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Patch Island, the Rose/Xiǎo Lóng farm, Gayangkie 54 Treichleam, two hours after breakfast (Tōkyō time: Wednesday 4 April, two hours before midnight)…
Yáng Xiǎo Lóng shuddered lightly as she felt a warm body press against her from the left, the mixed breathing/purring of the woman she had been falling deeply in love with since they had come together as part of Team RWBY tickling her ear to the point where a delighted smile crossed the blonde fighter's face. What was even better, there was ANOTHER source of mixed breathing/purring coming at her from her right, a body just as warm and snuggly as Blake Belladonna's often felt to her whenever the pair had spent some time exploring their growing sexuality — away from the somewhat-still innocent Ruby Rose and the often VERY uptight Weiss Schnee, of course! — made Yáng growl in delight as she used her right arm to pull…
Eh?
Hey, wait a minute…!
She had her arm cut off from above the elbow by that arrogant prick Adam Taurus…!
Er…!
Ah…!
Uh…!
A throaty purr escaped from Yáng's right as she opened her eyes to see a dusky-skinned woman leaning into her field of vision, said face pierced by golden-brown eyes possessing feline slits for irises, such topped and framed by perky cat ears on the temples peeking out from reddish-tinged, grey-black shaggy hair. "Good morning, Yáng," Monica Khan meowed before leaning in.
The kiss Yáng got from the niece of the White Fang's current leader was full of passion and desire, shearing past the blonde's automatic reluctance when it came to cheating on her girlfriend — especially when said girlfriend was lying in THE SAME BED with her and this lovely vision of feline Faunus now kissing her! — to make her stick out her tongue into the other woman's mouth and allow them to explore each other's teeth. Yáng then got a tongue probing into her left ear, making her squeal as she felt a welcome heat grow in various naughty places all over her body, many of which Blake damned hell knew how to…
"Dame desu no! No pillow scenes! Yáng-san is still wounded!"
All three girls screamed on hearing that voice, they then bolting up to reveal all were naked under the covers…
…before Yáng then focused on a girl whom she'd initially swear was a feline Faunus herself — quite younger than she or either of her current companions — before said newcomer moved to place a tea-and-cake service on the nightstand beside Blake.
"Honestly!" the mauve-haired newcomer with the very cute brown eyes — she had a black bowtie in her hair, such fastened to resemble cat ears — tsked as she gave the three older girls a knowing look. "Hai, Hime understand that Blake-san and Yáng-san are pillow scene partners and Monica-sensei wants to be pillow scene partners with both of you! But Yáng-san is still wounded and needs to find her spiritual centre again after what that awful Adam-san did! You have some tea and cakes that Little Hime made for you while Hime prepares a nice brunch for all of you! Oobleck-hakase and Port-hakase will be here this afternoon to give Yáng-san lessons in having her semblance and Aura work with the prosthetic Isaac-san made for her, so you need energy!"
With that, the Great Chef of the West walked out of the bedroom. Yáng blinked as she took that in, then stared questioningly at her partner; she had been quick to notice the younger woman's sleeved deep purple uniform with the picnic basket-like insignia over her heart. "Okay, is that a superhero or a supervillain on this Yiziba planet?" she wondered.
The daughter of the founder of the White Fang groaned. "She's seen as neutral, Yáng. Shirayuki's a trofikinetic; she can go and transform any form of matter into food." As a look of surprise crossed her host's face — being a fan of local comic books, Yáng had never heard of a character with THAT power — Blake added, "Believe me, her first-self was a hell of a saviour in the Dawn of Power and the Starvation Times." She then shook her head. "Shit! You gotta learn ALL of this to really understand…!"
Monica chuckled as she slipped out from under the covers, making Yáng's head visibly snap over as her eyes drank in such a gorgeous vision. Perfect dark-furred skin with sensual striping in ALL the right places…! Meow! the blonde kinetic manipulator breathed out before slowly turning to stare into her girlfriend's amber eyes. "You chose ME after leaving THIS?!"
That made Blake sigh as her ears drooped. "You suffered for me…!"
"Oi! Oi! OI!" Yáng cut in, throwing up both her hands…then she stopped on noticing that's she had slept with her prosthetic arm and hand attached to her body. "Damn…!" she breathed out as she squeezed that mechanism's fingers into a fist.
Monica smiled as she picked up the belt buckle of her fighting suit — such had been made to disappear when the two Gifted girls got into bed with the wounded huntress — then placed it on her navel while tapping it with her index finger. In a flow of what seemed to be a type of cold plasma, her suit formed around her body, complete with a hooded cape that she secured the previous evening from Isaac Thomas as a way of protecting her; such a cloak had close-range shielding protectors which would deflect most forms of energy and low physical attacks out to two metres from her person. Seeing that, Yáng whistled before she blinked as she noted the insignia over the darker-skinned woman's heart. "What does THAT supposed to mean?" she asked, pointing.
Monica looked down. "The emblem of my first-self's school when she empowered herself during the Dawn of Power," she explained. "In our language, it would be called 'Putayana University'. Mistress Nameta Taam — that was her birth-name — was both a healer and a husbandress; the latter means she knew how to deal with animals on places like a farm."
"Monica's a touch-biokinetic healer now," Blake added as she also slipped out from under the covers, reaching for her own fighting suit's belt buckle to get dressed. "Did you try to see if you could regrow Yáng's arm?"
As Yáng gaped, Monica shook her head. "Too little mesonium in the atmosphere, too much of that naquadah garbage around for me to manipulate in lieu of drawing on Yáng's fatty tissue," she lamented. "It'd be the same for Amy if she tried, Blake."
The other woman nodded as her body was cloaked by the black-and-dark grey jumpsuit she received on her Gifting the previous afternoon. Looking at that, Yáng whistled. "Damn! You're as much a stealth warrior as what're in those books you love!"
"Oh, yes…and more!" the native of Menagerie meowed playfully as she reached over to the tea service to hand a cup over. "Anyhow, let's get some food into us. Believe me, Shirayuki's cooking is really first rate!"
