Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Checking up the updates on his computer screen, Goto frowned before looking up at Ooyodo who got off her phone and was looking at a map on a table. Said map was of Yokosuka and the surrounding area with various figurines showing positions. "Update one our side?"

With a look over the map, Ooyodo furrowed her eyebrows some as a group of figurines were moved. "Fubuki-San and her group have reached and taken up position just outside of Tokyo Bay and they're ready to defend. Both Enterprise and CarDiv1 have sent up their flights to cover over Yokosuka as well as the wider area." Her eyes then trailed to another section and she raised her eyebrow. "Wokyuu has also deployed her own fighters in a forward position."

Surprised, Goto looked and gave it a once over before giving a nod. "She's running a search pattern then? But far enough out that it won't interfere with our own."

All the Light Cruiser did at that was give a nod. "Hai, Teitoku. Aeroprin is also requesting position to deploy herself and her Destroyers to provide assistance wherever they are needed."

That caused Goto's eyebrows to raise upwards. "Aeroprin wants to deploy in defense of the base?"

Even though she understood, and shared, the surprise Ooyodo just nodded. "That is indeed what she is asking. Supprin has also asked if she can take up position here on the base or wherever she might be needed in order to provide support in whatever means she may be able to. She has also offered to place her few fleet members here in Yokosuka under JMSDF control."

It took everything for Goto not to drop his jaw at that for several seconds. But then, as he thought it over in his head and started to roll the idea around in his head... Looking at the map, he frowned in thought. 'This could be what makes or breaks the relationship.' After a few moments, Goto pointed at one spot. "Have Supprin head to the old Daisan Kaiho and set up there."

Looking at the spot in particular, Ooyodo gave a small frown before nodding. "You want her to set up on the shoal there?"

His lips curling up some, Goto chuckled. "Yes, and have Aeroprin join her there to help provide her with AA capabilities and some protection." What he did not say was that it was far enough outside the normal lines of fire that the chances of friendly fire would be low not to mention it would keep both groups separate just in case. If everything worked out though in this case... Shaking that off for later thought, Goto turned to Ooyodo as he remembered something. "Hoppou, what is going on with her at the moment?"

Just as Ooyodo was about to say something, she got something over the radio that made her blink. "Um..." At the look, she walked over to one of the screens and turned it to a view from a camera. On said camera could be seen Hoppou sitting in front of the elementary school scanning the skies. More then that was her rigging being partially out. "It seems that she's taken things into her own hands."

As they watched, one of the local police walked up and bent down to her level. "Hoppou-San? May I ask you what you are doing?"

With a blink, Hoppou turned to him while still keeping an eye out at the skies. "Hoppou is protecting her friends and classmates." Her eyes then narrowed slightly. "No one will hurt Hoppou's friends and classmates."

The Officer raised an eyebrow before clearing his throat. "I see. Well, would it be okay if I stay here to help then?"

In the background, Goto could see various young students watching as Hoppou nodded and the Officer took a seat next to her. With a glance towards Ooyodo, he coughed. "Well, that could have turned out worse."

All Ooyodo did was sigh that before they turned to various other issues.
___________________________________________________________

Passing through a cloudbank, the F-4 burst through at nearly Mach 2 with the ocean just a few hundred feet below. Inside the cockpit, Sora looked at the horizon and then nodded. "And there they are. Damn, that looks like a big group."

Behind him, Reo grimaced and shook his head as he saw his sensors show him what they were seeing. "Yeah, big group. A big group of Abyssals that just painted us with enough radar that we could cook an egg with it."

With a glance at his own sensors, Sora frowned in thought before speaking up. "What do you think? Shall we thread the needle? Or the trench."

For several moments there was silence from Reo before he spoke up. "We need to get as much data as possible."

Glancing over his shoulder, the yosuzume met his eyes before nodding. "Threading the trench it is then." With a deep breath, he tilted the stick to the side and forced the plane into a hard turn while also diving. A five hundred feet, he leveled off and then headed straight for the oncoming fleet. "Hold onto your ass."

As they got closer, the two could see more and more radars light them up as they hit the afterburners. In the back of the cockpit, Reo was already transmitting video and other data to multiple uplink stations. Then they could see the lead Abyssal Destroyers already moving into position for air defense.

But it was too late for the Abyssals as they were already shooting straight down the middle of the fleet at their top speed. Within minutes they were over the steel hulled ship and then past the last line and climbing upwards. As they broke 20,000 feet, Sora gave a gasp. "Whoa! What a rush!"

Reo only shook his head in awe. "You can say that again. That was just..." He then realized something that made him blink. "Wait, they didn't fire on us?"

That caused Sora to pause as he brought the F-4 into a turn. "No, they didn't. And want to know what else I noticed?" Waiting for a moment, he continued. "I swear that I saw people, actual humans, on that ship."

Eyes widening, Reo turned his head to look at the fleet as the plane turned. "Say what now?!"

Slowly, Sora gave a nod with a frown. "That was my reaction to it. But you know what we need to do in order to make sure..."

With a deep breath, Reo snorted. "More passes." Glancing at his own instruments, he shook his head even as he forced his fear that they were pushing their luck. "Well, we didn't join Recon for an easy time of things."

Laughing, the pilot shook his head. "No, in that case we would have gone into the Fighter Pilot program." The two performed several more passes from different directions, taking pictures and video each time until they were once again pulling ahead of the fleet. For several moments, they were silent before Sora spoke up. "Reo, you know what we need to do now."

Quietly, Reo sighed and gave a nod. "I know what you are thinking but that is completely and utterly insane. Hope that you understand that." Seeing the nod, he sucked in a breath. "Okay, slow and steady near the deck we go."

Only pushing forward on the stick gently, while also cutting back on speed, Sora gave a nod. "Slow and steady." Looking at the altitude and speed, the Yosuzume could see both drop. Six hundred feet. Five hundred feet. Four hundred feet. Three hundred.

Two hundred.

One hundred.

Along with the drop in altitude, so too did the speed drop. Soon, they dropped below cruise speed as they approached the Abyssals and were once more painted with radar. It went without saying that both of them had white knuckles as they came closer and closer. If they were wrong, they were dead. The plane was low enough as they passed the first Abyssals that they could see the expressions on their faces. Both sets of eyes widened though as they could see on the Canadian ship several people waving makeshift flags around.

Within moments they were past the Abyssals and climbing. "Oh. Shit."

Sora could only nod at what his friend had said before beginning to radio back to base.

Meanwhile, in Kushiro, Tanaka was looking at the screens in front of him in the bunker. One was playing video from the recon plane and the other was showing a picture that was created from compiling multiple pictures and film frames together. While extreme details such as faces were blurred, it showed enough of the rest that made his eyes widen slightly. The Battleship he had pointed at before was holding an obvious white flag as were others. More then that though was another flag that one of the Princesses was holding up.

It showed what was obviously a crab pot with colored lines above it. A flag that he easily recognized from intelligence as belonging to Hoppou's fleet. Quickly, he opened a folder on the tablet in his hand and read through it. Reports from something that Hoppou had told and the expedition that had happened afterwards to one of the islands in the Aleutians. Looking up from her station, the Sub-Lieutenant from before frowned. "Um, Sir? I have the composite pictures of the Canadian warship if you want it."

Looking up, Tanaka put his tablet aside and leaned in. "Let's see if my suspicion is right then, bring it up."

On the large screen, the picture of the fleet was instead replaced by one of the warship. It was obviously battered and damaged in a number of ways, but was still afloat. Walking over, Tanaka touched the screen and moved his finger, the image rotating in the direction given with some blurriness from the composite photos. There on the hull the numbers "334" could be seen on both sides as a worn Canadian flag flew above. "HMCS Regina."

Confused, the Sub-Lieutenant looked from him to the picture and back. "HMCS Regina, Sir? How did you...?"

Lips curling up some, the Captain shook his head. "According to Canadian reports, she was lost up in the Aleutians during Blood Week to what was thought to be Hoppou's fleet. It was confirmed after the Abyssal was brought to Yokosuka during an interview that her forces had captured her and her crew, before taking them to one of the islands as POWs. But when the USN reached said island, they found that the Abyssals who had attacked Hoppou had also struck there though there were signs that RCN personnel had been there in a settlement." At the interested look, he shrugged. "Up on one of the hillsides there was one of those stone piles you find in the Canadian arctic. A Canadian flag was carved into one of them."

Frowning, the disguised Okami furrowed her eyebrow. "Did they find the wreckage of the ship though?"

Slowly, Tanaka ran a hand through his hair. "No, they didn't. According to Hoppou, she gave the order to evacuate them out of harm's way and there was no sign of a wreck in the small harbor there. But it has always been assumed that the Abyssals sunk them while they were away from the island. And we all know about assuming."

With a snort, the young woman shook her head. "It makes an ass out of you and me?" At the amused look, she blushed. "Met an American sailor while going through the Academy."

That only got a shake of the head from Tanaka. "Well, it is a true enough saying to be honest. However, if we think about it, what if they found another island? We already know that one of Hoppou's fleet evolved into a Princess. Why couldn't the others?"

It was then that the Sub-Lieutenant got a message from her console telling her that a new data dump was incoming. Looking through the video, her eyes widened and she turned to Tanaka. "Sir, you're going to need to see this!"

Looking at her, Tanaka gave a nod. "Main screen then." As the video played, he had to fight in order to not drop his jaw or widen his eyes much more then a touch at what he was seeing. Quickly, the Captain shook it off and took a deep breath. "Okay, play back to when they are going over the Regina, but frame by frame."

With some typing, the Sub-Lieutenant frowned before turning. "Done."

Everyone stopped what they were doing as the high speed camera on the jet slowed down to individual frames. They watched as it approached the Frigate and soon they could see what was on the deck waving flags, arms, and so forth. Not Abyssals, but rather humans. Normal humans at that. One of the ones near the back shook his head in disbelief. "By the Kami."

His lips thinning, Tanaka looked over what was on the screen before shaking his head. "Hokubu-San? Send that video onto Admiral Goto and the others. Mihara-San, get in touch with Colonel Matsuda and send him a copy as well! Have him call off any airstrikes..." With a deep breath, he turned back to his tablet and began to bring up maps. "I have an idea."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

"Yes, Sir. Understood, yes. That's right, I just need permission-" Moments later, Tanaka's eyes widened some and he gave a nod. "I know, it sounds crazy. But this puts the ball in their court and it's far enough away from any civilian centers that it could work. Okay, yes, thank you, Sir. Yes, a good day."

As he gently set it down, the Sub-Lieutenant gave him a small glance. "Sir? Did Admiral Goto really-"

Slowly, Tanaka set it down with a small nod. "He did." Taking a moment, he took a deep breath and then let it out. "We now have complete command over what will happen next. Whatever might happen, it will come down on my head and my head alone. Understood?" There were nods around. "Hokubu-San, is the Recon Jet still near to the Abyssal Fleet?"

With a glance at her screen, the Sub-Lieutenant gave a small nod. "Hai! The Phantom II is currently circling the fleet at twenty five miles. Your orders, Sir?"

Leaning in, Tanaka looked at her screen with a half grin. "That's good." Just nodding, he looked over at one of the Lieutenants with a headset who was handling communications. "Nakamura, get me in touch with that plane! I need them to act as a relay for us with the Abyssal fleet."

Only nodding, the young man went to work and soon gave a small nod before giving his handset over to Tanaka. "Done, here you go, Sir. Whenever you want."

Internally, Tanaka took all the panic he was feeling, the fear and the terror, before squashing it into a small ball. That ball was then shoved down as far as he could manage as he placed the headset over his ears and adjusted the mike. "Attention, incoming Abyssal Fleet. This is Captain Tanaka of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, you are entering restricted waters. If you continue your course, you will cause us to respond with force. Please respond."

There was nothing for several seconds and Tanaka continued. After the second time, there was a crackle and an eldritch voice spoke up. "This is... Tanith, former Ta-Class... and now Northern Water Princess... of the Little Laughter's Fleet. We mean no harm..."

Another voice then spoke up, which also carried the same tones of an Abyssal, though it was also... lighter. "And this is Sunny, Battleship Demon. Like my sister stated, we mean no harm."

With a wave of his hand, Tanaka quickly wrote down the names and handed them to the Lieutenant with silent orders to contact Yokosuka. "You may mean no harm, but one would wonder why you would bring such a large force with you. After all, it is far more then what might be needed for peace."

Yet another crackle could be heard before Tanith's voice spoke up. "We brought the ones with us... to make you pause... long enough to listen. No other reason... but that. All we want... is to talk."

Frowning, the Captain nodded even though he knew that they could not see it. "I see."

Sunny's voice then came back on. "We're even waving white flags! Parlay and all that sort of thing!" Her voice then dropped a touch. "We recently found out that Mother is alive and well. That's why we're here, to see Mother and make peace."

Eyebrows furrowing, Tanaka thought that over before suddenly it clicked. "You were the ones who raided our supply depots, weren't you?"

There was a pause before Northern Water Princess' voice answered, though there was a bit of sheepishness there. "My sisters all... needed supplies and... they were just... there for anyone to... take."

Raising one eyebrow, Tanaka hummed. "That would be true enough, I suppose." It was then that he felt a tap on the shoulder and noticed that the notepad was pushed back in front of him. According to the writing, Hoppou had confirmed the names which caused his eyebrows to both raise. "If I may ask, could I have the names of the other Demons and Princesses with you?"

Over the radio, Tanith sounded confused and he could almost imagine the expression on her face. "You wish for our names...?" At Tanaka's confirmation, she mumbled a bit before answering. "Very well..."

As she told him their names and former forms, Tanaka wrote them down quickly. She even added the name of a Ta-Class in charge of what she called 'The Wardens'. Passing that back to the Communications, he frowned. "The Wardens? As in the ones in charge of the Canadian POWs you have?"

Briefly, there was a pause before Tanith once more spoke up. "Yes. " Just as Tanaka was about to say something, she continued. "And some are... mothers to... children with the... Canadians."

Freezing, those words echoed around inside of Tanaka's mind. 'Children... there are children onboard that ship. They brought children along with them and we almost...' With a deep breath, he gave a very slow nod. "Please confirm, you claim that there are children of the Canadians and the Abyssal guards on board the Regina, the ship that you are towing."

Part of Tanaka was proud that there was no tremor in his voice even as he noted that those listening, which was most of those in the Command Bunker, froze at those words. Then Sunny's voice came through. "Yes? I mean, we couldn't take along their parents and leave them there."

Even as he internally panicked at the thought of what had almost occurred, Tanaka externally was calm as the Lieutenant handed him back the notepad. On it, was confirmation from Hoppou that those names were, indeed, members of her fleet and of those types. However, there was one thought that brought the Captain up short. It might be giving something up, but... "Leaving that aside for now, and we will return to that... May I ask if the name Blackie Smokie rings a bell."

Utter silence met him before there were several cries of joy over the radio which made it crackle. Wincing, Tanaka nearly pulled it off when Sunny roared. "QUIET!" Even though he wanted to rip it off his head, Tanaka didn't. "I'm sorry, Captain Tanaka, we are all surprised to hear that name. Blackie Smokie was... one of our best. To hear that she is still alive, well..."

Tanaka could understand what was unsaid before chuckling, "Yes, I can see how that would be surprising." Another piece of paper was placed in front of him which stated that Hoppou was being brought up along with Aeroprin and her Destroyers. It also said that they were going to be brought via US-2 to Kushiro. Which brought another issue to Tanaka's mind. "I would like to put into place a meeting, but unfortunately we cannot have it here in Kushiro. However, I have an alternative site if you would not mind."

Over the radio, he could hear the tone of confusion in Tanith's voice as she answered. "An alternative... site for... a meeting?"

Humming, Tanaka examined the map on his tablet. "Yes, I have an alternative site for a meeting. It's at Hamatsu Coast Roadside Park right next to the sea. The site itself is close to Yururi Island and Moyururi Island. West of the first and Southwest of the second. It would show a degree of trust in us if you would do so."

Seconds ticked by as Tanaka looked at the video up above and watched the Abyssals on it. And then, slowly, they began to change directions. After a few seconds, it showed them heading for Yururi Island. Immediately some of the tension came out from his shoulders as they replied. "Very well... we will make... for this spot. Will you... meet us there?"

For a moment, Tanaka paused before he gave a nod. "Yes, I will meet you there. Understood that any attempt to attack will be met with force."

After a heartbeat, Sunny's voice came over the radio. "As long as you understand that the same is true for you."

Pulling off the headset, the Captain looked up at the screen and shook his head. With a sigh of relief, he turned and gave a nod. "We're not done yet, but we might be out of the dangerzone. Inform both Akebono and Kasumi of what is happening. Also contact Admiral Goto and inform him of the new meeting place." Making his way through the room, he walked over to a nearby phone. Picking it up, he dialed a number and waited. "Takayama? Tanaka here, I am going to need you to move some of your self-propelled and towed artillery. Yes, the Abyssals seem to be coming under a flag of truce. But I am not going to meet them without knowing that I have some backup." More then a few giggles met his next words. "Yes? I'm meeting with them and-What do you mean 'How the hell do you put your pants on in the morning'?"

Needless to say, more then one amused look was exchanged as the Captain continued to talk with the Major in charge of local Coastal Artillery.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Walking out of the building where he worked on the base, Tanaka looked up at the Sun above him. For the past two hours he had been talking with the Abyssal fleet under Tanith. But now was the time for him to head out to whatever happened next. Whether that was peace or his death. In the distance, Tanaka could see one of the Ospreys lifting a piece of artillery to their new destination. Slowly nodding, he turned to his own helicopter and took a step towards it and his destiny...

And two bodies collided with him, one with purple hair and the other with silver hair and knocked him back.

His arms windmilling some, it took a few seconds for Tanaka not to fall and he looked down at the two Destroyers now hugging him. "Akebono-Chan? Kasumi-Chan? What are you doing?"

Looking up at him with cheerful eyes, Akebono growled at him. "YOU DAMN SHITTY CAPTAIN! WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW?!"

Just as Tanaka was about to speak, Kasumi piped in and slugged him in the arm. "YOU DUMB FUCKING PIECE OF GARBAGE! WERE YOU ACTUALLY GOING TO RUN OFF AND MEET THOSE ABYSSALS WITHOUT SUPPORT!?"

Only scratching the back of his neck, Tanaka chuckled weakly as the two Destroyers verbally lambasted him. 'Guess that I should have expected this...' It was then that he noticed the tears in their eyes and blinked before deciding to tease them some. "What? It sounds like the two of you are worried for me."

Much to his surprise though, both Destroyers went quiet and buried their faces in his chest. As he was about to say something, Akebono spoke up, her face still hidden. "And so what if we were? You... you idiot. Having us leave you to your possible death and now you were going to leave us behind with you likely to die."

Beside her, Kasumi gave a nod. "He really is a garbage Commander if he thinks that we're going to take that laying down. Our Admiral." Just as he opened his mouth, Kasumi continued. "Shut up. To us, you are our Admiral. You... you've put up with us for so long. The only one to do so. So just suck it up."

Akebono sniffled a bit and turned to her friend and fellow Destroyer. "Guess that there is nothing for it then."

Tilting her head back, Kasumi fixed Tanaka with a look. "Hai, we're going with you."

Eyes widening some, the Captain shook his head. "Akebono-Chan, Kasumi-Chan, I can't do that. Not in this case as-"

Hand coming up, Akebono placed her finger on his lips. "As we might sink? So what?" For a moment, it looked like she was fighting herself before she took a deep breath and gave him a smile. "If there was anyone that I would want to sink beside, it's the Admiral standing right in front of me, the only one that I care for."

Nodding, Kasumi took a deep breath. "Hai, and it is the same with us." A small smile appeared on her lips. "So we're going with you."

Just looking between one and then the other, Tanaka rubbed the back of his head. "You'd just head out and follow, wouldn't you? Even if you would get in trouble over it?" When they nodded. he laughed some and looked up at the sky. "Guess that is what I get for having such troublesome girls here then."

A smirk on her face, Akebono gave a sharp nod as she placed her hands on her hips. "And don't you forget it, you shitty Admiral." Turning, she walked a few steps towards the helicopter. "Well, let's get going then. Settsu is nearly here."

Blinking, Tanaka nodded some before pausing and paling. "Wait, Settsu is nearly here?"

With a frown, the silver haired of the two Destroyers nodded. "Hai? She said something about getting an alternate way in... Not sure what though."

There was a screech of tires as a van burst into view before it turned and flipped several times. It landed on the right side and suddenly a blur leapt out and rushed towards him. "TEEEEEIIIIITTTTTTOOOOOKKKKUUUUUU!" The woman then leapt into the air and did several flips before slamming into Tanaka and knocking him to the ground. "BURNING LOVE! CHU! CHU!"

Eyebrow twitching, Akebono went red in the face as Kasumi sighed at the sight of Settsu dressed as Kongou. "Dammit, Settsu..."

Pulling away from the stunned Captain, Settsu blinked. Then she hopped up and went into a pose. "But I'm not Settsu, Dess! Born in Britain and raised in Japan, I'm Kongou!"

Unable to take it, Akebono exploded. "YOU FUCKING RUINED THE MOMENT, YOU DAMN SHITTY EXCUSE FOR A DREADNOUGHT! AND YOU ARE A OBSOLETE BATTLESHIP, NOT AN OVERARMORED SHITTY BATTLECRUISER!"

In the helicopter, the pilot looked at what was going on and raised an eyebrow. "Huh... This is weird even for a shipgirl base."

Beside him, his co-pilot nodded while several hundred miles away, Kongou frowned from where she sat in a US-2. "Why do I want to smack someone, Dess? And several someones? For both insulting and copyright infringement?"
________________________________________________________________________

The helicopter touched down in a cracked parking lot overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Getting out, Tanaka helped first Akebono and then Kasumi out before doing the same with Settsu, still dressed as Kongou. With a nod, he poked his head back into the helicopter. "Okay, you two get going now! We got thirty minutes before they arrive and I want you well out of range!"

Sharing a look with his pilot, the co-pilot frowned. "And what about you, Sir? If you need to get out of here?"

All Tanaka did was give a thin smile. "Trust me, if things go that badly then I won't be needing you." What was unsaid was that he was certain that he would be killed near instantly. Feeling a hand in his, he looked down to find a flustered Akebono gripping it and looking away. "Anyways, you just head out, okay?"

Once they were gone, Kasumi put her hand above her eyes and tracked the helicopter. "And there they go."

Head tilted to the side, the Captain gave her an amused smile. "What? Wishing that you took me up on the offer and left with them?"

Cheeks puffing out, she crossed her arms. "Look at the garbage coming from your mouth. We already told you the answer to that!"

Walking towards the overgrown path that made it's way to the dark sandy beach, Settsu looked around. Not far off, she could see waves hitting some cliffs and across the road, there were some ruined buildings. When she glanced at the two Destroyers though, Settsu allowed herself a small smile before turning to Tanaka. "So why have you decided on having the meeting here, Dess?"

Just humming, Tanaka glanced around. "Well... this place is far enough from civilian centers, over twenty miles." He jerked his thumb at the ruined buildings. "Not that many people actually lived here and they were driven out after Blood Week and never returned. Which means that if things go bad, there won't be much collateral damage. It's also something of a cove with cliffs on one side. The relief forces are coming along the coast from Kushiro and so the Abyssals would be trapped between here and Yururi Island with little room to maneuver."

Akebono then looked across the road and consulted her own maps. "There's also roads at higher elevations for the artillery." Tapping one finger against her chin, she gave a nod. "It could easily be one big trap."

Reaching the sandy beach, Tanaka gave a sigh as he came to a stop. "Yeah..." With a chuckle, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the salt air. "Been a while since I was last here."

That surprised all three shipgirls and Settsu tilted her head. "You've been here before, Dess? When?"

For several moments, Tanaka was quiet before he spoke softly. "Used to come here with my parents when I was a little kid actually. One of my great uncles, before he passed owned some land further to the north, so Kaa-San and Tou-San used to bring me here." Looking around, he shrugged. "Until their deaths a few years back."

All three of the shipgirls just stood there quietly, the Destroyers on either side and Settsu behind him. Eventually, Akebono perked up some and looked at one spot in particular. "They're coming."

Nothing left to do, Tanaka grabbed the radio and pressed the button. "Tanaka here, they're close. Do not, and I repeat, do not do anything that could be considered aggressive unless they attack first, over."

Over the radio, a voice came out. "Understood, you just stay as safe as you can, over and out."

Kasumi then gave a nod as she pressed a finger to her ear. "The first of the relief forces have arrived in Kushiro, what orders do you want me to pass on?"

Frowning, Tanaka considered that before shrugging. "They should wait until the first wave is gathered. Then make their way along the coast slowly while waiting for us to inform them of how things might turn out."

Suddenly, Settsu turned and looked to the northeast. "I-351 has finally surfaced, she's okay! And she wants to know what is happening, dess!"

With a sigh, Tanaka stretched some. "Inform her of what is going on then." Something he saw out of the corner of his eye made him turn and frown. When Akebono asked what was wrong, he shrugged some. "It's... nothing. Thought that I saw something up on the cliff there. Anyways, mind if I borrow some binoculars?"

Rolling her eyes, the Destroyer huffed some. "Fine, here." As he took the offered pair, she grumbled a bit. "Just like you shitty Admirals to forget something like that."

Amused. Tanaka didn't say anything as he looked through them and could see the Abyssal fleet come into sight, Lips turning downwards, he let out a breath. "Different to see it like this then on a screen."

His eyebrow twitched some as he felt a hand grab his free one in a near death grip. Glancing to the side, he could see Kasumi resolutely staring at the waves and not saying a word. It did not take long for the Abyssals to reach a few hundred feet of the shore, the Canadian warship further off and anchored. As Northern Water Princess walked across the waves and then stepped onto the base followed by a Battleship Demon, Tanaka gave a small bow and didn't show just how close he was to pissing himself. "Welcome to Japan, I am Captain Tanaka."

Then he held out his hand and Tanith looked at it before reaching over and gently taking it in her own. "And I am... Tanith, the... Northern Water Princess of Little Laughter's... fleet." Scanning around, she frowned some. "Where is... Mother?"

Giving her the best smile that he could, Tanaka shrugged. "She is on her way, but it is a distance from here to Yokosuka. In the meantime though, perhaps you can tell me some more about your journey? That way we can have less issues."

Up on the nearby cliff under a Disillusionment charm, one of the Aurors from Kyoto lowered his omniculars. Thankfully, the lenses were charmed not to reflect light. "By the Kami... what in the hell?! He's just a No-Maj and he's facing down that whole fleet with just three shipgirls?!"

Beside him, his partner gave a small nod of her head though he could not see it. "I know, tell me about it. I'd probably have shat myself by now if I was him. He literally shook hands with that Princess who looks like she could break him with one hand."

A fox walked up and then laid down in the grass as if sunning itself. Then it opened one eye and looked in their direction. "Stop making so much noise, you two. Besides, look at the ship." Knowing by the gasps that they had done so, he gave a slight nod. "That's why Boss Lady asked for me to come up and tell you bunch not to make any bad moves unless they attack." The fox then gave a snort. "We're not Tokyo after all."

Needless to say, there were snorts from not just the two, but several other disillusioned wizards and witches with the first wizard speaking up. "No, that bunch would have already attacked knowing them. Bakas, each and every one of those that are left."

Grumbling, the witch's voice carried as if it had a sneer in it, which it likely did. "And fucking racists. Whatever, those two Brits and the American with Boss Lady further back are watching and are not happy with Tokyo. So I can live with it."

Unseen nods were her answer as they continued to watch Tanaka speak with the Princesses and Demons before him. Each of them were wondering if there was a clanging noise every time he moved.

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Well, I was outpaced by the author, but I doubt that means I can just skip over what I planned to write. I hope this is okay either way.


Gathering

XXXXXXXXXX

Shortly before departure

Sokie gripped the sealed letter in her hands ever tighter as she dove through the water, eyes scanning the water around her for the reef that marked her destination, deep in thought.

Mother was alive. ALIVE… and in the care of humans and shipgirls. Sokie was having a hard time believing it to be true—and she'd seen the proof with her own eyes—she couldn't begin to imagine how the others would handle it. They were finally beginning to move on, to accept Mother's supposed passing and let it fade into the past as they built a new future for themselves. Would they be happy? Would this just open up a wound that was just beginning to scar over? Would the humans even be willing to give them a chance to see her?

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Sokie noticed a splash of color in the corner of her vision. Carefully, she rose to the surface, checking every inch of sky above her for potential scoutplanes, before finally looking in the direction of the colorful object.

In front of her sat a massive cruise vessel—old and battered, the paint and lustre eroded over years of exposure to the elements, but no less impressive for it. Somewhere around eighty meters in length, the vessel was embedded up to the waterline in the coral reef that dominated this underwater mountain, stuck so firmly in place that the force needed to dislodge it far exceeded the force needed to simply demolish it where it lay. The coral was actually growing up into the hull in places, providing structure and support in spots where rust had begun to compromise the vessel's integrity.

Frankly, it looked like shit on the outside, but fortunately most of the interior had been designed to be watertight, and was in much better condition as a result… to the joy of the submarines that now called it home.

Wading up to the side of the vessel, Sokie lifted an arm from the water and banged it against the hull once, twice, three times. Everything was quiet, save for the creaks and groans of the hull, as Sokie waited for a response. Finally, with a distant rustle, a rope flew over the side of the yacht, into the water. Wrapping herself around the rope, Sokie gave it a tug with her free hand, and was swiftly pulled up towards the deck.

Three of her fellow submarines were waiting for her as she clambered up onto the floor. "Hello, sister," a Yo-class greeted her. "This is a rather unexpected visit."

