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Between Vale and Mountain Glenn, southeast of the junction between the Central Highway and the East Vale Road, Gayangkie 54 Treichleam, fifteen minutes before mid-evening…
"He honours her."
Hearing that from the scout that had been sent through the thick forest to the rest stop close to the junction between the main road leading into Vale and the Central Highway connecting both ends of Sanus, Fives blinked. "How so, Snoops?"
The scout smiled as she pulled out her scroll to show to the team leader, tapping the control to play a video…
"Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up.
"Keep your grip tight.
"Don't forget to keep your front foot forward.
"Ready? Go!"
Watching the former leader of Team JNPR perform the battle drill recorded on his own scroll with his shield and sword, Fives blinked, her evergreen eyes — the one thing all those created in Project: Murmidṓn shared with the one who got to live her own life as a warrior and huntress — tearing. "It's true, then," she whispered in a voice that wasn't too different from the one she and her sister designer clone warriors knew of simply as "Threes". Her identity as "Pyrrha Nikos" had been constructed by the people who saw them gestated and born, having been thoroughly developed to ensure the monsters controlling Mistral itself — to say anything of the filthy TRAITOR TO ALL LIFE running the Haven Academy at this time! — would never suspect that their precious star huntswoman was meant to help destroy them in a war of liberation for the Koinòn tõn Hellḗnōn whose traditional rights were crushed by the new Kingdom of Mistral in the wake of the Great War. "The Scion of Arc loves her."
"We must offer ourselves to the Scion of Arc," the team medic — naturally called "Doc" — advised. "He is a handsome one."
"Agreed," Sparks breathed out. "Given his alliance with the Silver Eyes…"
"Do you think the Silver Eyes desires the Scion, Snoops?" Shadow wondered.
A shake of the head responded from the team scout. "No, the Silver Eyes mourns the gynoid from Atlas that Threes accidentally destroyed in the Vytal Festival, Shadow," she declared. "Fortunately, the Master of Plants advised her before she left that the Daughter of Polendina could be rebuilt and restored." An amused smile then crossed her face. "Also…"
Fives grimaced. "The Wise Lone Sage…"
All the others nodded in understanding. Project: Murmidṓn was launched with the support of a small cabal of Remnantian-born Shōzoki to ensure that the clone warriors were as rounded out emotionally and socially as possible. Given the presence of the race of humanoid AIs on the planet, it was simply being prudent. A wonderful bonus that came with the incredible education the descendants of Shōzoran delivered to the legion of five thousand women warriors who would free the small nations of Remnant from the Domination of the Four was an understanding of the sentient species on habitable planets within a three-thousand light-year radius of the third world of Oum. Among those worlds was poor Shōzoran itself — now under the tyrannical domination of an all-powerful entity named "Mother" who wished to impose a cold, logical order to all of existence — as well as the ancestral homeworld of all modern Remnantians, the third world of Sol known commonly to its inhabitants as "Terra" or "Earth".
And the World of the Great Forge of the First Race that seeded life across their home multiverse.
Such now forming the core of the third world of Kaeyu, known locally as "Yiziba".
Hearing of the metahumans — in many ways, as powerful if not more so than fictional comic book superheroes — from there…!
Then again, it made a load of sense to any native of the Hellḗnōn once they considered that.
After all, wasn't the God Slayer — the "One Above the Gods" to Faunus and Atlesians alike — himself from Yiziba…?
"Fives!"
Hearing Snoops call out, Fives looked up…
…then gasped on seeing a woman FLOATING IN MID-AIR gazing their way from about two hundred metres away.
Snapping up her macrobinoculars, the team leader quickly focused on such an entity…
…then she grimaced. "One of the new ones who came last night to destroy the Forever Fall Forest. The Wind Maker."
A gulp escaped Doc. "Do you see the Sun Eyes?"
"I don't…er…?"
Fives blinked on seeing the pink-haired woman her physical age point to her left.
Towards the crossroads where Team RNJR were spending the night, she instantly knew.
Said person then held up a finger from her other hand, wagging it in a "no-no" gesture.
The team leader gulped as the message sank in. Do not contact the Silver Eyes and the Scion of Arc…!
A rumble then made the group all gasp…
…before the unmistakable roar of a VERY angry goliath bursting out from the trees to their east, easily leaping over them as it charged towards the woman in the sky as several others of the same type of Grimm charged past their position…
Over the Central Highway, that moment…
"Oh, fudge!"
Even if she now had her other-self's knowledge of fighting as a human being, the Tsunami Wind wasn't used to being human, having spent twelve years as an active warship and sixty-eight years as a broken wreck in the North Pacific Ocean.
She should have suspected something like THIS was coming…!
"Otsune's got it, Namiko-chan!"
Ashikaga Namiko yelped as her older sister Otsune charged past her, energy billowing around both hands…
…then the Childish Sunrise literally created two giant ENERGY CLAWS shaped like those used by the average Earth crab, she then sending the right hand one at the charging elephantine-like beast's neck behind the ears.
Namiko yelped as Otsune's attack literally sheared off the goliath's head in one vicious blow, sending the pieces of the creature stumbling onto the exposed soil around the Central Highway as it started to disintegrate. "Hold the others fast, Namiko!" her youngest sister Shiori then barked, making the adopted native of Maizuru reach out mentally to the huge herd of Grimm heading their way from the direction of the long-abandoned satellite town of Vale located on the slopes of the Sanus Range.
The other goliaths — the Twister of the Oceans who was the flagship of Destroyer Division Seven in her life as a warship was quick to count a DOZEN of the damned kaibōkan-sized things — all bellowed with both anger and helplessness as Namiko's telekinetically-focused winds scooped them off the ground and vaulted them into mid-air, which was enough for the Orchid Nova to dive in, her eyes glowing ominously. "BURN, YOU SHITTY AKUMA!" Ashikaga Akemi screamed.
A blazing bolt of pure starlight punched through one goliath's armoured forehead to gut it from skull to hindquarters, killing it with one blow. As Namiko altered the winds to allow the disintegrating corpse to tumble towards the ground, slight waves of fast-moving air passing below the floating shipgirl's feet heralded the arrival of then-invisible elements of their deployed force to this world. "YOU AIN'T SINKING THESE THINGS ALONE, BONO-CHAN!" a certain subgirl bellowed out…
…just as Narahara Shōko then appeared under another goliath, she then ascending into an intercepting climb.
As the destroyer shipgirls watched, the Sexy Sniper let go with an energy force volley from her hands, feeling no different than the day in 1942 where she had fired torpedoes to sink an aircraft carrier, damage a battleship and fatally damage a destroyer in the best war shot made by a Japanese submarine in the Greater East Asia War. Sure enough, her attack punched through the bloated stomach of her target, venting its insides — including some partially digested corpses — to the air, that making the adopted Kōbe-jin yelp as she got showered by desiccated flesh and other less noble remains. "GAH!" she bellowed in disgust.