"That it is," her countrywoman purred…
An hour later…
"Are you SURE you don't need us back at the house, Dad?"
Tàiyáng Xiǎo Lóng took a deep breath before he smiled in reassurance at his youngest daughter's image on his scroll. Ruby Rose and the members of her new team were now on the main travel route leading east from Vale City to the Central Highway that connected both the northeastern and southwestern ends of Sanus. That road would allow Team RNJR to make their way to Jaune Arc's hometown of Radian, which was about halfway between Vale and Lutetia in the territory of the lost kingdom of Gallia, one of many such polities that had fallen in the wake of the Great War over eight decades before. As had been planned quickly by Ruby, Jaune, Nora Valkyrie and Liè Ren, they would take a ship from Lutetia and make their way over to Anima to continue their journey to Mistral City. Sadly, given how seaborne Grimm haunted the waters of Remnant, voyages by sea had to be short-range trips for safety reasons, so the new team couldn't sail directly to Mistral City itself on the eastern shores of Anima, thus demanding an overland crossing from a port on the west coast closest of Sanus like the village of Silvershield, the last remnant of an alliance of coastal trade cities which helped contribute heavily to maritime trade before the Great War.
Of course, given that the East Vale Road passed near the Forever Fall Forest…
"No, things are fine, Ruby. Relax," the veteran of Team STRQ declared, waving the younger woman down. While he was more than sure that Ruby and her friends had taken shelter at one of the frequent automated help centres on the East Road the previous evening — such places were unmanned but kept fully stocked by volunteers from Vale to ensure that travellers could be at peace in case of roving Grimm packs — the sheer level of destruction ten VERY powerful metahumans unleashed on the whole of the Forever Fall had been quite LOUD and very VISIBLE from all over west-central Sanus. Fortunately for his sense of concern about his daughter, Tàiyáng knew there was no direct path that led into the Forever Fall from the East Road, so Ruby and her friends wouldn't have got quite the eyeful of what people born of a certain planet some distance away — never mind the whole thing about these girls being human-form divine spirits born from WARSHIPS of all things! — could unleash. "You remember Isaac, don't you?" At the chorus of nods and grins from Ruby and her companions, he said, "One of the things he told me his people have been doing is developing area-effect weapons to deny Grimm any sort of forest cover to make destroying them easier. Given that so many of his workers were hired from refugees from nearby cities abandoned to the Grimm…!"
"They basically overdid it," Nora finished for the older man.
"That they did, Nora. Personally, I think the only people who might complain are those researchers who want to understand the properties of Red Sap. Fortunately, Isaac has samples of the stuff, so that'll tide them over until Nature runs its course."
Ruby nodded. "Yeah! It's good that Isaac's done so much for Vale since he and his people came from Vacuo. It's too bad that he hasn't developed his own semblance. He'd be one awesome huntsman once he got trained!"
Tàiyáng laughed. "Well, some people are meant for different things, Ruby. Anyhow, you guys have a long journey ahead of you, so don't let me stop you. Call back when you camp out for the night."
"We should make the Centre Highway turnoff before the end of day, sir," Ren reassured him. "Jaune's already got several calls from his mother demanding that he get himself over to Radian as soon as possible."
"We're not sure that it's because Aunt Isabel wants to ground him to Eternity or get him married to Ruby here!" Nora added.
"HEY!" both Ruby and Jaune yelped.
Tàiyáng laughed before footfalls echoed from nearby. "'Morning, girls!" he called out to his left.
Sure enough, his older daughter and her two sleeping companions walked over to step into the scroll's camera range. Both Blake Belladonna and Monica Khan were now in normal civilian clothing; they had replacement clothes beamed over via the Normandy from Renaissance Industries just in case the former's team leader called in and got curious. "Hey, Rubes! Vomit Boy! Renny! Nora! See the light show last night?!" Yáng Xiǎo Lóng called out as she stood behind her father, placing both her intact arm and her prosthetic on Tàiyáng's shoulders. "Crazy what Isaac and his brainiacs can make up, huh?!"
The members of Team RJNR all seemed to visibly relax. "So, how's the new arm, Yáng?" Jaune gently asked.
An amused chuckle answered him as the energy manipulator raised the prosthetic and did some complicated arm movements with it, earning awed whistles from Ruby and her new team. "Lucky for me that General Ironwood's medics guessed I'd be getting something like this. When they did first aid on me, they fitted the cybernetic links to let me use this thing right away. Feels almost like my original arm!" She then gazed upon Monica. "Monica tried using her healing semblance on me…"
"But amputations are quite beyond my capabilities, unfortunately," the niece of the White Fang's current leader admitted.
Ruby beamed. "Well, I wish we could have met in person before we headed off, Monica!" Here, she shrugged. "But Professor Ozpin wanted this relic that Professor Lionheart is looking after kept safe from Cinder and her creeps, so we had to get going."
"We'll try to catch up to you as soon as we can, Ruby," Blake assured her. "You stay safe, alright."
A determined smile answered the native of Menagerie. "We're combat capable as Penny always said it!" Ruby assured her friend before the smile turned wistful. "I just hope that Penny's father can put her back together again. That was so awful…"
"I've heard of the family name, Ruby," Monica declared. "Professor Pietro Polendina is one of Atlas' top cybernetics experts." She then indicated Yáng. "The implants Yáng received after Adam attacked her were designed by him."
That made Ruby beam. "Oh, that's good! Maybe when Weiss comes back from Atlas, Penny will be back on her feet again."
Tàiyáng held up a hand. "We'll try to contact them, but with the CCT tower still down…"
"We'll give it a try once we're in Lutetia since it's much closer to Atlas, sir," Jaune declared before a wry grin crossed his face. "If we can all make it there as one group, of course…" he added with a tired mutter.
Wry chuckles escaped the others listening in on this…
Minutes later…
"So, what the fuck's this bullshit about keeping your kid blind about Yiziba?"
