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In reliquisynchronous orbit at the meridian of Vale City, aboard the Free Planetary State of Yiziba Starship Normandy, Gayatit 52 Treichleam, two hours after lunch (Tōkyō time: Tuesday 3 April, two hours after midnight; Sweet Valley time: Monday 2 April, two hours before lunch; Pensacola/Davenport time: Monday 2 April, two hours after lunch; London time: Monday 2 April, suppertime: Moskvá time: Monday 2 April, mid-evening)…
"Man! Didn't realize how hungry I was! This is great!"
"Did you cook all this, Miss Chiyo?!"
Hearing that question from the only Faunus member of Team CFVY, the Bright Genius of the Young Guns blushed. She was seated with the Living Spirit of Innocence, the Spectral Hound of the Dark Gaol and the Assassin of Dynasties — not to mention living warship spirits representing six of Japan's Fubuki-class destroyers from Earth's interwar years — at one set of tables in the cafeteria, with Velvet Scarlatina and the others occupying a nearby table. "Most of the food was created by the replicators, Velvet-san," Mihama Chiyo answered after drinking a special stimulant she had created to allow people her age to remain up so late in her own timeline; she had also prepared same for her fellow pre-teen metahuman from Niigata so she could remain awake. "I did make the pastries and the cakes. It's not as good as what someone like Osamu Shirayuki-san or Aria des Beauchamps-san can do, but my friends like it."
"They're not the only ones who do!" Flynt Coal noted from nearby; he and his partner from Team FNKI were seated with their two countrymen at another table, along with the Master of Plants and Weiss Schnee. Both the current commander of Atlas' military and the young heiress of the Schnee family fortune had been busy speaking to Neville Longbottom about the types of plants which could be imported from Yiziba that could survive in Solitas's near-Arctic climate. Especially of interest to the Atlesians were those species which could do what the British wizard's mist dandelions had effectively done to Vale City, denying the Grimm native to Remnant's northern continent a VAST area of habitat and allow people from Atlas to settle new villages in the once-inhospitable countryside.
"Who are Shirayuki and Aria?" Blake Belladonna wondered from a table being shared between her, her first lover and her friends who once served in the White Fang.
"Shirayuki-chan is Küchenchefin, Blake-san," Saeru Hinako answered as she held up a finger in emphasis. "She can create food from anything else. So can Aria-chan; she's Douceâtre!"
"On Earth, that power is called 'trofikinesis'," Seth Rollins added as the natives gaped at the idea of people having THAT capability. "Believe me, people like Shirayuki and Aria were lifesavers during the Starvation Times as the past-selves of folks like Isaac here worked overtime to repair the damage from the Dawn of Power."
Eyes locked on the Wise Lone Sage, who was sharing a table with the senior staff of the Beacon Academy save for Glynda Goodwitch; the senior teacher had gone down to the grounds to check up with co-workers concerning the final damage assessment from the previous night's activities. "I cannot for an instant imagine what your first-selves went through back then," Neptune Vasilias noted with a shake of his head. The members of Team SSSN and the lone member of Team JNPR who "died" during the "fall of Beacon" were sharing a table close to where Isaac Thomas and his main guests were seated. "I mean, a worldwide population dropping from two billion to six hundred million in the space of TWENTY YEARS?! I don't think any war on Remnant could come CLOSE to something like that!"
"Professor?" Blake wondered as she gazed on her headmaster.
Eyes locked on Shannon Ozpin, who moved to adjust his glasses. "No," the effectively immortal senior huntsman breathed out. "No, Miss Belladonna, we here on Remnant have NEVER endured the level of destruction Yiziba endured back then. When I asked Ayono about what made the people of his world do what they did, he was quite…quiet about it. Not surprising given what Isaac just told us."
Grim nods echoed from all around. "So, what's the plan now?" Qrow Branwen then wondered as he crossed his arms. After the "Yiziba 101" lesson, the former bandit had to admit to himself that the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei polymath was on the level; given the instincts he developed over the years as a huntsman and a teacher coupled to a rather rough childhood, he didn't need some fancy Aura ability to read minds to understand that Isaac was on the level.
And it was really about time…!
The native of Queens sat back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Right now, the best thing to do is to relax and help Vale recover from last night. I'm sure we can get Beacon going again within a couple months, but that depends on what Professor Goodwitch and the others find out. I'm sure that in a short while, that wyvern on the CCT tower will be melted away thanks to what Neville brought here and Ayumu so nicely spread around town like she did."
"Thank Oum for that!" Weiss moaned. "That has to be the GAUDIEST thing I've ever seen."
Jaws dropped as people gazed on the normally stoic Atlesian huntress student, then laughter filled the cafeteria from all the natives. "Oh, ye Fates, she actually has a sense of humour?!" Blake sarcastically wondered as Monica Khan's tail whipped around to and fro in a visible sign of amusement.
More laughter responded as Weiss sent her an annoyed look. "How soon will Miss Rose be up, Qrow?" Ozpin asked.
"Before we came up here, Tàiyáng told me she's sleeping. The scanners we have in the first aid kit that we keep at the house show there's no internal injuries," the former member of Team STRQ responded as he moved to sip his tea, a part of him wondering why he wasn't feeling any urge to get some good booze into his body and drink this madness away. "Yáng's keeping an eye on her." He then shook his head. "I still don't like this idea of keeping Ruby in the dark about things, especially about Penny and Pyrrha surviving last night. Much that I'm glad she's got the Silver Eyes…"
"Isaac's staff showed me some of the possible futures that could have stemmed from this event as shown to him by Miss Suzumiya," Ozpin noted, shaking his head in sad acceptance. "Like it or not, even with the CCT system currently down, there is a chance that Salem will be keeping a weather eye on Vale while she directs Miss Fall and the others to track your niece down and eliminate her. While I'm sure that both you and the members of Miss Nikos' team who will go with her to the Haven Academy will do your best to keep her safe — and we do have the option of what Isaac can bring to bear — we NEED Miss Rose as a sort of distraction while things for her team progress as planned."
Forlorn looks crossed the faces of Ruby Rose's and Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's teammates. "Well, the sooner Yáng can get her arm back, the better," Blake noted. "Is there some way to disguise a regrown arm before the time's right, Isaac?"
"Child's play," the Wise Lone Sage noted.
"You're going along with this?!" Weiss demanded.
"I don't like this at all, but there obviously isn't much choice anymore, Weiss," the former member of the White Fang warned while her old lover gripped her hand. As her old co-workers grimly nodded, the daughter of that movement's founder added, "Ruby's power is a sword that can be punched right into the heart of the Queen of Darkness. She needs the right impetus to learn how to fully master that ability. Being Gifted will help, but for the sake of EVERYONE on Remnant, we can't afford to reveal the game THIS early in the match." She then gave her Atlesian friend a knowing look. "And you have to admit, Weiss, Ruby does have something of a naïve way of looking at things."
The young industrial empire heiress reluctantly nodded. "Yes, that's true, isn't it? I mean, she means well, but she doesn't have our experiences. Things are too black and white for her." She then gazed on the former gynoid that had befriended their team leader. "Like it or not, Penny, you didn't help her even if you did become her friend."