"I got you, Shōko-chan!" Shiori called out, she then waving her hand…
…as a telekinetic wave of the hand caused a waterspout from a nearby river to surge up and flow right at Shōko, giving her a very fresh, cold shower. "Ah! Dōmo, Ushi Oppai!" the reborn submarine breathed out…
…before she awked as Akemi appeared right in her face, she then snaring Shōko's neck with a vicious scowl. "Who the holy fuck are you calling 'cow tits', you shitty lewdmarine?!" the adopted Ōsaka-jin threateningly snarled.
"AKEMI! NOT NOW!" Shiori shrieked. "SAVE IT 'TILL LATER!"
Akemi awked at her sister's shout before she let the subgirl go, she then giving Shōko a threatening finger before flying off to the east while raking another goliath with her eye beams as she soared over to the position that platoon's worth of strange warriors camped out in a clearing off one of the abandoned trails connecting the Central Highway to Mountain Glenn now held.
Shōko shook her head. "Stupid tsundere can't take a damn joke…!"
Approaching the battle scene from the west, some minutes later…
"Lucky thing that Isaac prepared for something like this, eh, Ozpin?!"
"Indeed so, James!" Shannon Ozpin said as Jacob Taylor — an android modelled after a Mass Effect character who normally served as part of the sensory staff aboard the Normandy — piloted a well-armoured open-air landing skiff towards the scene; such had been teleported off the starship's main hangar deck with the headmaster of Beacon, his chief teacher, the general in charge of Atlas' military, three members of Team RWBY, the would-be lover of two of those huntresses, two gynoid huntresses, plus the Warper of Metal; the Wise Lone Sage and the Mind-Moulder of Armour would come as soon as the latter was able to ready one of her combat suits. "Are you confident in your abilities now that you can engage in a fight scene like this, Pyrrha?!"
"With THOSE things running around, Professor?!" Pyrrha Nikos demanded as she flexed her fingers. "With Jaune and the others now resting after a day's travel?! There's no choice in the matter! This is my fight scene!"
"And ours as well, Pyrrha!" Blake Belladonna snarled as she prepared the new Gambol Shroud. As both Ciel Soleil and Mariya Ise loaded Shōzoki-style corrosion grenades into flip-open twin-barrel launchers modelled after a variation of the American M79 40-millimetre design, she squeezed Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's shoulder in support. "Any idea who those girls are, anyone?!"
Glynda Goodwitch was using a pair of macrobinoculars to scan the group, who were preparing weapons of multiple types just in case they had to join this engagement. "They're dressed as rebel fighters from the Hellḗnōn League, Blake." On hearing Pyrrha gasp — she was originally from Ēlis, a farming commune in the territory once claimed by the various city-states of said league — she then lowered the binoculars before staring at Ozpin. "Do we treat them as allies or potential opponents?"
"Allies, Glynda," Ozpin ordered before he hummed. "Pyrrha?"
"Yes, Professor?"
"Since you're from the area these ladies no doubt hail from, can you use your magnetic powers to fly over there and make our intentions known?" the silver-haired headmaster and reborn would-be god asked. "Take Mariya with you for protection."
Both Pyrrha and Mariya immediately nodded, then the former reached around the latter's abdomen, letting her mind reach into the various magnetic fields flowing through the local biosphere to vault them into the sky as they moved to soar around the battle scene to the north and drop down well clear of any of the surviving goliaths being burned apart by the shipgirls. "Tell me if my powers affect you, alright?!" the Mistralite advised the Shōzoki-descent Faunus camouflage scout as they flew off.
Ozpin watched them go, then blinked as James Ironwood tapped his shoulder. "«What's going on, Shannon?»" the latter asked in classic Sanusian, a lost language that the former had taught his friend for private communications.
"«Something I've suspected for quite a while now, James,»" the former responded as Goodwitch gazed their way; she also was fluent in that lost tongue. He then gave the greying cyborg warrior an amused smile. "«It should be alright.»"
"I hope you two realize that the omnilingual translation functions of our battlesuits let us understand what you're saying."
Both men awked in embarrassment as they gazed at an amused Monica Khan. "Yeah, I could understand that too, Professor!" Yáng protested. "What is it about those girls?! You think they might want to kidnap P-money?!"
An amused chuckle answered the heavy-hitter of Team RWBY. "No, Yáng, if they are what I suspect they are given some odd rumours I've heard about the League as of late, those ladies would welcome her among them like a long-lost sister."
The younger huntresses all blinked in confusion…
North of the crossroads at the first secure camp…
"Drugged…?"
The members of Team RWBY who were or soon to be Gifted weren't the only ones responding to this emergency.
Rising from checking out the loudly snoring Ruby Rose — she had examined Jaune Arc, Liè Ren and Nora Valkyrie before looking in on the woman who had been there when her beloved friend had died — Neopolitan then looked to the southeast, noting the distant flashes of energy explosions indicating that whatever had roused the goliaths known to frequent the area around Mountain Glenn, it was just as visible as the previous night's orgy of destruction in the Forever Fall Forest.
So, why wasn't she HEARING things…?!
The mercenary born Trivia Vanille then tensed on sensing someone lurking nearby, just beyond the outer safe zone of the camp site that had been erected here and maintained for years against the Grimm. Drawing two dirks, she moved to make herself invisible to whoever or WHATEVER she was now sensing close by before a moan from Ruby stopped her.
"…so sorry…wish I could…have saved him, Neo…"
Her heterochromatic eyes went wide on hearing that muttered confession from someone she had once deeply despised for having tripped up Roman Torchwick on several occasions in the last year or so, then they softened as her empathy reached out into the slumbering huntress' mind to detect the truth of those words. "Stupid kid…" she hissed.
«She does have a great capacity to care for things, doesn't she?»
Perking on hearing that powerful woman's voice echo in her mind — the accent was Terran Japanese, Tōkyō standard — Neo rose and quietly side-stepped away from the sleeping teenagers to get clear of the shelter before noting the brief flutter of a white cloak in the fading light within the treeline. Relaxing herself as she also took note of a decorative red Celtic cross on that white cloak — a symbol only used by ONE magically-inclined would-be multi-dimensional traveller that Neo had learned of over the last couple of days — the mercenary smirked as she slipped her dirks back into their holsters before calmly skipping over to join the person who clearly had used her magic to shield the noise of the fight to the south from innocent ears.
"Chikage," Neo challenged.