Tàiyáng Xiǎo Lóng perked on hearing that question before turning as a certain lavender-haired reborn warship spirit walked up to join him on the upper floor veranda to gaze out over the eastern expanse of Patch Island and the small stretch of water separating that island from Vale City proper. "It's Ruby's special power, Akemi. She has Silver Eyes."
The Orchid Nova blinked on sensing the emphasis on those words. Thanks to shipgirls being what parahuman fans often called "noctis capes", they didn't really have the need to sleep the same amount as normal humans did. This allowed Ashikaga Akemi to make use of her new "secure communications suite" — a very specific form of telepathic communication — to get caught up on the two weeks and more of speed learning which her older half-sisters had to undergo concerning the situation they found themselves in. With that came detailed briefings on all forms of metahuman abilities. "Sort of like my photokinetic abilities?"
"Specially gifted to deal with Grimm in large numbers. Her late mother Summer had the same power," he affirmed before pointing towards the distant escarpment where Beacon Academy stood. "See that thing latched onto the tall transmission tower there? That's a wyvern, one of the most powerful Grimm to exist. Ruby burned it with her eyes when her powers awoke the night Cinder Fall's forces attacked. According to Glynda, the thing was hurt so badly that when Lady Ayumu spread the mist dandelions Neville Longbottom brought here to help shield the city from the Grimm, it began to melt immediately."
Akemi hummed. "Hell, I can burn away the rest of that in just a minute." Here, the adopted Ōsaka-jin turned around to lean against the protective rail, looking inside to see Osamu Shirayuki — now aided by Fukushima Shirayuki — move to feed Tàiyáng's elder daughter and her intimate friends. "Still don't get why you're leaving your kid out in the open like that."
He grimaced. "She's being used as bait."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
Akemi's eyes slightly glowed with outrage. "And you're OKAY with that…?!"
"No!" he snapped. "I'll NEVER be okay with that!" Gazing at her, he then took a deep breath. "But like it or not, Ruby now has a BIG target on her head, Akemi. When I fully learned about Salem from Ozpin, I realized why I lost my second wife like I did." At her curious look, Tàiyáng added, "Salem makes it a particular point to seek out huntresses with Silver Eyes. I've heard some real horror stories over what happened to people with that power when someone took them down. Having one's eyes cut out ALONE…!" he spat out, making Akemi grimace with understanding. "So, NO! I'd never want to see Ruby suffer like that! But…" Here, he took a deep breath. "Isaac and Shirayuki's sister Fujiko agreed that with people like you now, 'divisions' of ship spirits would scout ahead unseen by Ruby and her friends. If someone shows up to attack them…"
Akemi blinked before she nodded. "Oh, I get it. We'd be a silent escort for them as they get this thing from this guy over in Mistral town. They'd act normal so the old witch doesn't wise up while things in Vale get fixed up…"
"Which, hopefully, will force Salem to chose which way she wishes to go. Keep after Ruby or try on Vale again." Here, Tàiyáng held up a finger. "Especially if and when she finds out her old husband is still ALIVE!"
The reborn seventh of her class of fleet destroyers scowled as she considered that…
Vale, Renaissance Industries Headquarters, an hour later (Anádyr time: Thursday, after midnight)…
"So, Isaac found a way to learn potential futures with the help of this Haruhi girl from near Kōbe, then passed it on to you?"
"Indeed, he did, Commander Ashikaga," Shannon Ozpin declared as he placed a plate of cookies before Ashikaga Akemi, both relaxing in the cafeteria which had been the scene of Penny Polendina's and Coco Abel's Giftings over the last couple of days. Sipping his tea, the Undying Warrior Sage breathed out. "I don't like forcing Miss Rose out into the open like that with my former wife aware of her abilities but given what you girls showed you can do last night in the Forever Fall, I doubt we'd need a destroyer division — that's four shipgirls, isn't it? — to keep watch on Team RNJR for their trip to Mistral." On seeing the adopted Ōsaka-jin nod, he sighed. "Hopefully, it won't take long. Sadly, even with my experiences dealing with Salem…"
"Bitch is still keeping a lot of things close to her chest, huh?"
"Exactly."
The Orchid Nova considered that before breathing out, crossing her arms. "Well, from what I saw last night after my division caught up with Mayako and the others, these things surge out of pools full of that naquadah shit that the lar'beke used to fuel their ships and weapons when they attacked Yiziba, forcing the-then Doc Destructo to build these new hulls for me and the others." She waved to herself in emphasis before a keen look crossed her face. "Glad that I got the memories of the synthezoid mind put into this hull when it was built to wreck their ships and eat the damned things!" As Ozpin winced — he experienced several encounters with the "children of the gods" over his long lifetime, so he could understand how the second incarnation of Yiziba's first metahuman would direct her creations to be so near-cannibalistic when it came to the Goa'uld — Akemi shrugged. "I heard from the others that the Yanks have a Stargate of their own to use to explore planets that the Anquietas hooked up to their local network; one of the teams their air force send through the thing actually took out the head snake four years ago."
"Ra's gone?!" he demanded. "Oh, praise the Fates!" A scowl then crossed his face. "So, who would be…?"
"It's a tossup between Apophis and a few others, Professor. Good afternoon, Akemi."
"Yo!" the photokinetic waved as the Wise Lone Sage walked up to join them from the direction of his office.
He wasn't alone. "Welcome back to Remnant, Miss Vanille," Ozpin greeted the forlorn Neopolitan, making her blink with surprise on being addressed by her birth name, an identity she had effectively cast aside five years ago after she began to partner with Roman Torchwick full-time and cut all ties to the one place in Vale City where she had learned most of her tricks as a mercenary. Before she could say or do anything, his hands felt gently on her shoulders. "You have my deepest condolences at your loss, Neo. Much that I wouldn't really approve of what you and Roman did since you joined forces, your group did bring a sort of — stability, shall I say? — to the underworld here in Vale City. I trust your training with the Amon Clan is going well," he then said before moving over to the nearby kitchenette to prepare some tea for both her and Isaac Thomas.