That made the adopted Atlesian's eyes widen. "I didn't mean…"
"It's not that!" Weiss noted, holding up a hand to wave off the other woman's protest. "Much that I'm grateful that you did become her friend, and you were honest to her from the start about what you are, you didn't seem to contradict her when it came to certain things, especially with the way things can really turn south for people. You're from Atlas, same as I am. I know your creator, too! Didn't he show you how nasty things could get?"
"He did," Penny automatically answered before she sighed. "Still, Ruby was my first true friend outside Atlas. I did not wish to hurt her by revealing how dangerous things can be in our society. As I'm sure both you and Blake Belladonna are well aware, her determination to do her best is quite overwhelming at times."
They considered that before nodding in understanding. "How can we make things easier for Miss Rose and her friends in the long term, Isaac?" James Ironwood wondered as he gazed on their host. "Much that they have advantages…"
"They have their disadvantages as well," Isaac finished for him, which made everyone grin as they remembered how easily the native of Queens had guessed what Adam Taurus was about to say during their vigorous bout in Vale's industrial district a few hours before. He gazed on Qrow. "I can think of some things that could counter your bad luck semblance, Qrow. When I viewed the potential future events thanks to Haruhi, I noted that there were issues on that trip to Haven…to say anything of what could happen once Headmaster Lionheart gets involved."
Scowls crossed people's faces on remembering what the Wise Lone Sage warned about how Leonardo Lionheart had sold himself out to the Queen of Darkness. "Hopefully, Ruby will be Gifted by then," Blake mused.
"We'll all be Gifted by then," Weiss vowed.
"What of your father?" Neon Katt asked.
"What about him?!" the young heiress sneered. "Thanks to what Seth did to him when he tried to slap me, he'll be spending time recuperating from nearly having his head blown off."
"Still, I'd rather you head back to Atlas, Weiss."
Eyes locked on Isaac as Ironwood nodded. "Why?!" Weiss demanded.
"Much that I don't like your father on general principle, it would make things easier if I can make him agree for you to become my apprentice," the native of Queens noted. "I don't want to antagonize him. Given how well-connected his businesses are, it could cause a massive monkey wrench to be tossed into the works if I have SDC stand against Renaissance Industries." He then smirked as he sipped his tea. "Especially with ONE project I have in mind."
"What's that?" Ken Tukson wondered.
"Didn't your sister tell you, Ken? I have people researching ways to create synthetic Dust."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Are you SERIOUS?!" Ironwood demanded.
Fighting the automatic urge to state that such was the name of the godfather to Neville's fellow magical-turned-metahuman Rose Potter — which was a private joke only his fellow Terran-borns would truly understand — Isaac smirked. "You have to admit, it's a wise idea in the long term. The technology I'm bringing in that doesn't work on Dust is something that will take a LONG time for natives to adjust to. It's simply better in the end to work with local technology than to just supplant it altogether, especially in case those forces — like Weiss' father — who won't like what I'm bringing to the table try to throw up roadblocks just to preserve their own grasp on power." He then shrugged. "Atop that, we have people such as Coco here who have semblances that require Dust to be properly used." Here, he toasted the leader of Team CFVY with his cup, earning him a thankful blush in return.
"Yes, that is true," Ozpin mused.
"What of your work in manufacturing synthetic Dust, Isaac-san?" Chiyo asked.
A wry grin responded. "Unfortunately, Chiyo-chan, all I've been able to create at the moment are a metric tonne of EXPLOSIONS!" the master of the Normandy wryly answered, which made all the natives wince in sympathy. "Still, a breath-through is near; I can FEEL it! Of course, if you want to join in…"
He gave the genius from Itabashi a knowing look. "Of course I can help," Chiyo asserted. "Schoolwork isn't that much an issue, especially with the Doll House being available as a safe place to do research."
"Will Lady Ayumu allow that, Chiyo?" Penny asked.
"Of course she will!" the Bright Genius of the Young Guns asserted, earning her admiring stares from the Fukushima sisters. "Besides, whatever Dust is, it has to have a naquadah base to it if the Ori of all the races in the Universe were involved with Remnant in the past! It's better to analyze that stuff in the Doll House than in my laboratory on Earth!"
"Couldn't Elizabeth-san and Tánja-san help, Isaac-san?" Fukushima Fujiko asked.
The Wise Lone Sage blinked, then he did a check on the holographic screen before him. "Since it's Easter Monday on Earth, I might as well ask," he mused as he tapped a control to open a signal.
A moment later, the image of a stunning teenager with blue-green eyes and the most perfect honey blonde hair any native of Remnant had EVER seen appeared; seeing her earned the lawyer's daughter from an old fish canning town near Los Angeles admiring looks from the women while the men — even Qrow Branwen and James Ironwood, who could be her FATHER! — found themselves thanking Oum they were indeed men! "Hey!" Elizabeth Wakefield called out from her basement laboratory in Sweet Valley. "Heard you had quite the bit of fun on Remnant recently."
"Hey, yourself, Liz!" Isaac called back before sipping his drink. "How much have you been keeping track of what I've been doing with Renaissance Industries here on Remnant?"
As the natives blinked in surprise at how easily the native of Queens trusted his counterpart from Sweet Valley in this manner, the current incarnation of the Wise Genius of the Circle of Thought smirked as she crossed her arms, relaxing in her chair. "Well, there are things I can propose for replacement systems for this CCTS network they've got on that planet to get around the Grimm. I'll send you what I've devised soon enough. Tánja's working on some weapons upgrades for your Robot Masters and other equipment you can use against those Grimm. Joe, if you're there…"
"Yo!" Roman Leakee called out from beside Seth.
"Good! Come by the Valley when you can so I can get your opinion about these things to devise ways to permanently remove them from Remnant's biosphere!" Here, Elizabeth gave Isaac a knowing look. "Much that I hate to say this to you, you've caused quite the shitstorm on Earth with what you had Naomi bring back from Remnant."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Liz, you never swear!" the native of Queens exclaimed as he tried to pull up his jaw from his knees while Chiyo got up to move to stand beside him, allowing her to come into Elizabeth's camera range. "Much that I know the things here are the descendants of the alconóst that the gamájun once fought…!"
"Elizavéta Èduárdovna, Isaák Fomích doesn't really understand how much of an impact such a discovery has made," a strange voice cut in before the image split in two, revealing a woman with stormy grey eyes and wavy brown hair framing a very pretty face on the same scale as that of her counterpart from America. "Stop berating the poor man."
Isaac shook his head. "Hello, Tánja! Do I need to avoid Sankt-Peterbúrg for the next year or so?"
A roaring laugh answered him from the native of Výborg who the Passionate Historian of the Circle of Thought. "Oh, if it was only THAT easy, továrisch!" Tat'jána Andrévna Chapáeva warned as she gave him a knowing look from her laboratory in the basement levels of her family home in the former Finnish city near the old Russian imperial capital. "That sample Akadémik Skamánder brought from where you're at so people at the MMD could look at it caused quite the firestorm in Russia, my friend. Some of Dvojúrodnaja Bábushka's comrades from the time of the kuláki purges during the early years of Iósif Vissariónovich's reign are screaming to friends in the Volshébnaja Dúma to have the Moskvá Front mobilized and launch a PURGE on Rémnant to remove these alconóst from the planet!"