A hooded head looked up before an arm came up to pull said hood away from a striking teenage woman with royal blue/purple hair in a shaggy bun at the back of her head, eyes of the same deep purple shade Saeru Hinako possessed peeking out of a very mature face bearing the look of someone who knew WAY MORE SHIT than normal people could barely dream of. Knowing how much this woman, the only granddaughter of one of Japan's most powerful magical warriors who had cut his teeth in the Pacific side of the Wars of Liberation — after attending Hogwarts of all places pre-war! — clearly had to be aware of the whole situation here on Remnant, Neo found herself asking what the hell had brought the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos, Nosyo'or'bem ("Dragonheart"), to the third world of Oum tonight of all nights. Before she could voice such however, Hirosaki Chikage shifted her ankle-length cape away from her shoulders to expose that she was in her preferred civilian dress of a ladies' business suit with grey split-skirt past her knees, plus ruffled white shirt and red tie with Celtic cross on same. In her hand was…
Neo chuckled. "I take it this 'Force' thing you found out about on your last summer vacation made you come here."
The native of the magical side of Tōkyō chuckled as she turned to head towards a nearby dirt path, with Neo falling in behind her. "Much more than that, I'm afraid," Chikage calmly stated as she reached over to separate both ends of her dual-blade sabrestaff into individual emitters. "Unfortunately, with the shipgirl 'genie' now loose, the more 'normal' metahumans such as myself — and you while you're a guest of the Amon-ichizoku while you're in Hokkaidō, sadly — will have to be on the watchout for more of those poor kami as they are Gifted, then strive to seek out a potential 'admiral' to serve as they had once as warships."
Neo blinked; she was quick see that this trail was leading directly towards whatever was now attracting the attention of Pyrrha Nikos and one of those local-born titemyu that Blake Belladonna had encountered earlier in the evening. It would be quite a walk, but for a well-trained mercenary like her augmented with the memories of an empathic assassin and the many incarnations that rose in her wake from the Dawn of Power — to say anything of a multi-discipline magical with the equivalent experience of DOZENS of incarnations since that same dark time — such a distance would be child's play to traverse. "How many are here?"
Chikage pulled out her PAA to tap the control. "Atop those Hinako personally went to see 'salvaged' since her encounter with Fujiko last month in the Solomons — to say anything of Yoiko, not to mention Naomi — we now have at least a dozen subgirls active now both here on Remnant and back on Earth as well. Given what Elizabeth Wakefield and Tánja Chapáeva will see reborn in the next couple of days, that number will climb to well past two hundred before Monday morning back home." She gazed knowingly at the shorter woman. "Given what you spoke to Negako and your host about that before coming home…"
The Valean mercenary winced. "The alien umale in this Tomobiki place, right?"
"And with Ane-kun — now Ani-kun, sadly — in the middle of it all."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"'Sister Dearest'…?!" Neo wondered as her battlesuit's translation functions rendered the arch-mage sorceress' words, then her eyes went wide. "Wait! You mean Tariko Katabarbe?! She's your SISTER?!"
"Half-sister to be exact; we have the same father, but different mothers," Chikage calmly answered before she tensed as her own magical senses picked up on stirring Grimm who were reacting to the now-audible shrieks of dying goliaths not so far away. Securing one half of her sabrestaff on the belt under the tails of her jacket, she ignited the other end, allowing a deep reddish blade to emerge, such with a core of pure black indicating that a high amount of ebony mesonium was infused into the crystal powering the thing to let it cut through almost anything. "No doubt arranged by our late grandmother Nagaiwakai to ensure there was not only a rightful person to become Matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan but have necessary spares in case of accidents."
Neo drew out a pair of dirks, sensing that her current companion was readying for battle. "She's trapped in Tomobiki, right?!"
"Brainwashed into forgetting her life on Yiziba AND forcibly reverted back to birth form as Moroboshi Ataru, not to mention having the subconscious links to allow her Gifting to happen be suppressed," Chikage asserted just as the snarls of beowolves echoed from their left. "Done exactly one month before the Urusians launched their 'invasion' with a tag race challenge. While Ane-kun — as Ani-kun, of course — was able to barely win same at the end of that farce, there's a complication."
As two of the beasts lunged out of the trees at the two foolish humans walking through their domain, Neo twirled around to easily behead one with a dirk while Chikage plunged her sabre through the armoured skull of another. "What complication?!"
"He's 'married' to the Urusian champion, Redet Lum," the other woman answered as she sensed another beowolf howl, she then reaching out telekinetically to yank the thing within range before she ripped open its stomach with her blade. "I doubt it's a proper marriage by Urusian traditions since the only time then-Ani-kun tagged her horns was in a Tag Race, but she seems quite serious enough about it to do everything in her power to keep 'him' within her grasp. Understandable, really…"
"Why do you say that?!" Neo asked as she used two dirks to easily behead a pair of creeps, no doubt having emerged from the nearby subway system that connected Mountain Glenn with Vale City itself.
"She's the hereditary heiress to the Throne of the Maidens and would-be empress of Uru," Chikage explained as she did another telekinetic yank a nightmare itself from a nearby tall tree, using her free hand to send her variant of Force lightning into it to stun the creature before flinging her sabre right into its core to kill it. "The ultra-conservatives on Uru would like to see her enthroned as such, though they'd turn her into a breeding mare to have a proper 'emperor' in place for them to manipulate. 'Marrying' Ani-kun puts the kibosh on that even if the Dragoness' shielding spells will fortunately prevent a pregnancy. Atop that, there are the Niphentaxians as well. Your immediate past-self had an encounter with one before his death scene, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did!" the Remnantian said as she spun, twirled and lunged in between two more beowolves to pierce them through their necks and sever their heads. "Didn't they have one of their stupid 'great awakenings' not so long ago?"
"They did," Chikage said as she telekinetically summoned her sabre back, then spun around to behead a minor ursa with one blow. "And poor Lum wound up being their new 'divinity' to boot!" As Neo laughed while skip-twirling over another beowolf to stab it through the back behind the head, two more minor ursas were deluged with Force lightning. "Since her family is friends with Hunter Commander Nassur — you know him, don't you? — they were targeted by the Mikado for assassination." Sensing the Ballerina of the Final Darkness nod in confirmation, the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos then made a gesture with her free hand to cause the ground under a pack of imps that weren't merged with more animalistic "mounts" to surge up, then she drew her other blade to form her sabrestaff. "Lum's 'most faithful' retaliated with a biological warfare attack on Vos itself!" she disgustedly added as the twin blazing blades were sent twirling off to mow the imps down like a scythe would wheat.
"Shit!" Neo hissed, though she was quite impressed by the younger warrior's abilities with her energy blades. Wheeling about to nail an ursa major through the skull, she then did a cross-arm cut with both dirks to behead it. "Did they kill that fucker?!"
"Sadly, no! Five million innocent people were killed instead," Chikage declared before tensing…
…then she turned, using her blades to deflect some energy shots from clearly LIVING attackers emerging from nearby tree cover. "Ah, the White Fang remnants who fled Vale City, I believe," she calmly declared.