"Yes, I'm sorry you weren't able to be notified in advance, Yolanda." Pausing to push a slick of hair out of her face, Sokie held up her letter. "Something incredibly important came up. I need to speak with our elder sister immediately."

The trio nodded and gestured for Sokie to follow. They stepped inside, navigating the mildly-deteriorated hallways as they descended into the bowels of the ship. After a minute of walking, the group arrived at a door—which at one point was engraved with the words "Game Room", but the word Game was scratched out, replaced with a hastily-scribbled "Throne". Opening the door and stepping in, the native submarines gestured for Sokie to join them.

At the opposite side of the repurposed room, a pale, white-haired woman rested in an old massage chair. "Hello, Sokie," the Submarine Princess greeted her with a smile. "I didn't realize you were scheduled to visit us this month."

"I'm not." Sokie stepped forward and held out the letter, which the Princess accepted. "Tanith demanded I do whatever it took to get this message to you. To guard it with my life. It is of the utmost importance."

The Princess stared at the opened letter, eyebrows furrowed. "What is it, sister?" Yolanda asked.

Finally, the Submarine Princess looked up, something like a glint in her eyes. Pulling out some paper and a pen, she rapidly scribbled down several notes and offered them to the Yo-class. "Yolanda, take these to our fastest, stealthiest kin. You, and they, are to set out for our sisters' fleets immediately."

"Yes, sister." Yolanda rushed off, orders in hand.

"Sokie," the Princess looked to the visitor, "Help me tell the others… to prepare to leave."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Upside down! Hold shark upside down!" A destroyer yipped. "It'll go stupid!"

"THE HELL I WI—GUH!" Sunny roared before she was yanked back underwater by her foe, a twenty-foot long Great White. The water above them churned as the fighters struggled against one another. After a few moments, the Demon's head managed to clear the water again. "I AIN'T NO DAMN ORCA!!"

"Oh, we know," Wonderous snarked. "An Orca wouldn't be getting its ass beat the way you are."

"YOU WA—GLUB!" Sunny was pulled underwater again. More underwater wrestling before she came back up. "YOU WANNA BE MY ROUND TWO, BITCH!? TRY ME, FUCKING TRY ME!!!" The members of Sunny's fleet broke out in snorts and chuckles. Their flagship always knew how to put on a good show.

This was one of the biggest sharks they'd come across in a while. With any luck, they would be eating well for at least the next week. First though, as was custom for them, someone had a go at subduing the beast with their bare hands. They often lost… but the rare victories were oh so exhilarating.

The fight continued for another minute with no clear victor in sight. Suddenly, the lone carrier of the fleet perked up as her scouts alerted her that something was approaching them. Taking a closer look, Wonderous picked up the IFF of one of their sisters. "Guys, we've got a friendly inbound. One of the submarines."

A head poked up out of the water yet again. "Huh?" Sunny cocked her head, eyes narrowed… before she was pulled back under by the shark. An abrupt ripping sound emanated from the water, and Sunny finally rose from the sea, leaning on it as it if was a solid surface as she pulled herself to her feet. "What could they want?'

"Sisters!" the Yo-class rose from the water and waved a hand at them excitedly… before pausing at the sight of the sea beneath Sunny's feet rapidly turning red. "Uh… what exactly is going on?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Sometimes, Ritou thought, becoming a Princess sucked.

Yeah, she could build ships now. Yeah, she could dominate the skies. But she was still a cruiser at heart. She'd rather be getting in close, breaking her opponents over her knee, ripping up smaller ships and lighting up bigger ones with her guns. She'd rather fight and die out on the seas than sit back and let her family do the dying for her.

And frankly, she'd rather be naked than wear that ridiculous dress. It was stuffy, it was overkill levels of frilly, and she had to wear A GODDAMN BONNET! Really, she envied Tanith. Sure, she was in pretty much the exact opposite situation—the most SHE had to protect her modesty was a scrap of metal and a fur coat—but that meant she wasn't constantly on the verge of overheating like Ritou was. And if it got cold… hey, she still had a fur coat.

She missed the days of her Ri-class bikini…

Ritou checked with her crew. According to her schedule, she was more or less done acting in an official capacity for the morning. She had the next few hours all to herself; she was free to relax. Sighing in relief, she reached up and ripped off her bonnet. Undoing her neck ribbon and the collar beneath, she gripped the top of her dress and started wiggling it down, off her body.

Suddenly, the door swung open. "Princess, we have a visitor! One of the subma—"

Ritou groaned loudly, the dress still over her hips. "Unbelievable…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Thank heavens, it had only been shark blood, rather than… well. None of the other options were very palatable.

Yolanda looked to the Na-class Destroyers cruising leisurely to either side of her. Sunny had told the pair to accompany the submarine, to help extend her observation range, so she could plot a fast and safe path for Sunny's group to follow as she pressed onward to the island Tanith and her fleet called home. Being destroyers, they were a touch more noticeable than Yolanda herself, which might pose an issue… but really, had there EVER been something crossing these waters that could have been a potential threat for them? In the Yo-class's experience, the very few human intrusions into this particular region of the ocean consisted solely of the occasional shipgirl patrol or scouter planes, both easily evaded or shooed away.

She glanced over to the nearby island. She'd been in this general area before. One of the other Princesses' scouts or fishers had noted some peculiar activity on the island—trees being cut down, random traces of smoke, the occasional odd sound—but cursory fly-overs showed that there was no port on the island, no visible buildings, no infrastructure. They really couldn't think of anything that might be on that island that could pose a threat to them, so they simply let it be.

Once more, Yolanda quietly surveyed the island. All was still. No noise whatsoever. Just as before, the island seemed completely desolate.

As she began to sail away, however, a sound reached her ears: the ringing of a bell.

Yolanda and her escorts snapped back towards the island, staring at it for several drawn-out seconds. Suddenly, the destroyer to her right let out a sound; she'd just spotted something dart inland from the inner edge of the shoreline.

Something was watching them.

Now on alert, the trio began to sail in a circle around the island, watching for any further suspicious movement. Around the time they had reached the opposite side of the island, Yolanda realized one particular indentation in the side of the island was more than an indentation; it actually appeared to be a natural pathway into the underside of the island. This warranted further investigation.

Motioning for the destroyers to follow her, Yolanda slowly advanced toward the cove, wary of the slightest movement in her field of view. It was as she sailed into the gaping maw of the cove that an IFF marker abruptly popped into existence in her system.

A remarkably familiar IFF marker.

XXXXXXXXXX

Regalia eyed the gauge on her water tanks as she sat in the shallow water of the island shore, facing the vast sea beyond.

Surely, at one point, there was a well or something on this island—some sort of water source where the residents wouldn't have to trudge all the way to shore and back, or maybe even wander further inland, in order to more easily get water to their people… and their crops. But whatever the case, it was gone now, nowhere to be found. So she instead had to collect water from the ocean, filter it, and use that. She couldn't argue that it wasn't preferable to carrying water to the farm bucket by agonizingly-slow bucket, but it still meant several hours spent laying in the water doing nothing, every couple of days, in order to refuel her freshwater tanks.

But her crops and her family were more than worth the boredom and discomfort.

As she sat there, waiting for her tanks to fill up, the Re-class noticed something on the horizon. She glanced down to the imps sitting on her thighs, handling the water pumps. "Hey, little guys, can we take five? I need to check something."

The imps shared a glance before shrugging. With a mild "Waagh", they pulled up the pumps and disappeared back into her hull. Regalia checked her tanks—a little over two-thirds full. That should be fine for the day, she thought. Rising to her feet, the Re-class stepped over to her knapsack, laid out on dry land, and opened it up. Reaching in, she pulled out a set of binoculars, using them to gaze out to sea.

She was greeted by a familiar sight—a head of silky black hair with a single horn. Setting the lens away, Regalia blew her foghorn—three quick blares, signaling friendlies. She didn't think Sunny and her group were supposed to be stopping by this early in the year, but what did it matter? They were always happy to have reunions. An unplanned visit just meant Sunny and her ilk could bring some fun when otherwise everyone would be stuck in their typical routine.

Regalia stood by, waiting as Sunny's fleet arrived at the shoreline. As their feet left the water and hit land, she rushed forward and gave the Demon a hug. "Hi, Aunt Sunny! Hi everyone!"

Chuckling, Sunny ruffled the Re-class's hair. "Hey, kid. How's life been treating you?"

Regalia glanced up to Sunny's face. "Pretty good, all things considered." Pulling away, she cocked her head. "You didn't warn us you were coming today."

Sunny closed her eyes, humming thoughtfully. "Actually, your mom summoned us here."

"Really? Why?"

"Said it was really important. But she didn't elaborate." Sunny glanced to her fleet, currently readjusting to walking on dry land. "Given the nature of the summons, I'd wager a guess and say all the other fleets are likely to be showing up, as well."

Regalia's eyes widened. "Really!?"

"Yep, it'll be just like old times." Sunny's smile faded, replaced by a concerned frown. "Just curious, but did anyone beat me here? I sent couple of my girls out ahead of me with the messenger, but I haven't heard back from them."

Regalia blinked. "Uh…no. You're all the first to show up in a while."

"…Odd…" Sunny shook her head. "Anyway, what do you say we head to the village, let everyone know we've arrived?"

Regalia smiled. "Sounds good to me."

XXXXXXXXXX

Inside the palace, a lone Princess sat quietly in her room, deep in thought.

It's not that she was upset that Mother was alive. Quite the opposite actually—she was having a hard time thinking of any prior point in her life where she was as happy as she was now. Not only had the traitors failed in their hateful crusade—countless ships and their matriarchs thrown away, just to hunt down one little girl—they had driven her, and others like her, into the warm, welcoming arms of the Humans and Shipgirls.

Reaching for the magazine at her side, she examined the cover for what felt like the millionth time. There wasn't too much that she could make out from the faded image, but… Mother looked healthy. Happy. From the article written within, the shipgirls had found her hidden among the rubble… the aftermath of the massacre of their family. Rather than interrogate her, torture her, dissect her… the humans took her in. Gave her a new home, a new family. Cared for her as one of their own. Even Aunt Wanko, far to the south, had been moved by the humans' kindness, had made peace with them for saving the life of her self-appointed 'little sister'. With all the love and support provided for her, Mother had been able to heal, grow, move on with her new life, just as Tanith and her sisters did now. The young Princess couldn't be happier for it.

No, the source of Tanith's worries was not her mother… but her daughter.

Long ago, with Mother's supposed loss still fresh in everyone's mind, she had resigned herself to the fact that Regalia may never be repaired. Although ultimately painless, the deformity was severe, and it extended to the very core of her being. It would take more than time in a dock to correct it, more than the undivided attention of a repair ship, even if that repair ship was the undisputed master of her craft.

No, the only way Regalia could ever be normal… was a near-total rebuild. To be stripped down, piece by piece, all the way to her misshapen keel. To cast that keel away, and reassemble her around a new, healthy spine. Re-mold each individual part of her warped body into its true shape, its intended shape, and return it to its place in her hull with absolute precision.

It would take an installation—a veteran installation, with untold years of experience constructing, maintaining, repairing hundreds and hundreds of ships, of every size and shape and model—to truly heal Regalia.

An installation like Mother… whom they had all believed dead and gone.

Tanith did not mean to belittle her Installation-class sisters. More than one of them had made the offer to try and help Regalia, and she was grateful to them for it. But they were young. Unguided. Their newfound capabilities were still foreign to them. And Aunt Wanko was simply not an option—she was just too far south, behind too many confirmed human convoy routes, which saw too much shipgirl activity for such an expedition to ever be viable. Faced with such insurmountable odds, what possible reason should Tanith give her daughter false hope?

But this magazine changed everything.

Mother was alive. She was safe. She was at peace with the humans and shipgirls.

She could heal Regalia.

Tanith's spirits were the highest they'd ever been in her life… yet at the same time, an unfathomable dread had come to rest in the pit of her stomach, fueled by a single question:

How would Regalia react to the news?

XXXXXXXXXX

Sunny had been the closest fleet, taking less than a day to reach the island. It was going to be quite some time before anyone else made it. Sunny's and Tanith's fleets spent the wait mingling, exchanging stories and souvenirs, and enjoying some baked potatoes courtesy of Regalia.

Nearly eight hours later, the sun was well on its way towards the western end of the sky as Ritou and Anchorage Princess finally made landfall, to everyone's joy. It only took another hour for the submarines to arrive, and a couple hours after that, Airfield Princess and Radioactive Airfield Demon finally rounded out the group. The island was gripped in twilight by that point, but nobody cared. For the first time in almost three years, everybody was together in the same place again. They weren't about to let a lack of daylight ruin the party. A few torches and bonfires were lit, and they went about their celebration under the stars.

It wasn't often Regalia stayed up as late as this; her crew ran a surprisingly tight schedule. But thankfully, they were willing to cut her some slack for the sake of a family reunion.

Stepping through the village, several of her aunts called out to her in greeting, and she responded back politely. Everyone was getting involved with something, be it listening to Ruadri's tales of the past, dancing and singing, sparring, cooking, or simply talking with one another. It made Regalia feel a peculiar sort of warmth inside her, seeing everyone coming together, using their odd talents to help their sisters have the best time they can… since there was simply no telling if a gathering like this would happen again.

She briefly wondered if this was what it was like in the outside world.

As she wandered through the square, she caught sight of a familiar cruiser. "Nero!" The Ne-class turned and smiled as her cousin rushed up to hug her. "I haven't seen you in ages!" Regalia exclaimed as she pulled back. "How have things been for you?"

"Hey, Regalia. You look like you're doing well." Nero glanced over to the side, where a couple of her fleet were working to set up a makeshift grill for her. "Things have been pretty good for me lately, to answer your question. I've taken up pretty much all of the cooking for my fleet now, not that anybody minds." She frowned. "I try to keep things mixed up, but I don't really have anything I can use to spice up the food I make, so I've got to get creative with brine and charring."

"Cool." Regalia brought a finger to her lips. "You planning on doing any of that tonight?"

Nero smirked. "You know it." Pausing, she leaned in as her smirk grew. "I also got something else going on."

"Is that so?" Regalia asked, curious.

Nero stuck her arms behind her back. "You remember way back when we first met? When I helped you catch those pigs running rampant in your farm, and you asked me what I'd do with them?" Regalia nodded. "Well, I figured it out. Close your eyes—it's something of a surprise."

"Huh?"

"Just do it, please?" Confused, the Re-class squeezed her eyes shut as Nero asked.

After several moments, she heard a rustling in front of her, followed by an odd grunting sound. "Okay, you can look again," Nero said. Now curious, Regalia opened her eyes.

Nero was holding a squirming little creature in her arms. Small, stubby limbs, vibrant pink skin with brown and black spots, a plump little belly, and a pair of big, curious eyes over a twitching snout.

"OHMYGODITSSOCUTE!!!"

Regalia couldn't help herself. Several nearby Abyssals stopped and looked towards the pair in response to the Re-class's delighted squeal.

"Isn't it?" Nero agreed, gently scratching the piglet's head with a fingertip. "I held onto those pigs, took 'em home with me, and I made a little pen to keep them in, to see if I could breed them for their meat. A little while ago, they finally made their first litter. I figured, why not celebrate the occasion by holding on to one of them? I mean, I've wrangled destroyers before, can't be too hard to take care of one little pig."

"Yeah…" some small part of Regalia couldn't help but feel Nero might be wrong on that point, but she didn't have it in her to point that out. "Can I hold it for a little bit?"

Nero held out her new pet. "Sure. Just be careful, it's a little skittish."

Regalin gingerly lifted the piglet from Nero's hands and held it to her chest. The curious animal stood wobbling on her palm and explored her face with its snout, eliciting a soft giggle from the battleship. She looked back up to Nero as she stroked the piglet. "Have you given it a name?"

The Ne-class scratched the back of her head. "…Not yet, actually. I've been hoping to go around and ask the others for suggestions…"

"What is that thing?" The two jumped at the voice directly next to them. "It's cute!"

Looking around them, Regalia and Nero discovered they had been surrounded several of their aunts, who looked at the piglet in Regalia's hands with fascination and adoration. "That critter is ADORABLE!" one of them cooed.

"Small! Small and fuzzy!"

"Didn't some of those things attack your crops, Regalia?"

"Yeah, but this one's a baby Nero brought over from her island. It's innocent," Regalia argued.

"Huh… I guess it's okay, then…" a pause. "You think I can hold it next?"

"Hey, I wanna hold it, too!"

"Me! Me!"

"But you don't have hands, Silver…"

"Relax everyone," Nero said with a grin, holding up a hand. "You can all take turns. Just be gentle, okay?"

Needless to say, the little piglet found itself the center of attention for quite some time.

XXXXXXXXXX

"It is time to tell the fleet the... good news... and to prepare for our... journey."

Sunny glanced from Tanith to her other sisters as they quickly rose from their seats and made for the exit, eager to inform their fleets of Mother's survival. Radioactive Airfield Demon and Anchorage Princess were practically vibrating with excitement, a gleeful smile plastered on both their faces. Airfield Princess and Submarine Princess still seemed a little shocked about the revelation, looking dumbstruck and blinking away tears. Ritou bore her typical laid-back expression, but Sunny couldn't help but take note of the extra spring in her step.

The Demon decided to let them handle breaking the news. She'd prefer to finish her drink first.

Sipping quietly from her goblet, taking a few seconds to savor the taste of citrus on her tongue, Sunny leaned back into her chair. "This is a huge risk, Tanith," she stated, glancing over to the eldest of their sisters.

Tanith looked solemn as she drew a circle on the map, their planned destination, and stowed the map away. "It is a risk… we have to take," She said. "We may be safe here… out of sight of the world… but all it takes… is one scoutplane… one curious patrol… in the right place and the right time…"

"And every shipgirl in the Pacific will turn their eyes—and guns—to us."

Tanith nodded. "We had… no reason to believe… the humans would grant us lenience. That they would… take us on our word. But Mother… she can validate… our sincerity in surrender. If we must be seen… I want it to be… on OUR terms."

She turned back, to the banner that hung over their heads. "We are but a… pale shadow of the… grand fleet we once were. But we are still many. Seeing our fleet, our numbers… might just give them pause. Provide us the time… to speak… to clarify our intentions."

"You don't think they might just shoot first, ask questions later?" Sunny asked. "What's to stop them from doing that?"

"The white flags…" Tanith pointed out.

"And if the flags are dismissed? Seen as a ruse, a ploy to let us get close and inflict maximum damage?" Sunny shook her head. "We need something more, some kind of leverage. Something that will discourage the humans from just shooting us on sight—"

At that moment, the doors to the throne room swung inward, revealing a submarine and two destroyers. The sub slumped over, gasping from exhaustion, and the Na-class destroyers collapsed on the floor, panting.

Sunny's eyes widened as she shot to her feet. "Yolanda! Girls! There you are!" She rushed forward, gripping the submarine by the shoulders. "Where the hell have you three been!? I've been worried about you guys all day!"

"…Odd island… hidden cove… prison…" the Yo-class mumbled between gasps.

"Slow down, slow down." Sunny held her hands up. "Take your time. I can wait a bit."

Yolanda spent several seconds catching her breath. No longer quite as blue in the face, she spoke again. "…Mother's prisoners… the wardens… we found them!" she exclaimed. "They're all still alive!"

Sunny blinked. "What!? You mean… Tandy and them?" A nod. "Even the humans?" Another nod. "How!?"

Yolanda pulled out a photo and handed it to Sunny. It showed decrepit a Canadian vessel, moored against a rocky outcropping. "They escaped on… their old ship. It's still afloat today, but it's more or less dead in the water. They towed it into an old island cove, and they've hidden there ever since."

"Huh… Well, I guess it's good to know they're still okay. Finding more of our sisters is never a bad thing."

"They're more than okay, actually…" Yolanda shook her head in disbelief. "I… I didn't think it was possible, but several of our sisters have actually reproduced with the prisoners! There are children on the island, half-Abyssal children!"

The Demon was briefly struck speechless. Kids? ACTUAL kids, with the humans? They weren't even Princesses… were they? "I… wow," She said, having trouble finding her voice. "This… this is great news!"

"No…" The pair paused and turned to the Princess. "This is more… than great news…"

She smiled.

"…this is a bargaining chip."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Eyes closed, Nagato listened to the drone of the four powerful engines that were flying them through the air towards their destination. Every once in a while there was a bump as they hit a bit of turbulence. Said bumps were often followed by a whimper or a squeak. Currently though, they had just passed Hiroo when she heard the sound of crinkling and opened up one eye to see Sunny Honey trying to open a package of peanuts. Despite jokes regarding peanuts on flights, it always amused her that for some odd reason they were actual true.

Reaching across the aisle, she held out one hand. "Here, let me open them for you." With a blink, the Abyssal Destroyer handed over the bag, which the Battleship easily opened. Handing them back, Nagato gave the Abyssal a small headpat. "Here you go."

Lightly blushing, Sunny Honey smiled shyly before she nodded. "Thank you, Grandma."

Only sighing, Nagato shook her head with a bemused look on her face. Yes, she may have looked to be in her twenties, and yet she was already a grandmother in an odd way. And looking at the other Abyssal Destroyers snacking on various things, she would not have it any other way. "You are very welcome." Watching as Sunny Honey munched on a handful of the flavored peanuts, Nagato leaned back some. "You're not nervous are you?"

That caused Sunny Honey to pause and look down. "Um, kind of? Shifting her feet some, she chewed her lip. "What if they don't like me, Grandma?"

It was not Nagato who answered though, but Aeroprin as she turned. "They will like you, like you! I know that for a fact."

Nighty Moon then looked over at her 'Mother'. "But... you just found us. We weren't built by you..."

Wagging a hand in their direction, Hoppou shook her head. "Hoppou knows that they will like you! And Hoppou does not care that she did not build you nor did Blackie Smokie. Big Brother was not built like Hoppou was or Big Sister, but is still Big Brother. And Big Brother loves you!"

All the Destroyers murmured a bit with small smiles on their faces which made Nagato shake her head at. She then gave them a smile. "She's right, we're all family after all." Raising an eyebrow, the Battleship continued. "Don't you love him even though he was not built by Hoppou or myself?"

Each of the Destroyers looked stricken by the thought and rapidly shook their heads. "No! We love Uncle Harry! He's the best uncle we could have and we don't care that an Abyssal like Mommy didn't build him!"

While they nodded, Nagato had to hold back a giggle as Hoppou also gave a sharp nod. "Exactly! So don't worry, family will love you."

Aeroprin then tilted her head in confusion. "Um, speaking of Uncle Harry, can I ask a question? A question?" At the nod, a frown appeared on her face. "Why isn't Uncle Harry with us? He should be!"

Much to her surprise, Hoppou shook her head. "Big Brother is staying home where he is safe. Until Hoppou is sure that this not trick, Hoppou does not want to risk Big Brother."

Considering that, Aerorprin gave a small nod before Nagato spoke up. "Unlike us, Harry is... more squishy. Something that would not really harm either of us might kill him after all." Tapping herself where the breastbone would be on a human, the Battleship continued. "A hit that would bruise me, for example, would outright kill Harry. So until we're sure that it is safe, we'll keep him where he will be in no danger. Hence why Wokyuu is back in Yokosuka with Harry and one of her planes is here."

Nearly as one, the Destroyers turned to where one of Wokyuu's planes sat in a pet carrier. Then Nighty Moon perked up some. "Wait! Couldn't Uncle Harry be given a rebuild to make him stronger? Then he wouldn't need to worry so much!"

That brought a wince to Nagato's face and she thought over how to reply when Hoppou did. "Hoppou would like to do that, but Hoppou knows that even she cannot. Big Brother not shipgirl or Abyssal, humans can't be made stronger like that."

After a few moments though, the Battleship released a sigh. "Or at least not like us." When they turned to her, she grimaced. "I had a look and... there are rituals that could do things like make Harry tougher. Not as tough as us though and they would hurt him a lot and scar him."

Eyes wide, Hoppou brought her attention to her adoptive mother. "What do you mean, Mommy?"

Letting out a breath, Nagato shook her head. "One of the rituals makes the bones of a person harder to break. But in order to do that, the symbols for the ritual would need to be carved into the bones in question. Each bone at that. And Harry would need to have that done multiple times to make his bones unbreakable, with it leaving scars behind. Same if he wanted to try and make his organs tougher as well."

A frown on her face, Hoppou thought that over. Then she remembered how Harry was in pain the one time he got cut and needed stitches since she had come. He had been riding his bike when he had to swerve out of the way of a car and landed on the pavement. Hoppou could still remember how much it had hurt him. And the thought that he would need to go through something a lot worse for longer... "Hoppou does not want that."

While the Destroyers all nodded, Nagato gave a thin smile before ruffling Hoppou's hair. "Nor do I, Hoppou. But Harry is tougher all the same then a normal human and he's safe." Giving the Destroyers a look, she smiled. "I promise though that once we're sure that everything is safe, Harry will come up here himself."

The Battleship looked over to where Musashi was laying back against the fuselage of the aircraft with her eyes closed, seemingly not listening. But she could see that one of Musashi's eyes was cracked open just a touch. And she was not the only one if the fact that White Plains was there with a thoughtful look on her face. Suddenly, Musashi's rumbling voice spoke up. "It is our duty to protect people like Harry, those that cannot."

Despite the Abyssals looking at her, Musashi did not say anything else. After a few minutes though, Hoppou perked up as did the other Abyssals and turn their heads. Her expression then lit up with pure joy. "Mommy! Mommy! Hoppou feels them! Hoppou can tell that they are who they say they are!"

Her own eyes wide, Nagato turned in the same direction before her expression became thoughtful. 'I wonder. If Hoppou can feel them from here, does that mean that they can feel her from where they are?'

Unknown to Nagato, the answer turned out to be a "Yes" as Tanaka watched the Abyssals pause from their conversation with him. Then their heads snapped in the general direction of Kushiro so fast he had to hold back a wince. Just seeing it made his neck hurt. At seeing the tears gathering in their eyes though, the Captain frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Wiping at her eyes, Tanith gave a shake of her head. "N-no... nothing is wrong... In fact..." She shared a look with her sisters, all of whom looked struck with joy. Ritou was not even bothering to hide the sobs that escaped from her. "Everything is once more... right with the world. We can sense... Mother coming closer... and cannot be... happier."

Just placing his hands into his pockets, Tanaka glanced at Akebono who shrugged in confusion. "Well, that's good to hear anyways. Pretty sure that she would be as happy as you are."

Slowly, Sunny nodded before a laugh burst from her. "This... this is so great!" Glancing at the Abyssal Destroyers who were all leaping around while shouting about their big sister, she shook her head. "We can also feel Blackie Smokie as well. So this bunch will be happy for that."

Head tilted to the side, Settsu gave them all a look. "Still going to be a few hours yet most likely. They won't just leave her head out without an escort."

If anything, the Abyssals seemed happier about that. Radioactive Airfield Demon just shook her head. "We thought that Mother was dead all this time. A few more hours is nothing to see her again."

That only got a nod from Tanaka.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Anyways... something that Kiyone4Ever posted over on SV inspired me for a bit... granted, it's filler, but still.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Standing on the water outside of Kushiro, Nagato crossed her arms under her chest before glancing to the side as Enterprise came alongside. "Hmm?"

All the Carrier did was place her hands behind her head as she looked at one of her planes. "Figured that since we're still forming up that I should chat." With her eyes sliding to the Battleship beside her, she shook her head. "Hornet is further down the coast ready just in case."

Eyes closing, Nagato frowned slightly. "Hopefully it is not needed as Hoppou is stating that the IFFs she's reading are correct. So they are very likely who they claim to be so we shouldn't need your sister's... special capability."

Only snorting, Enterprise rolled her eyes. "Better safe then sorry, Nagato. Something that we both have learned both in this life and the last. Hence the firepower as there are Installations involved." Getting a nod, she grimaced. "Though hopefully you're right and we won't need Hornet in that way... Especially with how happy Hoppou seems to be."

Her own eyes going towards her adoptive daughter, who was chatting happily with Aeroprin, Nagato sighed. "Hopefully not."

Much to Nagato's confusion, Enterprise coughed into her fist and then grinned. "Speaking of family... You would never guess who has been in Akkeshi this whole time."

Frowning, the Battleship thought over Enterprise's words. However, she could not figure out what she was talking about. 'Someone in Akkeshi? Who?' Eventually, she just sighed and looked at the Carrier who's grin had widened. "Very well, who has been in Akkeshi this whole time?"

Softly snickering, Enterprise shook her head. "Your other self." At seeing Nagato's utter befuddlement grow, she laughed. "The other Nagato."

It took a few moments but Nagato's eyes widened slightly. "You mean the actress who acts as me? The one with the JMSDF PR campaign?"

Humming, the Carrier gave her a nod. "Got it in one. Apparently she was visiting a hospital with the other Akagi, or whatever she is calling herself now. Both of them were doing a thing for sick kids there when the alert came out." An impressed look came over her face. "And instead of evacuating like they were supposed to, they decided to stay behind with the kids to keep them calm by having the 'Heroes' there with them."

There was a soft expression on Nagato's face at that. "I see. And you say that she stayed with the children in the hospital this whole time?" When the other shipgirl gave a nod, she turned in the direction that she knew that the hospital was in according to the maps. "Hmm... It seems then that she truly is a Battleship. If she is still around in the area once this settles then I will need to let her know that."

Also glancing in the same direction, Enterprise shook her head in disbelief. "I'll tell you what, it takes real guts to do that. Hell, those two were freaking movie sets, not actual warships. And yet here they are prepared to do what they can to protect the kids. Even if all they could hope for is to comfort them and keep them from being too scared..." Rubbing her finger under her nose, she frowned. "Still not sure how the hell you guys managed to summon them since they were built in 1969."