"I take it such is a bad idea, Miss Chapáeva," Ozpin mused.
"Da, Akadémik Ózpin. On the same scale as what unleashing your friend's army on your home city is. On your planet…but especially here on Earth as well." As both the Undying Warrior Sage and his friend who commanded Atlas' army winced, Tánja added, "I'm not sure how much Isaák Fomích told you about our magical enclaves and how they relate to each other, but since Névill Fránklinovich is there, ask him. He understands the issue much better."
Eyes locked on the Master of Plants, who nodded in understanding. "How soon could the gamájun reply on what was discovered?" Isaac asked. "Yes, they have the right to be involved — as would Túndra himself, of course — but I don't want to upset too many apple carts. These people have been fighting the Grimm for CENTURIES! They've got the right to deal with them without outsiders — especially someone of Túndra's power — butting into the fight scene."
Eyes the grey of storms rolled in understanding response. "That, továrisch, I can't tell you," Tánja answered, shrugging. "As soon as that sample got to the MMD, the representative from the Dúma Gamájuna took it and teleported right out of the building. As to what they might decide…" A shrug rolled her shoulders.
Isaac moaned. "Oh, that's just wonderful…!"
Back on Earth, on the Chúkchi Sea shoreline of Siberia 150 kilometres northwest of Cape Dezhnjóva, that moment (local time: Tuesday 3 April, a half-hour before dawn)…
Civil twilight had descended over the hidden deep-water bay located between the hamlets of Neshkán and Ènurmino as Pjésnja Bélogo apparated onto a landing that had been marked years before by the bay's once-normal occupiers as the safe place to teleport to before passing through tunnels drilled in the collapsed glaciers to enter Sano Bay and proceed to the caves where what magicals called the "Dúma Gamájuna" normally gathered to debate matters concerning their vast parliament. Thankful that the warriors of the Land of the Wa had been more than understanding concerning the needs of the metamorphic avians who had long considered this ice-lined bay in eastern Siberia their ultimate place of refuge from poachers who came from near and afar to seize helpless chicks for whatever dark purposes drove them, the herald of the Dúma Gamájuna to the Ministérstvo Mágicheskikh Del Rossíjskaja Federátsii walked down the well-beaten path towards where a group of human guards stood watch, they in the ubiquitous green jumpsuits that was standard dress of the day for the crew of the greatest and last of Imperial Japan's warships, they gazing intently out to sea as they waited for the morning fishing expedition to return from the fertile grounds near the Bering Strait.
One blinked before he turned to gaze in her direction, then he straightened himself before bowing deeply to the approaching silver-haired humanoid; the herald normally displayed her long flowing wings — fully mated to the sides of her arms — and very long tail whenever she went to meet the magicals at their headquarters in distant Sankt-Peterbúrg. "Ah! You just came back, Pjésnja-sama," Seaman Third Class Fujisaki Tomohisa declared as he gazed respectfully at the winged metamorph. "I trust the people in Sankt-Peterbúrg weren't being their normal arrogant…"
His nose then flared — as did those of his companions — before look of disgusts crossed their faces. "What in the Sacred Name of Amaterasu is that SMELL?!" Tomohisa demanded as his eyes watered.
An apologetic look crossed her face. "A sign that a sacred mission demanded by Lord Túndra of us was NOT carried out as He so desired of us, Tomohisa," Pjésnja advised. "I must go meet with the Dúma."
Chills ran down the bodies of the sailors manning this checkpoint at that solemn declaration. The universal reverence the natives of Sano-wan had for Earth's oldest sentient being was as passionate as many of the sailors' reverence for the Kami as a whole. Knowing it was the one who had given the gamájun his protection during the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia before, one now known among Russia's magicals as Túndra — naturally, applying a name to such a being seemed WEAK at times — confronting anything that offended him was seen as the lowest of heresies, requiring instant death. Given how much the avians had gone out of their way to help Tomohisa's shipmates as they endured their seven decades of total and complete exile from the events of the Greater East Asia War and its aftermath, giri and ninjō demanded that everything that could be done to aide them in their devotions was done…as long as such didn't interfere in the mission demanded of them in the name of the late Heavenly Sovereign of Shōwa.
"I pray it will not come back to hurt you all, Pjésnja-sama," Tomohisa stated before bowing deeply.
Nodding her thanks, Pjésnja proceeded into the tunnel, allowing the remarkable spiritual warmth of the layers upon layers of diamond mesonium sheathing within the glaciers that had masked Sano-wan — the gamájun called the bay Svjetjjílische, their term for "sanctuary" — from the outside world to comfort her. As she walked on, she then sensed another wave of welcoming warmth touch her from directly ahead, indicative of the one object — could she or anyone simply call the great vessel, many times the size of Noah's mythical Ark, that had been trapped within the bay for seven decades a mere "object" given the fighting spirit that had long begun to awaken within it? — that had served as the one surefire protection for the winged avians against the poachers for the time she had been here.
Emerging from the tunnel, the herald blinked before she smiled on seeing the diminutive man — well past the middle years of life for normal humans even if his aging process, like that of his subordinates, had been severely retarded since their entrapment within Sano-wan — standing at a levelled-off edge of the inner glacier slope, doing a normal inspection of the hull to ensure that if the glaciers DID give way finally, his flagship would be ready to go in all aspects. While having often frowned at the sheer levels of determination — even borderline fanaticism in some cases! — the warriors of Wa showed for their aborted mission to strike at the isles of Sawaiki for many slights delivered unto their countrymen by those who now dominated those volcanic islands, the devotion those self-same warriors had shown to their great nest seemed akin to how a whole parliament of nesting mothers would dote over one special chick.
Given what some of the prophets had started to sense about what would soon happen to that "chick"…!
"Ah, Pjésnja-san. I trust Marshal Múrometsa is well these days?"
A smile crossed the herald's face as she stood beside the would-have-been commander of Operation Z. "Grandmother Svetlána wished NOT to have brought the news I must now bring to the Dúma, Grandfather Hiroshi," she explained to her godfather; the veteran of Tsushima from Nagoya who became the TRUE father of Japanese naval aviation during the Taishō years had been there when she had been hatched over forty years ago, attended by his senior medical orderly, a man as devout to the teachings of Lord Buddha as his flag officer was to the Kami of the Wa. Drawing out the crystal with the beast inside — earning her a disapproving look from Fujita Hiroshi as his nose picked up the hideous stench of rot and naquadah contained within — she added, "Lord Túndra's wishes were not properly fulfilled by our ancestors."
The aged, balding man with the almost-black eyes, the moustache and the tapered goatee blinked as he remembered those stories of courage and sacrifice in the face of hideous odds — tales that rivalled the actions of the Forty-Seven Rōnin during the fifteenth year of Genroku! — echoed in his mind. His eyes then flared as it hit him. "The alconóst?!"
She nodded. "On another world many stars away, their descendants live."
His eyes sharpened. "This 'Stargate' system the Americans discovered four years ago, you mean?"
"That sad world can be reached through it. But it was one of the adopted Children of the Forge of the Tears of the Stars who had been recruited by Fate who delivered the news to the Friend of All."
