's aware that the Two Brothers are gone after Ayono's intervention two millennium ago, but even if she is…"
"She's probably doing it just to get the jollies," Victoria Dallon proposed, making people look her way. "Like Jack Slash."
That made people aware of the late leader of the infamous Slaughterhouse Nine scowl. "She's way smarter than that idiot ever could be, Vicky," Isaac declared, making people gaze his way. "Don't worry about him, people. He's long since gone, both in this dimension and Taylor's birth dimension. However, given what happened on Gaycan, the 'chivalrous organizations' who were tricked into supporting Salem's people when they came here to kill the Fall Maiden in her SICKBED of all things…" — he saying that made everyone not in the know concerning Amber Bailey gaped in horror on hearing that — "…are in the process of reorganizing themselves both to prepare to defend themselves and their own from the threat of the Grimm, plus potentially aid in the defence of all sentient beings on Remnant from Salem. And while I'm sure some of them — including Adam Taurus' wing of the White Fang — will stay allied to Salem, others will see the truth of the situation and are ready to stand ready to fight for what they have and will join with our host's forces in due course. I believe a certain procedure practiced on Earth Bet has a place here, Madame Skitter. One you'd be VERY familiar with dealing with the counterparts of the gangs in Brockton Bay."
Taylor smirked. "The Endbringer Truce, you mean?"
"Exactly."
The leader of the Brockton Bay Undersiders nodded. "I can do that."
"What are 'Endbringers'?" Blake then asked.
A wry smile answered the daughter of the founder of the White Fang. "You think these Grimm are bad, Blake?" Taylor asked. "You haven't SEEN bad until you've seen something like THIS…"
And with that, she displayed three VERY ominous images from her PAA. "Holy shit…!" Akemi breathed for them all…
To Be Continued…
WRITER'S NOTES
Translation list and source language (all Russian unless noted): Jōnin — Senior-rank ninjutsu-ka; -tachi — Equivalent word to the English plural "s" (both Japanese); Ródina — Motherland; Bednjakí — Paupers, used to identify normal-born magicals; Akadémija Volshebsvá "Gamájuna" — Magical Academy "Gamájun"; Japónskie továrischi — Japanese comrades; Órden Krásnovo Známeni — Order of the Red Banner; Dóchka flóta — Daughter of the fleet/shipgirl; Avianósets — Aircraft carrier; Linéjnyj korábl' típa 'Jámato' — Ship-of-the-Line/Battleship of the type "Yamato"; Velikorossíjskij — Great Russian; Bátjushka Vólos — Father Vólos, god of the earth and underworld; Nekomusume — Cat maiden (Japanese).
And the wonderful patronymics:
Alekséj Arkhípovich — Alekséj, son of Arkhípp
Svetlána Il'ínichna — Svetlána, daughter of Il'já
Nána Tat'jánovna — Nána, daughter of Tat'jána (a matronymic as noted above)
Fudzíko Sidzúovna — Fujiko, daughter of Shizuo
Sirajúki Rokoróvna — Shirayuki, daughter of Rokorō
Hatsué Josiróvna — Hatsue, daughter of Yoshiro
Mijúki Shódzikiovna — Miyuki, daughter of Shōjiki
Ájumu Dzjódziovna — Ayumu, daughter of Jōji
Fejt Filíppovna — Faith, daughter of Phillip
Tát'jana Andrévna — Tát'jana, daughter of Andréj
Galína Nikoláevna — Galína, daughter of Nikoláj
Note that the patronymics for Kasuga Ayumu (Infinity) and Faith Lehane (Wildflower) are Fred's creation; the latter comes from the name of Eliza Dushku's father. The shipgirls' patronymics come from their final captains when they sank…or the first captain were they ultimately scrapped as in the case of Russia's first shipgirl soon to be introduced.
As an aside, the modified Scientific Romanized Russian "J" (written in Cyrillic as Й alone) that is used here indicates the palatial approximant /j/ sound like the first vowel in yesterday. It also appears as part of the digraphs "JA" (Я) and "JU" (Ю), plus is voiced but not written on occasion with the vowel "E" (Е) at the start of a syllable. The Romanized Russian "Y" (Ы) indicates the close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ after non-palatalised/hard consonants like the Southern American English lip.