Noting that, Neo grinned savagely. "Shall we?"
Chikage's eyes turned an ominous golden-red shade. "Let's."
Closer to where the Project: Murmidṓn warriors were camped, approaching from the northwest…
Pyrrha Nikos perked on hearing the pained shrieks of human — or possibly Faunus — being put through a LOT of agonizing pain well to the north, then looked over as Mariya Ise pulled out some macrobinoculars to see herself. "Neopolitan is here," the gynoid declared. "Along with some woman in civilian clothing, though using the same energy sword type Isaac uses."
The Warper of Metal held out her hand, getting passed the binoculars so she could see herself. By now, all the goliaths had been butchered by the mixture of shipgirls and subgirls, though other flying Grimm were flocking this way; as to HOW they were being attracted to this scene from such a distance, the Mistralite warrior couldn't start to guess. "That's Hirosaki Chikage," she declared. "She's the current incarnation of Nosyo'or'bem; 'Dragonheart' is how it would be said here."
"Neutral mistress of what Yizibajohei call the 'pure chaos'; 'magic' to the uninitiated," the Shōzoki-descent Menagerian added. "Would the Bright Light of Innocence know of her, Pyrrha? Given she appears to be of the same culture…"
"Let's ask! HINAKO!"
A flash of PAA teleportation energy before a wave of pure calm surged through both Remnantians; even if she was a gynoid, the mesonium in Mariya's construction resonated well with Saeru Hinako's cosmic empathy. "Hai, what is it, Pyrrha-san?!"
"Countryman of yours with Neopolitan now having it out with some White Fang fighters," Pyrrha explained, handing the binoculars back to her companion before indicating where she had seen the Valean mercenary and her new friend.
The Spirit of Innocence looked herself as her powers reached out, then she blinked. "A-ri-ri?! What's Chikage-chan doing here?!" she demanded as she put a fist to her hip; naturally, she was floating in mid-air thanks to Kasa-tama. Humming as she considered that, the Niigata-jin moaned. "Ah, Chikage-chan's on Easter vacation from Hogwarts! She must be bored for some reason! Or Luna-chan probably had some vision about something here on Remnant that made Chikage-chan come here."
"Who's Luna?" Pyrrha asked…
…before all three jolted as a screech from up and far to the east made their heads snap over…
…then they gaped as a volley of man-portable missile launchers barked, sending a volley of anti-fortification — and naturally, since this WAS Remnant, anti-Grimm as well — rockets soaring right at a wyvern like the one who had been used in the attack on Beacon. Said projectiles slammed into the dragon-like being, making it screech in agony as a burning greyish-like cloud burst from the impact points, that making Mariya gape in surprise. "Corrosion warheads?!" she exclaimed.
Pyrrha gazed on the gynoid. "Those girls down there are supported by people like you?!" she demanded.
"I'm not definitely sure, but given what Master Ozpin clearly believes, such might be possible, Pyrrha."
Hinako hummed as she absently watched the howling wyvern collapse on itself — despite its lack of spiritual soul, it was still composed of physical matter, which the deadly Shōzoki-designed weapon could affect with appalling ease; even the average Yizibajohei metahuman could be wounded or killed by same as had been proven in seasons and sagas past — as it tumbled towards the ground. Her empathy was focused much closer to the ground, towards the two dozen young women — all of whom seemed to be Pyrrha's age — who had fired on and destroyed the creature before it got close to harm someone. "They all seem to really, really, really like you, Pyrrha-san! And they really, really, really like Jaune-san and Ruby-chan, too!"
The electro-magnetic manipulator perked before she looked down. "Why are they here, then?"
A shrug answered her from the cosmic empath. "Hina will ask them!"
With that, she dropped towards the position Pyrrha's fellow Mistralies now held. Pyrrha and Mariya blinked before shrugging themselves, then they moved to follow the Living Spirit of Innocence down…
With the Project: Murmidṓn warriors…
"Those STUPID fools…!" Fives snarled as she reloaded her missile launcher.
"You think they roused all the altered Grimm in Mountain Glenn to keep themselves safe from hunters, Boss?!" Doc asked.
The leader of the team spat out as she moved to scan the eastern sky for any more giant Grimm that could keep them up all night, much less attack the Silver Eyes and the Scion of Arc while they were resting from their long travels. "Without a doubt, especially if Taurus was leading them to help that monster Fall and her friends in the Beacon attack…!"
She then blinked as a wave of pure CALM surged through her, that making the others also relax. Sensing something come down to the ground behind her, the leader of the Murmidṓn warriors in Vale slowly turned around…
"Konnichi wa!"
…then gaped on seeing one of THE most powerful — and THE MOST RESPECTED, of course! — of the Children of the Forge standing there, she calmly folding her umbrella up before gazing upon them. "Lady Lomroer'bem…!" Fives hissed.
"THREES?!"
Hearing Snoops yelp that, the leader gazed on her communications expert, then spun around and looked to the sky. "No…!"
"Hai, hai, it's just Pyrrha-san, minna-san!" Saeru Hinako calmly asserted as Pyrrha Nikos landed with a strange chameleon-like Faunus woman possessing a very advanced twin-barrel weapon. "Are you Pyrrha-san's friends?!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Wait…I don't know you…but…why do I recognize you…?!"
That was the Warper of Metal, who had got a good look at the leader of this team of obvious rebel warriors for the Hellḗnōn League, a force that she privately supported even if she thought it was a little imprudent to launch an all-out rebellion against the Kingdom of Mistral with the overwhelming threat of the Grimm always in the background. Said woman had Pyrrha's lovely evergreen eyes — there was enough visible light for her to see that shade — and general body-build even if her hair was an onyx black shade, worn wavy in a simple ponytail sticking out the back of her protective combat hood; the just-Gifted huntress was quick to sense the defensive electronics in said hood, no doubt meant to shield her thoughts and emotions from the Grimm. Before she could say anything more, another woman — same eye shade, though with dark reddish hair cropped short — with the equipment of a field team medic approached. "Relax, Threes. You were made to forget things before coming here…!"
"EH?!" Hinako shrieked, making everyone yelp as they gazed at her. As the burst of outrage from the cosmic empath surged through the forest to make minor Grimm shriek with pain as they moved to flee from WHATEVER THAT WAS which hurt them even worse than any human or Faunus weapon ever could, the Niigata-jin put her fists to her hips in a show of clear childish outrage. "You silly people went and took Pyrrha-san's MEMORIES away?! Why'd you do that for, Sensei?!"