Newton Scamander-sensei, the would-be commander of Operation Z knew. "Tell the Dúma. Any help we can render within reason is yours for the asking." He gazed at the fallen glacier which had caged them for seven decades. "Much that our mission is still of primary concern, even the most fanatic ones who flew with the Tokubetsu Kōgekitai would agree that angering the likes of the eldest of the Undying Lord's allies from back then is the height of insanity."
Pjésnja bowed, then headed around the cove to the caves where the Dúma gathered. As she went, her eyes fell on the three gold characters displayed in traditional right-to-left writing style on the ship's hull…
よなが
Far to the north of Sano-wan, high in the Arctic sky…
"Well, ain't that radical…?"
A certain transformed missile cruiser's lips curled into a smile.
"Catch you on the flip side, Big Y!"
With that, Naomi Haight-Ashbury teleported away…
In orbit above Remnant aboard the Normandy, two hours before supper…
"I still don't like this."
Hearing Weiss Schnee's flat statement, the other huntsmen students who had been welcomed aboard Isaac Thomas' starship could only grimly nod in understanding. "Much that I agree with you on that point, Weiss, I can understand where Isaac's coming from as well," Coco Adel noted before sipping her tea. "Remember what he taught us about the first generation of Yizibajohei metahumans. After what was left of their home kingdoms collapsed into total chaos, it was practically everyone for themselves. It's a miracle so many DID survive the Starvation Times in the end." She then shrugged. "I'm grateful for him wanting to help us finally put an end to the Grimm and this Salem creep. And I'm glad that he's letting us lead the charge here. Letting this Túndra thing loose on Remnant…!"
The others winced. Isaac had been detailed when he explained what had happened in the War of the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia ago and who had been the big players. "A creature who became sentient thanks to the mesonium in the biosphere, eventually mastering a large swath of the northern reaches of Earth itself," Blake Belladonna breathed out in mind-boggled awe as she gazed on the sketchy biography composed by Tánja Chapáeva concerning Earth's oldest sentient being. "Even if he himself can't come to Remnant, anyone he empowers to come in his stead…"
"Yeah, Salem won't like that, I'll bet," Qrow Branwen muttered as he sipped his own cup of coffee. He was keeping watch over the young ones as they decided what they would do at this point.
"You don't seem surprised in the end about all this, Qrow," Blake noted.
The veteran huntsman snorted. "Well, I only recently learned the truth about Oz and Salem a month ago. Went on quite the bender after that sank in. I never knew Oz's connection to that Kasuga kid's first-self, though." He shook his head. "Still, it shouldn't be so surprising. The whole thing about aliens and all that. The Two Brothers being one, they both being part of a group that shifted our ancestors from Earth here so they could be worshipped as gods…!"
"Not to mention their wanting to find ways to counter people like Lady Ayumu and those of her power set," Neon Katt added as her tail whipped warily around. "Especially this one called 'Doctor Destructo' on Yiziba. He — or she — sounds like something right out of the nightmares of the Queen of Darkness herself!"
"Oh, Hina doesn't think that about Destructo-sensei, Neon-san."
All the Faunus shuddered as Saeru Hinako came in, escorted by Fukushima Mayako. "Hey, kid! You got back here quick," Qrow noted on recognizing the shipgirl from a message Glynda Goodwitch sent him. "Was it really that bad when that Scamander guy brought that king taijitu to Earth to let the folks from Russia look it over?"
The reborn fifth of the Fubuki-class destroyers snorted as she made a cup of tea from a nearby kettle. "It looked like a bunch of Imperial Army officers running around with their heads cut off," the adopted native of Ōsaka noted, her lips twisted in a sneer. Noting people's confused looks, she added, "Relations between the armed services of my home em-…" She caught herself, realizing that the term "empire" wouldn't make sense to the Remnantians. "My home kingdom was never the best. The ground forces wanted to steal territories from neighbouring kingdoms to make us bigger and safer…and they got us in a war we couldn't win in the end when we ended up banging heads against the Americans, Isaac-san's people. The supreme chief of my crew's service, a man named Yamamoto Isoroku — he was the same rank as General Ironwood — warned that we couldn't last very long in a war against America. He was right."
Sympathetic looks came her way. "How many did you lose?" Flynt Coal asked.
"I had a crew of 219 officers and sailors. When I was torpedoed…" She hummed on seeing confusion again cross people's faces. "A missile designed to hit a ship underwater." As the huntsmen all nodded in understanding, Mayako shrugged. "I was lucky. Shirayuki was there. I only lost twenty-two of my crew." Her chestnut eyes then misted over. "Shirayuki was bombed by an aircraft sometime later. She lost thirty-two. We were some of the lucky ones. The most powerful of us all, the Yamato and Musashi — if they become kantai musume as I am, they'd be Itō Yasuko and Itō Mutsuko — had nearly three thousand crew each. When they sank, only a few hundred made it out in the end." She shook her head before making her tea. "Save for whoever the Ryūseizen might have saved in the end."
"'Dragon-killing ships'?" Neptune Vasilias wondered, having got the meaning of that term thanks to the omniversal translation fields that were projected in every part of the Normandy.
Mayako pulled out her PAA. A tap of the crystal produced the image of a vessel with ムラクモ in white on the side. "This is me as a ship," she explained, then allowed the device to project a much bigger image. "This is Yamato." As the natives whistled at the sheer difference in size, a third image then appeared of a vessel a little big longer and appearing even more massive. "The one of the Ryūseizen I sensed was close by when I was torpedoed and sank."
"So, what were they out there for?" Sūn Wùkōng asked.
"You know about the magicals on our planet, right? How they've kept themselves hidden from normal people over the centuries?" Mayako asked. After the natives nodded, the adopted native of Ōsaka sipped her tea. "During our war with America, great dark creatures — similar to your Grimm — rose from the sea to consume the souls of seamen, normally during the middle of a battle. The Ryūseizen were out there to destroy the creatures and save those sailors believed to have 'died' by normal authorities before their souls were consumed. As to what happened to them…" She shrugged. "Of my sisters, Fujiko, Hatsue and Urako are the only ones who had 'close encounters' with the Ryūseizen and had crew saved by them. No doubt, the magicals running them were able to create new identities for the 'dead' and resettle them somewhere safe. We know that the Ryūseizen mostly came from Canada; that's America's northern neighbour and the home of our planet's Jewel Warrior, Lieutenant General Dean Raeburn. We don't know their names…"
"Wouldn't it be awesome if they became shipgirls?!"
Everyone turned as the eldest of the Fukushima sisters came in to join them. "That would be something," Mayako mused as Fukushima Fujiko moved to make her own tea.
"Could we build something like that?" Flynt wondered.
Eyes lit up. "Yeah! We've got big Grimm that live in the oceans," Sūn warned. "Might be something to ask Isaac about." He then gazed on the reborn warship spirits. "Doubt we could ask the Canadians to borrow their ships."
Laughter filled the room, then Fujiko looked over to see forlorn looks on both Blake's and Weiss' faces. "Are you worried about your friends?" the adopted native of Maizuru then asked as she poured her tea.
Sensing the concern from the Blizzard of Death, both women nodded. "Isn't it obvious?" Blake asked. "We want Yáng and Ruby Gifted as soon as possible. The idea of using Ruby as BAIT for Salem…!"