The two moved to sit at the table Akemi was at, with Neo taking up a cookie to nibble on. "Well…" she muttered, making Ozpin stare in shock at her. "My semblance is getting worked overtime healing me from all the training I've done."
The older man blinked before he chuckled. "You have your voice back!" he declared, making her blush as he finished preparing the tea. "Yes, I knew of some things concerning what your late parents were up to while you were growing up. Much that I don't care for what the Spider Group was doing as they extended their operations here from Mistral, what your father could have done would have made things worse, not better. Beatrix Browning's training was superior as you yourself have certainly demonstrated many times; still, I think that Roman's influence on you did you better." Carrying the teacups over, he placed them before Neo and Isaac before picking up his own up in a toast. "To Roman Torchwick. A rogue, but a gentleman rogue at that."
Akemi joined in the toast. "Sort of like Al Capone over in America, Isaac?"
The New Yorker nodded as Ozpin sat down. "Pretty much so. Though I think Neo here should take credit for that." At Neo's blush, he sipped his tea again. "Hinako-chan promised me she'd go look for your other sisters as soon as she gets up later this morning in Japan, Akemi. I don't know if we can keep doing this with the destroyers before someone notices…"
"Go for the subs," the Ōsaka-jin immediately proposed.
"'Subs'?" Neo asked before she perked. "Oh, the submarines, you mean! Undersea boats!"
Ozpin shook his head. "Vessels that travel underwater?" At Isaac's nod, he hummed. "We've never developed that sort of thing given how many types of maritime Grimm exist. How would a — subgirl, shall we say? — become Gifted?"
Isaac and Akemi considered that for a moment before the latter chuckled. "They'd be able to cloak themselves."
The former nodded. "Good point…"
"Cloaking ability?" Neo asked before nodded. "Yeah, that would be a good power to have. They'd have the powers that the Healer gave their new bodies when she created them to chow down on the lar'beke, too."
"Any prominent ones we should send young Hinako after first?" Ozpin asked.
"I-19."
Eyes locked on the Orchid Nova. "Iku, you mean?" Isaac wondered before pulling up his field PAA. At Akemi's questioning look, he winked at her. "The number '19' in goroawase, Akemi-chan. In the universe where your human name comes from, all the Japanese subgirls who answered the call to go after the Abyssals — even one of the Type IX U-boats who came over to Japan, plus a Marconi-class girl from Italy — all got nicknames based on goroawase readings of their pennant numbers." At the adopted Ōsaka-jin's nod, he hummed as information flashed up on a holographic screen, including a map. "Okay, Shōko-san — that's the name Tariko's counterpart gave her, Narahara Shōko — was sunk by USS Radford not far from Makin Atoll in modern-day Kiribati. That's in Lord Samiloluto's general domain; I wonder if sending Hinako-chan out that way may cause a reaction?"
"And Samiloluto is…?" Ozpin wondered.
"The 'Lord of the Deep' as he's known throughout the southwest Pacific Ocean, Professor," the younger man responded, making Akemi blanch. "Yes, THAT Lord of the Deep, Akemi. He's Lord Napaaqtuqarunnanngittuq's peer from the time of the End War against the Old Ones." As the Orchid Nova nodded in understanding — after being briefed on the Seventh Carrier of Operation Z by a stunned Fukushima Fujiko after she had been rebuilt and Gifted, she understood who THAT was — he trilled. "Wouldn't surprise me that all the Great Old Ones are now aware of what's going on. I've no idea how they're able to communicate with each other; nothing the magicals anywhere on Earth have ever tried to detect any sort of communications between them was able to work." He then sighed. "Of course, given they're all beings born of the Power Jewel's influence on Earth's biosphere…"
"Only ones who'd be able to 'hear' them would be Rjazán'-sama, von Taserich-taishō and Raeburn-shihan," Akemi finished.
"Most likely."
Neo blinked. "Was there ever one of the Power Jewels put here on Remnant?"
Isaac blinked in turn before gazing on Ozpin. "I've never heard of such a device," the latter admitted.
The New Yorker hummed…
Junior's Cabaret in the industrial sector of Vale, that moment…
"You're one of those girls who burned down the Forever Fall Forest last night."
Hearing that comment from her current host, Fukushima Miyuki — who had shifted her battlesuit to the traditional sleeved format, sensing that this bar/dance hall effectively demanded more formal clothing — blinked before she sipped her strawberry sunrise; she heard through Blake Belladonna that such was Yáng Xiǎo Lóng's favourite nightclub drink, which could help as a sort of icebreaker when meeting with the head of the Xióng Family. "Yeah, had to work out the muscles 'cause of something bad my sisters and I found out last night," the adopted Maizuru-jin breathed out. "Real target-rich environment we found."
Gazing at this brunette tomboy whom he'd swear was a Mistralite like himself, Hēi Xióng — or "Junior" as he was commonly referred by to differentiate him from his late father — then smirked knowingly. "Lots of people working for Isaac Thomas started telling some crazy stories after that whole insanity on Gaysaw evening when that Fall bitch and her pals from the White Fang decided to flood the city with Grimm. Especially with little flowers drifting around town and melting the damned things the instant they touched them." His smile then widened. "Heard of how even Thomas was able to BEAT the shit out of Adam Taurus of all things WITHOUT a semblance or an aura power at that," he wryly added. "Believe me, all the Faunus in Vale save for the real fanatics are more than grateful for what the man did. Taurus is a fucking pig even if he is a cow in looks."
The Cosmic Blizzard chuckled before sipping her drink. "You're an intelligence officer."
That made Xióng gape before he chuckled. "So, the other rumour's true as well."
"Depends on the rumour."