Somewhat amused, the Battleship gave a chuckle. "Actually, in that case you can blame American and Japanese magicals. Otherwise we couldn't have summoned them."

Eyebrow raised, Enterprise blinked at that. "Say what now?"

Looking around, Nagato leaned down towards her with a small shudder. "Apparently nuclear weapons scared the magicals as much as the rest of us. So they were trying to find out what they could do in case of a nuclear war. One of their ideas was to use some sort of magic to speed up time in a spot to make the radiation go down quicker. It was a joint research project between MACUSA and the Magical Diet. But they needed a spot. Somewhere that the non-magicals would not pay much attention to if they somehow screwed up."

Thoughtful, Enterprise gave a nod. "Hence them deciding to use the sets? Because they were large enough before they got torn down and no one would really pay much attention to anything that looked bad that might have gotten missed."

Nagato gave a small sigh about that. "Hai, that is what happened. Apparently the two were put through thirty years of accelerated time. Which, when added to what has passed? It gave them enough 'weight' along with everything else to be summoned." Head tilted to the side, she gave a bemused shake of the head. "Though somewhat odd to be honest."

Glancing at her, Enterprise snorted. "Odd? That Nagato looks just like you with just a few differences. The Akagi looks like a mirror reflection of... ya know, the Akagi from the war when they stand side by side." Motioning with her hands, she gave a shake of the head. "It's sort of freaky."

A frown on her face, Nagato fixed her with a look. "Enterprise, as far as I am concerned the two of them do their duties well. Unlike the Americans, we don't have a group of shipgirls who's whole purpose is to tour and drum up support for the war effort. Those two do a good job of it."

Just waving her hands, Enterprise let out a whistle. "Whoa there, I'm not insulting either of them. To be honest, those two do damn fine work and right now? I'm impressed with them. Takes some real balls to stay when you know that a fleet of Abyssals are baring down just to comfort children."

In Nagato's eye was a small glint of amusement. "Perhaps they could have punched them in the face like the Great Lakes Battleship did to Central Island Hime."

Moments later, Enterprise groaned and facepalmed. "Oh God... do not remind me of that. Seriously, seeing Illinois, the 'Great Lakes Battleship' do that to a fake Central Island Hime on a stage just made me cringe. Yes, it was popular but honestly..." Her voice then became dry as she gave Nagato a look. "And it did not help that Taffy 3 thought it was awesome and Johnston wrote those shipping fics of Illinois and Captain America."

That got a laugh from the Battleship as she shook her head. "Actually, I thought that those were rather well written myself."

Slowly, Enterprise turned and gave her a disbelieving look. "... Seriously? Please tell me that you are joking..."

Eyebrow raised, Nagato shook her head. "No, I'm quite serious, Enterprise. Johnston did not do a half bad job of it. Compared to a lot of the dreck that got posted on the Creative Writing portion of SGO, it was up there. And at least it did not become a... how would you Americans put it? Ah, yes. A dick measuring contest involving Marvel."

Once more, Enterprise facepalmed. "Dammit, I remember those Vs. Debates. Some of those were beyond cringe worthy. You had to remind me of them."

Lips twitching, the Japanese shipgirl only hummed a bit. "Yes, they were rather interesting, weren't they?"

Scowling, Enterprise shook her head before frowning as a thought occurred to her. "Wait, how the heck did you know that about the two anyways? The whole magical thing?"

Head tilted to the side, Nagato smiled slightly. "It was in a magical history book as a matter of fact. In particular one that dealt with the Cold War which was recommended to me." Glancing up, she then gave a nod. "Ah, it seems like we're all ready then." Expression becoming serious, she left a grumbling Enterprise behind and sailed up to where Hoppou was looking towards the north. "Hoppou? Are you ready for this?"

Turning to look at her, the small Abyssal gave a nod. "Yes, Mommy, Hoppou is ready."

Beside her, Aeroprin gave her own nod. "Yes, Grandma, and we're ready too! We'll stay right beside Mommy the whole time."

Gently ruffling her hair, Nagato smiled some. "That is good to hear." Raising a hand, she let it drop. "Everyone, ahead full speed."

With nods, everyone began to head towards where the fleet of Abyssals were waiting them, or rather one of them. Hoppou gave a glance to either side as the various shipgirls formed up into formation to protect her. It was something that made her smile at the realization that they cared for her.

Then her attention was focused on the group of IFFs that she could sense. Familiar ones which made her heart ache all over again at knowing that they were not dead, but alive. And ones that she wanted to see once more...

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts/Kiyone4Ever crosspost 1

Well, have a crosspost from SV for right now from Kiyone4Ever:
____________________________________________________________________________________________

War of Morale

Sometimes things just went wrong. That thought was running through Nagato's mind as the alert sounded. She and her partner Amagi were touring a local children's hospital when word of a huge Abyssal fleet had come in. It had been the usual deal: They would visit a hospital, a school, or community event, talk a little about being safe and prepared and encouraging everyone to 'Do Their Part' for the war effort. This meant things like conserving resources, encouraging adults to not drive their cars and growing vegetable gardens.

Of course, the children all wanted to see a demonstration of the battleship's strength. Nagato would happily oblige and she loved it! Not so much the media coverage but the smiles on children's faces as she signed autographs.
The only problem, her brain reminded, was that she was a fake. To be exact, she was a movie set. Built for the production of the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora" in 1969-1970, the landships Nagato and Akagi (Now called Amagi) should have been unsummonable but for the production crews, the students who formed their crews, the thousands of tourists who had visited them, the people who had seen them on screen and some very talented but unspecified volunteers from the Japanese Magical Community. The idea to summon the pair had come about after an attempt to summon an American pre-dreadnought, the USS Illinois BB-7 had resulted in the accidental summoning of a replica Indiana class battleship which had actually carried a crew and a few live weapons and whose bell was later donated to the actual battleship. The American Navy had taken advantage of this turn of events to assign the "Great Lakes Battleship" to a series of public relations tours.

The Japanese government hoped to do the same with Nagato and Akagi, the actual shipgirls having already made quite an impression on the public. Of course, there was the slightest problem that despite the thorough efforts of the set designers, 'Akagi' didn't quite match her historic counterpart, her island being to starboard whereas the real Akagi had carried hers to port. As a summoned 'shipgirl' Landship Akagi was identical to the real thing except more of a mirror copy. Too many shipgirl aficionados would spot the differences in an instant so Akagi became 'Amagi' and the tours began.

But today... 'Nagato' was just an actress. As impressive as her strength seemed to the children in her audiences, it was nothing compared to a real shipgirl or an Abyssal. But to these children, she WAS Nagato of the Big Seven. They looked to her for protection, for a miracle.

And if they could not fight, 'Nagato' and Amagi would not run either. Their standing orders to seek shelter and see to their own safety be damned, they would stay here. Using hope as their weapon, this was their battle as everyone waited to see what was to come.

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Before we're hit with feels-nukes, I took a day to hammer this out. You know the funny thing? Most of the events of this snippet, I'd originally planned to do in my second, maybe third snippet. It's kinda crazy how quickly something can grow when you have so much time to spend on it. Anyway, I hope you guys like it.

Revelations

XXXXXXXXXX

"So… we're all in agreement?"

There were various hums and nods in the small group around Nero and Regalia. The piglet, tuckered out by the excitement, rested peacefully in Nero's arms.

"Alright then." Nero looked down at her pet. "So, little guy, what do you think? Does Grunt sound like a good name to you?"

The newly-christened piglet snorted softly, nuzzling against Nero's chest.

The cruiser grinned. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Regalia looked around as the group made their approval known. She was a little surprised at just how quickly everyone got so invested in naming a pig. Years of working together in a fleet would have certainly helped them to operate on the same wavelength, she supposed.

A voice, loud and commanding, rang out over the square. "Everyone, can I have your attention, please?"

Everyone turned towards the center of the square to find Ritou standing at attention, with the Anchorage and Airfield princesses behind her. "Some of you might have been wondering why we were asked to come out here so suddenly. I and the other flagships have been speaking with Tanith… and she revealed to us some startling news.

"Several days ago, sister Sokie raided a shipgirl supply cache during an expedition. In doing so, she came across a magazine. Ordinarily, this would have meant nothing to us. But the contents of that book brought to light… extraordinary information."

Ritou paused, taking a deep breath.

"The Northern Ocean Princess… Mother… is alive."

For several seconds, silence dominated the village.

Then all hell broke loose.

"WHAT!?" Rivet roared.

"But… but her IFF… it vanished…" Ruadri mumbled. "That could only have happened if she…"

"It can't be… I… I was there!" Wonderous said, stunned. "I saw them… swarming over her… ripping her rigging apart piece by piece…"

"It's gotta be a ruse, it's just gotta…"

On it went. Regalia could only watch, mortified, as the volume of the sisters' rebukes and rationalizations, first aimed at Ritou, gradually rose to shouting and they turned inward, arguing with one another.

Ritou quickly got fed up with the chaos.

"QUIET!" the princess howled, silencing the din. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "Yes… she was defeated. Her steel torn asunder. She was… scrapped. But her flesh… Mother herself… she persisted." Her gaze dropped to the ground. "One of our sisters… must have sacrificed themselves, to protect what remained. Hid Mother away in the rubble of our home."

She pinched her eyes shut, not pleased by what she had to say next. "The shipgirls found her."

Instantly, a wave of panic shot through the fleet. Mother was taken… by shipgirls? They were Abyssals; monsters, in shape if not in spirit. Regardless of whether they wanted to live peacefully, they were on the side of the aggressors… responsible for tens, maybe hundreds of millions of innocent lives lost. For the humans to get their hands on a broken, helpless princess, one of the ringleaders of that crusade? There's no telling what kind of vengeance they could enact on her.

Ritou looked up, gazed out at her sisters' looks of shock and despair, their minds taking that information and running with it to the worst possible conclusions. "I can guess from your expressions what you all are thinking. And I'll be honest… I briefly thought the same, when I heard the news." She shook her head. "But… I was wrong. The humans and shipgirls…they saved her."

…What?

Everyone could only listen, dumbfounded, as Ritou continued. "A shipgirl… adopted her as if she were a human child. Brought her into her home. Raised her like she was her very own daughter. They gave her warmth… comfort… a mother's love. The very same love she provided for all of us." She paused to rub a tear out of her eye. "Mother is now at peace with the humans… and so, it turns out, is Aunt Wanko. She discovered what the traitors did to Mother, and she turned on them, allying herself with those who saved her little sister."

All around, Ritou could see something in the eyes of her sisters, something they hadn't had for so long: hope. "Me and the other flagships have come to a decision. We will all set out, for Japan. We will freely give ourselves over to the humans. We will beg for mercy, for peace… and if we are fortunate, they just might oblige us."

Everyone began chattering excitedly. They were finally going to abandon these waters for the first time in years. They were going to see Mother again!

"Tonight, however…" Ritou swept her arm over the crowd. "I believe we have more reason than ever to celebrate." She grinned. "We begin preparing for departure first thing tomorrow… so you all better get the wild shit out of your systems while you can! You hear me!?"

She was met with cheers.

XXXXXXXXXX

All around Regalia, everybody seemed to be doubling down on the party. News of their mother's survival had them happier than they could ever remember. They were no longer orphans. In finding salvation in the arms of humanity, Mother had opened a door for them to do the same—to finally end their isolation, surrender to the humans, and maybe, just maybe, live to see her again.

Which left Regalia and Nero in a rather awkward spot.

Were they happy the Northern Ocean Princess was alive? Absolutely. They'd never had a chance to meet their grandmother and, judging how their mothers and aunts spoke so fondly of her, she had to be a wonderful person. It's just… well, they'd never had a chance to meet her. All they had to go by was their family's hearsay. Everyone else was rejoicing, and the pair couldn't help but think: was she really THAT wonderful?

As the cheering, the singing and dancing intensified around them, the pair sat back on a bench. "So… Grandma's still kicking," Nero started. "What do you imagine she's like in person?"

Humming, Regalia thought back to what her mother had told her of the Northern Ocean Princess. "Well, my mom called her small, kind, wise. Though, I kinda wonder what she meant by 'small'."

"I heard similar from my own mom," Nero noted. "When I asked her how small is 'small', she told me Grandma was even smaller than her—that she looked like a little girl. Tended to behave a bit like one, too."

Regalia cocked her head. "A little girl…?" Her gaze flickered towards the crowd. "And everyone here is just a FRACTION of her fleet in its prime…? Seems hard to believe she could reel in so many."

Nero shook her head. "They themselves aren't quite sure how she managed it…"

"I, for one, think… she was capable of it… BECAUSE of her childlike mind and heart."

Regalia and Nero turned to see the Northern Water Princess standing beside them. "Oh… hey, Mom," the Re-class greeted her. "I was wondering why I didn't see you up there with the other flagships… when they made the announcement."

"I stayed behind to… discuss some matters… with Sunny." The princess looked to Nero. "Would you mind if… I spoke to my daughter alone? I have a… private matter to… discuss with her."

"Uh…" Nero blinked, before shrugging. "Sure, I can do that. Everyone's probably waiting for me to get cooking, after all." Waving goodbye, she stood up and walked off towards the bonfires.

Looking back to Regalia, the princess gestured to follow her. "Let us go… somewhere a little more… quiet."

XXXXXXXXXX

They walked out of the village, towards the palace. On the way, they passed Sunny, who simply offered them a smile and a wave as she went past. Entering the throne room, Tanith stepped around the table in the center of the room and seated herself on her throne. "Come, sit," She stated, patting the space beside her.

Regalia cautiously took a seat next to her mother. She looked up to her. "Er, Mom… why did we need to come all the way in here… just to talk?"

Tanith closed her eyes in thought. "I just wanted to have… no distractions for us… so you can focus on… what I'm going to tell you."

Regalia simply nodded. "Okay then. So… what is it exactly, that you want to tell me?"

Tanith worked her jaw for several seconds, unsure how to begin. "…How much do you know of Mother?"

Regalia thought for a moment. "Well… from what I've been told by everybody… the Northern Ocean Princess looked and acted like a little kid… yet she was a fantastic mother to all of her hundreds of children… and she didn't resort to violence unless absolutely necessary."

Tanith nodded. "That is all correct. But do you remember… just what kind of Princess she was?"

"Judging from her size…Destroyer?"

"She was an Installation. Possibly one of the greatest… in the world. Her hundreds of children… they were not cannon fodder… not one of them. She treated each and every… one of us as if… we were irreplaceable. To that end… she was equipped… with every tool… every schematic… every trick or technique… she would ever need… to mold her ships like putty in her hands. To keep them… working to their greatest potential. And… most importantly… to help them live… through fatal blows. No matter how devastating… how severe… how extensive they were."

Regalia blinked. "And what does she have to do with whatever you're telling me…?"

Tanith sighed. She reached out, gripped her daughter's shoulder.

"Regalia… Mother can repair you."

Tanith held her breath, waiting for her daughter's response. She didn't know how she'd take this revelation. Would she be happy? Sad? Confused? Scared? Angry? What would she thinking of in order to make such reactions? Tanith had no clue.

Finally, when Tanith could scarcely handle the wait any longer, Regalia did something.

She cocked her head. "Huh."

Tanith blinked several times, stunned by the… disinterest her daughter was displaying. "…What?"

"I mean, that's great, I guess… but…" Regalia shrugged. "Do I really NEED it?"

Tanith could barely believe what she was hearing. "But… but your keel…"

"It doesn't really pose that much of a problem to me. I can't stand up straight, yeah, but it's not like it HURTS or anything. And we don't really fight anyone, I mean…" Regalia gestured to the village. "We're planning to sail up to the humans and surrender to them… so even if I can't use my weapons safely, it's not making much of a difference, is it?" she shook her head. "I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure fixing me would take a lot of time and effort and supplies and money… my point is, is it really worth it just so I can… what, stand a little straighter? That's really all it would be doing for me."

"Regalia, we…" Tanith paused, trying to find her next words. "…we are Abyssal. We are ship spirits. Your flaw… takes so much from… what you are meant… to be. This repair… it would let you finally… sail the seas… alongside your family… as part of a true fleet."

Regalia frowned. "Well… even if I'm a ship spirit, that doesn't change the fact that I've spent pretty much my entire life just… being a girl. I haven't ever felt like I really NEEDED to be part of a fleet. I've been fine doing my own thing, like lounging around, or farming, or mingling with my aunts. I just don't feel like it's worth being cut open, having my insides messed up by someone I've never met, just so I can walk on water in a straight line like everyone else."

"Regalia… what you are doing is…" Tanith shook her head. "You cannot just… reject half of what you are. You are deluding yourself—"

"I'm not deluding myself, Mom," Regalia cut her off. She was beginning to grow agitated. "I've got thousands of little people crawling around inside me. I've got a giant snake with guns on its head for a tail. Every time I look at one of you, I can see the hull beneath your skin." She sighed. "I know I'm both girl and ship. I'm not rejecting that."

"Then… why—"

"But I don't want to be a WARship."

To Tanith's shock, Regalia brushed her hand away from her shoulder. "Defective or not, I am a Re-class battleship. Second only to Demons and Princesses in combat capability. If I were normal… I'd be expected to serve the role I was designed for, to play the part of a battle-crazed warrior like other Re-classes. One day, sooner or later, someone would push me to fight." she shook her head. "But I don't want that. I just want to relax, have fun, grow food, make everyone happy."

Tanith shook her head. "Then you don't have… to fight. Your will is your own. But you still carry… weapons of immense power. They are a… fundamental part of you. You cannot simply get rid of them. To possess such weapons… but be incapable of safely handling them… you pose a risk… to more than just yourself… but everyone around you. This would change that."

Briefly, the chamber was silent. Then, Regalia spoke.

"…why are you doing this?"

"What?"

Regalia looked to Tanith. She could see something in her daughter's eyes… pain. Confusion.

Betrayal.

"Why are you pushing for me to go through with this?" Regalia asked, voice weak. "All my life, you've supported me. Whenever I doubted myself, asked myself if I could ever be worth anything, in spite of being broken… you were there. You'd tell me that my deformity didn't define me. That I didn't have to change myself to be accepted. That you loved me no matter what I looked like. But now, you're trying to tell me… I should let myself be mutilated so I can fit in with all the other Re-classes. Why?"

"Regalia, th-that was…" Tanith stammered. "That was… before now. Before w-we knew it was… possible for you to be helped…"

"So what?" She retorted, her voice rising. "All those promises, those reassurances… do they just stop meaning anything, now that your mom is alive?" Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "You told me, the day I was born, that you'd never let anyone try to convince me… that I'm not perfect just the way I am. Have you just decided that since you were the one who said it, it doesn't apply to you? That only you can tell me what I am?"

"That's not what I…" Tanith reached out, to pull her daughter closer. "Regalia, please—"

"NO!"

Tanith jerked back as Regalia slapped her hand away. The Re-class flung herself off the throne, out of reach of her mother. "I don't wanna hear it anymore!" She snarled, bloody tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Tanith had no time to react before the Re-class turned and ran, fleeing deeper into the palace, crying.

For a time, Tanith simply sat on her throne, at a loss for what to do. Her fear had come true—her daughter broke down, rejected her. But going over the conversation in her head, the princess noted just how much of it was because of her. She had pushed her daughter too hard, tried to coerce her into something she saw little need for, and was far too slow to react when she lashed out.

Where once she felt dread in the pit of her stomach… she now felt nothing but shame.

Tanith rose from her throne and started to walk, deeper into the palace. She had to make this right.

XXXXXXXXXX

Reaching the door to her daughter's bedroom, Tanith stood there, silent, listening for sounds of activity on the other side. All she could hear was her daughter's broken sobs beyond the door; it was almost physically painful for her to listen to her daughter in such anguish, fully aware that she was responsible for it. This couldn't stand.

Steeling herself, Tanith pushed open the door.

The chamber was dimly-lit, only a handful of enchanted candles providing any light. It was enough, however, for Tanith to see Regalia curled up on the bed, facing away from the door, crying. Her tail hung off the end of the bed, motionless.

"Regalia? I…" As Tanith stepped forward, Regalia's tail snapped out. The princess rapidly backpedaled from the monstrous snake, growling inches from her face. The tail pressed her back further, to the absolute limit of its range, before huffing in satisfaction and pulling back, returning to the bed once more.

"Go away…" Regalia whimpered.

Tanith felt a stab of pain in her chest at the words. She had come to disagreements with her daughter in the past, it was simply a fact of life… but she'd never been so cold to her before. Going so far as to threaten her to keep her distance?

She had truly fucked this up. And she had to let her daughter know she understood that fact.

"Regalia… I'm sorry."

Regalia didn't respond.

"I didn't… I didn't mean to… make it sound like I'm forcing this on you. I…" Tanith took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She failed. She continued anyway. "Regalia… you are my daughter. My only child. You are a smart, kind, gentle… innocent girl. You do not deserve to… live a hermit's life like us… to be deformed like you are. You deserve a better life than this."

She took a step closer. The tail hissed at her, but did not rise from its spot. She pressed on. "I only want… what is best for you. But I would never… make you do something… against your will. Please… think for a moment. You may be… content with your life… but it could be so much more. Pain or no pain… your defect deprives you of… so much of what the world has to offer you. If there is a chance… however slim… for you to live the full, happy life you deserve… there is no price I wouldn't pay for you. Don't you… understand that?"

Tanith waited. For several minutes, the room was silent, only broken by the odd cough or sniffle from Regalia. Finally, with a rumble, her tail pulled inward, to lay in a ring around her body. The message was clear: 'I want to be alone.'

"…Okay." Tanith sighed softly. "I will not… force you to answer… here and now. I am not blind… to your distress." She turned away, walking out of the room. She halted in the doorway. "Our fleet will set sail… as soon as we are able… to meet the humans. If you choose to accept… you can set out alongside us. If you choose to remain…" a pause. "I'll… respect your decision."

Silence. Tanith looked back one last time, to her daughter curled up atop her bed. The crying and sniffling had stopped… but it seemed no response was forthcoming.

Tanith turned back, defeated. "Good night, Regalia. I love you."

With those words, the door was shut, and the Re-class was left alone with her thoughts.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tanith looked out over her fleet. This would be the first time, in so very long, that they sailed together in such impressive numbers. Everyone was anxious, excited, unable to contain their emotions. She should have been similarly excited… but the events of the previous night refused to leave her mind.

She glanced one last time, back to the shore, to the group that would remain to defend their home.

Regalia was nowhere to be seen.

That's it, then. Her one chance to help her daughter truly heal… and she blew it, and very likely lost her respect, her trust in the process. She wanted nothing more than to hunt her down, beg her for forgiveness… but her sisters needed her here, now, to lead them all safely into an uncertain future. For their sake… she had to set her guilt aside, at least for now.

Tanith turned to the fleet. "Is everybody… in formation?" She called out. A few seconds later, she was met with dozens of responses in the affirmative. "Very well. Let us… proceed."

A low hum could be heard, steadily rising in volume and intensity, as countless turbines began to spin up. Careful to match the speed of their flagship, the combined fleet slowly pulled away from the island. Their first destination was the cove—where the Canadians, their sisters, their leverage against a first strike, awaited them.

And then, just as they began to pick up speed… a voice rang out, just barely audible over the rumble of a fleet underway.

"MOM!"

Tanith snapped back, looking to the shoreline. There, standing in… no, standing on the water, was her daughter.

The Re-class stumbled and jerked in the waves, visibly struggling to maintain her forward course as the waves slammed against her asymmetric hull, trying desperately to throw her off. Her face was contorted into a grimace from the effort and discomfort… but she pressed on regardless.

"Regalia!" Tanith cried out in shock. Slamming her rudders to port, she turned back to the island, ignoring the confusion and protests from the rest of the fleet. Rushing towards her daughter, she held her monstrous arms out, braced to catch the unstable battlecarrier. With a crash of metal, Regalia collided with one of the metal arms, her momentum great enough to push her proportionally-lighter mother in the opposite direction with ease. Tanith was pressed back hundreds of yards as she redlined her boilers, fighting to bleed her daughter's speed away, before the pair was finally able to come to a stop. "What are you DOING!?" she asked.

Trembling and pale, Regalia pulled herself up the length of the arm she impacted with, until she was close enough to grab onto her mother. "Mom, I'm…I'm so sorry," she gasped as she clung tightly to Tanith, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…" She buried her face in her mother's chest, unable to bring herself to look her mother in the eyes. "I shouldn't have freaked out the way I did. You didn't deserve it. You just wanted me to be happy. And I threatened you for it." Her own chest heaved, both from exertion, and her desperate struggle not to completely break down. "I'm a thoughtless idiot."

Tanith sighed in relief. It felt like a massive weight had just been lifted from her shoulders; somehow, she hadn't COMPLETELY ruined her relationship with her daughter. Looking down to her daughter, she gently shook her head. "No, Regalia. You are not an idiot. Look at me."

Regalia gazed up to her mother, expression remorseful, as Tanith continued. "Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong. I was the one… to undermine your faith… your trust in me. I was wrong to try… and press the decision upon you. Can you forgive me… for that?"

Regalia looked at her, conflicted. "…Mom…"

Tanith abruptly lurched forward as Regalia's legs gave out underneath her and her rigging deactivated, leaving the princess struggling to hold several hundred pounds of dead weight out of the water. With a grunt of exertion, she heaved her daughter's body up and over her back, letting Regalia wrap her arms and legs around her torso.

"I'm… sorry about that, too…" Regalia whimpered in her mother's ear. "I'm really… really tired. Haven't slept since then."

Ignoring the ache in her keel, Tanith chuckled softly. "I understand." Regalia in tow, she began to turn back around, to return to her position in the fleet.

As they sailed, Regalia spoke. "…Mom, I…" The Re-class whispered. "I still don't know… if I really want it or not… but… I want to at least try." She hugged her mother tighter. "For you."

Tanith smiled warmly. "After how I disrespected your feelings… that's all I could ask for."

Making her way back to the head of the fleet, Tanith found Sunny waiting with hands on her hips, eyebrow raised. "So, she finally came around?"

Tanith glanced over her shoulder to Regalia, who could barely keep her eyes open. "She's willing to give Mother a chance. That's good enough for me."

"Alright then." Behind Sunny, the enormous twin-headed demon that embodied her rigging reached out to Tanith, palm open. "Why don't you let me hold her for you? At least until we pick up the Canadian ship, she can ride with them after that. I doubt you could carry a battlecarrier for too long without damaging something… what with being a dreadnought and all."

A twitch. "…did you just call me old?"

"Look, do you wanna throw out your back dragging her tail around (because let's face it, that's where most of her weight is) for the next few hours, or let a battleship with the appropriate tonnage and horsepower do it for you?" Sunny asked.

Tanith glared at her, before sighing in exasperation and turning her back to the demon. With surprising dexterity, the behemoth gently pried Regalia off her back and brought her to its chest, cradling the now-sleeping battlecarrier in its arms. "Don't worry, Tanith. I promise I won't let anything happen to her," Sunny stated softly.

Tanith nodded. "I expect no less from you." She looked back to the fleet. "I'm sorry for the delay, everyone. Let's go."

And with that, they set out in earnest.

 

[darthcourt10]

Lord K

A.N./ Seeing as Mary is busy at the moment, it's time for a jump to the recent past

Tokyo 1950

Enatsu Shinichi was having a great day.

Months of careful planning, and then well over two years of cautious waiting, had finally come to fruition. The news was out, and the news was good.

The nomajs had their man.

He had his money.

And nobody suspected a thing.

It was almost enough to put a spring in his step as he pulled out his keys approached the door to his squalid excuse of a clinic in suburban Tokyo. Even after five years, Toshima and much of northern Tokyo were beset and weighed down by the lingering wounds of the war. The poor clung together in hovels hidden behind the facades of the mains streets that superficially appeared to recover. Crime, while not rampant, was an ever present undercurrent, fueled by lost souls and the mentally moribund of the war.

Drugs, prostitution, gambling; Beneath it's surface, this still recovering part of Tokyo had a dark side. One that while not as bad as many others, was utterly perfect for Shinichi's ends. For though it was as bad when compared to many other more problematic areas of Tokyo that consumed much of the authorities attentions, there was enough of a underbelly present that when the odd piece of societal flotsam or jetsam went missing, nobody battered an eyelash. Just another missing hobo. A street walker lost to the night. An orphan likely spirited away to some government institution. People who even in broad daylight, were simply out of sight and out of mind to their fellow citizens.

And now Shinichi at last had money. He had money that was safe to use and would not be looked for. Now he could invest in some actual equipment.

The thought alone, causes Shinichi to break out into a smile as he unlocks the door to his clinic.

It has been too long since he'd had access to the money and work spaces he'd been spoiled by during the war. Even China had been better than this.

Not for much longer though. Now he could finally get to work. At last, he could finish what he started all those years ago at Harbin.

Closing the door behind himself and making sure to lock it, the medi-wizard at last allows a proudly jaunty tune to slip through his lips.

Oh, the things he might finally at last be able to study again! No more would he have to suffer trying to play this torrid role as the bleeding hearted doctor, fishing among the pathetic and the failures of humanity that came to him, when no other nomaj doctor would help them. Maybe he could even pay off some of the local thugs to acquire him some news subjects of the sort he was actually interested in. The magical kind.

It has felt like an eternity since he last had access to the right kind of "logs" for his research.

Going to his office at the back of the clinic, Shinichi can practically feel the pride in his heart returning once more, as a careful tap on the bare brick wall at the back of the building then causes the surface to begin shifting and reassembling as a doorway to his other office. For too long he has laid low, prostrate and silent as if guilty of the visionary progress that was Japan's by right. Now though, with just a little bit of time, if he could just get in contact with the others, if they could complete his work-

"You..." rasps a laboured and slightly slurred, hoarse voice, "seem fairly proud.... of yourself today...."