Introducing the subgirls soon to appear here:
Yū Freida Steinhoff-shōsa DNTK (formerly Korvettenkapitän, KMDR) (Tennō Heika Gunkan Ro-500, later Nihon-koku Gunkan Yū [SK-500], formerly Kriegsmarineschiff U-511 [pennant U1111])
Gerrianne Emi Prüß-shōsa DNTK (formerly Korvettenkapitän, KMDR) (Tennō Heika Gunkan Ro-501, later Nihon-koku Gunkan Gozei [SK-501], formerly Kriegsmarineschiff U-1224 [pennant U1824])
Kobayashi Mitsuko-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan I-121, later Nihon-koku Gunkan Hitojii [SK-121])
Horie Yoshimi-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan Ro-62, later Nihon-koku Gunkan Shiroji [SK-662])
Yū will take after her Kantai Collection self. Emi will resemble the Azur Lane version of Annerose Schlitt [KMS U-1206, later DMS Laboe]. As I somewhat doubt that she'll be introduced in any game soon, Mitsuko will take after Kongō Mitsuko from A Certain Magical Index AKA Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku. Yoshimi herself will take after Sunahara Yoshimi from K-ON! Note that with German U-boats (pennant superior U for Unterseeboot ["undersea boat"] naturally) from World War Two, their pennant numbers are increased by 600 to allow the Great War U-boats and any interwar German-designed craft for other nations to be fitted into the overall list. In the universe of this story, all World War Two U-boats received the same ship prefix as their surface fleet counterparts, Kriegsmarineschiff ("War Navy Ship", short-formed KMS); in post-war service, such would switch to Deutsches Marineschiff ("German Navy Ship", short-formed DMS). The honorary ranks German subgirls would get is Korvettenkapitän (KKpt), equal to a Royal Canadian Navy/United States Navy lieutenant commander. Their home service is the Kriegsmarine des Deutsches Reich ("War Navy of the German Realm"), short-formed KMDR. Finally, all German subgirls remaining in the service of their homeland would receive ship names like their Japanese counterparts, mostly taken from either a nearby gemeinde ("municipality", local equivalent to a Canadian/American township) or a city's bezirk ("borough") or orsteil ("district", equal to neighbourhoods) where one's first captain (if scrapped)/final captain (if sunk) was born.
To explain the goroawase applied to each of the above:
Yū — Phonetic way of saying the letter "U" in U-boat as she was the first Kriegsmarine U-boat adopted by Japan; the kanji of her given name (優) means "a person with lithe movements"
Gozei — Could be read as "small extravagance" (小贅); as she barely served in the Imperial Navy, she would be more like a German U-boat maiden than a Japanese subgirl
Hitojii — Combining "hito" (人) from "1" with "jii" (爺) from "21", meaning "grandfather person"; the second part could also be read 自慰, which means "consolation"…or, given the "lewdmarine" concept for Japanese subgirls in KanColle, "masturbation"
Shiroji — Combining "shiro" (白) from "46" with "ji" (地) from "2", with the number "4" prefixing to mark that THG Ro-62 was an L4-class submarine; the combined term means "white cloth" or "pure cloth"
Admiral (and later Minister) Francis William Harlan, RCN(M), the man who led the drive to create the "Ryūseizen" (in Japanese eyes), is first introduced in Magic and Canada.
And yes, the FPSYS Kosmonávt Alekséj Arkhípovich Leónov is a ten-to-one replica of the same-named ship from the movie 2010: The Year We Made Contact, first released in 1984.
And finally, the shipboard watch system referred to by the shipgirls in the last part:
First watch — 2000-0000 hours (8:00 PM-12:00 midnight)
Middle watch — 0000-0400 hours (12:00 midnight-4:00 AM)
Morning watch — 0400-0800 hours (4:00 AM-8:00 AM)
Forenoon watch — 0800-1200 hours (8:00 AM-12:00 noon)
Afternoon watch — 1200-1600 hours (12:00 noon-4:00 PM)
First dog watch — 1600-1800 hours (4:00 PM-6:00 PM)
Second dog watch — 1800-2000 hours (6:00 PM-8:00 PM)
The dog watch period is split in two to allow an odd number of watch periods per day, promoting greater crew efficiency by allowing people to enjoy meals and sleep off-watch at different times of the day.