"That among the people from this Yiziba planet that Thomas got his semblance/aura thing that makes him so smart — the same planet where the One Above the Gods hailed from — are living ship spirits made into beautiful girls like you," he said as he gave her a knowing look. As Miyuki nodded in confirmation, he took a deep breath. "How's Yáng?" he quietly asked.
She was quick to sense the honest concern in his voice. "She's recovering on her farm out Patch way. Blake-san's with her, not to mention Monica Khan-sensei." As Xióng nodded — he could sense the meaning behind the "sensei" term applied to the niece of the White Fang's current leader — she added, "Isaac-san got her a prosthetic to tide her over before he'd move to offer to get her Gifted. Blake-san, Monica-sensei and Coco-san are Gifted now." Noting his curious look, she added, "You keep your semblance and aura abilities, but get an extra power — plus the memories of many people who used the same power set over the generations — when you're Gifted, so there's no need to go to a school for metahumans; there're a few of those on Earth."
He nodded, fighting down the sense of unreality at the idea that this nice kid with the deadly cryokinetic powers was an honest-to-Oum alien of all things; as he noted beforehand, she'd fit perfectly with his ancestors' relatives back in Mistral! "Heard from some fence-sitters among the Faunus that they've gotten calls from Cinder Fall's flunkies about what happened when they hit Beacon," he warned. "None of them have spilled the beans yet. You should be warned that one of Fall's flunkies is Marcus Black's kid; he was a hell of an assassin back in his day and from what I saw in the Vytal Festival, Mercury Black is a chip off the old man's block. If they keep getting stonewalled, Mercury's going to make someone squeal blood sooner or later."
"We'll try to get more shipgirls here as soon as we can," she assured him…
…before her PAA buzzed. "Hai, Miyuki here!" she called out after pulling the device from her belt pocket.
"It's me, Miyuki-dono," a grave woman's voice answered.
Instantly, she stiffened. "Sempai…?!"
"Calm yourself," the seventh carrier of Operation Z called back from her personal cave in Sano-wan; while none of the destroyer shipgirls had gone to that location in northeast Siberia to meet their spiritual flagship — doing such being quite ridiculously easy for any of them thanks to one's PAA and its near-galactic range, hyperwarp teleportation ability — they had a good idea about what had happened to the woman now called Itō Yoiko and her crew. "To alert the local ninkyō dantai before there might be issues with this Spider group who are also active in Vale, Neopolitan-dono has briefly returned from training with the Amon-ichizoku to retrieve Torchwick-dono's remains and have them buried there." As Miyuki quickly noted that Xióng was blushing at hearing his group addressed as "chivalrous" thanks to the translation functions of her jumpsuit, the Ice Warrior of Eternity added, "Given Neo-san's break long ago from the Spider organization, is there a threat to her she should be wary of?"
The adopted native of Maizuru looked at her host. He grimaced as he considered that before humming. "That's a hard one to make a call on, ma'am," he then admitted, inwardly wondering who and what he was talking to. "Sure, Old Lady Malachite is keeping an eye on things here in Vale — and who knows where her daughters might be with all the cleanup happening here; they're her main enforcers here, but haven't been seen since Gaysaw — but they'll want to get their licks on Neo hard…"
"Boss!" one of his junior bartenders called out.
Xióng's head snapped up towards the entrance before a curse escaped him, making Miyuki look over. "That them?"
"Melanie and Miltia," he breathed out…
"So, how do we break this sort of info to Mommy Dearest, sis?" Miltia Malachite wondered as she and her sister Melanie made their way over to their normally reserved booth set off to one side of the main dance area of Junior's.
The two sat down, then perked as a waitress came over to get their order. Once they were alone, Melanie sat back in her chair. "Honestly, how DOES one break that sort of news, Mil?" the twenty-something with the straight black hair who made use of blade-augmented high-heel boots — she called then "Dancing Spikes" — breathed out. "Finding out that the Faunus' big belief about someone who took down the Two Brothers of all the gods ever to live is REAL? That there are aliens now interested in our little planet?! And that they want to help exterminate the Grimm?!" She shrugged before perking as the waitress came back with their drinks; one thing one could always say about Hēi Xióng's establishment was that the service was truly first-rate.
Miltia nodded as she sipped her own drink, making sure her glove-mounted battle claws — to her, "Heart Piercers" — didn't scrape the table or the glass holding her booze. "Still, we got to tell Mommy Dearest something, Mel," she warned. "What those girls did to the Forever Fall was just too damned LOUD! I thought this Thomas guy wanted to keep things on the down-low."
Melanie chuckled. "Hard to do that after he mopped the floor with Adam Taurus of all people!" she wryly stated. Seeing the scroll video of THAT little encounter on Gayatit morning had been quite the eyeopener to the two well-trained mercenaries. Yes, they had worked hard to develop their shared twin semblance — which they called "Snow Blood" — while they attended the Lady Browning's Preparatory School for Girls near the Vale city dockyards years before, refining it further while in the field. Such training helped them hold their own against the likes of Yáng Xiǎo Lóng of all people when she visited Junior's looking for a missing girl; yeah, the heavy hitter of Team RWBY had defeated them, but given who Yáng's rumoured mother was…!
In comparison to that, the man who had founded Renaissance Industries which had become Vale City's largest Faunus-majority employer had NO semblance NOR Aura; all he had used in his fight with Adam Taurus was a beautiful energy sword, well-honed close quarters combat skills and a touch of his advanced tech to humiliate the field leader of the White Fang…and did it in front of his old girlfriend to boot! Given the fact that the militant side of the White Fang had allied with people who gladly allowed Grimm to flood the city of Vale in AIRSHIP FLEET loads, neither of the Malachite sisters — to say anything of the vast majority of Valean citizens, human and Faunus alike — were feeling in any way charitable towards Taurus and his fanatics.
That a supposedly NORMAL man had taken him down, alien or not…!
Melanie hummed. "Think he's hiring?"
Miltia blinked. "Who? Thomas?"