"Are you saying I can't protect my own niece?!" Qrow wondered. "Much less Jaune, Nora or Ren?"
"Of course you can, Qrow!" the daughter of the founder of the White Fang asserted. "But we have to keep things secret about Pyrrha and Penny, remember?! Jaune, Nora and Ren are going to be hurting, especially Jaune!" As Pyrrha Nikos stiffened, the feline therianthrope moaned, slapping her forehead. "Oh, I'm sorry, Pyrrha…!"
"Jaune does have quite the crush on you," Weiss warned.
"How far is the journey from Vale to Mistral?" Fujiko asked.
"A month by boat direct from Vale," Pyrrha answered. "That's just to get to the nearest ocean port to Mistral. Once landed, it's an overland trip of at least another two weeks to get to the kingdom itself."
"Knowing the kid, she might want to do overland here to where Acadia used to stand at the east end of Sanus, jump across the passage to Anima in the Silvershield League, then head overland straight to Mistral," Qrow warned, earning him surprised looks from the younger huntsmen. "I remember the old tales of the kingdoms that existed before the Grimm forced us all into the big cities," the veteran of Team STRQ explained, earning him understanding nods.
"Pity there aren't more of us," Mayako noted. "We could form a destroyer division and scout ahead to make sure things don't go too crazy while Ruby-san does her thing and people elsewhere get ready."
"What are your Gifts like?" Coco asked as the team leaders all perked. After hearing the members of Team SSSN crow on and on about what Fukushima Miyuki had done to that one king taijitu…!
Fujiko sipped her tea. "We have force-blast powers that can take out ships the size of Normandy if they're not shielded. We have the strength to lift the cube of our masses of warships. Over eight-and-a-half BILLION tonnes…"
As the natives boggled on hearing that, Mayako wryly added, pointing up to the deckhead in emphasis, "If such a mass can stay together being boosted up by something that's human-sized, by the way."
"Hai! True, true," her sister trilled. "Outside that, plus the matching level of invulnerability, our ability to fly in all sorts of environments like space and undersea and all that, we have special powers."
"There's MORE?!" a stunned Qrow demanded.
"Hai, Sensei! Shirayuki-chan, Miyuki-chan, Hatsue-chan and I are cryokinetics; that means we can manipulate air moisture and water to make ice. A LOT of ice as Miyuki-chan did to that big thing she caught for Scamander-sensei." The adopted native of Maizuru then waved to her sister. "Mayako-chan here is a meteorkinetic; that means she can manipulate the weather as a whole. Storms, tornadoes, rain, hail, snow; you name it, she can do it. And Itsuko-chan and Urako-chan are both hydrokinetics; they can manipulate water without being able to freeze it like I could."
The natives hummed. "All roughly similar capabilities," Penny Polendina noted after a moment's contemplation. "Are your additional capabilities actually based on the literal meanings of your names as actual warships of the Kingdom of Japan, Fukushima Fujiko? That was something that Chiyo mused about when I asked her about you and your sisters."
That question made both destroyers blink before they exchanged looks. "You're really smart, Penny-san!" Hinako then declared. "Hina wouldn't have been able to think of that!"
"That does make sense," Mayako noted as Penny blushed on sensing the wave of delight the native of Niigata projected towards her when she gave that compliment. "Fujiko's moniker on Yiziba is 'Blizzard of Death'. Her ship name literally means 'blizzard'. My ship name means 'massed clouds'…" Her jaw then dropped. "Which made me…"
"A 'meteorkinetic' as you just called yourself," Neptune finished, winking.
Laughter filled the room. Fujiko mentally ran through the names of the others of her overall class of twenty-four to pick out the right ones to be "salvaged" to help. "We've had loads of problems trying to get Shiroko-chan, Suzuki-chan and Shinobu-chan up over the last couple of weeks…"
"Shinonome, Usugumo and Shirakumo," Mayako called out the ship names of the Fukushima sisters' missing siblings. "'Daybreak', 'Thin Clouds' and 'White Cloud' are the meanings of their names, Fujiko."
"The last two — Suzuki and Shinobu? — would be like you, Miss Mayako," Neptune noted.
"That first one's a possibility," Qrow noted. "Light manipulation, maybe?"
"A photokinetic, you mean," Mayako affirmed with a nod…
…then her eyes widened. "I think I know someone better!"
Eyes locked on her. "Who, Mayako-chan?!" Hinako asked.
The silver-haired girl smirked as she leaned down to gaze into the eyes of the woman who had salvaged her. "Ashikaga Akemi," she affirmed before she gazed knowingly at her sister. "Akebono!"
The natives all blinked as the Spirit of Innocence hummed…
In Isaac Thomas' cabin…!
"Is that a good thing, Isaac?"
The Wise Lone Sage chuckled. "It depends on what sort of mood our version of Akebono — Akemi — turns out to be once she's Gifted, General," Isaac Thomas noted as he poured tea for the leader of Atlas' military and the headmaster of Beacon. They had been monitoring the younger huntsmen through Normandy's security systems. "I've seen many other dimensions where shipgirls exist. The Akebono was often seen by her service as a 'ship of misfortune'; this is because she survived battles where her sisters didn't. This reflected in her soul — her kami as the Japanese call it — when such was embodied and made human." He shook his head as he handed the tea to James Ironwood and Shannon Ozpin. "Hinako better be prepared for a lot of swearing and cursing from Akemi when she comes. Calling her leaders 'shitty admirals' and the like." As the older men winced, the native of Queens sat. "Still, I think that's a good guess on Fujiko's and Mayako's part. She'll be a photokinetic for sure. And no matter what her attitudes towards superiors, Akemi will always fight the good fight. None the less, how do Grimm react to high-intensity sunlight, Professor?"
"Used as a beam weapon? Not very well," Ozpin stated as Ironwood chuckled, both remembering huntsmen who had that power. "I'm sure Miss Ashikaga will have quite the target-rich environment when she comes." He sighed. "I'm torn. Part of me is beyond grateful that your people are looking our way once more, Isaac. But at the same time…"
"As we'd always say it on Yiziba, this is ultimately YOUR fight scene in the end," Isaac finished, making both natives smirk as they nodded in appreciation. "Believe me, almost everyone on Yiziba would gladly agree to that, Professor. This has always been your fight even if you didn't really understand the nature of what provoked this whole madness in the first place. As an animated series from my homeland always taught kids, 'knowing is half the battle'. Now that you understand what provoked this mess, you can then psychologically prepare yourselves to properly deal with it in a permanent manner. I'll help as will people like Chiyo, Elizabeth and Tánja, much less girls like Hinako and her 'fleet', to say anything of folks like Neville, Seth and Roman. But YOU people are leading the charge."
Ironwood smiled as he hoisted his cup. "To the end of the Grimm."
"And the survival of humanity," Ozpin added as he matched that toast.
"Let the fight scene go your way," Isaac finished.
The cups clinked. "So, with Miss Mihama, Miss Wakefield and Miss Chapáeva helping out, how soon can synthetic Dust be made?" Ironwood asked as he sat back. "Much that I can understand the idea of bringing technology in that isn't powered by Dust, it would be the smarter thing to do in the end given the needs of people like Miss Adel."