In an instant, Shinichi spins about with un-faded military reflexes, looking for the intruder that has somehow entered his clinic while this most precious sanctum is revealed. What he finds though, is only the disquieting shadows of the room cast by his workspace, surrounding the islands of light cast by the few windows not boarded up, or lost to impenetrable layers of dust or grime.

"Who's there! Show yourself!"

For a long moment, there is silence.

And then in one of the dark corners of the room, the shadows lighten, revealing the presence that has been there all along. With the squeak of metal wheels and shifting leather, the man in the wheelchair rolls himself into the light.

It takes Shinichi a moment to recognize his uninvited guest. Though the crippled and rake thin form is a far cry from the dashing youth the medi-wizard once knew, the man's most distinguishing features still give him away.

In spite of the once unimaginable five o'clock shadow and pale skin on the previously sauve and tanned face, the man's jaw-line is the same as the young adult he remembers. The once military cut hair is now an unkempt mane, but is ever the same shade of so-light-it's-white silver. And while there may be an eye-path covering one of his eyes, his left still burns with that same sharp intelligence that made him so much more preferable to the other ignorant lackies that were normally sent to keep the jingoists appraised of the true work and research that should have won them the war.

"Jiroumaru?!" Shaking his head, Shinichi can't help but grin at the okami who's father he could count as one of the few being capable of appreciating and respecting his work. "Hokubu Jiroumaru. My, my, how long it has been since I last saw you."

The kami must truly be smiling on him. He hasn't even begun, and already a friendly face has sought him out of their own accord instead! And not just any face either! One born of a line tracing back to the ancient envoys of Amaterasu herself. Surely this is a sign!

So lost is he in his self-congratulatory assessment of his fortunes, Shinichi misses the curl of the okami's lip on the less limp side of his face, as well as the undertone that enters his halting voice.

"Yes....How unfortunately long.... it has been."

"Indeed!" chortles Shinichi happily. "Too much time has passed since I last anybody from the good old days- let alone somebody who can actually think at my level!" The medi-wizard then turns a curious look upon the wheelchair bound yokai. "You still can right? I heard you had an accident of some sort? It would be a shame if such a marvelous young mind as your's were ruined by such an unfortunate turn of events."

Knowing how narcissistically oblivious the man can be, the wolf allows himself the narrowed gaze of his remaining eye, and the metal creaking grip his hand elicits from his right armrest. Signs of bottled anger that he knows go unnoticed, when the eyes of others instead gravitate to the limpness that afflicts everything on his left side. From his thinner and frailer hand, to the side of his face not covered by an eye patch and scars hidden beneath his grown out fringe.

"Rest assured Doctor Enatsu, my mind is.... as sharp as ever... If not more so. When one can do aught else.... but to read away the last few years...."

"Are you sure?" Asks the doctor, with a curiously raised brow that is far more driven by the curiosity of academia than any kind of empathy. "It sounds hard enough for you to talk."

Jiroumaru gives a rasping bark of a laugh. "You of all people should remember.... the frailties of body, mind and spirit.... are not always so shared.... as a first glance might suggest."

"That is true," concedes Shinichi with a contemplative nod. "It always was the most spirited logs who seemed to survive the longest, regardless of how wretched their state. Meanwhile, perfectly good ones could randomly up and die while still perfectly usable, simply because a few others might have expired."

Shaking his head at the memories of such exciting times for research, Shinichi then gestures around his office/secret clinic. "Getting back on topic however, what are you doing here?" Pausing for a moment, something at last occurs to him, causing the fake-doctor to at last look at Jiroumaru with a curiosity now backed by uncertainty. "How did you even find me?"

"To be truthful...." admits the okami through his slurring rasp, "It wasn't entirely..... by chance."

"Really?" The medi-wizard raises a curious eyebrow. After the rather.... unfortunate events that resulted in the young wolf's 'resignation' from his role as an observer, many had taken that as a rather final declaration of the okami's opinion of things. Shinichi himself, had figured the wolf to have washed his hands entire of the various affairs he'd been involved in, if only for convenience.

"I suppose you could say.... I kept an ear to the ground." Raising his good hand, the wolf offers a gesture around the room as if Shinichi's clinic is it's own answer. "It wasn't.... what you would call rigorous tabs..... but I always knew it would be inevitable.... inevitable that at least a few of those from the war.... would eventually try to make their marks once more."

With a spark of supposed realization, Shinichi inflates with pride and confidence at the recognition he thinks the wolf is giving him. At last, somebody is giving him the respect he deserves, living as a disgustingly altruistic doctor. Running a clinic in such trying and underfunded conditions among the outcast, downtrodden and poor of society's chattel, even if it was only a cover for his true research. "Ah! So you have heard of my work then, yes? I'm surprised that news of my deeds reached as far as Hokkaido. Even more so that you came all this way. What was it that impressed you so, to make the trip after all these years? Perhaps, some burning questions you wished to have answered?"

Jiroumaru's expression on the non-dropping side of his face however, tightens into a sour line. "Maybe not through magical publications perhaps.... But the nomaj newspapers and their readership... For the last few years.... They have followed the Teikoku Bank Incident with great interest."

Shinichi freezes, while Jiroumaru's face curls into the closest thing it can manage to a snarl. "Burning questions you ask? How.... about these ones? Did you use something similar to acetone cyanohydrin? .....Or were you just oblivious to the fact.... that a nomaj civilian would not have access to.... a military grade poison...."

With a subtle gesture from the wolf's functioning hand, his wheelchair then begins to slowly roll itself forwards. "May I ask another....? Did you target Hirasawa specifically? Or has that poor man.... simply been an unintentionally convenient scapegoat.... among those you could have stolen the card from?"

"What does it matter?" asks Shinichi, refusing to see how he could be at fault for this.

"An innocent man.... may receive a death sentence.... for the murder of twelve people.... including a child."

"That man was a nomaj," scoffs Schinichi with a hiss. "They all were. Besides which, you speak as if they are entitled to something which they should have given for their Emperor. And instead they cower and shuffle like beaten dogs, unresisting to the foreigners and their self-proclaimed shogun, who tear down what little they didn't already wreck during the war, or defile through this occupation."

"Ah yes..." replies Jiroumaru with an acidic dryness. "And then there's that.... the subject of loyalty.... And the wartime service... you seem to think nobody has noticed you restarting...."

Narrowing his eyes, the fake-doctor glares at the okami with a newly revealed light and suspicion. "You know...."

Surreptitiously, he begins reaching for his wand, while the wolf giving a deriding bark.

"It wasn't hard.... to figure out...." The disdain is evident, even with the wolf's maffle cadence. "You're all the same.... you researcher-types, all so enraptured in your own narcissistic genius.... self-justifying that which should be left well enough alone.... with patriotic zeal you don't even believe."

"I am more of a patriot than you at least!" Shinichi hisses, raising his wand and leveling it at the wheelchair-bound okami. "And to think I thought you at least, might be more your father's son, than that neutered whelp of a traitor who succeeded him. You had such promise. We favored you."

In spite of the evident threat of violence pointed at him, Jiroumaru pays the false doctor's wand all the concern and attention one might deign to give a fly interrupting a conversation. "And it is because of that.... for respect of goodwill owed..... regardless of the past, I offer you this one chance.... to destroy these records and surrender yourself peacefully." Slowly across the unparalyzed side of his face, the glowing red lines of now asymmetrical Clan Marking begin to appear. "I will not ask twice...."

Heedless of the wolf's ultimatum, Shinichi scoffs. "Now why would I do that? Even if this wasn't my crowing contribution to magic, that could potentially have me hailed alongside the likes of Kamo no Yasunori and Abe no Seimei- this is my out." A victorious sneer spreads across the wizard's face. "Do you really think the Americans are so naive as to not see the worth of such knowledge? Even if only to deny it falling into the hands of their communist foes? Fear drives men to strange ends, and I have heard of the movements of our nomaj counterparts in 731 and the Reich's rocketry programs. But more than that- I know you won't kill me."

The okami boredly raises an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

Shinichi's expression turns to one of unconcerned contempt, as his grip tightens on his wand in anticipation. "Your threats mean nothing, when your brother would never tolerate such actions."

"That is... true." Admits Jiroumaru with a slight slur. "But then.... he doesn't have to tolerate what he doesn't-"

With lightning fast reflexes, the fake-doctor interrupts the okami with a bellowed incantation as he slashes his wand through the air.

"Ma͕̟̻̔̎ͪ̋̃ha͍̯̿́̃ͬͬ̎m͔ͨͬ̈́u͙͔͈͋͊ͅdo'on̖̠͚̊͋̀̿̑͒!"

For a brief moment, Shinichi feels his face already splitting into a cruelly victorious grin. Time slows as the dark curse seems to crawl through the air, headed directly for the crippled okami, who has no hope of avoiding it in time. His only reaction in the sliver of a second it take the spell to cross half the distance between them, is a slight widening of the eyes and a blink.

It's at that point however, that everything goes horribly wrong.

Because halfway between the wizard and the wolf, the air ripples as the dark curse abruptly hits something, producing a muted metallic thud and a gong-like impact. For a brief second, the fatal energies squash and distort themselves in mid-air against the invisible surface they have impacted. And then in the same moment the disillusionment over the shield of the Kawaakari no Shinju-kyo finally fails and reveals it's mirror-like surface, the curse rubber-bands back upon itself, launching off the reflective surface on a return course from whence it came.

By the time Shinichi has even realized what is happening, it is too late to doge, and his own curse spears it's way through his upper arm like a football sized drill. With a scream of shock and pain, the medi-wizard then gets the unique experience of for once being being on the receiving end of an amputation, as everything between his elbow and shoulder abruptly disappears in a fine red mist.

Watching all this from his wheelchair, Jiroumaru sighs in disappointment. "I'll take that.... as a no then then?"

Falling to his knees and cradling the hemorrhaging stump that terminates what was once his dominant arm, Shinichi scans the floor desperately for the wand that his severed had has inadvertently dropped, screaming invectives between cries of agony all the while. "You cowardly, ignorant cur! Of course a traitor like you couldn't understand the importance of this research! Royomaru should have finished the job you botched!"

Panting and groaning in pain, Shinichi at last spots his wand, only for it to go sailing away through the air at Jiroumaru's command, after a flick of the wolf's outstretched fingers. Balefully, the wounded wizard looks up at the okami, only to freeze in place as the air begins to smell like ozone, and a static that raises the hairs on his remaining arm.

Across the paralyzed and weakened side of Jiroumaru's body, chains of inky black and malevolently red scripture begin to form. Ancient kanji, Hanzi logograms, Nagari script, and even Germanic runes make up the ever-shifting lines of flowing, maddening text. All across his left side it forms encircling rings and connecting bands, that shape themselves like an unholy skeleton hovering above his own, and mirroring his every movement.

Movement he should be incapable of making.

Slowly from his wheelchair he rises, not like a man, but more akin to a lifeless puppet pulling it's own strings.

Mouth agap in shock, Shinichi stammers. "Th-That was Fujita's-! How do you have a perfected version?!? Even the incomplete form- He guarded control of his project with his life!!!"

"Fujita," the wolf now enunciates without slurring or labored breath as the skull-like scripture puppets the no longer limp side of his face unlit by clan markings, "Decided to perfect his research on unwilling subjects. I took issue with him as well."

The doctor's eyes widen in horror, but he has no time to react as a the wolf raises his hand and a seal burns itself into the air. In an instant, Shinichi finds himself entangled in a rat's nest of magical wires, that pick him up and pin him against the bare brick wall. Futilely he struggles against the bonds, but the magical bindings dig into his skin like garrote wires, and without his wand there is little he can do against the puppet master who's own strings they are connected to. Even worse, the strings begin riffling through his pockets and clothes, taking not just his wallet and muggle knife, but also his diary and research books that were disguised as a day planner and accounting ledger.

And then he sees the Kawaakari no Shinju-kyo, and how with only a slight gesture from Jiroumaru, the levitating mirror shield turns on it's side, and begins to rotate like a floating buzz saw. Seeing the cold look in the okami's eyes, Shinichi's heart begins to race.

"Stop this! What are you doing?! You wouldn't actually-" The wolf simply ignores him and raises his hand, taking aim with the traditional artifact and symbol of the Hokubu clan heir. "No! Please! I'll surrender!"

The skeletal scripture ripples and flickers, but the okami contained within is unhesitating and cold as he advances. No longer is he a wounded messenger and sign of divine favor to Shinichi, but an unholy herald of death and a grim executioner. "I gave you your chance."

He also isn't so naive or foolish as to believe the wizard wouldn't have more tricks up his sleeve.

"I beg of you! Have mercy!!! Are you not of the path of peace like your brother now-"

Jiroumaru doesn't let him finish.

Before Shinichi can initiate whatever purpose the root-like pattern of darkening veins on his remaining arm are supposed to serve, the okami brings his hand down with a vicious swipe, before crossing it back to cut through the air in an 'X'-like shape. A movement that the Kawaakari no Shinju-kyo then mirrors at a distance, and in doing so silences yet another of the mad medi-wizards of Unit-731's magical off-shoot.

For a few short seconds the world seems to hold it's breath, letting Shinichi linger for one last moment, with an expression of frozen terror and disbelief. And then with the sound of shifting meat and gristle, his head messily slides apart along the cross-shaped division that had been cut through it.

The wolf however, is not done. Thrusting his scripture coated hand and it's baleful exoskeleton forwards, lines of seals spread across the madman's body. In an instant, magical wires of puppetry are replaced with with wards to contain, destroy and purify any "deadman switches" the corpse might contain, magical, biological, or otherwise. Immediately, the doctor's remains bursts into hot white flames, while a fleshy, bone shattering crunch heralds some new development from within Shinichi's chest.

In a spray of bone and blood, the fake-doctor's sternum and ribs explode outwards, victims in a bid for freedom by something inside. What is caught in the clawed grasp of Jiroumaru's malevolent, false left hand however, is not the human heart that should been. Instead it is a wretched and twisted black thing, rife with corruption, tumors and ink, giving it an appearance akin to a rotted organ covered in brain-like growths and seals, suspended from a limited tentacled musculature. The mass of evil flesh has only a moment to screech, before it is explosively brutalised into black slime and putrid scraps of ruined meat by the crushing grip of the okami's skeletal magical hand.

Remaining alert for a few seconds longer in anticipation of any further surprises, after almost a minute, Jiroumaru at last allows his guard to relax. With a heavily exhausted sigh, the wolf dismisses his skeletal aid, and bonelessly collapses back into his wheelchair, a puppet with half it's strings cut once more.

"You were right about.... many things Doctor Enatsu," the okami rasps with tiredly slurred disdain towards the bonfire that was the medi-wizard's corpse. "Mayhaps, I have embraced peace like my brother....."

"But unfortunately, you were not incorrect to say...." His good hand then tightens into a fist of self-recriminating shame by his side, as a gesture directs his wheelchair to turn away. ".... ever have I always been my father's son, more than Tsumemaru ever was."

Absently waving at the shelves and filling cabinets lining the walls, the vast majority of the books and papers organized between the doctor's archives now begin leaping from their places of storage and tossing themselves upon the funeral pyre the seals have turned Shinichi's corpse into. Only a select few are saved, instead gravitating towards Jiroumaru hands and the briefcase he produces. One title in particular catching his gaze, the okami takes a moment to read the cover and leaf through it absently.

"Mantling and True Polymorph Through Surgical Aural-Synergistics and Invasive Menticide....." Looking over even the first few pages, the wolf's expression deepens into not only even greater disgust, but also mild incredulity. "Hn... making people into monsters, and monsters into kami.... by unlocking nascent potential.... or making an artificial potential where there is none.... through thematic-replication, body modification and brain-washing...."

The wolf scoffs, and very nearly tosses the book into the steadily increasing and unconstrained fire that is slowly consuming the rest of the office on principle, as it begins to spread from the late author's corpse.

"Because that absolutely would not have any chance of backfiring.... no, absolutely none.... these people.... honestly, even without the lack of morals or conscience.... more intelligence than actual common sense sometimes...." Despite the sarcastic derision in his slurred voice however, for a long moment, Jiroumaru hesitates. Finally, he instead settles on shoving the book and it's accompanying reams of notes in amongst the others now stolen away in his briefcase. From what he remembers, Enatsu wasn't the only one looking into this kind of thing. Better to hold on to such information, regardless of how distasteful it was, lest one day he stumble across another's similar handiwork enacted on actual victims.

He could always label it to be burned with the rest of such salvaged documents he would prefer destroyed once he died. Scholarly as he was, Jiroumaru doubted humanity would weep at the loss of such pointlessly abhorrent knowledge such as this.

With the last of the late doctor's work alternately raided or destroyed, the okami decides it is time to take his leave, especially as the fire begins to truly take hold and spring to life. Wheeling his way towards the backdoor, the wolf off-handedly starts a few more conflagrations of his own in other parts of the clinic, to ensure that the entirety of the building and the dark stain it has surely left on the land, is burned out like a feverous poison by the resulting blaze. The only two things he stops to do are to lay a few wards to make sure the inferno remains contained to the property and doesn't spread to the rest of the neighborhood, and that he collects a steamer trunk with a hefty lock on it from it's location hidden in the closet adjacent to the clinic's operating room.

The back alley behind the clinic is choked with rubbish and trash, but the fire will not reach there thanks to his wards, and the smoke already begining to pour from the building, is currently being blown out to the street-facing side of the property. It is also clogged enough with garbage and detritus, that going any further with both the wheelchair and the steamer trunk would be an issue, and he would prefer to be gone sooner rather than later. While he disabled most of Enatsu's traps and wards, he purposely left behind a few that would raise the alarm with the nomaj fire-service, if only so the blaze didn't get out of hand if his own measures failed.

With a gesture of his hand and a whispered word, the lock swiftly rusts away to nothing in a matter of seconds, followed by the hovering steamer trunk dropping to the ground and spilling open on the uneven surface, to reveal it's contents.

For a long painful moment, Jiroumaru locks eyes with the ragged and emaciated looking teenage girl that falls out.

He says girl, rather than the plural, because for the second teen that limply rolls out of the fearful grieving hands of the first, it is obviously too late.

Silence passes, with the only sound being that of the crackle of the clinic going up in flames behind him. Jiroumaru isn't certain what the girl is thinking. Is it surprise at her rescue? Shock at the place of torment going up in smoke behind them? Fear at the unknown who has opened her prison cell? Or bafflement at the fact that her ghostly rescuer is a worn out and tormented cripple in a wheelchair.

In the end, Jiroumaru tells her the only thing he can. "You are free now."

'Unlike me', is what he can not help but mentally append the sentence with.

For a second, the girl just looks at him in uncertain confusion. Then finally, her emotions seem to return from whatever wall of numbness they were lost behind for the sake of mental survival. As the girl slowly begins to break down into heart-wrenching sobs, Jiroumaru quietly wheels himself away. No doubt, the fire service will find her and the authorities will figure out what to do with her. Even if her fellow nomajs don't believe her tales of whatever magic Enatsu might have used upon her, or in her presence for any other experiments or subjects she might have seen, at the very least her testimony might offer closure for the families of however many unfortunate victims she might have shared her cell with. From what he remembered, Enatsu had rarely been the kind to keep 'logs' for further study and observation, unless they showed long term promise.

For himself though, it is time to return home. Pulling out a pebble from within his pockets and turning it thrice in his good hand, the action briefly attracts the attention of the sobbing nomaj girl, who looks up from the body of her companion, and has only one last glimpse of her retreating white-haired and wheelchair bound savior.

And for a fleeting moment before the portkey spirits him away, the girl glimpses not a tired cripple, but a wolf. Limping and weighed down with only half it's sunrise-red markings aglow, but still unwavering and as resolute as the shield upon it's back.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

An expression of curiosity on her face, Regina simply watched as Harry worked in his little kitchen. The Re-Class was more then a little impressed by the boy as he went to and fro, cooking and baking. Before her eyes, he was making food that he placed into boxes and then slapped an ofuda on to keep warm. In the back was a trunk with expanded insides that said boxes would be put into.

Regina watched as Harry pulled out a loaf of bread that was just done and put another one into the oven. "Um, Harry? Can I ask you something?"

Glancing over at her, Harry gave a small chuckle as he continued to work. "Sure, you know that, Regina."

Only nodding as she did know that, the Abyssal frowned a bit. "Well... are you worried?" At his confused look, she pointed at the pastabake that he started to cut into squares before placing it into a container to be placed into a box. "I remember that Shinano stated that you really cook a lot when your nervous..."

For several moments, Harry just looked at her before giving a small sigh. "Yeah, I guess that I am pretty nervous." Looking up at the ceiling, a frown appeared on his face. "Part of me is worried for Mum and Hoppou in case things go wrong. And there's a part of me that is wondering if..."

Suddenly, a new voice joined them with Harry and Regina looking over to find Shinano there. "Wondering what, Harry-Chan?"

Harry was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Wondering how they're going to take me is all. I mean, these are the rest of Hoppou's fleet..." Voice dropping to a whisper, he continued. "Her family. What are they going to think of me?"

Both Shinano and Regina shared a look before the Re-Class got up from the stool she was sitting at. Then the two of them walked over and gently hugged Harry. Softly smiling, Shinano shook her head. "I don't know them, but... Aeroprin liked you. So I don't think that they will be any different."

Chewing his lip, Harry looked up at her. "But what if they do?"

In reply, Regina tightened her part of the hug before taking a breath. "Harry? Could you look at me?" When he did so, she crouched down some more to his level. Despite the blush on her face, she looked him in the eye while still hugging him. "Um, well it was not very often I sometimes guarded Lady Wanko when she went to visit Lady Hoppou's fleet. They're very nice and I don't think that they won't like you."

With a blink, Harry felt Shinano also crouch down. "Really?"

Happily nodding, Regina smiled. "Yes, really. Um... you trust me, right?"

Frowning, the black haired boy gave her a look. "What sort of question is that? Of course I trust you. I trust you with everything."

That only made Regina blush more though she also felt her boilers pounding. With a deep breath, she gathered up her courage. "T-then trust me when I say that they will love you, Harry. Because you've been a great big brother to Lady Hoppou. And she loves you. J-just be yourself and I am sure that they will embrace you."

Eyes searching Regina's for any sort of falsehood, Harry eventually sighed and gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Regina." Leaning forward, he gave her a kiss on the cheek at the corner of her lips which made some steam shoot from her tail's nostrils and ears. Then Harry turned and gave a similar kiss to Shinano who had much the same reaction before both girls hugged him tighter with large smiles on their faces. He enjoyed it for several moments before giving a nod. "Okay, that just means that I need to make a good first impression then!"

At the confusion on Regina's face, Shinano gave her a small shake of the head. Then the Carrier turned back to Harry. "Um, can we help any?"

Considering the question, Harry tapped his head some before giving a shake of the head. "Um, not really. I'm almost done here..." Seeing Regina look at one of the bread loafs, he smiled a bit. "You want to try some of my butter bread?"

Regina turned to him and cocked her head to the side. "Butter bread?"

Only nodding, Harry grabbed the load and broke it in half. "Yeah, it's one of my recipes I made. It has butter in it already making it nice, soft, and with a buttery taste. Its really good with dinner and as toast."

Taking the piece offered to her, Regina sniffed it before blinking. With a look at Shinano who was eating the other half with a smile, the Abyssal took a bite before smiling. "It's really good!"

Gently patting her head, Harry watched as her tail took a bite as well. Her being there was a relief, though he did not say that. Much to his surprise, the Re-Class had gotten permission from Wanko to stay even after the wedding for some time. And as soon as word had come down of a possible attack, Regina had gone and sought him out to protect him.

It was amusing the reactions to the shy Re-Class standing next to him and listening to his orders had gotten at the Middle School outside of Natsumi. Granted, he hoped that one girl, who he realized was a tengu, was alright. After all, she was really, really twitchy about something as soon as she saw them. Only got worse for some reason when Regina's tail had hung itself around his shoulders while nuzzling him.

Odd girl...

With a shake of his head, Harry dismissed those thoughts and turned instead back to his work. He had cooking to finish up after all, though he was also bringing a lot of the preserved Basilisk meat and a hunk of metal to cook them on that he would place over a fire pit. Abyssals really seemed to like it. Working, Harry glanced over at Regina with a small frown as a thought occurred to him. "Um, Regina? You said that Sunny liked oranges?"

Quickly chewing and swallowing her bite of food, the Abyssal frowned and then nodded. "Um, yes? Well, she liked Tang anyways..."

Frowning even more, Harry shook his head with a grumble. "Tang? I mean, that's good and all but..." With a huff, he walked over to his cupboards and pulled out a hand juicer. "Still, I'll make her some real orange juice!"

At the sound of giggles, he blinked and turned to find Shinano holding one hand in front of her mouth. Having been caught, the Carrier blushed some and then gave him a sheepish smile. "Um, that is just so you, Harry-Chan."

Head tilted to the side, Harry's next words made her giggle even more. "Poi?"

Just smiling, Shinano kissed him on the cheek. "Just never change, Harry-Chan."

Simply shrugging, Harry went back to work with a smile on his face.
____________________________________________________________________________

With a sigh, Tanaka stretched some and grimaced before a chuckle made him turn to find one of the Canadians there. "A bit tired?"

Yawning, the Captain shook his head. "More then a little. Been up since six this morning and with all this." Once more grimacing, Tanaka sighed. "Well, I'll probably collapse into bed or something after everything wears off."

Just nodding, the Canadian rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know the feeling." Looking at the Abyssals, who had most turned in one direction besides the younger ones, he frowned. "So, uh... what do you know of this Northern Ocean Princess?"

Eyebrow raised, Tanaka looked at him. "You mean you don't know?"

Shrugging, he looked away. "Never actually met her myself. I mean, the Captain did and all that, but he only shakes his head whenever it comes up and starts muttering. And all our... wardens would say is that she is small, and kind with a big heart."

Arms crossed, Tanaka gave a small nod. "Sounds about right for Hoppou. From what I know of her as I have met her a few times anyways." Suddenly, he grinned. "Can't wait for her to get here though."

The Canadian seemed about to ask something when Settsu appeared with a pot. "Black tea, Dess?"

Blinking, the sailor looked at Tanaka who already had a cup before turning back to Settsu. "Uh, yeah? Sure I guess..."

Settsu smiled brightly at that and poured him a cup. "Here you go! Enjoy some real British tea!"

From where she was watching the Abyssals, Akebono rolled her eyes and scoffed. "That's about as British as you are, you shitty Battleship. Seriously, what are they going to think of us at seeing you and your shitty cosplay."

Head tilting to the side, Settsu frowned and held a finger to her chin. "What? What cosplay?"

Even as the Destroyer shouted at her, the Canadian turned to look at Tanaka who just shrugged. But then the Japanese Captain noticed the Abyssals perk up and turned to look. "Well, looks like the wait is over now."

At the same time, Nagato turned to Hoppou who seemed to be vibrating. "Hoppou, remember to stay by us. Okay?"

The little Abyssal turned and looked up at her before giving a small nod. "Okay, Mommy. Hoppou will stay by you."

Reaching down, Nagato smoothed a bit of her hair. "It's as much for their protection as yours, Hoppou. Once we're sure, you can do your thing."

Slowly, Hoppou gave a nod and glanced at Aeroprin who formed up beside her mother. The other Abyssal Destroyers easily slid into formation around them as they began to round the cape. "Hoppou understands, it's just that Hoppou... Hoppou is so very happy! Hoppou still has family left besides Blackie Smokie and Wokyuu!"

It was then that they rounded the cape and could look into the cove at the Abyssal fleet. Looking at the assemblage, Enterprise muttered to Yamato beside her while shaking her head. "Dear God... I'm happy that we don't have to fight."

Parasol over her shoulder, the Japanese Battleship only nodded. "I am glad as well."

Meanwhile, for Tanith and the others, they all felt as if they were punched in the gut. It was one thing to either read or be told, and even feel the approaching IFF. But it was something else to see the small form that they all remembered walking across the water, white dress just barely touching the wave tops and flapping in the wind. All of those who remembered that horrible day could feel their boilers nearly fit to burst.

Even more then that, their eyes began to fill with tears, blurring their vision. Sniffling, Sunny wiped at her eyes. After all, the wetness in her eyes made it harder to see the approaching form. "I... it wasn't a lie. M-mother... she's..."

With a small nod, Ritou laughed even as her cheeks became wet and eye liner ran. "Alive... Mother is still alive. And she's safe..."

Not even bothering to wipe her face, Tanith simply stepped forward. And then she took another step with the rest of the fleet following. All of them keeping focus on the sight before them. If they looked away for even a second, or less, would she disappear? Like a mirage upon the sea? 'Mother...' Every part of her felt like they were both made of the densest metals, and yet lighter then air. "Mother..."

While they were mostly focused on Hoppou though, they did glance towards the other form on form like rigging. Silver let out a gasp at seeing Aeroprin. "Big Sister Blackie Smokie... got all big... Like Mommy and other Big Sisters..."

Eyes wide, Airfield Princess pointed at the Abyssal aircraft flying above Hoppou. "And that is Wokyuu's! Mister Tanaka was not lying! Wokyuu is alive as well!"

Smiling, Tanith gave a nod. "Yes... Mother and... some of our sisters... are still with us."

For the two groups, long separated, it seemed an eternity to reach each other when it was but minutes. They wanted to run, to rush across the waves. But... at the same time they were afraid. Afraid that doing so would break the spell upon them and the seeming dream, this wonderous, impossible dream, would end. Upon reaching them though, Hoppou looked up at the Princesses and Demons in the front. Physically, each one of them individually dwarfed the tiny form in front of them. And yet...