"It was to protect her!" another warrior — again, same eye shade, though with wavy brown hair — said as she tried to wave the angry empath off. "She would have been targeted by that monster Lionheart for extermination just like he's done to dozens of hunters and huntresses attending Haven Academy! If he found out about Threes' affiliation with us, he'd sell it off to the Queen of Darkness in an instant! We'd have faced TOTAL WAR against Salem's forces before we could be ready!"
"Wait! What are you saying?!" Pyrrha cut in, her face turning pale and sallow as these strangers — Were they strangers?! — spoke stuff she hardly could understand. "Headmaster Lionheart's affiliated with Cinder Fall's LEADER?!"
"Yes!" Fives snarled. "He's killed DOZENS of innocent people from all over Mistral to make the kingdom weak for when Salem decides to wipe everyone out there in her quest to seek the Brothers' return to destroy all of Remnant! Even if that monster doesn't know that the God Killer forever removed the Two Brothers from existence itself…!"
A flash of energy made people spin around…
"Guys! Guys! Don't call me that! That's so damned BLEAH!"
…then the warriors of the Hellḗnōn League all collapsed to their knees, their eyes wide with reverence on seeing the Goddess Who Walks Among Men herself now standing once more on the third world of Oum. Before someone, anyone, could say a thing to this incredible being, Hinako moaned. "Hina thinks that Isaac-san's coming here to Remnant's going to give Hina and Ayumu-chan and everyone else from Yiziba lots and lots and LOTS of headaches before that silly death cheater's gone!"
"Yeah, you can say that again, Hinako-chan!" Kasuga Ayumu moaned before she blinked…
…then her own Sight kicked in as she scanned the Hellḗnōn warrior women before her before gazing intently at Pyrrha, who perked on sensing that powerful stare, then gazed a question at the Wakayama-jin. A look back to Fives and her team, then another look to the four-time Mistralite hunter champion before Ayumu moaned, snapping her fingers.
A flash of energy made a clear container holding a barely-recognizable human corpse — such bearing the gold-and-red armour the heavy hitter of Team JNPR normally wore — floating near the embankment of soil that the Hellḗnōn warriors had dug up when they made their field encampment. Seeing that, Hinako scowled. "Eew! Ayumu-chan! What are you doing…?!"
The shrine ujiko's daughter held up her hand to silence the Spirit of Innocence before she Looked directly at Pyrrha's old body, then scanned the group of warrior women nearby. Ayumu then blinked as things sank in, then she smiled with delight as she gently lowered the container holding said corpse down. "Hey, wow! These are all your sisters, Pyrrha-chan!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"My…?!"
Pyrrha then moaned as she collapsed to the ground in a dead faint. As her countrywomen all shrieked at the sight of the one who got the chance to live her own life dropping like that — with Doc moving to tend to her immediately — Hinako shook her head as she exchanged stares with Mariya, then Ayumu. "Hina thinks we need a really, really, REALLY BIG reveal scene here!"
"That, Hinako-chan, sounds like a wonderful idea!"
People turned as the Wise Lone Sage came up to join them, accompanied by Shannon Ozpin, James Ironwood and Glynda Goodwitch, they escorted by a confused Yáng Xiǎo Lóng and Weiss Schnee…
Aboard the FPSYS Normandy in reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of Vale City, an hour before midnight (Tōkyō time: Thursday 5 April, an hour before lunch)…
"Team ABRN are here to see everyone, Isaac."
"Thank you, Mimir! C'mon in, everyone!"
The door to the main cafeteria opened to reveal four wide-eyed teen huntsmen who had helped represent Haven Academy at the Vytal Festival days before, then comported themselves insanely well in the battle for Beacon Academy; between Arslan Altan, Bolin Hori, Reese Chloris and Nadir Shiko, they accounted for a large host of Grimm — including a large nevermore as well as a death stalker — while they helped protect people in the eastern residential districts of Vale City from the rampage. On entering this space, all four stopped, their jaws dropping in shock on seeing the effective host of said festival this year alive and well, seated beside everyone's ultimate host along with the leader of Atlas' military forces as well as Beacon's senior combat teacher. There were several other people present, most dressed in the same sort of form-fitting jumpsuit Isaac Thomas currently had, including a very young and SERIOUSLY cute girl in pure white with a red heart seated to Glynda Goodwitch's left, plus a slightly older and just as cute girl in a golden jumpsuit with lightning bolts on her chest to James Ironwood's right.
"What's…going on here, Professor?" the blonde, olive-eyed, dark-skinned dart/dagger chain whip user demanded. "I mean, I'm glad to see you're alive and well after hearing from others that Cinder went after you as much as she did Pyrrha, but…!"
Shannon Ozpin raised a hand to cut the younger woman off. "Please, Arslan, don't think you or yours are in trouble," he calmly declared as Isaac waved them to seat in the empty chairs at the table. "After what you people did on Gaysaw evening, you have nothing to fear from anyone at this table. I think you can guess who Isaac, Chiyo and Hinako are affiliated to."
As they took their seats, Arslan — the biography that Beacon Academy got from Haven Academy declared her as a native of Kallípolis in one of the islands off the southern coast of Anima at the edge of the territory once claimed by the Hellḗnōn League — blinked before she tensed as Nadir reached over to squeeze her shoulder in reassurance. "They know, Arslan," the pink-haired weapons user said before gazing directly at the Wise Lone Sage. "If the professor's alive, is Pyrrha alive as well?"
Isaac nodded. "She is. Thanks to the current incarnation of Infinity — which, most likely given all four of you hail from towns in the League's traditional territory, means you also know of Remnant's small population of Shōzoki as well — she was made to 'die', but was reborn as a battle doll in the Doll House, then was Gifted a couple days ago. This was to fool Salem and especially Cinder Fall as to what happened to her." He sat back in his chair. "We just had a run in with a group of women who all share Pyrrha's eye colour…and, thanks to Infinity's cosmic sight abilities, were verified to be effective designer clones — or biological androids, 'bioroids' if you will — who were gifted with considerable semblance and aura abilities. No doubt to help in the overthrow of Mistral's control over the League and other former city-states, not to mention deal with Salem's agents there."
"Like Leonardo Lionheart," Ironwood nearly growled out.
The newcomers then visibly relaxed. "Neither Reese nor I are Murmidṓn, General. We did receive genetic enhancements by the project that created Pyrrha and her sisters, but that was to protect us from your 'friend'; it was quite easy for our Shōzoki allies to discover his links to your ex-wife, Professor," Arslan said as she gazed on the Atlesian warrior, then the current incarnation of the Undying Warrior Sage. "All of us who attend Haven these days from the League undergo these enhancements, then move to get out of that damned place as soon as practicable to prevent fatal 'accidents' from happening to us. While the blockheads on the Mistral Council haven't really clued into things, we know Lionheart's not an idiot even if he sold humanity out like he did. Atop that, people running the project had their suspicions about Fall for a while now. Nothing got confirmed…"
"Until Gaysaw evening," Bolin cut in. "What happened to Pyrrha, Professor? I know she had her memories blanked out…"
"That was a silly thing to do!"