"It is one of my primary projects. It also must be kept top secret," Isaac advised, he then raising a finger. "Primarily because of Weiss' father." Here, he gave the veteran huntsman a knowing look. "I'm sure he'll be PLEASED…" — the others could hear the sneer in the New Yorker's voice on saying that — "…to have that type of competition around. And I'm sure many in Atlas will be just as pleased that SDC won't be the only game in town in the long term, General."
"Agreed. Much that Jacques can be of help in many ways, his arrogance blinds him to far too many things. Seeing him knocked off his high horse will do the whole planet a lot of favours," Ironwood admitted as Ozpin snorted. "In a way, I can understand where people like Mister Taurus come from. SDC was a lot more ethical before Jacques took charge of things. Already, he's making noise about forcing Atlas to refuse to import anything that your company makes."
"Because of people like Ken's sister?" Isaac wondered.
"In a way, yes. Jacques is apathetic when it comes to the Faunus, but he realized right away RI is becoming a beacon that is giving Faunus in Vale a lot of power. Once you help the professor get Beacon back into operation and restore the CCT tower — or replace it with something if Miss Wakefield's contribution turns out to be better — that will make Faunus take notice and support RI's expansion into the other kingdoms. That denies Jacques workers in the end."
"I hope you have someone in mind to properly take over the company when we're all done here and you head back to Earth, Isaac," Ozpin noted as he gazed knowingly at his host.
"We haven't hit THAT stage of the storyline yet, Professor," Isaac warned, winking at the older man.
All three laughed. "What about the gamájun, Isaac?" Ironwood asked. "Can they be convinced to not swamp the planet just because the Grimm are descendants of those their god ordered destroyed?"
"That, we'll have to see," the younger man warned. "I don't know where this 'redoubt' is. Most likely, it's heavily shielded by mesonium in both diamond and ruby patterns. That's the one downside of using mesonium, General. If you have a scanner powered by mesonium, someone can effectively shield themselves using mesonium in like patterns. The gamájun are frequently hunted by poachers because of their beauty, their metamorphic capabilities, their magic, their overall intelligence and their precognitive powers. This has happened in Russia since way before Tsar Pjotr Velíkij saw his kingdom expanded into eastern Siberia three centuries ago. So, this redoubt logically MUST be quite heavily shielded from ANY potential intrusion. As to how they'll fully react to the existence of the Grimm…?"
A shrug rolled his shoulders as the others nodded in understanding…
Back on Earth, within Sano Bay in Siberia (local time: Tuesday, an hour before breakfast)…
"To believe these things still EXIST…!"
"And they've EVOLVED as well…!"
"This planet must be BURNED to remove such a taint…!"
Hearing the hissed words from the various gamájun elders who were now standing in the central meeting hall of their high parliament — which was located in a magically expanded cave drilled into the side of the escarpment that formed the southern border of the bay itself — Lieutenant Moroboshi Kyōsuke of the Imperial Japanese Navy could only shake his head in sympathetic sorrow as he imagined how all of the beautiful metamorphic avians would take to the horrible news that had been brought back to Earth thanks to Newt Scamander. While the native of Sendai himself had never met the famous magizoologist, his overall clan — given their sacred place as the core family of the Tenchiaiki Jūkazoku, the hereditary special servants of the Imperial throne for over a millennium — were always read into the realms of magic. Knowing that a man like Scamander wouldn't JOKE about something like THIS…!
"This isn't good, Kyōsuke-san," a voice warned from beside him.
The junior navigation officer to the commander of the First Air Fleet/Sixth Carrier Division — and thus of Tennō Heika Gunkan Yonaga herself — perked on hearing that warning voice from Admiral Fujita Hiroshi's chief scribe, then he nodded. "No, Kenji-san, this isn't good at all," Kyōsuke mused as he gave Lieutenant Hironaka Kenji a knowing look. "As they view their proper place in Existence, our friends are more philosophers than warriors. Still, their martial skills have been as sacred to them as all the troves of history they hoarded over the centuries. They see honing those skills as a way of honouring their ancestors who fought those things. To learn that somehow, such beings survived…!"
Kenji scowled as that message sank in. Despite the differences of their outlook on life — Kenji himself was descent of a samurai clan from Saitama prefecture while Kyōsuke was a top-rank ninjutsu-ka from Miyagi prefecture who was also trained as a Shintō shrine priest — both had the share experience of nearly seventy-one years being entrapped in Sano-wan thanks to an earthquake that struck the region in the early fall of 1941. That dark day in the eyes of all of the crew of what was once Warship No. 797 — fifth of the Yamato-class battleships before conversion to an aircraft carrier which could be more than a match to anything the Allies could have thrown her way — had been still three months shy of Operation Z, where Yonaga would have swept in from Siberia to deliver the brutal coup de grace on the American Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbour. Given the remainder of the First Air Fleet had botched the job if what the only American friend to Yonaga's crew of over twenty-six hundred told them was true…!
Footfalls made both tense before Kyōsuke smiled as a tall, broad-shouldered, blond, blue-eyed Californian sat beside them. "What's the verdict?" Brent Ross asked as he focused on that stained block of mesonium crystal now suspended between the seats where the elders of the Dúma Gamájuna relaxed themselves when they gathered for debate.
"Still up in the air, Brent-san," Kyōsuke mused as Kenji scribbled notes in his pad for review by their admiral once this meeting was over. "You should realize how much of a shock this is to them."
That made the retired intelligence officer nod. "As much of a shock finding you being tucked away here all these years," Brent calmly mused, earning him muffled snickers from Fujita Hiroshi's chief scribe.
Kyōsuke smirked as he patted his friend's knee while recalling that day in 2007, when a fishing crew from Yonaga encountered a sloop navigating the waters of the Chúkchi Sea, piloted by an American sailor in his forties. After the ship — the Memory of Sparta — was captured and the sailor interrogated by American-born Lieutenant Commander Matsuhara Yoshi, it came as a surprise to learn the recently-retired LCDR Brent Ross was the SON of the captain of the steamer Sparta, who sacrificed his life saving others of Yonaga's crew from a winter gale twenty-four years before.
Once Brent was brought aboard the last warship of the Imperial Navy and interrogated by Fujita…!
All three then tensed as something akin to a chilly breeze warped through their bodies. "No…!" Kyōsuke hissed as he focused his mage-sight towards the cave entrance and the mighty warship beyond. "This is NOT your fight, Yonaga-sama!" he added with a touch of ki in his voice as Brent and Kenji placed comforting hands on their shipmate's shoulder. "Hai, these are our friends and adopted family, but the creature that offends them is of another planet…"
"The Seventh One must rise, young seer…"
The officers spun around to see an aged woman draped in silvery feathers gazing with unseeing eyes upon them. "Grandmother, please," Brent calmly stated, bowing his head to the eldest of the Nest of Seers, a woman who had lived for centuries and whose prophecies were seen as holy writ by her own people as well as the majority of Yonaga's crew, including their new shipmate from America. "Much that we're shocked at what Professor Scamander warned you…"
A cackle escaped the blind woman as she focused her mage-sight on the star quarterback of Annapolis' winning team in 1982. "Your head tells you that…but your heart has always wished otherwise, Child of the Land of Angels," the elderly seer — whose name had always escaped Brent — proclaimed as a clawed fingertip tapped his nose playfully. "The continued existence of the alconóst is an affront to ALL the Great Old Ones, not just Master Túndra! That it was the Spirit Ones who saved them from Master Túndra's judgment matters not! While we cannot leave Svjetjjílische even if we trust your brothers of the Wa in protecting our sacred nests, the Seventh One CAN and WILL do so…!"