And yet, somehow, it seemed to those watching that they were all so very small before Hoppou.

Not even caring about the tears running down her face, or the mucus from her nose, Sunny sobbed as she shook. "M-mother... you're..."

Looking up a them, Hoppou let her own tears flow as she nodded. "Hoppou... Hoppou is alright, Sunny. Mommy helped Hoppou and so did Big Brother. Then came Wokyuu, Big Sister, and Blackie Smokie! And now you! Hoppou is so..." Sniffling a bit, Hoppou's smile brightened. "So very happy."

Tanith was the first of the group to sink to her knees with the others still following. Kneeling, she let out a choked sob. "Y-you are? Even though... even though we're... different...?"

Just reaching out with a hand, Hoppou tilted her head to the side as Northern Water Princess leaned forward on her hands until the smaller Abyssal cupped her cheek. Beside her, the others did much the same. "Hoppou can see. But know what else Hoppou can see as well?"

Shaking from the emotions bottled up, Submarine Princess let out a soft whisper. "No, Mother. What else do you see?"

Her smile becoming wistful, Hoppou laughed lightly. "Hoppou sees that you all grew up. All big and so very strong. Hoppou loves you all so very much and is so very proud of you." Fixing each of them with a look, her another light laugh, full of joy, burst out of her. "All of you! And it makes Hoppou so very happy!"

Like that, the dam burst as a wail escaped from Radioactive Airfield Demon's mouth and she grabbed Hoppou in a hug. "MOMMY!"

She was soon followed by the others who were also sobbing and wailing as they nearly buried the smaller Princess. Even Aeroprin joined in with her own tears and sobs. Just smiling through her own tears, Hoppou just stood there as she gently, lovingly, patted cheeks and stroked hair of her ascended daughters. More tears and sobs flowed as the rest of the Abyssal fleet joined in. Eyes wet and shiny, Hoppou felt her heart soaring. "Hoppou so very happy..."

There was only one thing that darkened it and that was that it was only them. And that their other sisters, long gone since that disastrous day, were not with them. Though it almost felt like they were, their phantom arms and limbs embracing the rest of their family with warmth from wherever they now rested. Happy too, that those remaining were reunited...

 

[darthcourt10]

mikelima777

Prepare for more feels, folks

As the Patrol Tender program spread, first in the United States before going international, it became commonplace for various organizations, towns, and individuals to sponsor constuction; this often gave naming rights to the sponsors in question. While the more outlandish names were politely rejected, most sponsors did get to name a Patrol Tender. It was particularly popular among those living inland, as a way of helping the war effort.

One of the more high profile sponsorships was when the city of Pittsburgh, along with several PBS stations across the United States, led by WQED, and many individuals helped sponsor one of the Tenders, naming the vessel after one of the most well-respected men to ever appear on Television. Fred McFeely Rogers, the beloved creator and presentor of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, who had sadly passed away from cancer a few years before Blood Week, was honoured with the naming of the USS Fred M. Rogers. His widow, Joanne Rogers, would help christen the Tender in a ceremony broadcast on public and national television, witnessed by millions of people, many of whom had fond memories of the show. Speakers had included many of those who worked with Fred Rogers, including David Newell, Francois Clemmons, Michael Keaton, and Keith David.

After some debate, the USS Fred M. Rogers was fitted with some unique traits, honoring the namesake and the legendary show he had made. The ship's whistle was modified with chimes based on the iconic red trolley of the show, while the crew were permitted to wear a zip up cardigan sweater on duty.

When it entered service, it became quickly known that there was something different about the tender. Many reported feeling an aura of unrestrained love and peace radiating from the vessel. Morever, many shipgirls reported that everytime they came aboard, they would swear they could feel a kindly man hugging them warmly, telling them sincerely, "I like you just the way you are."

 

[darthcourt10]

NotHimAgain

Harry Leferts said:
Huh?​

*-*-*-*

They're following him again, he just knows it. He doesn't know who they are, the people in the cloaks, but he somehow just knows that they're the reason that a month of his memories are little more than a blur, that his friends and family all thought he was dead—the reason that he feels returning to them would just bring danger and sorrow upon them.

Jonathan rounds a corner, cutting into a side street. It's empty, but there are windows all around him, a few clotheslines that hold drying laundry high in the air. Enough to know that they won't attack him here—too many potential witnesses to silence, too inconvenient. He hears It laugh, whatever it was that they put inside him, mocking him for his weakness and daring him to cut loose here and now. He pushes it back, squeezes it down, and keeps running.

He steps out into another street, and immediately knows that something is wrong. What was that old cliché? It's "too quiet?" That's what the problem is. There's no stray cats scampering into hiding places, no birds looking down suspiciously, no people walking the streets. Jonathan feels his skin go cold. He turns to look down the street.

They are there. Only two of them—one of the men, and the woman. They watch impassively as he stumbles back and gains his footing. One of them raises a short stick, pointing it at him. Most would laugh, but Jonathan has seen what they can do with those sticks and he's reaching down and planting his hands on the belt buckle.

The buckle is made of some large piece of carved wood, none that the city boy is familiar with. Receiving it is one of the few things that peeks out through the haze, a young woman pressing it into his hands and whispering for him to run. Whatever it is, it keeps It from taking over, doing whatever it wants—at least, he thinks that's it. He knows that It is terribly powerful, and the belt helps him use that power at least. So he grips the wood in a white-knuckle grasp and focuses his all into it, and he throws back his head and screams as his body begins to change.

The white fluid leaks out of his skin, melting over his clothes and turning solid, leathery. The one voice in his head turns into many, tiny chattering voices and the sound of machinery if he focuses past the pain. He is clad in white now as it continues wrapping around his body, finishing with dusky grey covering his hands and feet. He screams out the last of the agony as the silver helmet forms over his head, wrapping over his mouth. Two horns, pointing backwards, sprout just above his eyes which then burn with heat he's never known from any other source.

The man's wand flares, but it slows to a crawl as Jonathan sidesteps, eyes now blazing bright red, charging towards the cloaked people. They vanish and just as quickly he leaps, clearing the building with ease and coming down between them.

They are the ones who did this to him, he knows it. They have others that they are doing this to, he also realizes. Others like the girl. He will track them down. He will save the people who they are hurting, the girl who saved him. No matter what they do, what they throw at him, how they try to hurt him.

That is his promise.
-----

Also, yay feels. Harry's going to have so many Christmas presents to give now.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Eventually the tears began subside to an extent and the various Abyssals pulled back from Hoppou who smiled at them. Then the small Princess noticed the bloody tear tracks and the mucus dripping from noses before reaching into her dress and pulling out a cloth. Gently, she began to clean the tears from their faces. "There, there. Hoppou is here now."

Sniffling, Ritou shook her head some and flushed as she felt the warm cloth wipe her face. "Sorry, Mother we... We shouldn't be crying so much. But we can't help it."

Head tilted to the side, Hoppou gave her a pat on the head. "Hoppou doesn't think that her family should be sorry. Not for crying! Because they're happy tears! And happy tears are okay!"

With a slow nod, Northern Water Princess gave a watery smile. "That is very... wise, Mother. Just... like always."

Closing her eyes, Hoppou gave a smile before turning to Sunny and wiping her face. The Battleship Demon simply closed her eyes and enjoyed it. Especially as it brought back memories of earlier days, happier ones. And days that were yet to come now that their mother was found and alive. Opening her eyes, Sunny gave Hoppou a bright smile. "Thank you, Mother."

Just giggling, Hoppou then brought out a kleenix. "You are very welcome." Holding out the piece of tissue, she brought it up to Sunny's nose and gently pinched it. "Now, blow and get all that icky boogers out."

More then one of the Abyssals giggled a bit as the embarrassed Battleship Demon looked at Hoppou and finally did so. Once her nose was clear, Hoppou pulled it away. The others did not escape her attentions either and soon all of the Princesses and Demons were clean as they knelt there in the waves around Hoppou. Finally, Tanith turned to Nagato and gave her a thankful smile. "Thank you... for saving Mother... and taking care of... her when we could not."

Only giving a slight nod, Nagato smiled a bit. "You are very welcome." Reaching down, she stroked Hoppou's hair which made the Abyssal look up at her happily. "Not that it was really much trouble to be honest."

Enterprise meanwhile crossed her arms a bit. "Most of the time anyways. But mind explaining why you came here in such a big group?"

Nodding, Hoppou frowned at the various Princesses and Demons. "Hoppou wants to know too." She then wagged a hand at them. "You all make people very scared after all."

All of them flushed a bit and there were various mumbles as well as mutters. When Hoppou narrowed her eyes though, they all looked at each other before they stepped back. And then they pointed at a stunned Tanith who was now in front. "It was her idea."

Frozen in shock, it took Tanith a few seconds to realize what had happened. 'They threw me... under the... Container Ship...' At seeing Hoppou giving her a look, she winced and looked down. "I wanted to... make peace with... the humans. So I thought... that such a... large force would... give enough pause... for them to realize... our intentions... since we had white flags. And... we brought along... the prisoners you... had."

Several moments passed as Hoppou considered that before reaching over and patting her on the cheek. "Okay, Hoppou can understand. But..." Tilting her head to the side, she continued. "Hoppou wonders why you did not just go to old home. Or send Submarine under the waves to come ashore."

Each of the other Abyssals blinked before sharing a look. "Um..."

A small frown on her face, Tsunami scratched her cheek. "Come to think of it... we probably could have talked to one of the fishermen in the area too."

There was the sound of steel hitting steel as well of flesh as Enterprise facepalmed and muttered to herself. With a blink, Hoppou shrugged and turned back before helping Tanith to her feet. "That's okay, now you know better." Grabbing Ritou's hand, she began to pull them along towards the beach. "But now, Hoppou wants to see everyone! And Hoppou heard that Tansy and others are Mommys as well!" Spotting Tanith flinching a bit, the small Abyssal turned her head. "Is something wrong?"

Biting her lip, Tanith leaned down some. "Mother, I too am... a mother, but Regalia... I did not build her right."

Just looking into her eyes for several moments, Hoppou frowned before nodding. "And she is okay?" At the nod, she gave a small smile. "Hoppou will see what she can do."

Once she had said that, Tanith slumped a bit and smiled. "Thank you... Mother."

While Hoppou and Tanith were talking, Sunny slid back some until she was beside Nagato, her Abyssal Monster behind her. "So you're our... grandmother then, I guess?"

Lips twitching a bit, Nagato gave a small nod. "I suppose in a way I am, yes. Is something wrong?"

In reply, Sunny waved her hands some. "Not really, no. Just sort of wondering is all, you know?" Hands behind her head, she looked up at the blue sky above. "Since Tanith is sort of busy right now, I guess it falls to me to ask what happens next? I mean, we read that magazine, but..."

That caused the Japanese Battleship to blink. 'Magazine?' Shaking that off, she became thoughtful. "That sort of depends on various things. Generally though you would be signing a ceasefire until negotiations are complete as to your portion of the treaty." At seeing the confusion, Nagato shook her head. "It is different for each faction that signs it."

Airfield Princess then came up with a frown on her face before pointing at Hoppou. "But Mother already signed the treaty. Doesn't that count us as well?"

However, Nagato grimaced. "Unfortunately not as it was not foreseen. Most likely, each of you and the head of the... Wardens, I believe that they're called?" At the nod, she continued. "And the head of the Wardens will be asked to sign the treaty as you are each Princesses or Demons with your own factions. I do have a copy of the ceasefire agreement though."

Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out a rolled up document and held it out. Sunny was the one who took it and unrolled it before reading through the document. "Huh, pretty simple. We each agree not to attack each other unless the other side does so first. Small groups are also allowed to visit Japan and other allied nations as long as sufficient warning is given before hand while negotiations are ongoing. It also mentions that we'll each be given a special transponder and code for our own use for such visits so that they know it is us? And for after?"

With a sigh, Nagato ran her hand through her hair. "There was an incident some months back where a Re-Class Princess managed to enter and make her way through human held waters due to being mistaken for someone else."

Both Sunny and Airfield Princess stared at Nagato for several moments before the Battleship Demon snickered. "Since Aunt Wanko is also allied, I take it that they thought she was Revina?" When she got a small nod, she grinned. "Sounds about right." Turning her gaze back to the document, she continued to look it over. "As to this? I'm not really seeing all that much issue."

Humming, she handed it over to Airfield Princess who also read through the document with raised eyebrows. "Amazing, it's relatively straight forward. But with this we can come and see Mother?"

Lips twitching as she figured that was the most important bit, Nagato chuckled. "Yes, with this you can come and visit Hoppou within reason." Somewhat amused, she gestured at the Abyssals around them. "Such as not showing up with nearly a hundred Abyssals."

The two Abyssals blushed at that with Sunny scratching the back of her neck. "Um, okay then." Frowning a bit, she crossed her arms beneath her bust. "What about when we sign the treaty like Mother did? What happens then?"

Nagato considered the question for several moments before giving a nod. "The negotiations regarding the treaty will take some time you understand as any nations that have territory must be consulted and brought in. As I suspect some islands in the Aleutians are involved, that means that the United States will be asked to sit in them. You also got some Canadian POWs, so the Canadians will also be involved to some extent."

Suddenly a voice spoke up and they turned to find Haida there looking towards the ship. "Not as much trouble there. We already planned for something like this way back."

All of them blinked as they stared at her before Nagato pointed at the HMCS Regina. "You... planned for this?"

Lightly laughing, the Canadian Destroyer sheepishly grinned. "Well, not for this exactly. But the government has been discussing what to do if a... Demi-human who does not belong to a known nation has a child with a Canadian citizen. In such a case, the child is considered a Canadian citizen outright with a path for the Demi-human parent to citizenship."

Blinking slowly, the Airfield Princess pointed at the ship. "So the children are considered Canadians?" When Haida nodded, she furrowed her eyebrows. "That is good to know, but how did you decide on that?"

Haida didn't speak for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "It came up as a... hypothetical situation due to some other factors. Ones that involve certain groups, but was not thought of regarding Abyssals until Wanko signed the treaty in the first place." Shrugging, she shook her head. "Pretty sure that the US government, British government, and various EU ones are considering the same thing."

Even though she was confused about what the Canadian was talking about, Sunny dismissed it for later and turned back to the conversation from before. "What else would be involved in the treaty?"

There was a small frown on Nagato's face before she answered. "Generally put, it sets aside territory that you control as being yours until after the war is over, at which more negotiations will happen." Both Abyssals nodded at that. "It also has a clause that if one side is attacked by hostile Abyssals, then the other side will come to their aid. For example, if you were hurt in an attack, we would help you up to, and including, bringing you to Hoppou for healing. Or if you need to rebuild a community, we would provide such materials. Another thing that is allowed, even with the ceasefire, is limited trade. Nothing that can be used for actual warfare mind you, but things such as food, timber, and the like is allowable. Visits between the countries also become easier, though you still need to declare yourselves before entering each other's territories and must obey the laws."

It went without saying that both Sunny's and Airfield Princess' eyes were wide at that. Then the Battleship Demon became thoughtful as she considered what she had just been told. 'That... is actually a lot better then any of us expected.' Looking at her sister, she smiled some which was reflected by the Airfield Princess. They knew that the other had the same thoughts that this could be done, that they now had a chance and that made them happy.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Walking across the waves, Hoppou's head tilted to the side as she looked at the warship they were approaching. But what interested her most was the two adult Abyssals that she could sense on the stern. One was a Ne-Class and the other was a Re-Class. Eyes shifting more to the spiritual level, Hoppou internally winced though outwardly there was no sign of it as she caught sight of the hull of the Re-Class...

It was flawed, and badly.

Such was not hard for her to see with the practiced eyes she had, honed over years of caring for her own fleet. Even from where she was, Hoppou could tell that the issue started at the keel. Said keel had been laid wrong, twisted, with everything originating from that. It took her only seconds to realize other issues such as how that affected everything from the flight deck, to the turrets that were likely to rip open the hull if they fired due to everything being off balanced, to how the Aviation Battleship would not have been able to move in a straight line.

Each and every issue was apparent before her sight. However, the small Abyssal Princess did not feel anger or even disgust. Not like she knew many others would have. No, she only felt her heart go out to one of the youngest in her family. A great sadness was in her at the sight before her. Oh, obviously Regalia was not physically hurt, that much was apparent. And it was something, a small mercy, that Hoppou was thankful for. Within her, she sent her Imps going over various plans and thoughts. Nothing concrete at the moment, but she could at least have an outline done and ready for what could be done.

And it was going to take every bit of her skill to make it work.

But, that was for later, perhaps much later. Right now as she sided up to the battered Canadian warship, there was one thing more important then anything else and that was to greet the two young Abyssals, children of her fleet and her own grandchildren. Just the thought made her feel all warm inside. Coming to a stop, she turned to Tanith and smiled. "Help Hoppou up?"

With a blink, Tanith blushed a bit as she realized the issue and reached down with one of her secondary, monstrous hands. Hoppou stepped onto it and was raised up to be level with the deck and just stood there. "Mother?"

Just looking at her daughter, Hoppou wagged one mitten covered hand. "Hoppou does not want to be rude." Turning to the Captain, she gave a small bow. "Could Hoppou come aboard?"

Despite having met the "Princess" before, the Canadian could only internally shake his head. Outwardly though, he gave a cough and a small bow of his own. "Of course."

Hopping from the giant hand, Hoppou lightly landed on the deck and looked around before focusing on the two Abyssals in front of her. Said Abyssals just stared at her with wide eyes. Never having met her before, they had been stunned at the small, physical size of their grandmother. But now that she was right there, it felt like she dwarfed them easily. Like a pair of bottlenose dolphins before a blue whale. They had all heard the tales from their mothers in regard to their grandmother, but nothing prepared them for the sheer power that she gave off.

For the very first time, they had an idea as to how the small Princess she had been described as, and looked like, had wrangled a fleet in the hundreds of powerful Abyssals.

As Hoppou came closer, Regalia flinched a bit and closed her eyes so as to not see the feelings that she knew were in her grandmother's eyes at the sight of her. There would be anger, disgust, hate, loathing most likely. All because she was constructed wrong. So when Hoppou spoke, she drew more into herself. "Regalia? What is wrong?"

Slowly, Regalia opened one eye only to be surprised as Hoppou was displaying none of the emotions that she expected. "G-grandmother, I..."

Gently, the Northern Ocean Princess reached forward and Regalia found herself crouched down in front of her before she knew it. Hoppou's hand then gently cupped the Re-Class' cheek. Thumb rubbing along said cheek, the little Abyssal gave her a frown. "Do not be afraid of Hoppou, Regalia. Seeing it make Hoppou's heart hurt and Hoppou does not want you to be afraid of her. Hoppou promises never to hurt Regalia."

Eyes widening, the Re-Class stared at her in disbelief before tears began to prickle at her eyes. 'I... I never thought...' Closing her eyes, she sniffled some before leaning into Hoppou's palm. "Sorry, Grandmother."

All Hoppou did though was shake her head and wag her free hand. "Regalia has nothing to be sorry for."

Biting her lip, Regalia hung her head some. "It is just that... my keel..."

Simply moving closer, Hoppou's red eyes looked into Regalia's. "Hoppou wants you to know that to Hoppou, you are more then your keel. You are family, Hoppou's family. And to Hoppou, that makes you beautiful."

That made Regalia sniffle until she grabbed Hoppou into a hug. "Thank you, Grandmother.... Thank you."

Patting her on the back, Hoppou nodded before pulling away and looking at Nero. "And you are Nero?" At the shy nod, Hoppou pulled her in close. "Hoppou wants both you and Regalia to know that Hoppou loves you! And is very happy to meet you!"

Neither one of them expected that and looked at each other wide eyed as Hoppou hugged them. Then, slowly, they relaxed into the hug and returned it. A short distance away, Tanith held a hand to her chest. 'I knew that mother would love you, Regalia. As she loves us all.'

Once they broke apart, Hoppou glanced between the two and gave a small nod. "Hoppou wants to ask so many questions right now... but there is a very big one that she wants to know first." Regalia braced herself for questions regarding her keel. "Hoppou wants to know what you like to do."

Wind driven from her sails, the Re-Class blinked in confusion. "You want to know what... we like?"

Hoppou gave a small nod. "Thats right." She then gestured at Sunny who gave a sheepish grin at her next words. "Like how Sunny likes oranges and how to wrestle sharp tooth fishies." Lips twitching, Regalia gave a small giggle as she had heard much the same only to blink at Hoppou's next words. "Or how Wokyuu likes to watch birdies on her island."

All the Abyssals blinked at that with Ritou hopping up some to better see over the edge of the stern. "Wait, Wokyuu has her own island? And she watches birds on it?"

Just nodding, Hoppou smiled. "Yes, Wokyuu doesn't want to fight anymore, so she lives on small island where there's lots of birdies on it. Wokyuu takes care of them all day and just watches them except when she comes to visit Hoppou or Hoppou goes to visit her."

Interested, Regalia tilted her head but it was Nero who spoke up. "Um, who is Wokyuu? Is she another aunt?"

Now hanging off the side of the hull, Ritou gave a small nod. "Wokyuu is the oldest of us all actually... or about as old as Tanith, I think." Looking towards the larger Princess, the Isolated Island type frowned. "Or at least I think so. But she only says Wokyuu and stuff like Wo and Kyuu."

That made Regalia blink some as those words filtered into her mind. A small bashful smile grew on her face as she looked towards Hoppou. "Well..." When Hoppou looked at her, she continued. "Um, I farm back home. It's not very big..."

Only smiling, Hoppou gave her a bright smile. "You have a farm? Hoppou is very impressed!" She then frowned. "Do you have goats there? Hoppou once went to a farm and goats there tried to eat Hoppou's hair."

Confused by that, Regalia shook her head. "No? I mainly grow things... like potatoes! I grow a lot of potatoes..." Chewing her lip, she looked down some. "I really like it, though it is also one of the few things that I can do for our family."

Sighing, Hoppou reached out and lifted her chin up. "As far as Hoppou is concerned, Regalia does a great thing for family. Hoppou knows how hard it is to grow food, though Big Brother and Miss Rose are better then Hoppou at gardens. Which makes Hoppou very proud of Regalia!"

Even though she was a bit confused about the "Big Brother" bit, Regalia gave a small nod. "Thank you, Grandmother. I like to do it too, it's... fun."

Brightly smiling, the smaller Abyssal opened her arms widely and launched herself into a hug. "Hoppou is very glad to hear that!" Turning to look at Nero, she tilted her head. "What does Nero like to do?"

Caught out, the Ne-Class blinked and glanced around. "Well, I like cooking?" At the interested look, she took a deep breath. "I found that I really enjoy it actually. And I'm pretty good at it though..." Nero gave a small sigh. "Don't really have any spices or herbs, so I have to do different things with brine and such."

Hoppou slowly nodded at that before making a chop motion with her hand. "Hoppou thinks that Nero is very good then! And that Nero should talk with Big Brother as he knows all about cooking and that Nero would get along with him."

Leaning against the ship, Sunny frowned. "Mother? You mentioned a Big Brother a few times?"

With a blink, Hoppou turned and nodded as she looked out at her children. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the human hybrids peeking out from the hanger door where they had been watching. "Yes, Hoppou now has Big Brother to go along with Big Sister." Gesturing at the amused Nagato, Hoppou continued. "Big Brother lived with big meanies until Mommy found him and made her his mommy. When Mommy found Hoppou and became Hoppou's Mommy, Hoppou was not sure about Big Brother."

Intrigued, Tanith tilted her head some. "So what... happened?"

Staring off towards Yokosuka, she took a breath. "Big Brother was also unsure. But he walked over and gave Hoppou a big hug!" A smile grew on her face as she closed her eyes. "Big Brother's hugs are very warm, full of a lot of love." Opening her eyes, the Abyssal's smile saddened a bit. "Once, Hoppou woke up because of bad dreams about what happened. Hoppou was so sad, she cried... but then, Big Brother was there with a warm hug and soft words. He make Hoppou special warm drink, had warm milk and cinnamon! And then Big Brother stayed with Hoppou stroking hair and humming lullabies until Hoppou fell back asleep. He chased away bad dreams and did that many, many times."

More then one of her fleet murmured to each other with wide eyes. This 'Big Brother' comforted their Mother when she was sad? When they were unable to? With warm hugs and drinks while singing?

As they had their own thoughts, Aeroprin nodded and spoke up. "Uncle Harry is a great uncle! Great uncle!" When they turned to her, she continued. "Uncle Harry is nice, and kind, with great big, warm hugs! Just like with Mommy! Even Aunt Wanko agrees and calls him 'Little Brother'!"

That got even wider eyes from the others and the Princesses and Demons shared a look with the same thoughts running through their mind. 'Aunt Wanko considers him a little brother? Just like she considers Mother her little sister!? Who is this person?'

Now turning back to Hoppou, Ritou cleared her throat. "Mother? Can you tell us more about... Uncle Harry?"

Blinking, Hoppou gave a small nod. "Hoppou will try her best to tell all about Big Brother. There is a lot..."

 

[darthcourt10]

S0ngD0g13

Canut sailed into the secluded fjord, feeling the cobweb-sensation of Wards on her skin as she drew nearer to the shore.

A month she'd been at-sea; a month she'd searched, following every lead, bringing her closer to her goal...

Until now. The two Commissar-Imps Gateway had detached to keep Canut honest walked out onto a bridge-wing. "Commissar Cain, Commissar Gaunt. Our destination should be directly ahead." The Battleship Demon sailed into the mouth of a cave, ducking slightly under the low ceiling, and followed the waterway into the bowels of the earth.

As she ventured deeper, Canut reflected on her journey, the trials and tribulations she had faced along the way. She smiled slightly, remembering the hospitality of Ruithidh's half-sister when Canut had stopped in Scotland to refuel; she scowled somewhat as she recalled the frenzied, slashing melee when she was ambushed near the Kattegat by a dozen feral Destroyers one night. That fight had been a rough one, and her starboard shaft still had a faint wobble despite her engineers' best efforts to repair it.

Canut felt herself cross another Ward-line and the world twisted, changing from a sea-cave into a shoreline, one that Canut dreamed of often. Lindisfarne. Canut saw Skadi and the others with a younger version of herself, saw the flashing of blades, and heard the screams of the defenders as they scattered. The illusionary Canut brought her axe down and took a fleeing human's leg, and the real Canut felt pain shoot up her leg as though she were the one the axe had bitten...

Each blow her past-self struck, each life her younger self took, Canut felt in full as though she were the victim, until she was staggering on the water from pain, her eyes running with bloody tears as she suddenly emerged from the illusion and saw an image carved into the rock ahead of her. It was a tree, with three roots, and three trunks, and three branches. Yggdrasil...

Canut travelled further into the cave, following each bend carefully, until she passed into another illusion and the world remade itself once more. Canut felt herself paralyzed as she was forced to witness the death of Northern Horde Princess once more, forced to watch as the Traitors spotted the crippled plane on its suicide-run, well-within range of their AA, and deliberately turned their guns away. Except, Canut saw herself among the Traitors, laughing as the Princess was slain...

Canut felt her boilers redline and ripped herself free of the illusion bodily, passing out of its influence and deeper into the cave...

A third illusion, Skadi prostrate at Canut's feet and her axe raised high, ready to finish the crippled Northern War Demon and take command of her sworn-sister's fleet; Canut brought her axe down into the ground and helped Skadi stand, instead, breaking the illusion...

.........................................................

Canut felt she had sailed for ages, when she emerged into a vast cavern; crystals in the high ceiling glittered like stars in the light of the single torch that burned on the shore ahead of Canut. On that shore, tucked against the massive roots of an ancient tree, was a well.

Sitting on the rim of that well was the Abyssal Submarine Arval. Canut stepped onto the shore, and Arval spoke in a quiet voice made rusty by long disuse...

"Welcome, Wayfarer, Warrior of No Fleet and of Many; Welcome, Canut, Arms-Mistress of the Ancient Atlantic Gate...

Welcome, Stríðsóp, Daughter and Heir of the Princess of the Northern Horde..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts/Kiyone4Ever Crosspost 2

Well, have another crosspost from Kiyone4Ever from SV in regards to actress Nagato:
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Of A Kind

As the 'All Clear' sounded, the actress Nagato smiled gently at the toddler in her arms. The boy had cuddled up to her and fallen asleep and now she was just holding onto the moment. It would pass soon enough and then she and Amagi would undoubtedly be called in to give several thousands of words to explain why they had disobeyed their instructions to evacuate the area. Of course, they would both be reprimanded but nothing else would come of it. It was not as if there were an abundance of their kind available.

A wry smile formed on Nagato's face as she considered it. There were three kinds of Ship-Actresses around these days:

First were the 'Event' Girls, namely Illinois, the infamous 'Great Lakes Battleship' originally built for the Colombian Exposition and USS Recruit, built in New York City to encourage enlistment and aid in training new recruits as America plunged into World War One. Despite a certain flashiness on the part of Illinois, these two were both formally members of the United States Navy.

Second were the 'Decoys'. This actually large and varied group were all true shipgirls. The British had many such girls. In their past lives they had been made up to resemble serving warships and were meant to confuse the enemy as to the whereabouts and availability of major fleet assets. The British girls were under command of HMS Centurion. The proud First World War Dreadnought occasionally disguising herself as one of the more powerful KGV (II) girls while she, herself also had a double in the decoy force, although Centurion was one of the few listed as combat capable. This was unlike the German girls like Atlantis who had served as merchant raiders in their past lives and now as Convoy escorts in this one.