Ozpin gazed in amusement at the Living Spirit of Innocence, who had crossed her arms. "Please calm down, Hinako. In a way, I can understand why the leaders of the League would want to keep their plans and their connections to our home-born Shōzoki a secret. Given their own technological contributions to the four kingdoms now that I've had a chance to reflect on things…" — Here, he gave Ironwood an amused look, getting a wry shrug in return — "…it clearly adds to the overall arsenal we're gaining to finally overwhelm Salem and her allies. Believe me, once this is all over with — and I can actually now foresee an end to this whole damned, Fate-cursed situation between my former wife and all of humanity here on Remnant — I think the future will be bright for those small nations and city states who wish to reassert as much self-rule over their affairs as possible."
"Pyrrha-san was overwhelmed when she met with the group that were based near the crossroads close to Mountain Glenn, minna-san," Mihama Chiyo spoke up, making everyone gaze at her. "Ōsaka-san — she's the current Infinity — sensed something off about Pyrrha-san's sister, then used her Sight to scan the remains of her old body before comparing it to the women of that group. It was quite easy to tell that a lot of the same DNA stock was used in their creation." Here, the Bright Genius of the Young Guns sighed. "Sadly, the 'rebirth' through the Doll House didn't break the block on Pyrrha-san's memories, so a friend of mine had to be called in from Earth to help her recover them. Pyrrha-san's in Sick Bay right now if you want to see her."
The Mistralites smiled at that offer. "No, it's better if Pyrrha wakes up among familiar people. You're Chiyo, right? The girl that brought those extra mist dandelions here from Yiziba to spread over town?" Reese wondered.
"Hai, Reese-san, I am! I saw recordings of your team's bouts at the Festival. You did pretty good!"
They blushed at that compliment. "Not as good as we could against Team RWBY, Chiyo!" Arslan protested.
"Speaking of which, what's going on with them?" Bolin asked. "Before Ms. Shepherd had us come here — and Isaac: You have got a SERIOUSLY cool starship, by the way! — we heard that Ruby went off with the rest of Pyrrha's team to Haven."
"A necessary distraction given what Salem's potential goals on Gaysaw evening were, Bolin," Ozpin answered. "I believe that you know now about Ruby's Silver Eyes capability?" As the members of Team ABRN nodded in understanding, he added, "Much that I'm sure you'll question this, we're using Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren as a sort of distraction to make Salem concentrate more on them than focusing back on Vale while things are rebuilt here." As the four Mistralites gasped on hearing something crazy like that, the headmaster of Beacon held up a hand. "Be assured, they'll be protected all the way there."
The visitors considered that before gazing on Isaac. "Some of your people?" Arslan asked.
"You might say that Arslan," the New Yorker responded…
…before the cafeteria door opened to reveal a smiling Fukushima Fujiko. "And here's one of them right now," he added as the young hunters turned to gaze on the Blizzard of Death. "Fujiko-chan, what's the situation by Mountain Glenn?"
The first modern destroyer reborn as Earth's first shipgirl bowed her head. "Good news all around, Isaac-san. Chikage-san's magic shielding is keeping any stray Grimm from getting close to Ruby-san and her friends. Right now, two of the subgirls are keeping hidden watch over them: Hashimoto Momoko-san and Inaba Mira-san, Gōya and Miimu respectively."
"I-58 and I-36," Isaac noted, mentally calling up the two reborn warship spirits' statistics via his goggles' HUD screens. "Both sunk in Operation: Road's End not far from the Gotō Islands post-war. How do they feel to you, Fujiko-chan?"
The adopted native of Maizuru blushed. "Well, I never really dealt with submarines when I was a warship before or during the war, so I really couldn't judge them," she confessed, that statement making Arslan and her friends gape in shock. "Fortunately, Hiromi-sempai was made the flagship for all the subgirls who've come back — there are even more of them who seem to be awakening all around the Home Islands even if Yoiko-sempai's transmitting out to make them wait for tonight back home to be Gifted — and she says that both Momoko-san and Mira-san are okay with the mission to watch over Ruby-san and her friends. They'll finish the first watch and do the whole middle watch before they're relieved, then come back to town to rest up."
"Wait! What the heck are you, anyway?!" Arslan demanded.
Fujiko smiled as she stood to attention to salute them. "I am the living divine spirit — 'kami' in my terms — of the Fubuki, the first ship of the Special Type destroyers, an escort type of warship, built for my home nation of Japan on Earth, Arslan-san. Since you and your team are aware of Pyrrha-san's origins and those of her friends from your home city-states thanks to your Shōzoki friends — which, by extension, allowed you learn of Yiziba and the Great Show of Life — you should logically be aware of the Healer of Destruction, right?" Noting the wary looks crossing the Mistralites' faces on hearing THAT particular "tag line" sobriquet applied to Yiziba's first metahuman, the adopted Maizuru-jin waved them down in reassurance. "Well, the second incarnation of the Healer created an army of synthezoid warriors to defend Yiziba and the Great Crystal of Power from alien thieves Ozpin-kōchōsensei himself knows of, the Goa'uld. Somehow — we don't know how — my living kami, my soul if you will, was allowed to become human a month ago Earth-time when Hinako-chan here passed over my wreck site. It was then merged with one of those synthezoids, making me a 'metahuman' as we call such people on Earth. And I'm happy to be here and help you people in removing those horrible Grimm from this planet; you don't deserve to live under that type of threat."
"And as she said once she first came here, she'll always do her best," Isaac finished.
An embarrassed awk escaped the reborn destroyer. "Isaac-san!"
The members of Team ABRN took a moment to absorb that, then they shook their heads. "You're a sort of minor goddess made human?!" Reese demanded. "Yeah, I can feel your soul, alright; if you were one of us, you'd have a hell of a semblance!"
Fujiko hummed. "Well, mentally, I sort of 'came together' from the memories and dreams of all those who designed, built and crewed me from the day I was conceived to the day I was sunk," she explained. "You have Dust here on Remnant. We've got something quite similar on Earth; it's mesonium, the same material that can be found in Yiziba's core. Mesonium resonates with people's souls, even non-humanoid kami like I was before my Gifting. It…" Here, she shrugged again before waving once more to herself. "Well, I don't know WHY I was allowed to come back this way, but I'm here right now."
"Such people like Commander Fukushima here — she's the equal of a vice-colonel in Atlas — are called 'shipgirls' as a group," Ironwood added. "There's a special type of shipgirl born from a type of ship designed to operate and fight totally underwater called a 'submarine'; hence, the term 'subgirl' just mentioned now. They're as human as any of us…"
"…but many times more destructive if aroused," Goodwitch calmly added with an amused grin.