"Yeah," the older sister affirmed with a nod. "According to some of our old classmates working for RI now…" — all of whom probably knew the sisters' affiliation to the Spider Group, though were willing to let some things get into the open — "…Thomas got some honest-to-Oum WIZARD to come here and spread those dandelion things all over town which killed Grimm wholesale. Never mind he having friends clean out whatever Marcus Black's brat and his friends pumped into the city's defences to drop every protection the town has against those damned things." She shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, Mil. I'm supporting Mom no matter what. But there are things that go above working for family, you know." At Miltia's nod, Melanie sipped her drink. "I want to be on the winning side, especially against people who want to burn everything down to the bedrock."
That made the woman with the curlier black hair laugh. "Yeah, burn it to the bedrock!" she hissed out. "Like those girls did to the Forever Fall last night. Did you see that one with those sun eyes?! A whole MOUNTAIN smoked with ONE LOOK…!"
Both girls giggled as Melanie did a scan around the room; even at this time of day, Junior's was a busy establishment since it catered to shift workers as much as provided a place for young people to gather in the evenings to have a good time dancing after school or other studies. As she focused on the area of the main bar, she then stopped. "Oh, Oum! I can't believe it…!"
"What?" Miltia wondered before looking herself, then her jaw dropped. "Holy shit, no way…!"
"That's one of the ice-users from last night!"
"Wasn't she the one who took out that king taijitu at Beacon on Gayatit just before Thomas beat down on Taurus?"
The younger sister blinked, then she nodded. "Yeah! Old Man Oobleck and Old Man Port met up with her, not to mention two guys, her sisters, some other girl and this little kid who did something to the taijitu before she made it a glacier!"
"Fuck…!" Melanie breathed out…
Minutes later…
"So, this is sort of like the local yakuza dive, huh?"
Isaac Thomas chuckled as the hovercraft he normally used to travel around Vale came to a landing on the parking lot beside Junior's. "The local equivalent, so to speak," the Wise Lone Sage said as Mikazuki Yozora again expertly manipulated the machine's controls so that her creator and his two companions could disembark with ease. "We'll call you when we're done here, Yozora-chan," he then bade the gynoid replica of the deuteragonist of a very popular light novel series in Japan.
"Then to Patch Island to see Yáng, Isaac?" the raven-haired woman wondered.
"Exactly."
"Hai, hai!"
As soon as Neopolitan and Ashikaga Akemi were off the hovercraft, the adopted Gifu-jin (home prefecture of the author of the Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai novel series, Hirasaka Yomi) keyed the controls to have the machine ascend into the air; with the amount of wind dandelions now in the atmosphere over and around Vale — never mind Yozora being a gynoid of all things, her mind effectively shielded from any Grimm's senses thanks to the mesonium powering her central processor — she would certainly be safe if something like the wyvern that attacked Beacon Academy showed up. Musing on that, the New Yorker waved the Valean mercenary and the adopted Ōsaka-jin to the nearby entrance. Sure enough, two footmen of the Xióng Clan in their ubiquitous black business suits — seeing that made Isaac immediately remember his homeworld's most well-known (to the surrounding local cluster) group of alien first-contact specialists, the infamous "Men In Black" of the United Nations' Special Committee on Alien Activities — guarding the door. Both were quick to perk on seeing the native of Queens approach before they relaxed on seeing who was currently accompanying the man who drove off Adam Taurus. "Miss Neo," one greeted.
The Ballerina of the Final Darkness nodded politely in turn as the other mook opened the door to allow she and her companions inside. Once inside the main dance hall, the Orchid Nova nodded in appreciation; she had at Isaac's suggestion changed her battlesuit to the more traditional sleeved mode, such bearing her honorary rank of Imperial Navy commander in service uniform dark grey on her sleeves to better stand out against the white background. "Nice place your friend runs here, Neo."
The local mercenary winked at her, then made her way directly towards the main bar where Fukushima Miyuki was currently relaxing alongside everyone's ultimate host. As they made their way, people in the crowd and nearby tables all perked on seeing who had come in, then whooped in delight as they toasted both Neo and Isaac. That got Hēi Xióng's attention right away, he then coming out from behind the bar to greet his late boss' primary partner. "Neo, thank Oum…er…?!"
He then stopped on seeing how she was currently dressed. Before she could say anything, Isaac chuckled. "Fortunately, Master Xióng, an adopted countryman of mine was able to rescue Neo here from being eaten by Grimm after Cinder Fall's raid on the town, then arranged for her to embrace a much better life than her late parents' actions nearly denied her."
Xióng gazed at him, he also trying not to blush at being called "master". "She's like you now, Mister Thomas?"
"Indeed, she is, sir. Here on Remnant, her 'battle name' — equal to a superhero's or supervillain's chosen costume alias in local comics I've been told of and seen — is 'Danzatrice'. Atop keeping her semblance and Aura, she gained considerable empathic powers as well, not to mention the collective memories of…how many was it again, Neo?"
A smirk responded. "Twenty-seven lifetimes," she declared in a clear voice.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Oum! You can TALK now?!" Xióng exclaimed as he gaped wide-eyed at his former boss' chief assistant.
"Yeah, Junior, I can talk now," Neo teased as she reached over to squeeze his shoulder in reassurance. "Pity that Daddy Dearest and Mommy Dearest got killed because of his stupidity when dealing with faulty Dust. I'd love to see how'd they react to me telling them to their lying faces how I REALLY felt about how they raised me! Can I have my usual?"
He cackled. "C'mon over! What's your poison, Mister Thomas? What's your friend want?"
"I'll have a crystal tonic, Master Xióng," Isaac answered as he and Akemi followed Neo over to sit at the bar beside Miyuki. As the Cosmic Blizzard moved to order another strawberry sunrise for the Orchid Nova, he unclasped his cape and moved to fold it up into a pile to put it on the chair next to him; fortunately, there wasn't enough people in the establishment that someone might object. "Apologies for coming by, but thanks to Akemi and her friends, we were able to recover Roman's body, so Neo had to come back to town to arrange for his burial." As Xióng gaped in shock, the New Yorker grimaced. "Turns out that larger Grimm take time to consume people they eat. When Akemi sliced that griffin in half last night, I was able to identify him right away."