Finale, there were the 'Hollywood' girls. These were originally full or large scale film sets of actual ships and treated as such. They were a creation of an age of motion pictures before CGI. Oddly, there were few such sets in existence. Most films of that type were made with the cooperation of a Navy which often spared a ship or two to take part in whatever movie was being made. But there were a few. Chief among them being Nagato and the now called Amagi of course, having been built for Tora, Tora, Tora and caught up in an experiment in practical magic, helping to give them enough spiritual 'weight' to be summoned. Unfortunately, the set for USS Arizona had not benefitted from such luck. Being erected in the middle of Pearl Harbor, the Arizona set was out of reach of MACUSA's agents and therefore could not be used in the experiment like Nagato and her companion. Arizona was out of reach for now.

James Cameron's 'Titanic' was one of several copies of the tragic liner built in the recent past. None of them had the weight to be summoned anytime soon if anyone had chosen to do so.

There were still parts of the set built for the 2005 movie about the Battleship Yamato. Nagato held out a small hope that the magical community could be persuaded to help Yamato as they had accidentally done for her, otherwise, it would be a few decades to wait.

On the positive side, M-G-M's 'Hornet' from 'Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo' HAD been successfully summoned shortly after Nagato's own return. Hornet had been thrilled to learn of Nagato and Amagi's existence and they kept in touch. Hornet was hoping a chance to visit Japan might come soon.

Conversely, two other potentially helpful companions were left waiting in a mess of studio politics. Toho studios had built respectable sets of both Akagi (in 1953) and Hiryu (in 1960) for two of its films and it was considered possible that the pair could be summoned, especially with spirit help from one of Japan's biggest stars. The problem was that Toho studio executives considered the pair as under contract to Toho. The studio wanted some rules in place before attempting to summon them. Chief among these demands was that if summoned, Toho's contract players Hiryu and Akagi would not appear with Nagato or 'Amagi' who were considered as agents of the competing Toei studio. It was a stupid, ridiculous mess!

Nagato brushed such thoughts aside as she looked at her partner and nodded in the direction of the coast beyond. "I bet she's down there, right now."

Amagi smiled, knowing how much her partner wanted to meet the 'Real' Nagato. Even 'Heroes' have heroes after all.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Blinking as she buckled in, Shinano looked over at Harry in confusion. "Um, Harry-Chan? Is something wrong?"

Just frowning as he rubbed his nose, Harry shook his head. "No?"

On his other side, Regina frowned as she turned from where she was working on her own seatbelt and tilted his head. "Are you sure? That's the third time that you have sneezed in the past ten minutes."

In reply to that, after thinking it over, Harry shrugged. "Yeah, I don't feel sick." Looking around the small passenger area, he frowned some more. "And it's not really dusty in here. Maybe someone is talking about me?"

Utterly confused, Regina looked between the black haired boy and Shinano. "Talking about you? Why would that make you sneeze?"

Tapping her chin, Shinano poked her tongue out between her lips in thought. "Um, that is a very good question. But it's something that I heard as well, that when someone talks about you, you sneeze. Or something else happens like a shiver. Just like in various stories and such."

Bemused, Harry snickered a bit. "That's just a well known trope in fiction." At the interested look on Regina's face, he shook his head. "It's an old saying is all, that sort of thing does not happen in real life." Turning to Shinano, the wizard raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, are you okay yourself, Shinano-Chan? That's the fourth wall that you've leaned against so far."

With a blink, Shinano straightened herself from where she was leaning against the wall of the aircraft. "Sorry, Harry-Chan. Just trying to get comfortable."

Even as he nodded, Harry finished buckling himself in and then looked up at Regina who seemed nervous. "You okay, Regina?"

Chewing her lip, the Abyssal gave a small nod. "Um, just a little nervous is all." She then played a bit with her fingers. "Its only my second time really flying in a human plane like this... When we went to Germany, I was able to hide it a bit better."

A small smile on his face, Harry reached over and patted her thigh. "Hey, that's okay. I was a bit scared myself the first time that I flew in an airplane."

Eyes wide, Regina stared at him. "You were, Harry? B-but you're so brave!"

Lightly laughing while shaking his head, he gave her a small grin. "Maybe, not so sure of that myself. But yeah, I was scared the first time that I was in an airplane." Softly smiling, he grasped her hand. "Scared, but Mum was right there with me. Just like we're here with you as well."

That got a blush on Regina's face as Shinano also leaned forward and clasped her hand over Harry's. Then the Support Carrier spoke up. "Well, I was sort of scared too when I first flew. I mean, I'm an Carrier, not an aircraft or pilot. But, um, Onee-San and Onee-Sama were both there with me. And it is not that bad."

Gaze turning down at the two hands clasped over hers, Regina gave a small smile. "Thank you..."

Simply smiling, Harry shook his head. "You're welcome, Regina. Anyways... want me to hold your hand when we take off?" When the Re-Class nodded, he tightened his grip a little before lightening it. Something that made Regina bashfully smile at him before the nearly thirteen year old looked around. "I have to admit though, this is pretty nice. I've been meaning to fly in one of these."

More then a little thankful about the distraction, Regina looked around the passenger area of the aircraft that they were in. She could feel it bobbing in the waves just off the base. "You have?"

With a slow nod, Harry grinned a bit. "Yeah, this is one of the passenger variants of the US-2." At the interested look as he could just barely hear the engines start up, as well as the tightening of Regina's hand, he continued. "Well, the ShinMaywa is very much an upgraded version of the old Shin Maiwa US-1. Back in the 1970s, the maker of the US-1 thought up a concept based on the US-1 that would carry forty passengers. So... when the JMSDF began to look for transport aircraft to get shipgirls to move people quickly between bases."

Interested, Regina leaned forward a bit. "Um, so they used the old plans then?"

Harry gave a smile at that. "That's right, they pulled them out and made a run of the US-2 based on them. They can carry forty or so each and could be used to get people out to the islands off of Japan quickly when one couldn't do the same with the Pelicans. Those are more for shipgirl transport and less for getting normal people out and about." Waving a hand, he shook his head. "There's some talk about larger versions though such as a four hundred passenger version for use in case they need to evacuate the islands. It's a lot safer too then using ferries for normal service."

As she began to nod, the Abyssal froze as she realized that the plane was speeding up. While it did so, the waves knocked against the hull and slowly did so less and less. "U-um, Ha-Harry? We're..."

Only humming, Harry tightened his grip some. "About to take off? We are, but I'm right here, Regina. Trust in me."

Turning, Regina looked into his emerald eyes and relaxed a bit as she tightened her own grip on his hand. Her voice was nearly a whisper with how soft it was. "O-okay..."

It went without saying that her hand gripped his as the nose of the plane rose upwards as they left the waves below and began to climb into the sky. Eventually, they leveled off and Regina relaxed some with Harry patting her hand. "See? Everything is good."

With a small blush, Regina hummed happily before glancing at Shinano. Said Carrier made a small gesture of her head with a smile that caused the Abyssal to look at Harry. "Thank you, Harry."

Much to his surprise, she leaned down and kissed him gently before pulling back with a fiery blush on her face. One that was reflected on Harry's face as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, you're welcome."

Brightly smiling, Shinano clapped her hands some which made the other two turn to her and she blushed. "Um, sorry?" To distract Harry, she reached over and took his free hand in hers. "I'm just happy is all that everything is turning out well."

Two rows behind them, Hamakaze was shaking her head in amusement as the three talked. She was not the only one amused either as Isokaze was giggling and Hoel-Ni was shaking her head. Even Urakaze had a smile on her face, one that vanished when she heard a banging noise. "Um, what was that?"

Eyebrows furrowing, Urakaze glanced around as she noticed Harry doing the same. "Tha's what Ah'm wondering-" Suddenly, one of the overhead bins opened up and something tumbled out. "What in the world...?"

Needless to say, everyone stared at the sight of Juuchi Yosamu in her sheath landing on a chair. Utter silence filled the cabin as the sword was giving off the feeling as if she was trying to convince them that she meant to fall out like that. Well, that as well as smugging as hard as she could, which made Harry pinch his nose. "Oh for..."

Juuchi only smugged harder at that, which failed when a small suitcase tumbled out and hit her on the top of the hilt. Moments later, she rattled in her sheath as every one got the feeling she was telling them that she meant for that to happen. Closing her eyes, Hamakaze sighed. 'Way to ruin the moment...'

However, things did not last long as several minutes later, Harry let out a small yawn which made Shinano smile at him. "Tired, Harry-Chan?"

Slowly nodding, Harry chuckled some. "A little, might take a small nap while waiting to reach where Hoppou and the others are. Do you mind if..."

Lightly blushing, the Carrier shook her head. "Not at all, Harry-Chan." Softly smiling, she shifted a bit before placing her arm around his shoulders. "Go on ahead."

With another yawn, he leaned against her shoulder and used it as a pillow. "Thanks, Shinano-Chan."

As Harry drifted off to sleep, Shinano leaned down and gently kissed his forehead. "See you when you wake up." When she looked up, the Yamato noticed that Regina was giving her an intrigued look which made her tilt her head. "Is something wrong, Regina-Chan?"

Blinking, Regina looked from Harry to Shinano and back before giving Shinano a small smile. "It's just that looks nice and how comfortable you both are with it. And, um, it really shows how much you care for Harry as well."

Quickly giving Harry a look to make sure that he was asleep, Shinano gave a small nod. "Hai, I do care for him. More then a friend really..." Her face feeling like it was on fire, she continued softer. "Sometimes I like to think of after the war, when Harry-Chan, myself, and maybe others are..."

Shinano trailed off as her face went completely and utterly red with small wisps of steam coming form her ears. But Regina had a similar blush on her face and gave a small nod. "Sometimes I do the same and you're one of the other ones there." When Shinano gave her a smile, the Re-Class continued. "Though, um, now that I know that Abyssals and humans can have children..."

The Carrier noted that Regina was also having wisps of steam come from her ears. Their conversation falling off, the two simply sat there as the plane continued to fly onwards. When Shinano noticed Regina bringing out an MP3 player though, she perked up some. "You're going to listen to some music?"

With a blink, Regina turned to her friend and nodded some. "Um, yes? Oh!" Looking down at it, she held out one of the earbuds. "Would you like to listen too?"

More then a little interested, Shinano nodded and leaned over best that she could without waking Harry while Regina leaned towards her. Something that was a lot easier then one would think due to hers and Regina's heights, though it ended up with their heads against Harry's. About a minute later, Shinano blinked some. "Huh... what's the name of the band?"

Eyes closed and happily smiling, Regina let out a hum. "It's a human one named Nightwish, I really like them..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

As they headed back towards the shore, Sunny took a moment to look over Aeroprin who had pulled up beside the other Princesses and Demons. Currently, the Destroyer Princess was chatting with some of the Destroyers from their various fleets with a smile on her face before she noticed that the Battleship Water Demon was looking at her and tilted her head. "Is something wrong? Something wrong?"

To her confusion, Sunny just gave a small laugh and shook her head. "No, nothing is wrong, Blackie Smokie. It's just good to see you though I'm surprised to see how you've... grown up."

Silver leapt from the water a bit and gave a nod. "Yeah! Sister Blackie Smokie grew up into a Big Sister! Just like Mommy did!"

Reaching over, Aeroprin gave a smile as she patted her sister. "I like being grown up, now I can help out Mommy more and Uncle Harry too! Though..." There was a frown on her face as her eyes glowed slightly. "I wish that it did not have to happen the way it did, the way it did."

Only nodding, Sunny grimaced a bit. "Don't we all? Though maybe you can tell us where you got to?" At seeing her shudder a bit, she frowned. "Blackie?"

Arms held close to her chest, Aeroprin shuddered again. "I don't want to talk about... what happened to me before I became this. The... Bad Ones took me and... and did things to me." Her voice dropped to a low whisper. "They really hurt me bad and left me..."

Even as Aeroprin's own Destroyers as well as Silver and some of the other ones comforted her and gave her nuzzles, Sunny internally growled. Behind her, the Abyssal's "Beast" clenched it's fists at what went through her mind. If any of those Abyssals were around, Sunny would have torn them limb from limb for what was just hinted at her. And she was not the only one as the other members of Hoppou's fleet who overheard had similar reactions. Then, closing her eyes, Sunny took a deep breath and let it out. "And what happened to them?"

Her expression serious, Aeroprin looked at her. "Aunt Wanko took care of them though she did not know about me. Then when I woke up all grown up, I make others pay for what they did."

In reply to that, Sunny only nodded as Aeroprin was not the only one to do the same. More then one of the traitors who had harmed their family had sent patrols that stumbled across her fleet. And she made sure that none of those escaped them. Internally shaking them off, she turned her attention to other things, such as the Destroyers with Aeroprin. "So, who are these little ones with you?"

Smiling, Aeroprin reached out and stroked the head of the one closest to her. "I found them while out on the big waters, they had no one so..."

Lightly laughing, Sunny gave her a grin. "So you adopted them, huh? Good for you and for them!"

With a nod, Aeroprin hummed. "Yes, I took them in and told them all about my family. Their family." There were nods from various Abyssals around them at that. With a smile, she pointed at one of them. "This is Bright Eyes, and right there is Nighty Moon, Misty is beside her along with Foggy Song."

Each of the Abyssal Destroyers so named popped their heads up out of the water and waved a flipper as they spoke as one. "Hello, Aunties!"

Unable to help herself, Anchorage Princess giggled and gave them nods. "Hello to you as well." She then turned to the last Destroyer and cocked her head to the side. "And who is this now?"

Blushing lightly, Aeroprin looked at Sunny before bashfully smiling, "Her name is Sunny Honey." Looking at the surprised Battleship Water Demon, she continued. "I named her after Big Sister Sunny."

Touched, Sunny held her hand to her chest for a moment before smiling brightly. "You named her? For me?" At the nod, she walked over and pulled Aeroprin into a hug. "Aw, come here you!"

Giggling, Aeroprin grinned even as her mind drifted back to when she was just a normal, if Flagship level, Abyssal Destroyer. One who often was assigned to Sunny's patrol fleet, with the Battleship always treating them well and keeping them happy. More then once, Hoppou had lightly scolded Sunny for being more interested in fooling around then work, but always with a smile on her face. "I'm glad that you like it."

Just laughing, Sunny gave her a small noggie. "Are you kidding? Of course I like it! Heck, I love it!" She then pointed at Sunny Honey. "Later, you and I are going to have some fun. Maybe find a big shark to wrestle!"

All Sunny Honey did was nod even though she was confused about that. It was about then that they reached the surf line and the Abyssals strutted up onto the shore. Those with rigging like the Princesses and Demons dismissed them. Hoppou for her part, gently set down Regalia having carried her over. Something that had shocked said Re-Class. Once her hooves touched the sand, she gave a small smile to her grandmother. "Thank you, Grandmother."

Chuckling, Tanith was about to thank her as well when she heard a hacking sound and turned to find that Aeroprin's Destroyers had stopped and looked like they were about to throw up. More then one of the Abyssals became worried about them as they coughed wetly. However, to Tanith's and the others confusion, their mother did not seem worried and neither did Aeroprin. Raising a hand, Sunny opened her mouth. "Uh, shouldn't we be doing something-"

She stopped though as Sunny Honey opened her mouth wide and two pale, human-like legs slipped out. This was followed by the rest of a body of a teenaged girl wearing a short skirt and sailor shirt. More to the Battleship Water Demon's surprise, there was a collar around the girl's neck and a wire that extended into Sunny Honey's mouth. The Abyssal Destroyer was not the only one either as her "Sisters" all had similar beings come out. Shaking off the rapidly evaporating ichor, the teen opened her glowing eyes and smiled at Sunny before walking over and giving her a hug. "Auntie Sunny!"

Mindlessly returning the hug while looking lost, Sunny blinked. "H-hey, Kiddo..."

Jaw dropped as the various Abyssals just stared in utter shock and silence, Ritou eventually turned to her mother and pointed. "I-I... what? Mother, what..."

Proudly smiling at her, Hoppou let out a laugh while watching the other Abyssal Destroyers clustering around Aeroprin's, speaking a mile a minute as they did so. "PO! Hoppou figure out how to give Puppies special forms to walk around! So that they not be stuck outside all the time and can do things!"

Looking from the Destroyers to her mother and back, Tanith's eyes were wide. "Oh..."

Gobsmacked, Regalia took that in before turning towards Hoppou in awe. Yes, her mother had told her all about her grandmother. Various things, but especially about how amazing she was with repairs and modifications. But this? What she was seeing in front of her? Never in her wildest dreams had the Re-Class imagined it, or that it was even possible. And now that she had seen such, she recalled the recent... disagreement with her mother. Now she could see what she had meant.

Maybe, just maybe... she could be repaired.

Hoppou meanwhile was taking in the various reactions before giving a nod as she made a chopping motion with her hand. "Hoppou has decided! Hoppou will teach you how to do the same with the other puppies! That way they can all walk around!"

Once more, there was shock among the Abyssals before Ritou smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Mother. I... I promise that we will do our best to learn it, though..."

Already knowing what was unsaid, Hoppou shook her head. "Hoppou will show you by using one of the Puppies and giving them special form!" When Tanith whispered into her ear, the Abyssal Princess nodded. "Yes, Hoppou will use Silver to show how to give special forms."

Said Abyssal Destroyer let out a loud squeal and backflipped while around her, the others clapped their flippers. None of them could wait!
_________________________________________________________________

"Um, Harry? We're almost there... it's time to wake up."

Eyelids fluttering, Harry turned away from the voice and mumbled as he nuzzled his face more into the pillow that he was using. That is, until it giggled some. "Harry-Chan? That's tickling me!"

Opening his eyes, he glanced up to find Shinano smiling down at him and realized that he was burrowed into her side. "Shinano-Chan?"

Just smiling, Shinano gave a nod. "Hm-hm." Leaning down, she looked into his eyes with a small blush on her face. "Have a good nap?"

With a yawn, Harry smiled sleepily up at her. "Hai, thanks for that." Before she could react, he gave her a small kiss and pulled back. Unnoticed by him, the Support Carrier was blushing and frozen while he stretched. "You make for a very comfy pillow."

More then a little flustered, Shinano looked away. "U-uh, um, thank you, Harry-Chan."

Even though Harry was confused by her actions, he eventually shrugged it off before looking around. It seemed that he was not the only one just waking up as Isokaze was gently being awoken by Hamakaze and Urakaze seemed to be blinking away the last bit of sleep. Then again, one of the things that he had learned on the base was how to catch some sleep when he could. Something that some US Marines had taught him, which had served him in Hogwarts when he needed to catch some cat naps here and there. Shipgirls also learned very rapidly how to do much the same, often dozing just enough to rest.

Of course, that was when Harry looked over at where Juuchi was and froze a bit. "Shinano-Chan... how...?"

When Shinano looked over, she shook her head a bit at seeing the sword surrounded by orange peels. "I really don't know, Harry-Chan. Regina-Chan and I were listening to some music when we looked over and found her with some peels. And every time we checked, there were more there."

Harry frowned and gave the sword a look, and in reply she simply smugged harder for it. Eventually, the black haired boy rolled his eyes and sighed some. "I am not even going to bother this time." Glancing at the window beside Shinano, he blinked. "How far away are we?"

Frowning, Shinano consulted her maps and gave a small nod. "We're just over Hamanaka Bay, so it is going to be a few minutes before we arrive I think." Her frown being replaced by a smile, she giggled down at Harry. "So there will be some time for you to wake up fully."

At the pout, the Carrier giggled even more as Harry huffed. "Mou, so mean, Shinano-Chan." Before she could react, he poked her in the side and made her squirm with a small squeal. "I should punish you."

Now it was Shinano's turn to playfully pout as her eyes sparkled in amusement. Unnoticed by either, Regina had a smile on her face as she took in the sight of the two. It made her feel warm inside to see the two of them so happy. And she was not the only one as the Destroyers on the flight were also looking on fondly.

Meanwhile, at Hamatsu Roadside Park, several Abyssals perked up from where they had been gathering driftwood to look towards the southwest and the IFFs that they could sense. Even Northern Water Princess turned from where she was sending out a message via a Submarine hundreds of miles away acting as a relay for it to be sent to her island. "Mother, is that..."

Happily smiling, Hoppou bounced a bit. "Yes, that is Big Brother! Big Brother is nearly here! And so is Regina!"

Blinking, Ritou looked away from where she had turned. "That's Uncle Harry? But I thought that he was human, not a Demon?"

Only shaking her head, Hoppou motioned with one hand. "Big Brother is human, a wizard! Hoppou, Big Sister, and Miss Supprin gave Big Brother special bracelet! Is an IFF! For Hoppou's family and Big Sister's, Big Brother is a Demon rank. For Miss Supprin, Big Brother is a Flagship." Tapping her chin, she frowned some. "Though maybe Hoppou should upgrade Big Brother to Princess? But Hoppou wonders if Big Brothers can be Princesses too..."

Even though they were rather confused by said thoughts, her daughters all shook it off. Not even they could understand the way that their mother thought at times after all. Instead, they kept their focus on the approaching IFFs while the Installations also looked over the plans for the modifications to the Abyssal Destroyers to give them avatars. Hoppou had told them to study hard before she was going to show them after all, and their mother could be a taskmaster with the best of them.

Shortly after though, Wonderous pointed. "Look! It's a Seaplane!"

And sure enough, a seaplane did come into view. It waggled it's wings a bit before coming in for a landing on the waves. Once it was fully landed, the seaplane turned towards the shore and used it's propellers to bring it along. Reaching the beach, its wheels took over and brought it above the surfline before the engines finally slowed to a stop. Almost as soon as they did, Hoppou was already rushing across the sand. "BIG BROTHER! BIG BROTHER!"

The door to the seaplane opened and the various Abyssals noted the massive Carrier which hopped out. She blinked at the sight before her before saying something inside and helping a black haired boy with a sword at his side who appeared moments later out to the sand. At seeing them, his eyes widened a bit before he turned to Hoppou and gave a smile. "Hey, Hoppou, sorry it took so long."

Puffing out her cheeks, Hoppou shook her head. "Big Brother should not be sorry, just silly people not trusting Hoppou."

Harry gave her an amused look as Regina hopped out and landed beside him. A Re-Class in the group in front of him widened her eyes though he was confused at how she seemed to have a hunched back. Out of the corner of his eyes though, he noticed something else that took up his attention as Regina had also seen said Abyssal. Already her tail was coming up instinctively and she had stiffened as if about to attack. The massive Princess was also reacting as she saw the threat to the Re-Class beside her. But before anything else could happen, Harry's head whipped around and he barked at Regina in his best commanding voice. "Regina! NO!" When Regina blinked and looked at him, he kept his eyes on hers. "That is enough, now calm down."

Before his eyes, Regina gave a shudder and then relaxed. Moments later, she gave another shudder and blushed some as she hung her head. "S-s-sorry, Harry. I..." Twiddling her fingers, she scuffed her hooves as she looked at the ground. "I don't know what..."

All Harry did though was walk forward and raise her chin with his fingers so that she was looking him in the eyes. There was sternness there, a presence that made her blush a bit and reminded her that Wanko had stated that his orders were to be followed as if they came from her. But it was also that flame that Regina knew would only grow with time and lead him to become an Admiral that she would gladly follow. A true leader. Then that sternness softened a bit as he spoke. "It's okay, Regina. Nothing happened, okay? But just calm down."

While Regina nodded with a sniffle, the various other Abyssals stared in disbelief. Tanith in particular could remember how her own sister reacted to Regalia at first sight and that she had to throw her through a wall. A Re-Class, especially one of Regina's status? That was an entirely different level. Yet before they could react to seeing her about to attack, their "Uncle" had turned and shut it down with words and a tone that caused more then one of them to stiffen.

Mainly because it reminded them so much of the few times that their own mother had become stern and would brook no argument.

Now looking at him, they examined him more closely as he softly talked to an ashamed Regina. After what they had just seen involving him? They now had an idea as to why their mother held him in such high regards and given him the rank that she had...

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Voice soft, Harry looked up into Regina's hood with a small smile. "Okay, Regina? Yes, you nearly made a mistake, but it is no big deal now that you know better."

Only nodding, Regina looked down some. "Hm-hm. I'm really sorry, Harry."

Smiling, the black haired boy shook his head. "I know you are, but I'm not the one that you need to apologize to, right?" When she shook her head, he continued. "Now, let's leave this behind us." When he turned though, he was a bit confused at how Hoppou gave him a nod and looked pleased about something. Then the small Abyssal took his hand and began to pull him along. "Hoppou!"

All Hoppou did was look over her shoulder and blink. "Big Brother is taking too long! Hoppou wants to show Big Brother off to all her family!"

More then a little bemused at it all, Harry shook his head. "You make it sound as if you're going to pull a show and tell with me." Looking over her shoulder yet again, Hoppou gave him a look that made him sigh. "... You're going to pull a show and tell with me."

Hoppou blinked and then looked away. "No... Hoppou isn't."

Just sighing, Harry felt like pinching his nose. 'Yes, yes you are.' Instead of saying that though, the wizard decided to focus on other matters now that they reached the other Abyssals. Granted, he had to crane his head back for a number of them due to their heights. 'Huh... they're really tall.'

For the Abyssals, they were looking down at the sight of the nearly thirteen year old teen in front of them. Their thoughts were mainly in regards to all that their mother had told them about the person before them. And after seeing how he had just handled a Re-Class all of them knew who had been moments away from attacking? It proved that perhaps their mother was not exaggerating, not that they had expected that she was.

With a small smile, Tanith looked down at the boy in front of her. "Hello, Uncle Harry..."

The smile on his face told her that was the right thing to do as he nodded. "Um, hi." Briefly, Harry chewed his lip before turning to Regina. "Before we go any further though, someone needs to do something."

Stepping forward, Regina looked towards Regalia who seemed nervous. But then the other Re-Class' eyes went wide as Regina gave a small bow. "I would like to say that I'm sorry for what just happened. Um, I'm not really all that sure why I reacted like that, but still. I apologize to both you and the others."

Jaw dropped, Regalia looked towards her mother who gave a slight nod before she turned back to Regina. "That's okay, apology accepted. Not that it was really needed..." Ignoring how Regina cocked her head to the side, she continued. "Um, considering how things work from what Mom tells me in regards to Aunt Wanko... I guess that you are sort of my cousin?"

Regina considered that for several moments before tilting her head as well and shyly scuffing her hoof in the sand. "Um, I don't really know? But maybe?"

Unsure of everything, Regalia looked at her mother and aunts before chewing her lip. "Oh. W-well, you're the first other Re-Class that I've ever met before..."

Lips curling upwards, Harry turned to Regina. "Maybe later the two of you can talk? I mean, I would assume that she has questions about being a Re-Class." Taking the offer once Regalia nodded rapidly, Regina smiled and gave one of her own. With the smile still on his face, Harry glanced at Nagato who only crossed her arms and gave him a slight tilt of the head before he turned to the others. "So, as Hoppou told you, I'm Harry Potter and her Big Brother." Bowing slightly, he continued. "It's nice to meet you all."

Grinning, Sunny gave him a small bow of her own. "It's great to meet you as well, Uncle Harry." Moments later, she tilted her head back and looked towards the sky. "Huh... having an Uncle is going to take some getting used to. But kind of neat anyways."

In return, Harry gave a laugh of his own and grinned back. "Tell me about it, I'm still getting used to being an Uncle with Blackie Smokie and her group. Now I got a whole bunch more nieces!" His expression then softened some. "Feels good to have a big family though who care for each other."

That seemed to be the right thing to say as the Abyssals began to relax some. Hoppou then took his hand and began to introduce Harry by pointing at first the Northern Water Princess and the Battleship Water Demon. "Big Brother, this is Tanith and Sunny!" As they nodded, Hoppou then pointed at the Isolated Island Princess and Airfield Princess as well as the Radioactive Airfield Demon. "And these are Ritou, Patty, and Nuri!"

More then a little confused, Harry tilted his head as he looked at the Airfield Princess. "Patty?"

Said Princess seemed a bit embarrassed and then shrugged. "When I was a Wo Class, my... hat was flatter then others. And I really liked pancakes, so Mother called me Patty."

Grinning, Harry gave a nod at that. "Good to know, that means that I know something to whip up when you visit." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a Ne-Class perk up at that. Then Hoppou began to introduce him to Anchorage Princess, who she said was name Yoko and had been a Submarine before she continued on. As she did so, Harry became extremely thankful for the meditation exercises that Haru, Junyou, and Ryuujou had taught him. They had told him that it would help him retain information easier if he used them and imagined it being sorted out in his head. Currently, that meant that Harry was imagining the names, and information, being given to him placed into first folders and then filing cabinets. It made it a lot easier to remember things.

Now, granted, he did sort of wonder why the person he imagined sorting everything looked like Niiyodo with shadows otherwise...

Eventually, they came to the Re-Class from before and Hoppou gestured at her. "And this is Tanith's daughter, Regalia, Big Brother."

Much to the Abyssal's surprise, Harry did not look at her with any real negative emotion in his eyes. Rather, she could see sadness, for her, as well as understanding and sympathy. She could also see a bit of the same sort of love her aunts had in their own eyes. Harry's eyes then trailed to her hump and he gave her a slight smile. "Does it hurt?"

Regalia, not having expected that question, took a few seconds before she shook her head. "Hurt? Um, no, not really." Looking over her shoulder at her hump, she frowned. "A lot of times I don't really notice it."

Just nodding, Harry gave her a hug and the Re-Class realized that her grandmother was not kidding. Said hugs actually were warm in some odd way, the type that sank down into one's own body. "That's good to hear."

Slowly, Regalia brought up her own arms and gave him a light hug back. When he pulled back, she had a smile on her face before Hoppou took him to the next group of introductions. When he reached Nero though, at the end, she spoke up before Hoppou could. "You mentioned cooking?"