"Sensei!" Hinako scolded. "If…eh?!"
The Niigata-jin then paused as her eyes focused nowhere in particular. "What is it, Hinako-chan?!" Chiyo demanded.
The Spirit of Innocence was on her feet and running out. "It's Yáng-san, Chiyo-chan!"
The others watched her go, then rose to follow…
In the Normandy's sickbay…
"There you go, Yáng-san. You drink this and rest now, desu no?"
Smiling as she took up the cup of lemon tea from the Great Chef of the West, the blonde heavy-hitter of Team RWBY gently sipped from same. "Is this going to put me to sleep right away, Shirayuki?"
"Iie desu no!" Osamu Shirayuki asserted before she exchanged a knowing look with Hirosaki Chikage. "Chikage-chan here added a mixture of dreamless sleep potion to the tea mix. You'll fall asleep as normal, but when you do, no nightmares."
Hearing that, Yáng Xiǎo Lóng blinked before she smiled at the Nagoya-jin before sipping some more. "Could I have a serving of that as well, Shirayuki?" Blake Belladonna then wondered. "Given what happened on Gaysaw…"
Shirayuki hummed as she walked around the diagnostic bed holding Yáng, hovering her hand over the feline Faunus shadow-manipulator's stomach. It glowed slightly as the younger woman closed her eyes, allowing her well-honed trofikinetic senses — which also allowed her to analyze various parts of a person's digestive system to allow her to better prepare the right food for someone — then she nodded. "Same serving as what Yáng-san got, Chikage-chan," she then instructed.
The Dark Heart of Pure Chaos gestured, telekinetically making the desired drink for the Menagerian ex-terrorist. Seeing that, the few members of Fives' group of Murmidṓn warriors in the general examination area — the leader of that group was with Pyrrha Nikos herself in an isolation room off to one side — gaped in wide-eyed awe at such a demonstration of power. Standing close to Normandy's gynoid senior medic Karin Chakwas, the group's medic blinked. "How can she sense that, Healer?"
The replicant double of a background character in the Mass Effect series smiled as she squeezed Doc's shoulder in reassurance. "Given her first-self's experience in dealing with starving people near the end of the Dawn of Power, he and those who followed him in inheriting that particular battle line worked hard over the years and centuries to learn everything about nutrition when it comes to humans…and by extension, humanoid-type species, Doc," the dark-haired woman answered. "She'd want to make very damn sure that Chikage's dreamless sleep potion has no adversarial effects on Blake's — or any other Faunus' — bodies before allowing them to have the same type of tea." As the medic from the Hellḗnōn League nodded in understanding, Karin then gazed on Monica Khan. "Are you interested in the same type of tea, Monica? You look like you need it as well."
The Healing Tigress smiled in appreciation as Chikage floated the tea over to the Night Moulder. Sipping her own tea, Yáng then gazed at the isolation room holding her reborn friend. "So, what's that girl doing to her, anyway?"
"Koyomi is Yiziba's top non-magical telepath, Yáng," the native of Tōkyō explained as Neopolitan moved to get some tea herself to enjoy before heading back to her family mansion for a needed night's rest before arranging for her late partner's funeral in the morning, then returning to Earth and training with the Amon Clan. "She has the power and the skill to break through any sort of conscious or subconscious blocks put on memories; even magical Fidelius charms that are meant to shield someone or something from any form of perception would be picked up by her senses once she gains the necessary focus to lock on target. Given that Pyrrha, from what I understand of her, had quite the life away from her Murmidṓn siblings, it'll be quite the emotional shock for her to have the memories of her creation and initial training suddenly brought back to conscious memory, especially in the wake of nearly dying, being reborn as a battle doll, then Gifting." She sipped her own tea. "Still, given your addressing her with the nickname 'Threes' — no doubt, that was her 'unit number' among the Murmidṓn as a whole — she'll need time to…"
"She's no fucking number!"
Eyes locked on Yáng. "No, she is not, Yáng," the arch-mage sorceress and would-be Sith mistress/dark Jedi calmly declared as the blonde energy manipulator tried to glare at her. "On Earth, there are representatives of a race of biological androids who were specifically moulded genetically to fit in seamlessly with the surrounding population. Not a single Avalonian — that's what they call themselves as a 'race' of their own — can be seen as merely a 'robot' clone by those of us in the know about them."
Shirayuki snorted. "Hime wishes that we'd all team together to get rid of those silly rimrae umale from Earth, then go free the other Avalonians from them," she said as she moved to prepare some danishes for people to enjoy.
"We'll do it, but there are complications in the way, Shirayuki."
People focused on Chikage, then Neo smirked. "Your sister being stuck in Tomobiki, you mean."
Eyes locked on the Valean mercenary, then Shirayuki gaped. "Wait! You found Nē-sama, Chikage-chan?!"
Silence fell as people looked at the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos, then the Great Chef of the West. "Oh, shit! You, too?!" Neo demanded as she put her fist to her hip before sipping her own tea. "How many sisters will Tariko get in the end?!"
Blake gaped as Monica blinked and Yáng gave them a questioning look. "You're Lady Tariko's sisters?!"
"Half-sisters, Blake…and before you ask, Hinako is one as well," the native of Tōkyō answered. "And yes, I found Ane-kun, Shirayuki. She's trapped in Tomobiki as Neo just revealed; it has all to do with the 'invasion' from Uru last fall."
The native Remnantians all found themselves gaping at how calm their new friends from Earth were about something like this. Before anyone could ask anything, the door to the isolation ward unsealed and opened, allowing a stunned Warper of Metal to be walked out to a diagnostic bed beside the one Yáng was sitting on by Fives as well as a beautiful, brown-haired Japanese girl in a black jumpsuit with a stylized white hourglass insignia over her cleavage. This marked her as the Mistress of the Mind-Dive, Tum Kamtimta ("Soul Searcher"), born Mizuhara Koyomi of Itabashi in Tōkyō proper, making her a classmate of Mihama Chiyo and Kasuga Ayumu…as well as the childhood best friend of one Takino Tomo. "H-hey, guys…!" Pyrrha grunted.
"Easy, Threes," Fives hissed as she helped her sister sit down.
"You okay there, P-money?" Yáng asked.
The native of Mistral blinked before she sighed. "Well, it's nice to know I have family still, Yáng," she admitted with a weak smile before she nodded as Shirayuki came over with tea. "Oh, thank you, Shirayuki!"
"Dreamless sleep?" Yomi wondered as she glanced at Chikage. Seeing the arch-mage nod, the powerful psychic then gazed on the heavy-hitter of Team RWBY. "Don't let that anger over what happened to Pyrrha cloud your judgement, Yáng. She needs friends now since the damned plot script demands she's got to stay separated from her boyfriend."