"Obā-sama, with all respect, there IS a problem," Kyōsuke humorously warned.
"The Great Nest of the Tears of the Stars can resolve that, young sage," the aged seer cackled…
…just as the whole of Sano-wan began to violently quake.
"Oh, SHIT…!" Brent croaked as everyone in the hall tensed…
…right before the crystal that currently held the attention of the Dúma Gamájuna exploded!
Screams filled the room as magical shields that had been used to trap the frozen king taijitu within suddenly and spectacularly failed, allowing the dank two-headed serpentine creature to rear out, hissing with outrage at being trapped within that hideous, burning crystal for so long. As the metamorphic avians who had been examining the Grimm screeched while many transformed to make use of their more devastating attacks, the sucking sounds of people apparating into the vast all made the three normal humans in the cave gasp in stunned disbelief.
"«NOW LET'S SEE YOU CREATURES RUN!»" one middle-aged man screamed in Russian.
"KONTŌ!"
A blazing energy katana emerged from Kyōsuke's hand as the junior navigation officer leapt over, cutting through the head of an elderly witch who had been moving to entrap the blind elder they had been speaking to moments before. Said woman screeched as the burning power of the soulsword ripped her living spirit of her body, sending the lifeless corpse to the hard floor with a thud. As Brent and Kenji drew their Type 14 Nambu 8-millimetre pistols to shoot at the platoon-strength group of magicals who obviously used the alien creature to breach the wards protecting Sano-wan from the outside world, another wizard levelled his wand on Kyōsuke, screaming, "AVÁDA KEDÁVRA!"
The soulsword effortlessly swept about to deflect that green beam of magic into a nearby wall as Kenji levelled his pistol and fired, the bullet catching the wizard in the throat. As he collapsed to the ground, the obvious leader of this invading group of poachers snarled, "«FILTHY MÁGLY! HOW DARE YOU…?!»"
Half his head exploded from a well-aimed shot from Brent's pistol. While the attacking wizards moved to both put down the interfering normals and capture the elders of the Dúma Gamájuna, screams echoed from the entrance as a considerable parliament of gamájun warriors and a division's worth of Yonaga's crew stormed in, spears, katana and Type 99 Arisaka rifles at the ready. Bullets and spells began flying as a general mêlée began, with the magicals being forced away from each other so they couldn't use massed shielding spells to protect them from the storm of 7.7-millimetre bullets being sent their way by the Japanese sailors, who had over seven decades to improve their marksmanship to the point where they could easily outmatch Great War British soldiers using Lee Enfield rifles in "mad minute" competitions. Even more, much to the horror of the poachers, the gleaming swords welded by officers were too strong for even the supposedly-unstoppable Killing Curse from either damaging or destroying them…never mind what Moroboshi Kyōsuke's energy version would do to someone once he got in striking range.
Distant booms then echoed from outside, making Brent hiss. "Oh, fuck! They're flying over the ship!" the intelligence officer snapped on recognizing the deep echo of Yonaga's battery of twinned 12.7 centimetre/40 calibre Type 89 dual purpose guns that served as the carrier's primary defensive armament.
With that, he sprinted out of the cave, with Kenji right behind them. Once clear of the tunnel, the American stopped before he hissed on seeing a virtual AIR FORCE WING of broom and magic carpet flyers currently swarming over the long flight deck of Japan's largest warship. As Yonaga's twenty Type 89s and two hundred-and-ten 25-millimetre Type 96 Model 2Y anti-aircraft cannons turned the roughly cubic kilometre over the 320 x 55 metre flight deck into a zone of pure death for the invading poachers, Brent's eyes searched thoroughly through the sky he could see to get some numbers. "Jesus Christ!" he snapped. "There must be a thousand of those damned stalebloods here now…!"
"WHAT DID YOU CALL US, YANKEE?! KRÚTSIO!"
Brent's body lit up as if he was dumped in acid, waves of pain driving him to his knees as his mind was overwhelmed by such an attack. As Kenji spun around to shoot the attacking wizard, the latter's companion snapped off a stunning spell to knock the scribe down, then he levelled his wand while the one torturing Brent ended the curse. "What in Koschéj's Name is an AMERICAN doing among a ship full of JAPANESE mágly?!" he demanded. "Let's…!"
A finger tapped his shoulder. "Hey, dude! There's a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder!"
That made the wizard perk before turning. "Oh, spasíbo za…!"
KK-KRACK!
Said wizard's companion screamed as the newcomer's left hand whipped around in a backwards slap, the metaphorical power of 17,781 tonnes of nuclear guided missile cruiser striking with such force that the man who had tortured Brent Ross was sent flying at near-sonic speeds into a nearby cliff, the body splattering quite decoratively from the impact. That made the wizard who knocked Hironaka Kenji out of the way level his own wand at her. "AVÁDA KEDÁVRA!"
The bolt of light slammed into the strange woman's side…
…and did nothing.
"Ouch," Naomi Haight-Ashbury mock-crooned as the hapless poacher gaped at her…
…which was enough for Fujita Hiroshi's chief scribe. "TENNŌ HEIKA BANZAI!"
The wizard's head exploded thanks to a shot from Kenji's pistol. "Righteous!" Naomi whooped before she gazed on the carrier. "YO! BIG Y! YOU WANNA PARTY?! NOW'S THE TIME, BIG DUDETTE!"
As a groan escaped Brent while Kenji moved to help him, the very SKY overhead suddenly opened up…
Tene lomher'buo, Itō Yoiko…!
"NO!" the screaming voice of Moroboshi Kyōsuke echoed from the cave as the navigation officer sprinted out to try to wave off what was happening. "YONAGA-SAMA, WAIT…!"
Then the whole of the basin was lit up in blinding light!
Nesu…GAEYUO!
People seeing this all screamed…
…just as the ground near Brent heaved when the metaphorical weight of an 86,010 tonne armoured aircraft carrier made human crashed down, such now in the form of a VERY tall Japanese woman of about thirty, with well-defined muscles, the eyes of a raging typhoon and long black hair in a low ponytail peppered by streaks of silver. She walked out of the light to approach the transformed missile cruiser, her gait proud and determined. As Kyōsuke, Kenji and the recovering Brent stared in shock on seeing such a being now appear before them — draped somewhat traditionally in a green martial arts gi-like uniform with grey belt and boots under the bell bottom trousers, a Wheel of Dharmachakra printed in gold under her V-neck collar in the cleavage of her well-shaped breasts, that ultimate symbol of Buddhism embossed with the classically-scripted kanji 代永 in black vertical formation framing the wheel's hub — the woman's eyes then focused directly on the green orbs of Naomi Haight-Ashbury for a moment.