Ignoring how the Ne-Class flinched a bit at Hoppou's frown, Harry gave a small nod. "Yeah, I cook some. I'm told that it is pretty good to be honest, which makes me happy. Especially as people seem to enjoy it." Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. "That reminds me! I brought some food for everyone."

Various Abyssals perked up as Harry walked over to a trunk that they remembered Hamakaze bringing out, Nero was right beside him. "You brought food as well? Really?"

With a look over his shoulder, Harry gave a small nod. "Well, of course I did. Sure, they're mostly stuff that I whipped up quickly, but they should be good..." Frowning, he looked around. "Not sure that there will be enough even with the Basilisk meat."

Blinking, Nero furrowed her eyebrows. 'Basilisk meat...?' Shaking that off, she frowned. "I think that I could help out if some of us catch some fishes. Not that I can do much... there is only so much that one can do with salt and brine as well as fish."

That surprised Harry and he stopped to look at her. "You cook?" At her nod, he frowned a bit. "And salt and brine?"

Lightly blushing, Nero shook her head. "I like cooking. Though in regards to salt and brine... I don't have much access to spices and herbs."

Rolling that around in his head, Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, there's actually a number of wild herbs around, and I'm pretty sure that there would be some in the Aleutians. Those could help. You can also do things with vegetables, wild ones included and berries. Nuts too now that I think about it if there are any."

Eyes lighting up, Nero leaned in. "What sort of things? We sometimes pick some berries, but I'm not familiar with what else one can do with them. And herbs in the wild? You wouldn't happen to know which ones?"

Amused, Harry opened the trunk to reveal boxes with ofuda on them as he hummed, not noticing the other Abyssals gathering around. "Well, for berries one can make a nice sauce with them. Can even work for fish now that I think about it. Wild herbs? I'll have to look it up or buy you a book to recognize them. Same with mushrooms really." Pulling out a box, he tapped his chin with his free hand. "Maybe look into getting some herbs for a garden."

If Nero's grin had been wide before, now it was akin to a Cheshire cat's. She then looked down at the box that he handed her. "What is in here?"

Harry gave her a small smile before pulling out paper plates and handing them to Sunny Honey who had joined in to help. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shinano talking with Yamato over something. "Butter bread. They're not really big loafs, but... they'll go great with the pastabake I made. Go ahead and open it."

Confused, Nero did so and her eyes widened as steam came out of the box as well as the smell of freshly baked bread. Almost immediately, her mouth began to water at the smell, which was soon joined by another, meaty smell as Harry pulled out a plastic container containing something that had meat in it. Leaning over, Nero could just spot what she knew was cheese and what looked like noodles in it. "Is that a... what did you call it? Pastabake?"

Grinning, Harry nodded some. "Yup! Pretty simple really as long as you got cheese, some sort of meat, and noodles. We'll cook up the basilisk meat in a bit as I want to see if you bunch like a recipe that I got from New Mexico regarding snake meat. It's a cornmeal mix along with black pepper to cover it." As Nero nodded with an interested look, Harry pulled out a jug and handed it to Sunny along with a cup. "Here, this is for you. I heard that you like orange juice so I made some fresh squeezed stuff."

The Battleship Water Demon's eyes widened and she opened the jug to take a sniff. Her eyes then closed in contentment before she took an offered cup and poured some out. Ignoring how everyone was watching her, Sunny brought it to her lips and took a sip before pure glee crossed her face and she drained the rest. Tanith only sighed and shook her head though she held out a cup herself. "I believe... that Sunny approves... of your juice."

All Harry did was laugh even as Sunny hugged him. "Approve! I do more then approve! Actual, fresh orange juice!" Giving him another slight squeeze, though she was careful not to do it too hard as she knew he was far more fragile, Sunny grinned. "Best. Uncle. Ever!"

That only made Harry laugh even as Hoppou began to pass out food that was placed onto plates to various Abyssals. Most of whom soon began to enjoy the food that they had been given and agreed with Sunny on what she had said. Harry meanwhile was smiling as he felt his nervousness slip away. Sure, they might not have been what the younger version of him that was stuck in a cupboard had thought of when he wished for a big family. But you know what?

He decided that he would not trade it for the world.

 

[darthcourt10]

Shaithan

A day at the Beach

Great Inagua was a small island in the Caribbean, one of the many that mankind had mostly given up on in the aftermath of Blood Week. While outcasts and outlaws would try to settle abandonded islands, it tended to go poorly, even in a mostly secured area like the Caribbean. Too often it were only the remnants of a settlement or outpost that were found. Places that had fallen to raiders, coming and going oft unseen.

It had been met with considerable alarm when the first permanent abyssal had turned up on Great Inagua. Especially when she was joined shortly by four more.

Alarm had turned to puzzlement, when it became clear what they had been up to. A few huts had been erected and they had gotten beach chairs from somewhere. And then these cruisers had stopped. They'd repair their beachfront property when it became damaged, but other than that they were utterly passive.

How passive was something no one had wanted to believe at first. It had been a local tough guy who had found out. Most likely at the urging of his friends, he had approached the island and did what young men traditionally did to prove their manliness. Taking unnecessary and suicidally stupid risks.

The reaction had been puzzling to say the least. The only thing the Inagua 5 had demanded from the youth was to step back, he was blocking their sun.

When the young man had gotten angry, the first of them had waved him off like an unruly child. It were her words that had spooked both the young man and the girls listening in. "Go away, meatbag. And be grateful we've left Mother and her ways behind, otherwise we'd currently be busy tearing your meat from your still-screaming body!"

It had been long-accepted that there were factional divisions within the abyss, different Princesses had different modi operandi, but hearing of a Princess that practiced cannibalism was a rude shock. It had been suspected for a while, remnants found in raided settlements that had what looked like bite marks upon them did point strongly towards "something out there is eating humans," a realization that made quite a few people queasy.

The young man had run away, he had poked the bear and had been very lucky that the bear didn't care for biting him.

The shipgirls on the other hand knew that they would have to deal with the 5 cruisers on Great Inagua one way or another. While they weren't bothering anyone, they still were there and thus a potential security risk, as well as a potential source of Intel on other abyssals.

After a bit of negotiating amongst themselves, three shipgirls had set out. Massachusetts, flanked by Colorado and West Virginia had sailed to the island and tried to get the attention of the cruisers. Key word being tried, the Abyssals hadn't responded to radio calls and had continued to doze in their beach chairs, completely oblivious to the three battleships off the shore. It had been somewhat embarassing for the battleships, as being completely ignored by some lazy bums was a rather novel experience. And not getting a reaction even when shouting had just been the cherry on top.

Colorado had finally stepped ashore, finally getting a reaction from the five cruisers. A reaction that was a pretty listless "Go away."

Now, there were many things that battleships were, but subtle was not one of them. And getting brushed off as an annoyance did rile Colorado up. With a growl, she stepped towards the girls, fully prepared to show in painful detail why you didn't simply brush off a battleship.

The first of the Inagua 5 held up a hand. "Can't you see we're no interested?" she wanted to know. "We have an island, we don't bother people and if people could just stop bothering us that would be great," she groused.

"Interested or not, we need to talk," Colorado insisted. "You have been left alone for a long time already, don't you think you could at least tell us why you're here?" she added.

The first of the 5 pondered that. "Two reasons, really," she mused. "First, this place is unlikely to be attacked by Mother anytime soon, if ever. And second, dozing in the sun day in and day out is awesome and we want to do as much as possible of that," she explained.

"And that's it?" Colorado asked incredulously. "You're settling down on a random island based on how much time you'll be able to laze in the sun?" she wanted to know.

"That and not running across Mother," another of the 5 replied.

"Yeah, that," Colorado pivoted. "Why have you renounced her anyway?" she wanted to know.

"Each of us failed a task she gave us. And Mother is unforgiving of returning as a failure," the one that had last arrived at Great Inagua spoke up. "There's three states she will accept. Succeed in your task, die trying or leave her fleet when you fail. If you return after you failed, chances are, you end on the menu," she laid out. "Seeing that each of us was unwlling to chance that, and Ripper here had discussed settling down here, we decided to try our luck here. Lucky for us, Ripper was already here, so now we laze on the beach. If that is all, we'd like to get back to that," the Ne-class concluded and closed her eyes.

Colorado had to conclude that this would be the most she could get out of these girls for now. Supremely unhelpful, but also very passive, so unlikely to be a threat. As far as the talking was concerned, they'd need someone who was better at the whole diplomacy thing. Also, bribes may work. That and shooting the breeze with them. Still, diplomacy, something most battleships wre ill-suited for.

"Would you mind if other shipgirls came to talk with you at a later date?" Colorado asked.

"Whatever," one of the 5 waved.

Colorado returned to her compatriots, shrugging. "If I had to guess, they've decided that motivation is something that happens to other people," she reported. "Let's kick this upstairs and have the admirals find someone to make nice with them" she added.

Massachusetts and West Virginia nodded. They had kept close watch on the abyssals and nothing they had seen had indicated any ability by these girls to spring into action.

"Say," West Virginia said and pointed at the beach, "is that what I think it is?" she continued.

Colorado and Massachusetts could only nod. A large "Get off our lawn!" sign greeted them.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Eyebrow raised, Arthur Weasley looked across at the Japanese man who was nodding at a map in front of him. "So you're having your people pull back?"

Looking up from the map, the man shook his head. "Not all of them, no. We're going to leave a few observers here to keep an eye on things here. But it looks like things have calmed down some." With a sigh, he ran a hand through thinning grey hair. "At the moment though, my biggest worry is that having too many nervous people here. It only takes one idiot..."

Amelia frowned and crossed her arms. "Yours... or someone else's?"

That got a small laugh from him as he sighed. "I don't want to disparage some people, but most likely the second. While I don't expect for them to show up anytime soon, they might and the more of my people who are here? The more likely some of them might be to start something."

From where she was leaning against the table with a mug of coffee, Mary hummed. "Not to mention that you have a number of Yokai here as well. Something else that they might take offense to."

Grimacing, the man across from her grunted. "As much as I wish otherwise? Hai, they would take offense to them which is why I'm not leaving any behind in case the group from Tokyo show up. Because then I have no doubt that some of them might cause a... situation, to develop."

Her eyes narrowing, Amelia tapped a finger against her thigh. "They would start a fight? With the Abyssals so close by?"

Just closing his eyes, the man shook his head. "It is as I said, I would hope otherwise, but more than once they were more worried about going after Yokai than their actual duties. I am sure that you heard about the recent... issue that happened?" He turned and looked at Mary. "A situation that brought you in to investigate."

Mary only nodded some at that. "Yes, the situation with the Gashadokuro. There was a number of other incidents that seemed to be distractions."

Only shaking his head, the man snorted. "The head of the Auror department in Tokyo at the time gave the order that if any Yokai was to help repel the attacks, they were to leave them alone and head to the next one. This being when they unable to react to everything. Same if they stumbled across us helping... He then resigned afterwards, but considering that he met with representatives of the Diet when things had calmed down?"

Scowling, Arthur shook his head. "Foolish. Back home during the war with You-Know-Who, we welcomed any help. Even if it was from groups that otherwise we might have held issue with."

Beside him, Amelia gave a small nod before sighing. "This is going to be a mess to say the least." A loud slurp made her glance at Mary who said nothing. "Still, they have made their bed and will now lie in it."

With an interested look, the man turned to her. "And if I may ask..."

The head of the British DMLE just smiled. "In regards to Kyoto, I have a number of things to say. But let me say that while I am disappointed in Tokyo, you can inform your superiors that when I get back to Britain that I will have nothing but good to say about Kyoto." Bowing, she continued as Arthur did the same beside her. "Thank you for allowing us to observe."

Surprised, the man only nodded before bowing back, also returning the bow that Mary then gave him. All three then walked out of the door to find themselves in a ruined building. Behind them, the wizarding tent just sat there while noises drifted out from the flap. With a sigh, Arthur rubbed his neck. "Well, at least our worst expectations have not been realized."

Motioning for him to follow, Amelia glanced at Mary who began to walk beside her. "Yes, the worst didn't happen for which I am thankful. And we got to gain an idea in regards to both how Kyoto and Tokyo are reacting to the situation. But there is another issue that has become apparent."

Hands in her pocket, Mary waved her wand with several spells blocking their conversation from others. "I take it that at least part of it is in regards to young Mr. Potter?"

Arthur then snorted with his lips pressed thinly. "That is putting it mildly." Waving a hand around, he shook his head. "You saw as clearly as I did how those Abyssals have been acting towards him for the past few hours. All Harry would need to do is give the word and he could launch a war on Magical Britain that would be equal at the least to You-Know-Who's. I don't expect him to, but there will be those that will see such a possibility. There already are a few dark families who think that he could become a Dark Lord and lead them to power."

Rolling her eyes, Amelia shook her head. "Yes, and I know exactly who those families are. They would think that he is forcing them to bend the knee to him, and so want to have some of the possible power from that. Not realizing that what binds them is being a family and love." Her frown then deepened. "But they are unlikely to act in any case. What I am worried about on the other hand is how certain... factions might react. There are those who would see him as a threat."

Thoughtful, Mary sighed a bit. "And I think that I can name a few like that. Not just in Britain as a few in MACUSA and elsewhere might have the same thoughts. If they were try to deal with him though..."

A shiver went through the Weasley patriarch as he imagined what would happen next. "Death would come swiftly and utterly destroy anyone in their way. Not just from the Abyssals either in this case."

Only nodding, Mary frowned as she considered her thoughts. "With the right spin though..."

Slowly, a smile grew on Amelia's face. "I have a few ideas to that end in any case. Once I get back to Britain there are a few people that I will need to talk to first."

The smile then took on a quality that reminded Mary of her daughter when she was ready to utterly screw someone over. A smile that she also had seen in the mirror more then once. "I see, then I will leave that up to you." Glancing at her watch, she shook her head. "Now, if you would both excuse me, I have an appointment and also will be pulling a late night for my reports."

With a nod, Mary walked off and soon vanished with barely a sound. Arthur then turned to Amelia and frowned. "We should get going as well, Molly is likely going spare with the kids even with Bill there and I have little doubt that your Susan is just as worried."

Chuckling, Amelia gave a small nod. "You're likely correct, Arthur."

Both of them soon vanished and reappeared in Yokosuka outside of the hotel that they were staying in. Entering, the two separated to go to their own rooms. In Arthur's case, as soon as he entered he found a frantic Molly who was relieved as soon as she saw him. Moments later, the Weasley Patriarch found himself smothered in an embrace. "Oh Arthur... I was so worried."

Eyes closing, he just held her close before kissing his wife on her brow. "I'm sorry that I needed to do that, Molly. But I could not just stand by and do nothing in this case." Molly only nodded some. "Thankfully, nothing untoward happened besides some... issues... regarding the Japanese Magical Diet."

A voice then spoke up at that moment and Arthur turned to find Cyrus Greengrass there. "Nothing that you can tell us, I assume?"

For several moments, Arthur had an odd look on his face before an expression crossed his face. Said expression was one that many had learned to fear when it appeared on his twin sons' faces. "Actually, I do need to have a chat with you regarding that, Cyrus. I believe that you will find it both interesting and informative." Hearing something in the background, the red haired man tilted his head. "The news?"

Just nodding, Cyrus looked over his shoulder at the pictures being taken from a drone that showed a large group of Abyssals. "It was the only way that we could all keep an eye on things I'm afraid. Though they're not saying much right now other then they came in peace though there is discussions regarding the Canadian warship there."

Shaking his head, Arthur walked until he could see into the room to find his children as well as the rest of the Greengrass family as well as Tracy clustered around the television. At seeing him, Ginny jumped up and ran for him. "DAD!"

There was a smile on the older Weasleys' faces as the rest of their family came over to embrace him. Even Bill and Percy gave him a hug, relieved to see he was okay. Chuckling, he shook his head. "I'm alright, it will take more then what happened to do anything to me."

As he pulled back, Bill frowned some and glanced at where Supprin and Amisi were watching what was happening. "What is going on anyways? The Muggle news is saying a lot and nothing at all. Though they mentioned something about POWs just now?"

Only shaking his head, Arthur sighed some. "Quite a bit to be perfectly honest. Now, keep it to yourselves for right now, but that group of Abyssals? It seems that Hoppou's fleet was not quite as wiped out as we thought. Almost all of those there seem to be survivors with the Princesses and Demons being ones that evolved."

Eyes widening, Cyrus turned to the screen and stared. "All of those..."

Arthur slowly nodded with a smile. "Are children of Hoppou's? Yes, though there are some that are granddaughters in a way that I understand. Some of them seem to be daughters of some of the POWs and former guards of theirs."

Wincing, Daphne grimaced at that. "That... is going to cause some issues back home."

Simply pinching his nose, Cyrus sighed. "To say the least. While several shipgirls have shown that they can have children with normal humans, the Abyssals haven't. This will cause more then some chaos, especially as some of their daughters from what you are hinting at are Abyssals themselves." When Arthur nodded, his lips pressed together. "Yes, that is going to cause some chaos."

It was then that Ron spoke up some. "Let me guess, Harry's already been declared their uncle, right?" When his father nodded, the thirteen year old could only shake his head. "Mate must be happy."

Lightly laughing, Arthur gave him a small grin. "To say the least, he seems extraordinarily pleased with being an Uncle several times over. Or at least from what I could see..." Ignoring how Molly was now fixing Supprin with an intrigued look, he began to walk over to the fridge. "Now, after what happened I could use a drink before I tell you all what I can at the moment. Perhaps send for something from room service as well..."

Molly only hummed before she walked over to the phone on the wall, every so often glancing at Supprin who was now looking at the television screen in shock.

 

[darthcourt10]

Kittle Omake: Flash Rob

Harry Leferts said:
You know, Harry would set that up just for that joke.​

*-*-*-*
Platform 9 3/4 was bustling as the Hogwarts Express pulled in to Kings Cross station at the end of another school year. Students streamed from the carriages and began searching through the crowd for their families. Just as people were beginning to move towards the baggage car to retrieve their trunks, a sudden fanfare split the air. As the crowd turned to look for the source of the music, the door to the baggage car burst open and a dozen pirates jumped out. Finding that the crowd had drawn back in surprise, the pirates, ten quite short, one tall with cloven hooves and one a tail with an incongruous Tricorn hat and eyepatch, burst into a song and dance routine.

"With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal..."

Off to one side, Hermione, Ron and Neville watched the performance with open mouths whilst Harry stood behind them desperately stiffling his laughter at both the performance and the crowd's reactions.

As the song ended, the performing pirates sketched a quick bow and then, with a resounding "Huzzah!", grabbed a handful of school trunks; Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville's trunks shared between the smaller pirates and Fred and George's trunks tucked under the arms of the tallest pirate. Another fanfare behind the crowd drew everyone's attention behind them but, seeing nothing there, the crowd turned forward to see that the pirates and their 'loot' had both disappeared.

As the crowd began to excitedly talk amongst themselves, Hermione turned to her friends with a stunned expression on her face.

"What... what just happened?"

"Well," Harry chuckled, unable to keep his laughter under control anymore, "It looks like we just witnessed a Flash Rob."

Neville seemed to be even more confused and Ron's jaw hung open, utterly incapable of speech whilst a look somewhere between annoyance and suspicion blossomed on Hermione's face.

"Harry, did you set this entire thing up? Just to make that joke?"

Harry's face was a picture of innocence as he returned Hermione's glare with his own smile. "You might very well think that. I could not possibly comment."

 

[darthcourt10]

mikelima777

MGRS Coordinates: 55T CH 36980 627

Captain (N) Lucas Wilson stood up from his chair as he looked out at the sight in front of the bridge. It had been a while since he could enjoy the view as commanding officer of HMCS Regina. All around him were the ships, both those of Hoppou's descendants, as well as shipgirls, that were guarding the frigate. Beyond them, he could see the park that lay several hundred metres away from him. The location and nearby buildings were clearly abandoned, with a few weathered craters likely from an enemy bombardment of the area. Despite that, things were looking up, as helicopters and other aircraft bearing the Japanese roundel arrived, including US-2 seaplanes of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force. It meant that at the very least Japan weathered the attacks on that fateful week in August 2005. Mercifully, it seemed the same was true of Canada back home.

Over the past 24 hours, many revelations were revealed, as well as some information about what had happened since their disappearance in 2005. Some of the older crew mourned the news that many of their old colleagues had perished during what was known as "Blood Week," but they were glad that Canada, save for some attacks on the Maritimes and British Columbia, was spared the worst of Blood Week. The revelation that warships that served and fought in World War II, as well as older vessels, were now returning in the form of "shipgirls" was not a complete surprise to the crew given what they had experienced over the past 7 to 8 years. Even so, the arrival of Japanese battleship Nagato, in the form of a very tall, fit woman, was a bit of a surprise. Moreso was the news that she had adopted Hoppou, as her own daughter. Her other adopted child, a dark-haired English boy named Harry, seemed normal enough, but one of his officers, Sub-Lieutenant Jim MacDougal, was noticeably stunned at seeing him for some odd reason. Yesterday, they had also met their first Canadian shipgirl, the legendary Haida, followed by her sister Athabaskan (I). The crew, though, was perplexed when they mentioned Acadia was also coming to see them.

For the crew of HMCS Regina, returning to human civilization was a welcome sight. While they had adapted to living with their former prison guards, or Wardens as the others called them, it was still refreshing to see land and other humans, even if most were still on shore. However, there was a quandary due to their prolonged absence. None of the crew technically had valid paperwork or passports to step foot on Japanese land, and given the usual dealings with bureaucracy, it was decided that the crew would remain aboard as a precaution until it was clear they could enter Japan legally. For once, the Canadian government was being proactive, as word came of HMCS Regina's miraculous survival. The Department of Humans Resources and Skills Development was working to reverse the death certificates issued to the crew after their presumed loss. The Canadian Embassy in Tokyo was already working full time to issue special passports, granting them the ability to step on Japanese soil, while more long-term passports could be issued once photos of the crewmembers could be obtained.

Earlier in the morning, the crew had queued up to answer the rollcall, to officially determine how many enlisted and officers were still aboard for the passports to be issued. When she had last departed Canadian waters, the Regina had the standard crew of 198 personnel, 17 officers and 181 enlisted, as well as the air force detachment of 17 personnel for the Sea King Helicopter, with 8 officers and 9 enlisted. The Sea King had not been used since their capture by Hoppou's forces, due to the lack of aviation fuel and lack of spare parts. Today, the roll call was as followed: Of the standard crew 176 enlisted, 15 officers answered the call, while the aircrew reported 7 officers and 8 enlisted.

Three officers and six enlisted personnel had sadly passed away, though none in the heat of battle. Instead, illness, complications from living in the remote Aleutians, along with injuries sustained over the years led to the loss of nine members of the Canadian Forces. Each name forever etched in the memories of the surviving crew. Sublieutenant Brandon Willis. Acting Sublieutenant Simon Francois. Petty Officer 2nd Class Arthur Chow. Able Seaman Stephen Thompson. Leading Seaman John Dakota. Leading Seaman Leslie Smith. Trained Seaman Pierre Laval. From the aircrew, 2nd Lieutenant Justin Pierce and Private Edward Maxwell. Five had perished during their time in captivity, the others while in hiding. They were all currently buried on "New Hope Island," and some hoped that in the future, the remains could be exhumed for repatriation to Canadian soil, bringing closure to the families and friends of the deceased.

Despite the losses over the years, the crew remain united and bonded with one another. Some even decided to marry, which the command group decided to allow given the circumstances. The ship's Chaplain, Padre Norman Gustav had the honour of presiding over the union of Lieutenant Kyle Baker and Captain Jennifer Davidson (the Sea King's co-pilot), Petty Officer 2nd Class Ian Ellison and Warrant Officer Samantha Young. Petty officers Darrell Bridges and Victoria Wong, as well as Master Seamen Bertram Chu and Alexandra Park. As well, Padre Gustav had also presided over the wedding of Commander Bruce Ferguson and Tandy, leader of the Wardens, as well the union of PO1 Victor Delisle and the Warden heavy cruiser Nelly. In addition, many of the wardens had entered a relationship with some of the crew. That had led to the biggest surprise the ship had, as over a dozen children were aboard the frigate, and quite a few bore traits from their supernatural mothers.

Throughout the ship, his crew were preparing records they had collected over the years, as well as personal belongings. For the first time in nearly a decade, the crew of HMCS Regina will officially have shore leave in a human port soon. According to Captain Tanaka, the JMSDF officer in charge, for now, the Abyssals as they were called, had been pushed back, reopening some of the sea lanes, and allowing for international air travel along well-guarded air corridors. The aftermath of the Abyssals attack on Hoppou and her forces allowed the shipgirls to secure much of the waters around the Aleutians to be safe for convoys, meaning eventually, his ship could return to Canada. The Halifax-class frigate, though, would need extensive work in Japan, needing long-needed repairs to many of her systems and her propulsion. But for Captain Wilson, the ship had done far more than anyone would have expected of the frigate.

Today, the Japanese brought aboard a load of much-needed supplies as well as other long-missed luxuries. Most important were vitamin supplements, as some of the crew had suffered from Scurvy. Also in the shipment were food, clothing, toiletries, as well as recent back issues of Canadian newspapers. These were carried up to the quarter-deck, where the crew and some of the Wardens helped unpack the much welcome supplies. A cheer rang out as several cans of Maple syrup, sent from the Canadian Embassy, were brought forth along with fresh meats and bread. A few tears were shared, as some of the crew got word that their families had been informed of their survival. For one sailor, though, there was one unfortunate revelation.

Wilson rolled his eyes as he suddenly heard wailing from Master Seaman Chris Baxter, the resident hockey fan from Toronto.

"What do mean the Leafs haven't even made the semi-finals since we left?!?"

In response, every sailor and some of the Wardens chorused out, "Leafs Suck!"

 

[darthcourt10]

TempestK

Preforming a crosspost from SV where I posted these omake. This omake occured before Happou's fleet made landfall with the Regina. Specifically during The Wedding.

A Guardian's Charge

Okinawa Island, present day

The Old Man snoozed in the fading sun. The fresh air, the breeze... he had spent so long in forced slumber that it every small thing was a blessing. Cocking his head to one side, he listened as news came to him, as it always did, on the wings of the seabirds. More recently he had taken to listening to the radio, once he'd mastered the delicate act of using his claws to manipulate the dials. The news was good indeed. A Kami and a Tsukumogami; a foreigner no less, joining in marriage? Truly it was a sign of good things to come. There would be trials, as there always were, but something had been shifting ever so slowly. Things were on the move, good and bad. But he would stand against them. It was his duty, his calling. A joyful growling from the surf had him looking upon his charge. Yes, things were changing indeed...

Okinawa Island, Blood Week

He was roused by the screams. Pain, panic, anger and fear flickered through the air like flames. He struggled to reach out from his slumber...
crack...
It had been so long, how long since those gaijin with their sticks and their words. The men and women of the islands that had tried to interfere... and the people from the mainland that had chided them like children for not understanding that "this is the way it has to be". He had tried... he had tried so hard...
Cr-ack...
They had bound him here, in stone and spell, too powerful to kill, but by the same token too powerful to contain within a "reserve"... So they had dealt him the cruelest kindness, bound in stone sleep but "allowed" to stay in his home by their good graces. His blood heated at the memory, even as distant sounds like thunder began to register. But more than that, was the screaming. More distinct now, he could hear men, women and wailing babes. There were other sounds, a stattaco crack like the foreign onmyoji had made as they twisted and turned to fight him...
crumble...
He blinked away the dust and grit, in time to see a small family, a gaijin woman and a native man, two young children desperately clutched in their arms. And behind them... shadows with cruel fanged faces, raising up weapons of some kind. Smirks full of fangs stretching across inhuman mouths as they took their time aiming. No.
Crick-crick-crick-crick...
No...
Rumble...
NO! HE WOULD NOT ALLOW IT!
*BOOOOM!!!!!!!!*
Spoiler

With a roar of righteous fury and exploding stone, he threw off the remnants of the spell that had bound him. It had been strong, but in his depression and shock at being betrayed by the mainlanders he had not been able to bring the full force of his will upon it. Now it was as a wall of sand before a tidal wave, washed away under an onslaught of defensive fury. The first died to his claws through its skull, even as he grabbed the creature by the shoulders and used it to pivot, lashing out as Master Sojobo had instructed him so long ago. The Daitengu's lessons proved true, one long foot breaking the neck of the second attacker, while a brief flare of magic rendered his tailtip as the finest steel, slitting the third's throat. Dropping to the ground, he had taken in the changes around him with surprise. Gone were the huts and small houses. Instead there was such construction as he'd never seen except in the cities.

Another burst of sound and more screaming broke him from his revere. He could find out what had changed later. Now there were people to protect. Fire surged in his veins as he began to rampage, a one monster army against a force ripped straight from nightmare. He was the typhoon, the hurricane. He fought like the demon the foreign onmyoji had called him. He heard one gaijin he saved murmur in passing, shocked awe and a strange form of reverence on his face. "King Caesar" he had said.

The attackers converged, and they died like flies as he used every scrap of training and instinct he could dredge up to kill the invaders. Anything at hand became a weapon, enemy bodies were used as shields against their strange weapons, living or not. Eventually they broke, fleeing back to the harbor. He followed, a gleaming gold comet of vengeance. He found a scene of carnage there. People cut down where they stood, blood staining the surf red... and a monstrous fusion of the female form and bone-chilling metal locked in combat with a strange sea dragon. There was a corpse on the beach, much larger, and perforated where it wasn't slashed; dripping gore and black rotten blood from its claws and teeth. The mother perhaps? No matter, the little one was a frothing titan of rage as it attempted to finish what its parent had started. One of the creatures, the source of the smaller monsters, was missing an arm and had her face severely gouged. She was attempting to limp back out to sea, even as her companion tried to put down the young dragon. It screamed its hate and fury, refusing to relinquish the grip its teeth had found even as she brought weapons to bear, straining to get them at the proper angle.