Here, she smirked as Pyrrha awked on hearing that about Jaune Arc. "Oh, don't worry about that, Yomi!" Yáng said before sipping her tea. "Far as I'm concerned, P-money and her sisters here are people, no different than Mariya or Penny or Ciel or any of the androids running around the damned planet. They've made lives for themselves, simple as that." Sensing Pyrrha's genetic siblings blush in thanks at that statement, Yáng grunted. "Thing I'm worried about is Vomit Boy and how he'll take it."
The other members of Team RWBY hummed as they considered that. "He does have quite the crush on you, Pyrrha," Weiss Schnee reminded the other woman before sipping her own tea. She would stay in Vale overnight before going back to Atlas in the morrow with her sister Winter and James Ironwood…barring any other weird revelation that might need the leader of that kingdom's military to consult with the Wise Lone Sage in person. "Still, given how he rebelled against his parents' wishes…"
"He's the Scion of Arc, Maiden of Schnee," Fives then solemnly declared. "Threes — excuse me, Pyrrha — would be best suited to become the Scion's wife when the time comes. Especially if the Scion is Gifted with the power of the Great Forge as the Daughter of Belladonna and her beloved countrywoman have become." Ignoring Pyrrha's blush at such a statement, much less Weiss' flustered look, the leader of the Murmidṓn Legion now in Vale added, "Of course, given the rise of the sea angels from Earth and their bonding with the creations of the second Healer of Destruction, I think it'll happen quite soon."
As people stared askance at her, Yomi tried not to laugh as she gazed at Chikage. "Purebloods?"
"By the sounds of it," the latter snidely declared.
"What are 'purebloods'?" Yáng asked.
"Magical hicks, Blondie," Neo supplied…
…before the main doors opened to reveal the people from the cafeteria, including the members of Team ARBN. "Hey, Laney!" Yáng greeted Arslan Altan with a wave of her prosthetic hand…
…before she awked as the Spirit of Innocence stopped right in front of her. "What?! WHAT?!"
Saeru Hinako hummed as she probed the older woman empathically, then she humphed. "You relax, Yáng-san! Hina'll make sure that if Jaune-san gets silly around Pyrrha-san, Hina'll make sure no feelings get hurt!"
People blinked, then Neo roared with laughter. That soon got the others in the room chuckling or laughing as well. "Well, emergency averted," Isaac Thomas declared as he clapped his hands in relief. "So, what hauls YOU here, Chikage?"
The Dark Heart of Pure Chaos gave him a knowing look. "Ane-kun."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"You know where Tariko is?!" the Wise Lone Sage demanded, wide-eyed.
"Yes, I do…and all the complications of getting her out of where she is now," the arch-mage sorceress warned…
To Be Continued…
WRITER'S NOTES
The concept of Project: Murmidṓn and a whole series of designer clone warriors modelled after Pyrrha Nikos (Polarity) has been raised up at the RWBY Snippets and Plot Bunnies chat line at SpaceBattles (forum chat #1144561 in the Creative Writing sub-forum). The direct inspiration for same is an omake written by The Real Lee called "The Myrmidons" (which can be read at post #105961007 on Page 317 of said chat); they're modelled after the clones troopers that appeared in the "prequel" Star Wars trilogy as well as the legendary Myrmidons (in ancient Greek, Murmidónes; written in singular as Murmidṓn), a fanatically loyal group of warriors who fought under the hero Achilles in Homer's Iliad. To make the Remnantian version unique, Fred made use of the scientific Romanization of ancient Greek such as Koinòn tõn Hellḗnōn ("Hellenic League") as well as names such as Ēlis (modern-day Elis on the western edge of the Peloponnese) and Kallípolis (modern-day Gallipoli by the Dardanelles in Türkiye).
Quick translations from Japanese: Kaibōkan — Coastal defence ship, a corvette-sized escort vessel; Tsundere — Literally "aloof infatuation", this describes a character who is emotionally harsh to someone at first, though eventually softens to the other character over time (somewhat like how Weiss Schnee would act concerning her teammates in Team RWBY).
The female characters of Sister Princess have unique ways of addressing the player character, who falls in as their older brother in the game storyline. Such would be rendered in this story using the Japanese terms such as "Ane/Ani-kun" from Hirosaki Chikage (Dragonheart), "Nē/Nii-sama" from Osamu Shirayuki (Küchenchefin) and "Onē/Onii-tama" from Saeru Hinako (Suiki); the translations used in the English dub of the first anime series will be reference in the conversations such as "Sister/Brother Darling" from Chikage, "Elder Brother/Sister" from Shirayuki and "Sis/Bro-Bro" from Hinako.
As an aside, Nassur of Vos was the primary character Mike Smith brought into The Senior Year; he first appeared in "Return of Memory". The issue of the Niphentaxian bio-bombing of Lecashuto (the capital city of Vos) mentioned by Hirosaki Chikage was first revealed in "What Price For Love?" and explored in "A Hectic Vacation".
Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series will appear here soon enough, never fear.
The members of Team ABRN ("Auburn") first appeared in the premier episode of the third volume of RWBY, "Round One".
Quick note on the subgirls mentioned by Fukushima Fujiko (THG Fubuki) in the second-to-last part:
Hashimoto Momoko-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan I-58, now Nihon-koku Gunkan Gōya [SK-58])
Inaba Mira-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan I-36, now Nihon-koku Gunkan Miimu [SK-36])
Both girls take after their Kantai Collection interpretations, naturally. As an aside, Operation: Road's End was the move by the United States Navy to sink all remaining Imperial Japanese submarines that survived World War Two per the Potsdam Agreement before the final surrender; this would see twenty-four submarines sunk near the town of Gotō in Nagasaki prefecture.
As for the leader of the subgirl force now on Remnant also mentioned by the Blizzard of Death:
Hanabusa Hiromi-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan I-24, now Nihon-koku Gunkan Nyoshin [SK-24])
As she has yet to be implemented into KanColle or any of the other shipgirl games to date, Fred has Hiromi physically take after her near-namesake Seki Hiromi from Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls. She was sunk during the Aleutian Islands campaign in mid-1942 that corresponded with Operation: MI leading to the Battle of Midway.
Explaining the subgirls' nicknames here:
Gōya — A type of bitter melon (Momordica charantia) known in Japanese also as nigauri (苦瓜)
Miimu — This could mean "beautiful purification" if written as 美斎
Nyoshin — This can translate to "natural female" if written as 女真; the term actually is used to define the Jurchens (known in Chinese as Nǚzhēn), an eastern Asia Tungstic culture who would later be given the name Manchu (Mǎnzú) and be allowed to inhabit the northeastern part of the Middle Kingdom