Seeing that instantly reminded the three officers of the way their admiral always stared at someone when the veteran of Tsushima wanted to know the whole story about something.
Then…
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"When were you struck?"
The sailors jolted on hearing that steely, moaning voice escape the being that just appeared in their midst…while in the background, ALL of Yonaga's over twenty-six hundred officers and men found themselves standing on the shores of the bay that had trapped their great ship for nearly seventy-one years, all looking around in understandable confusion at their change of circumstances. In the sky overhead, the attacking magicals were literally frozen in place, unable to move, use spells or escape, trapped there by the sheer power of two incredible warships made not only human…
…but METAHUMAN!
"Monday, the first of May in 1995. The Seventh Year of Heisei."
Hearing that, the Ice Warrior of Eternity just named by the living sentience of the Great Crystal of Power on a planet 228 light years from Earth allowed an eyebrow to arch, which made the Cosmic All-Seer snicker. "Oi! Lock those phasers on the squares trying to steal your sky, Big Y!" Naomi said as she pointed up behind Itō Yoiko.
The newly-transformed and Gifted seventh carrier of Operation Z blinked, then she gazed on her current captives. Said people also being held in place by the transformed nuclear cruiser now at her side, she quickly sensed. "I trust you have a strong stomach, Long Beach-dono." Hearing that, Brent gaped on recognizing the name of the ship he sailed on during the Gulf War as an analyst from the Office of Naval Intelligence detached to local fleet commanders, that making him turn to gaze wide-eyed on Naomi. As he was quick to notice the standard stadium ring-shaped badge of a warship of the United States Navy over her heart, the just-transformed fifth of the Yamato-class added, "I care not for STALEBLOODS attacking my crew or their families. My sincerest thanks for holding them fast for interrogation."
The cruiser snorted. "They used the crystal carrying that king taijitu here as a tracking beacon. Wipe out the Dúma, kill all the adults and kidnap all the chicks to be their personal sex dolls."
Suddenly, those grey eyes light up like twin suns. "EXCUSE ME?!"
"Master Túndra desires this, Seventh One!"
Both shipgirls turned to see the elderly seer that Kyōsuke, Brent and Kenji had been speaking to earlier now come out of the cave, she supported by two of Yoiko's seamen guards. As the groups of Japanese sailors closest to where their transformed ship now stood approached her, the cackling sage then held up a glistening curved sword dotted with ruby mesonium crystals, it in a sheath of pure ironwood with diamond mesonium bracing to keep it from being harmed.
"A sháshka?" Yoiko mused as the seer floated the sword over, she partially unsheathing it. "Forged in one of my own metalworking shops by your granddaughter as I recall, Obā-sama." Gracefully bowing to her, she then leapt into the air and charged right at the largest cluster of broom riders, with Naomi right behind her.
Naturally, the normal people at the head of the bay could only gape in understandable awe…before Kenji found his voice. "What happens to the mission now?" he weakly asked.
"That's for the admiral to decide, Kenji-san," Kyōsuke wearily warned, shaking his head…
To Be Continued…!
WRITER'S NOTES
Translation list and source language (all Russian unless noted): Továrisch — Comrade/Adventuring companion; Akadémik — Academician, a member of a scientific academy; Dvojúrodnaja Bábushka — Great-Grandmother; Kuláki — Literally "tightfisted", the term is used here to indicate magical purebloods in Russia; Volshébnaja Dúma — Magical Dúma, the equivalent of Britain's Wizengamot; Ministérstvo Mágicheskikh Del Rossíjskaja Federátsii — Ministry of Magical Affairs of the Russian Federation (short-formed MMD); Giri — Duty/Obligation/Burden of Obligation; Ninjō — Human Emotion/Compassion; Tokubetsu Kōgekitai — Special Attack Unit, the official term for the Kamikaze that flew in defence of Japan in the last years of World War Two (all three Japanese); Pjotr Velíkij — Peter the Great, the title normally applied to one of the greatest of Russia's emperors, Pjotr Alekséevich Románov, who reigned from 1682-1725; Mágly — Plural of magl ("muggle"); Krútsio — Russian pronunciation of Crucio (the incantation for the Cruciatus Curse); Spasíbo za…! — Thanks for…!; Tennō Heika Banzai — Literally "Long Live His Majesty the Heavenly Sovereign", the battle cry often used by Imperial Japanese soldiers and sailors.
The term isles of Sawaiki used here refer to the Hawai'ian Islands; the term "Sawaiki" is derived from the proto-Polynesian term meaning "homeland".
The term fifteenth year of Genroku refers to the year 1702, when the Forty-Seven Rōnin avenged the death of their late lord Asano Naganori on the man who provoked that death, Kira Yoshinaka. The tale of the Forty-Seven was popularized in Japanese culture over the following centuries as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence and honour that people should preserve in their daily lives. Naturally, this tale was one of the main influences on…
The tale of Tennō Heika Gunkan Yonaga (hull number KB-11; the hull classification code KB means Kōkū Bokan [aircraft carrier]) — who, in human form, gains the name Itō Yoiko — and her astonishingly long-lived crew are based on the novel The Seventh Carrier by the late Peter Albano, plus the series of sequel stories that were written from 1983-1996. This series of dime store action-adventure novels may have not been well-written and had plot holes within it that one could sail Yonaga herself through, but they inspired Fred in the early years of his own fan fiction writing, leading up to the first appearance of a shipgirl version of THG Yonaga in various other stories and snippets he wrote for other KanColle fanfic series, culminating in The Seventh Shipgirl.
The tales of what Japanese shipgirls call the Ryūseizen are covered in Fred's Magic and Canada.
The old kingdoms of Remnant referred by Qrow Branwen can be found on a fan map of the planet done by FiredArt and modified by RedRumSprinkes. Such can be found via a search in Google using "kingdoms of Remnant".
The reason that three of the Fubuki-class destroyers who have not appeared in this or the main story — THG Shinonome (Fukushima Shiroko), THG Usugumo (Fukushima Suzuki) and THG Shirakumo (Fukushima Shinobu) — is because, at the time of the first draft of this story being written, they had yet to be made playable characters in Kantai Collection. Suzuki first appears in Part 30 of Boy Meets Girl Meets Metahuman. As Shinobu has only been recently introduced into KanColle (during the Summer 2023 upgrades), she will eventually make an appearance in the stories following BMGMM. As to when Shiroko will appear, that is unknown.
Seventh Carrier character notes: Admiral Fujita Hiroshi appeared in the first story, as did Lieutenant Hironaka Kenji and then-Ensign Brent Ross. Lieutenant Commander Matsuhara Yoshi first appeared in the first sequel story, The Second Voyage of the Seventh Carrier. Lieutenant Moroboshi Kyōsuke and Seaman Fujisaki Tomohisa first appeared in Fred's fanfic story The Angels of the Era of Eternity.
The concept of the Tenchiaiki Jūkazoku ("Ten Harmonious Clans of Heaven and Earth") was first introduced in Fred's story Lonely Souls.
The term Sháshka literally means "long knife". This is the Russian translation of a western Circassian term applied to a model of sharp, single-edged, curved and guard-less backswords used by horsemen of the various Cossack tribes that once ruled the areas of modern-day southern Russia and Ukraine.