That made the head of the Xióng Family visibly wince before he reached over to squeeze Neo's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
The diminutive would-be heiress of one of Vale's wealthier families shrugged. "I warned the idiot to watch himself when everything went crazy!" she said before nodding as one of Xióng's bartenders came over with a shot glass of triflower brandy, a lovely and smooth hard liquor that she had fallen in love with years before since it went down her wounded throat without any sort of burning feeling. "Hell, you were here on Gaysok when we met up with Padre Leno, right?"
He hummed. "That older guy who wore purple, right? The one who tried to persuade you and Roman to protect yourselves from what that bitch Fall and her friends were going to do at the Festival? He's like you now?"
"Same," Neo affirmed. "He's from Yiziba; there, he's called 'Millennium'." At his surprised look, she smirked. "He does his own recruiting when it comes to non-Yizibajohei like Isaac and me to get Gifted."
An acknowledging nod came from their host. "Pity Roman didn't listen."
"Yeah…!" she breathed out before drowning her shot of brandy in one gulp.
"Go easy on the sake, Neo-chan," Akemi teased from her left.
That made Xióng gape. "Wait! 'Sake'?! You guys have sake?!"
That made the adopted Ōsaka-jin blink. "Oi, Isaac! I thought you said that there's been no contact between Earth and Remnant since the Ori were fucking around with people two thousand years ago!"
"Surprises me as well, Akemi-chan," the New Yorker noted before nodding thanks as his own drink was served.
"Hey, Trivia."
Neo's eyebrow arched before she looked over at the Malachite sisters, now standing nearby…
In the North Pacific Ocean at 03°10' North, 171°55' East (ninety-three kilometres west of Butaritari [Makin] Atoll in Kiribati), that moment (local time, Thursday, an hour after midnight)…
It is an overcast night near the place where the Equator and the International Date Line intersected on maps of this area, the seas rather calm for a warm evening at this time of year. The winds were south-southeasterly at about ten knots, allowing the waters of Earth's largest sea in this part to produce wavelets of not even a metre in height, the crests of same appearing glassy and not breaking. If anyone was out in this part of the Pacific on a boat, they'd feel the wind on their faces were they facing in the general direction of Tarawa Atoll south of southeast from here, but boats weren't out this evening.
Which, for those on Earth who had been Gifted by the World of the Forge, would be a good thing…
Ah-ah-ah-…AH-CHOO!
Deep beneath the relatively calm surface at a depth of nearly four kilometres, the broken wreck of a Junsen Otsu-gata — known in Western literature as the Type B1 cruiser — aircraft-carrying submarine had laid there since a day in late 1943 when one of the most successful attack boats to serve the Heavenly Sovereign of Shōwa was ruthlessly hunted down and depth charged by the second of the most numerous class of destroyers ever built by any power. By this time, so many decades after the end of the Greater East Asia War, the mortal remains of the 105 officers and men who served on THG I-19 had been consumed by multiple types of organisms; unlike the largest of North America's world-famous Great Lakes, the salty cold temperatures at these depths were not enough to prevent decomposition of human flesh and anything else that could be easily consumed by local wildlife.
Wh-who…who's talking…about me…?
Unseen by anything mortal — though easily sensed by one of the most powerful ancient nature spirits to rise on Earth in a time noted by the last ages of the Australopithecines who were the last step in general evolution before the rise of what could be seen as "modern" man; said evolved and sentient Otodus megalodon known to the mystical and magical of this part of the world by the phrase "lord of the deep" itself being many kilometres away from this scene — something shaped like a fully-intact and operational THG I-19 formed around the wreckage before it started to collapse on itself, becoming something different.
Something human…
Wh-what…what's happening…to me…?
Deep within the awakening spirit of this being, the collective memories of all those who had helped build her at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyards at Kōbe in the years leading up to the start of the Greater East Asia War, not to mention the men who gladly served on her for the hectic two years and more she had been operational as part of the Second Submarine Division, began to coalesce and merge together, then fusing with the spiritual kami of I-19 itself — now HERSELF — as the glowing, morphing image forming around the wrecked hull took on the shape of a teenage girl of about sixteen years of age.
A girl with memories unlike anything any NORMAL person would possess…
Supporting the attack on Pearl Harbour, nearly catching one of America's few fleet carriers…
Seeking out defenceless merchant ships along the American west coast…
Being in dock at Yokosuka when two American carriers proved that the Home Islands weren't invulnerable to air attack…
Helping in the diversionary attack on the Aleutians when the Kidō Butai was gutted at Midway…
Then to the Solomons later in 1942, where her crew would make the most unbelievable war shot by a submarine to date during her fourth patrol, sinking an aircraft carrier and a destroyer and damaging a battleship from many kilometres away…
Helping ship supplies to the Imperial Army garrison on Guadalcanal, being ground down by vengeful American Marines supported by allies, eventually forming part of the evacuation force in Operation: KE…
Hunting and sinking freighters from the forward base at Truk Atoll…
Then the call to help stop the attack on Tarawa Atoll in Operation: Galvanic…
…where the luck of the "sniper of the Pacific" ran out thanks to a radar-equipped destroyer one November evening…
…or did it?
Wh-who's doing this…?
Was it one of the Ryūseizen, the hunters of monsters unlike anything not even Japan's hidden magical society could imagine…?
Was it that bright spirit who passed over the area on a couple of occasions, radiating peace and happiness…?
Or was it…?
What…?
No…!
No way…!
How could that be…?!
Fubuki…Shirayuki…Hatsuyuki…Miyuki…Murakumo…Isonami…Uranami…
Oboro…Akebono…Sazanami…Ushio…
And even…HER!
Yonaga?!
The missing seventh carrier of the Kidō Butai, whose support could have REALLY brought the hurt on the damned Yankees…!
Or…?
«Hey, Iku-Iku! Quit moping about it and c'mon and join the party!»
Huh?!
That was an American ship spirit…!
Eh?!
Er…!
An American ship spirit that understood Zen of all things…!
«Calm yourself, Iku-dono! We may have lost the war against the Americans, but there was a cultural victory of sorts.»
Hearing a voice possessing DECADES of knowledge, the spiritual strength of THOUSANDS — augmented by a power that made the effective adopted native of Kōbe think of the ancient sea spirit whose oceans she now lay in — made the awakening kami of Tennō Heika Gunkan I-19 look up and towards the far north, to a place in far eastern Siberia…
Oh, of COURSE!
A damned EARTHQUAKE of all things happened there before Operation Z was to happen…!
But what of…?
«My whole crew are alive and well, Iku-dono. Let what is happening finish and live the life your crew was denied!»
"Iku"…oh! Her hull number in goroawase! Right…!
So…
But how…?
Oh…!
OH!
Tene lomher'buo, Narahara Shōko…!
As a new torrent of memories flooded the awakened soul of the third of her class of cruiser/scout submarine — memories of a whole different PLANET beyond imagination, of a people who had been forced to become honest-to-Kami MYSTERY MEN and MYSTERY WOMEN to survive an environment that was both benign and living hell at the same time, not to mention an apocalyptic battle against a race of SERPENTS who possessed helpless people…and had the audacity to pretend to be GODS of all things! — one thought crossed the soon-to-be reborn subgirl's mind as her old hull was crushed and collapsed, pulled out from the bottom of the ocean and brought into open air for the first time in sixty-nine years, then merged with a synthetic humanoid body built from the Atom of True Life itself, that all merging and morphing into a living, breathing human being.
I'm being named after my first CAPTAIN…?!
Then…
Nesu…E-LO'OTO!
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Ah…hah…okay…I'm a GIRL now…!"
"Yeah, Iku-Iku, you aren't whistling Dixie saying that!"
«Naomi-chan…!»
Yelping, Shōko spun around…
…before her eyes went wide while something deep within her brain — her control centre? — noted something.
"You're a cruiser?!" she demanded.
The Cosmic All-Seer nodded. "That's right."
A tilt of a head now framed in not twin but triple-tails, the hair a lovely aquamarine shade and extending to mid-back as a strange inner sight picked up the image of USS Long Beach shrouded over Naomi Haight-Ashbury. "Uh…where are your guns?!"
"I used rockets, not guns," the adopted Californian calmly replied. "I hit from VERY far away when I have to smoke someone."
«Naomi, for Kami-sama's sake, talk NORMALLY! I know you can do it!»
Naomi sighed as Shōko looked around in confusion for the source of her fleet mate's voice. "Geez, Big Y, take a chill pill, will ya?! 'Sides, Little Sunshine's not here to help out with Iku-Iku getting out of the Big Shark's home domain…!"
A flash of energy made both spin to Shōko's left…
"Hai, hai! Hina's AWAKE now!" the Living Spirit of Innocence — in pyjamas of all things, she also holding up Kasa-tama — called out before she gazed intently at the reborn submarine for a moment, then she sighed, shaking her head. "Gonna have to talk to Sakuya-chan to use Welcome House if more and more and more shipgirls come back like this!"
Shōko blinked before gazing hopefully at Naomi, who shrugged in return…
To Be Continued…
WRITER'S NOTES
The story of how Trivia Vanille/Neopolitan (Danzatrice) came together with Roman Torchwick is better explained in the 2021 novel Roman Holiday, written by E.C. Myers and published by Scholastic. This story is where groups like Spider and the Xióng Family, not to mention Melanie and Miltia Malachite, first appeared chronologically in the RWBY storyline; note that Hēi Xióng AKA Junior and the Malachite sisters first appeared in the "Yellow" Trailer to the whole series first released in 2013.
Samiloluto AKA the Lord of the Deep is based on Polynesian legends concerning a massive shark — most likely a still-living megalodon (Otodus megalodon); the species went extinct three million years ago in the Pliocene Epoch — that often roamed the southern Pacific Ocean. In this series, he will chronologically appear in Extreme Shipgirls; Fred was inspired by the appearance of such in Harry Leferts' Harry Potter and the Shipgirls snippets which can be read at both SpaceBattles and Sufficient Velocity.
The concept of Power Jewels and how they affect people like Fred's first original character Deanette "Dean" Raeburn was first introduced in Wanderers (Fanfiction ID 404885). The whole concept of how the End War (which explains the disappearance of the Old Ones as were first introduced in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) came to be is expanded on in Magic and Canada.
Translations and source language (two Japanese, one Yizibajohei): Ninkyō dantai — Chivalrous organization, what yakuza often refer to themselves as; Junsen Otsu-gata — Literally "Otsu-class cruiser", the "Otsu" part (in kanji, 乙) indicating the second (or "B" model) of a series (see below); E-Lo'oto — Literally "I-Nineteen".
Before World War Two, the Japanese classified the model designation of weapons using the concept of the Ten Heavenly Stems (Jukkan) from Chinese cosmology. The ranks can be interpreted using ordinal numbers or letters in other languages. The Ten Stems are Kō (甲, meaning "first" or "A"), Otsu (乙, "second"/"B"), Hei (丙, "third"/"C"), Tei (丁, "fourth"/"D"), Bo (戊, "fifth"/"E"), Ki (己, "sixth"/"F"), Kō (庚, "seventh"/"G"), Shin (辛, "eighth"/"H"), Jin (壬, "ninth"/"I") and Ki (癸, "tenth"/"J"). Since military projects seldomly went past the tenth modification level, this system wasn't expanded.
Finally, to introduce the sexy sniper subgirl appearing at the end here:
Narahara Shōko-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan I-19, now Nihon-koku Gunkan Iku [SK-19])
Of course, Shōko takes after her Kantai Collection interpretation. As to how FAR that interpretation will go…!