Then the Old Man was on them. Steel broke, bones shattered, teeth flew... and in the end, all that was left was the shards of metal and flesh, an orphaned sea dragon... and a very tired old Lion Dog. He squatted on the sand, panting and listening to the too-quiet ocean; the only sound besides the pounding of the surf being the keening whine of the young dragon. Adrift, and with no reason to fear the Old Man, the little one had come to him, snuggling close as the Shisha gently removed the muck from gray scales.

Okinawa Island, present day

If not for the efforts of a few local yokai, the two of them likely would have been captured easily in the wake of the battle. But they had hidden in the banyan trees, recuperating as the "wizards" swept through with their sticks, altering the memories of those they could find still alive, and making off with the corpse of the young one's parent. He had adopted the little one, and as the years had passed and the kami came to drive back these "abyssals", he taught the drake what he could, even as he learned what had transpired in his long sleep from the local yokai.

He had been hearing rumors now though, that perhaps soon they would be able to walk freely. He would like to meet the villagers face to face again, to speak with those who had suffered and help them. Such was his way. He was old, and even his kind did not live forever. But there was a chance that his "son", his student, could take up the defense of these islands. He was strong, and smarter than even many yokai would countenance, though he could not speak human tongue. But his heart above all was good, and he would do everything in his power to protect the young and innocent. Let the wizards call them monsters, they would stand, student and master, against the dying of the light. His muzzle crooked into a grin as his student broke the surf, returning from his hunt with a tuna to share with the old Shisha. Yes, a good heart, a powerful mind and a strong body. There would be no better guardian.
Spoiler

 

[darthcourt10]

TempestK

XenoTekker said:
...........................Holy shit dude. I am SO wishing this would be one of the major background events that happen in the story. Seriously, how cool would it be for everyone to find out that a kid Gojira is not only real, but was trained by King Caesar himself as the next generation of defenders of Japan? If anything, this version of Gojira would not be a radioactive kaiju, but more of an EXTREMELY powerful MAGICAL Kaiju.​

Here's a minor followup to it that happens when the Weasely family are visiting Japan, right before Happou's fleet shows up.

*-*-*-*-*

Consultation

Charlie grinned as he took in the sights around him. This whole trip had been absolutely wicked. He didn't get much news in Romania that wasn't of the world-shaking variety, and the fact that he'd been invited by proxy to such an important event had sent his head spinning. It had been incredible, and in many ways humbling to a man who was used to dealing with giant fire-breathing reptiles. The shipgirls were something else altogether. His ears pinked and he got a small smirk on his face as he recalled a couple of the single ladies that had been in attendance. Yes, something else indeed. As his family, Harry and Jane finished loading up the last of the gear for their little daytrip, he noticed a couple of men approaching. They were wearing crisp suits and had serious looks on their faces.

"I beg you pardon for interrupting your vacation time here folks, but is Weasely Charlie here?" One of the men spoke up. The other was speaking quietly to Harry, showing him something in a small leather flip-fold. Mum turned, expression tightening somewhat even as Dad began to move between these guys and the other kids. Some of the news about how desperate the incumbent magical government was to look like they were doing something had been dropped by Ms. Haru, and the older Weaselys were ever so slightly on edge that someone might do something rash. Warspite and Duke were forming up alongside the other adults, arms crossed as they looked unimpressed.

The man that was speaking looked a bit nervous and taken aback by this sudden closing of ranks, before Harry piped up. "It's okay, they're not from the ICW or the Ministry." Tension slowly seeped out of his parents, even as he let his own shoulders relax.

"Yeah, I'm Charlie. What d'you need?" The second man spoke up now, giving a shallow bow.

"Once again, apologies on delaying you all, but we had heard that you were in the country Mr. Weaseley, and have a small mystery that your expertise may help solve." He stepped up, holding a small tablet out. "Can you identify the creature in this video? Most of our local experts are still under Ministry pay, and we don't wish this spreading." The man hit play, and Charlie watched the somewhat shaky video footage with intense concentration... which melted into disbelief.

He looked at the men with wide eyes. "This... this is real? Not some kind of fake?" Both men nodded seriously. Charlie swallowed, feeling rather faint. "Gentlemen... that's a Greater Leviathan. They were thought to be extinct. The last known sighting was an older adult male that had died during Blood Week, on the... the shores of Japan. They're creatures of the deep sea usually, though they come up on atolls to breed. With the Abyssals... it'd been assumed that they'd been wiped out."

"Is there anything at all you can tell us about this breed of dragon?" Charlie shut his eyes, concentrating as he dug up the facts he'd learned when the news had dropped. He'd been appalled at the assumed destruction of a species of dragon, especially one so mysterious.

"Not a lot is known, but they're supposed to be smart. As smart or smarter than whales and dolphins. They can be bribed with food to not attack boats on the few times they have surfaced. And their hide is the thickest and most spell-resistant known to man. If not for the fact that they lived undersea for most of their lives they'd be the premier source of high-quality magical armor. They can breathe fire, but it's a weapon of last resort for them, against their most powerful enemies. It's been likened to Greek Fire in the stories, and burns blue, sticking to whatever it hits rather than flowing like a stream. Some say it was the inspiration for Greek Fire. Past that..." He shrugs helplessly.

The two men exchanged glances, before giving Charlie a slightly deeper bow than previously. "Thank you for your time Weasely-san. This information is most helpful to us and will help us determine how to move forward." The other man produced a small satchel, and passed over a pouch to Charlie. "For your time and expertise." Giving a polite nod, the two men turned and walked away, leaving Charlie with what felt like a... he stared down at it in surprise. This was a moke-skin pouch. Opening it, he boggled at the amount of gold he could see glistening back at him. Looking over his shoulder, his father raised one eyebrow.

"Well, it seems they really do value their contractors here." He clapped Charlie on the shoulder. "We'd best be off, don't want to put us too off of Harry's schedule, do we?" Charlie nodded mechanically as he followed his father into the bus, securing the pouch in his pocket next to his wand.

 

[darthcourt10]

TempestK

Speaking of, here's the other omake I did over in SV, the aftermath of Captain Tanaka's reassignment; when he rescued Kasumi and Akebono.

Closed Doors

Admiral Hiroto walked into the office with his shoulders squared, his face calm... and feet like lead. He had thought that he'd been able to clear up his little mess. That his friends and superiors had made sure that he was protected. Now he had been called into the offices of the Chief of Staff unexpectedly. The CoS was sitting at his desk, reading a file, but glanced up as Hiroto entered. "Sit." The man's voice was level... and sharper than a ka-bar knife. Hiroto stiffened, and opened his mouth. "Sir I-"

"I told you to sit Hiroto. Not to speak." There was a thick layer of rime on the CoS' voice now. His eyes hardened, glinting in the light of his computer screen.

Hiroto sat.

Going back to the file in his hand, the man went over it for the next minute, before laying it down on the desk. It was a small stack of papers, maybe ten pages. Then another file was produced. This one was much thinner, two pages at most. The CoS' leaned back in his chair, tapping the thinner folder. "Tell me Hiroto; do you know what this is?" There was a beat, and the man cocked a brow in annoyance. "That was a cue to speak, sailor."

Hiroto shook his head. "No sir, I don't." He had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't going to like the answer though.

"This," the file was picked up idly, the second page flipped to reveal a familiar signature, "is your report on the incident last week." The cold snake slithering down Hiroto's spine began to constrict. "Very concise, very insistent on how things happened and who was at fault." The CoS leaned back... and let the file fall into his trash can.

Hiroto could feel a cold sweat beading on his forehead. Idly he wondered if this was what it was like to face the judgement of a dragon.

The CoS tapped on the other file. "This on the other hand, is the report filed by your secretary. Along with a note detailing her acknowledgement of bucking the chain of command and an offer to tender her resignation for doing so. She starts working for me tomorrow." Hiroto's eyes bugged. "Do you know when I got this report?" Hiroto couldn't speak past the lump of fear in his throat, and merely shook his head. "Two hours after you submitted yours. While you and your cadre of friends were doing their level best to rip Captain Tanaka's career to shreds." Hiroto opened his mouth again to protest, but was cut off as a thunderous bang rattled through the office, the CoS slamming his fist on his desk.

"Do you have any idea of the number of favors that got called in to keep those petals on your shoulders?" The older man hissed like an angry goose as he leaned forward over the desk. "If it hadn't been for how much your stupidity and cowardice nearly cost us, I'd be thanking you for showing me whose judgement I can no longer trust. Two sailors, two shipgirls, nearly died on your watch. Because your arrogant ass couldn't be bothered to take the intelligence sent to you seriously. Because the sub that sent it to you was another shipgirl."

Hiroto started to feel a flush of anger creeping up his neck. He was an Admiral damn it, not some schoolboy. He began to lean forward, before the CoS roared in his face as his fury rose and finally broke like a tidal wave. "Sit your fifty-yen ass down before I make change!!" And now the dragon comparison was back with a vengeance. Hiroto sat back, shaking. The CoS took a deep breath, before he stood up and walked around the desk, looming over Hiroto. "Here is what is going to happen. You're being quietly reduced in rank to Rear Admiral, and you're being assigned to the Logistics division." Hiroto rocked like he'd been punched in the gut.

"About the only good thing to come of this whole fiasco was having Tanaka's competence shown rather than being downplayed by your own reports. But rest assured Hiroto, if you try to take any form of unofficial action? What happened here today will be a pleasant dream. Don't expect to get any help from your 'friends', I suspect they've all suddenly lost your number. I have plans for that boy; and I don't need your incompetence mucking up the works any more than they already have been. A proper Admiral needs seasoning after all." The CoS returned to his seat, straightened the papers on his desk, and gave Hiroto an icy glare. "Dismissed."

Hiroto would never admit he nearly ran from the office.

 

[darthcourt10]

Second Summer Holidays - Summer TWO C, Split Point due to Keep Filesize Down

START

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Laying back in the sand, Sunny took a sip of the orange juice that her uncle, and wasn't that still a bit odd to think, had made for her. A small smile though bloomed on her face as she let the citrus taste play across her taste buds. 'If happiness has a taste, it would be orange.'

Suddenly laughter rang out and Sunny looked over to see an embarrassed Tanith take off her hat and plop it down on Hoppou's head. Moments later, Hoppou was bouncing around with joy before climbing up onto Tanith's shoulders. Once there, she spread her arms out with a bright smile on her face. "Mother certainly seems happy."

Head tilted to the side, Sunny looked at Patty who sat down beside her. The Airfield Princess had a fond smile on her face as she watched everyone. Here and there were various bonfires burning merrily in the night's darkness with Harry at one with Nero showing her how to make smores and the Heavy Cruiser nodding. Said treats were already extremely popular among some of the combined fleet. Chuckling, Sunny shook her head. "And why shouldn't she be? We're together again."

With a hum, Patty leaned forward until her chin was touching her knees. Eyes shifting to the Battleship Water Demon beside her, she raised an eyebrow. "What do you think of all this?"

Just lowering, Sunny gave her an amused look. "How everything has turned out? How we now have new members of our family? How they're acting? Or..." A small grimace crossed her face. "Or how unhappy Mother was with us for bringing so many and endangering the children on the ship?"

That got a flinch from the Airfield Princess. Yes, Hoppou did not chew them out in front of their fleets, but once the celebration had really begun, the small Princess had taken them aside. At which point she gave them all a talking to that made them once more feel like children before their mother... Right up until Hoppou hugged them all and stated that she forgave them though she made them promise not to do something like that again. "I think that we all know how to feel about the talking to Mother gave us. What I meant though was the first three."

Only shrugging, the Battleship Water Demon lightly laughed. "Well, everything has thankfully turned out well enough I suppose. Everyone is happy at the moment and celebrating, even those left back home. As for our bigger family?" Taking a sip of orange juice, she continued. "I'm actually pretty happy with that. Grandma, and isn't that neat? We have a grandma now! Anyways, she's pretty awesome. And Uncle Harry is turning out to be everything that Mother said that he was to be honest."

Frowning, Patty furrowed her eyebrows as she scowled. "Though with what Mother told us about his... relatives, it is surprising."

Much to her surprise though, Sunny waved her hand. "Not really, or as much as you might think." At the confusion on her sister's face, she shrugged. "Think about Mother's sisters and such outside of Aunt Wanko. They're complete bastards..." Briefly, her voice failed her as Hoppou gave her a look from where she was. "Er..."

Patty winced a bit before lowering her voice. "How does Mother do that?"

Slowly, Sunny shook her head. "No idea... Hopefully Mother doesn't make me eat any soap." Making a face, she stuck out her tongue. "Ugh..."

Nodding, the Princess beside her grimaced as well at memories of how their mother took care of "Potty Mouths". She somehow always chose the worst tasting soap with which to wash out their mouths. "Though... did you hear Uncle Harry swearing? It was actually sort of funny when he stubbed his toe and went on about 'Blistering Blue Barnacles' and such. Mother just rolled her eyes and didn't say anything."

With a thoughtful look, Sunny gave a nod. "I know, and he said he got it from somewhere called 'Tintin', I think? Anyways... like I was saying, look at Mother and her sisters besides Aunt Wanko. Neither Mother nor Aunt Wanko is anything like them. So it's not hard to see that Uncle Harry is cut from the same cloth as Mother in that way as well."

After giving it some thought, Patty made a surprised sound. "Huh... you're right."

More then a little amused, Sunny turned to her and gave her a smirk. "Of course I'm right. I'm the older sister after all."

Crossing her arms, Patty scoffed. "Only by two weeks!"

In return, Sunny wagged a finger at her. "Still older~" Looking at Harry, her expression became a thoughtful one. "I have to admit though, Uncle Harry is pretty strong. A lot stronger."

Finger tapping against her chin, it took the Airfield Princess a few seconds to realize what she meant. "You mean that big snake that Uncle Harry killed? Because now that we saw pictures..."

Only shrugging, the black haired Abyssal shook her head. "Don't get me wrong, I could have probably killed it if it was me fighting that snake and I didn't hold back. Different from a Great White, but still. But Uncle Harry is a human, not a shipgirl or Abyssal." Seeing that Patty opened her mouth, she waved her off. "Yes, Uncle Harry is one of those wizards or whatever. But when have you ever seen or heard of them killing a monster with a sword? All to rescue someone?"

Thinking it over, Patty had to nod at that. "That is true enough, I guess. And you're right that he pretty strong to do that. Just like Mother actually, you wouldn't think that they would be that strong from how they look. But really, they're a lot stronger then you would think." Suddenly, she grinned. "It was pretty delicious though when all is said and done. Sort of makes me sorry that there's not more of them and it's a sort of one time deal."

Lips curling upwards, Sunny gave her a look. "Who says that now? Uncle Harry stated that those dark wizards often make them. So maybe there's more out there that we can find and kill." Both Abyssals considered that before licking their lips. The meat that they tasted, fried in something their uncle called cornmeal and black pepper, was delicious. Shaking that off though, Sunny gave a chuckle. "But going by that and how Regina acted? Mother made the right choice and giving him the rank of Demon."

Just nodding, Patty made a sound of agreement. She could tell that said stories of their Uncle would take their place among those told around campfires. "Mother really did to be honest."

A new voice then chose to pipe up and they turned to find Ritou there. "Tell me about it, especially with what Uncle Harry could do."

Softly snorting, Sunny gave her a teasing smirk. "You're only saying that because Uncle Harry only mentioned about making you something to keep you comfortable. Something about charms and such."

Tilting her head back some, Ritou gave a sniff. "A charmed piece of jewelry so that I finally will be comfortable in this! And so that I can finally fu-" Spotting Hoppou's head whip around to give her a narrowed eyed gaze, she sputtered a bit. "-Udging breath under all this..." For a few moments Hoppou stared at her before nodding and Ritou turned to her sisters while gesturing at herself. "It is always so damn hot and stuffy in this!" Pouting, she sighed. "I miss my old bikini..."

Both of the other two Abyssals, having heard the complaints more then once, just rolled their eyes. To say that it was old was putting it mildly. Sipping her drink, Sunny gave a shrug. "I wouldn't know."

Ritou narrowed eyes before she gave pointed looks at both Sunny's cleavage and the two long legs that stuck out from her dress and snarked. "Oh yes, I wonder however you would not know." Then she shrugged some and let out a happy sigh. "But a modification like Uncle Harry is talking about, and Mother said that he could do it, would make me so happy!"

Her two sisters nodded that before Patty spoke up. "Speaking of modifications... What do you think of Mother's modifications to the Destroyers? I've been getting questions all day about them and when we can give them to the others."

Frowning, Ritou shook her head before chuckling. "I think that they're pretty neat and I know that they're all excited for it. Mother told me that it would be rather simple for something that seems so hard, but then Mother is a lot more experienced and had a lot of time to work on it. She also said that it would help all of us get better at what we can do."

While she was not an Installation herself, Sunny could understand the issues of learning the hardway. After all, when she had become a Demon, there had been... problems... with her Beast at times as she learned. But she could not be happier for the Destroyers after all, they all seemed extremely excited for it. After that, the talk soon turned to other things as well as the evening wore on.

 

[darthcourt10]

Snippet 35: Lord K

A.N./ Prepare for a lot of talking and Political Machinations the snippet.

aka, Mary and co. now have to consider the consequences of Tokyo now having to sleep in the bed they not only made, but then shat in for good measure.


Spies of Legacies

The cafe is painfully familiar to Mary. It's been years since she's been to the place, but even with the change of ownership and a revamp to the decor that's apparently happened sometime in her absence of the last two decades, the establishment still bears all the hallmarks that made it so popular back in the day.

Numerous well lit, yet surprisingly discreet corners of the main floor, as well as a series of private backrooms. Multiple entrances, exits to other parts of the building, floor plan that could make it difficult to track subjects exiting and leaving. Easy access to both the magical heart of Chiyoda for business, and the thronging masses of nomaj Tokyo if one wished to disappear. And also a surprisingly pleasant, yet affordably high class selection of food and beverages that varied depending on the time of day.

Beneath it's benign, everyday appearance, Mochizuki Cafe had a long history with the worlds of intelligence gathering and deniable ops. On both sides of the magical divide and among those in the know, it was infamous as a meeting place for agents of subterfuge to hold their discussions of international espionage and shadow-politics.

Which thus makes Mary all the more perturbed that Swordsman selected this place as the venue for their meeting. Because unless the veteran Magical Intelligence Bureau agent is operating on the reverse-psychology assumption that surely after so many years, nobody will be there that might try to listen to them, because nobody actually goes to Mochizuki Cafe to actually talk about anything actually secret anymore, then that means there are politics at play.

Either Swordsman actually wants whatever they discuss to be overheard, or he at least wants to be seen talking to her. Considering the events of the past 48 hours, either one of those could produce interesting backroom political results. The question though, is the "for whom?" and the ever present "why?". Knowing the man as she does, Swordsman and his handlers likely have multiple subtle angles at play, beyond the obvious factor of lighting a fire under the Japanese Magical Diet's ass, by having her publicly meet with known associates and elements of magical America's answer to the Central Intelligence Agency and Defence Intelligence Agency.

At last spotting her target in one of the more secure alcoves at the back of the cafe, the presence of security and privacy wards to protect the exact nature of whatever they respectively plan to bring up in conversation today, does little to quell her lingering annoyance at the scale covered man and the 'aide' he has apparently brought along for the meeting.

No doubt this is the girl from that night a few weeks back. At least the other greenhorn is absent.

"Mary! How's it going? Long time no see! Especially in this place, of all places!"

The veteran agent is all smiles and friendliness, the very image of an elderly member of the diplomatic corps or MACUSA embassy staff encountering an old friend while out to lunch with his intern or secretary. Though thankfully not faked like her boss' reactions, for some reason the mild look of awe born by the half-Japanese girl beside Swordsman does little to improve Mary's mood either. The instant the elderly witch crosses the wards, Mary's expression of equal surprise and amicable greeting, dissolves faster than ice in the Californian sun.

"Okay, you can cut the crap Howard."

Swordsman grins, bearing her lack of amusement with his own bemusement in turn. "My, my, surely today hasn't been that bad?"

Mary feels her eye twitch slightly. "The last thing I envisioned when I took this job, was that I would be observing and influencing the change over of yet another crumbling government at my age." The 'intern's eyes widen in slight alarm, while the older witch pinches the bridge of her nose. "My doctor would probably have a conniption if she saw a woman half my age with the amount of pepper-ups and coffee I must have in my system at the moment."

"Well, it could be worse," quips Swordsman. "At least it's not Laos or Saigon."

The witch sighs with remembered frustration. "True. It could be Taiwan instead. We're not here to talk about ancient history though." Frowning slightly, Mary then points at the younger witch currently occupying the third side of the table. "Speaking of which, is she even cleared to hear about the past?"

Awkwardly the girl defers to her older handler, who nods in assertion. "In the broad strokes, yes, although it would probably be best not to mention any of the nitty-gritty details about old laundry just yet. Speaking of which, I don't think either of you have actually introduced yourselves?"

"I wish you would be less open with details sometimes Howard, but seeing as we're not using fake names today-" Mary rolls her eyes at the older wizard, but nevertheless offers her hand to the younger witch. "Mary Maleficus."

"Suzuki. Kisei Suzuki." Swordsman's youthful subordinate beams as she shakes the older veteran's hand, before blushing slightly. "C-Can I just say that it's an honor ma'am."

Mary however, feels her brow narrow, as something tugs at a memory of the name. Looking the girl up and down, and noting her relative youth and signs of mixed ancestry, the older witch then raises a curious eyebrow.

"Any relation to the late Suzuki Kisei?"

The girl nods, not quite hiding her mix of both slight embarrassment, and familial pride. "She was grandmother. I'm named after her, just with my name in a western format."

"And you work for MIB?" Mary feels her interest peak slightly, when the girl gives a badly disguised wince.

"Dad always complained that he never rose through the ranks fast enough because he was 'konketsuji'. And he disliked Britain after his experience schooling there as the foreign-born half-blood son of an absent muggle father. He moved to the US where he would at least just be another hafu immigrant in the 80s."

Mary winces at the all too common tale of prejudices hamstringing potential. "That's a shame to hear. Still, if he was anything like your grandparents, then that's their loss and America's gain."

Kisei's eyes widen in surprised shock, causing Swordsman to chuckle. "You knew my grandparents?"

"Technically of them, really." Mary admits. "Most of my direct dealings would have been with your granduncle."

A lightbulb seems to go off in the younger witch's head, as she snaps her fingers in excited realisation of some long pondered conundrum. "That's why Tanaka-Ooji knows so many stories involving Echidna from MIB!"

Mary raises a eyebrow at the name the girl uses. "Well then... That's one combination of words I never expected to hear in context of The Tiger."

Kisei almost looks ready to start badgering her for stories, but before she can, Swordsman then interrupts. "Okay, before we get too off topic, maybe we ought to get down to business first."

Kisei nods eagerly in agreement. "Oh, I'll go get us some drinks first. Who wants coffee?"

"I'll have a Black Ambrosia of Olympus," is Swordsman's smooth response, drawing a look of confusion from the younger witch, and a raised eyebrow from Mary.

"Should you be drinking that at your age?"

"Did you ever stop?" asks the wizard in return, causing Mary to chuckle.

"True. It hasn't killed me yet, and I could use one after the last two days I've had." Turning to Kisei, the veteran Auror nods. "Make that two Black Ambrosias of Olympus."

"Sure thing!" The witch nods happily and leaves to go place their orders, but it is obvious in her eyes that she is baffled by what her elder counterparts have just asked her to order for them.

Watching the younger witch leave, Mary then shoots Swordsman a cooly assessing look. "A bit young for fieldwork don't you think?"

The curse-marked wizard raises an amused eyebrow. "And you're one to talk because...?"

"I didn't join MIB until after Korea." Shoots back Mary. "I was thirty when I became a field agent."

"And when you were leapfrogging across the Pacific in early '42 at the ripe old age of 20?"

The witch looks past the old wizard, thinking on a far removed time, and a very much opposite kind of girl. "That was different."

"Was it really?" Asks the wizard with faux-curiosity.

"It was a sign of the darkness and desperation of the era," says Mary, before then pursing her lips thinly. "But then, I suppose that observation answers my own current question." It is only Swordsman's long history with the witch, that allows him to detect the brief glimpse of weariness in the older woman's eyes. "How bad are things behind the scenes. Really?"

For once, swordsman has no jovial or flippant answer, and instead sighs as he runs a hand over the semi-scaled skin of his face.

"They're calling it 'The Drought'," he says. "MACUSA wasn't just pulling retired agents out of civy street to shore up local law enforcement and homeland security like they did with you. They gutted a lot of MIB's overseas cells and analyst teams for field agents, and even our logisticians and bureaucrats, to replace losses at home from Blood Week. It was supposed to be a temporary measure, but we never got half the people we wanted back, partly because of KIAs and career ending injuries, and partly because they really were that badly needed in whatever new roles they were assigned to. The one saving grace is that we aren't the only ones facing this issue. The Russians, the Chinese- they're all in the same boat really. The flip side though, is that so are our allies. Britian's about as bad off as us, but Tanaka would be heart broken if he could see the state of things behind the scenes now. It's bad enough that most of Japan's domestic intelligence networks have been attritioned and reassigned to bits by the war, but the destruction of Mahoutokoro makes it difficult for them to replace losses without a centralised pool of universally graded graduates to recruit from."

Swordsman then grimaces. "The other problem that everyone of all sides is facing, is a two-fold one. Too many old farts have been brought in to shore up the ranks, and yes I realise the irony of that statement. But it's stagnating the field with old, outdated methods and biases. And then there's recruitment. Kisei's a rarity in this day and age. A lot of the kids coming out of Ilvermorny now days want to fight, or at least help the war effort, which by dint of the nature of this conflict and out foes, requires a little bit more inventiveness and innovation than being a standard combat Auror, let alone a foreign intelligence agent in this modern era of global cooperation and unity against the Abyssals."

Mary nods, making a face of her own. "Why do we need to spy on our allies, when we're all in this together?" she asks rhetorically.

"Exactly," says the wizard at witch's cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "Most of those who do join, are going into SIGINT and MASINT. Not a lot of HUMINT and MAGINT to be gained from Abyssals really, at least not in ways that don't end up with you dead."

"Are you sure about that?" ask Mary with a curious raising of an eyebrow. "Almost from the beginning, the Abyssals have proved themselves nothing if not varied in their temperaments and aims, and if anything, have only proven more multifaceted as time has gone on. It's enough so, that they have internal schisms and conflicts even."

"Try explaining that to the politicians wanting to be seen doing something, and the kids coming out of school who have lost homes and family," sighs Swordsman wearily. "People don't like the complicated answer, remember? It doesn't help that 'divide, dissent, and play off one another', reeks of old Cold War era chicanery. It's only in the last few years, people have begun to consider that we might have options beyond trying to kill every single one of these things."

"Because that plan has worked out oh so well thus far, and has been totally cost effective in the lives and experience it costs us." Her sarcasm tailing off, the witch's tone then turns softer and consoling. "I heard about Firebird."

The veteran handler sighs. "To empower a ritual of that size with that Phoenix of his, there was only ever a slim chance of either of them coming back. But he knew the risks and was determined to see things through. He was a good agent. And a good student."

A quiet silence falls over the two for a moment, before they are abruptly interrupted by the return of Swordsman's younger aid, carefully carrying a tray of sorted beverages that she then places on the table with some confusion.

"So, I got us our drinks." Returning to her seat, she removes a single lone cup of coffee, but then looks at the variety of other cups, glasses, and vials that appear to have been a part of the two elder agent's orders, with no small amount of intrigue and uncertainty. "I have my mochachino, so I can only assume the rest of that is for both of your Olympus things?"

Wavering for a second, the younger witch then admits to what exactly is troubling her, shooting a glance at the rather thick and almost gravy-like coffee in particular. "Um.... Are you two sure that this is what you meant to order? There's like four different things for each of you. There's the coffee, an espresso shot, I think that's a nomaj caffeine shot, and then a pepper up potion. I'm er... almost certain I saw the barista adding a can of Coke to the coffee when it was going through the machine as well...."

Mary's response is to line up her half of the assorted beverages in front of herself on her side of the table.

And then she shotguns them, one after the other. Espresso, caffeine shot, and pepper up potion, followed by a chaser of syrupy coffee.

Kisei looks torn between awe, disgust and aghast horror, as Mary grimaces and places the remainder of her drink back on the table. "How are you still alive?"

"Will power and force of habit," is the witch's offhanded reply, while Swordsman does his best to laugh around a grimace of his own after rapidly downing his fare in turn.

"If you think this is bad, you should have seen what we used to burn the midnight oil on back in 'Nam."

"At least we drew the line at the stuff the guys used to pick up on the Cambodia runs," reminisces Mary with an ironic chuckle. "I think that stuff took years off you if you actually drank it."

The younger witch makes a face and quietly nurses her mochachino. "Yeah... I think I'm just... going to stick to coffee and Red Bull as my stimulants of choice."

Mary makes a face at the mention of the latter substance. "Red Bull? Now that stuff will kill you."

"Well, it's better than getting high off of Alihotsy and Billywig Stings like the draftees used to in the last days of Saigon," offers Swordsman with a joking shrug. "Anyway, I think that's enough faffing about, so let's get down to business. Mary, what have you got for us."

Reaching into her coat, the older witch pulls out from one of her carefully secured and guarded enchanted inside pockets, a rather sizable stack manila folders, all of them stuffed with reams of typed pages and images. Placing the hefty pile on the table, she then gestures at the selection of topics on offer. "I'd like to imagine it's a case of what haven't I got for you. Pick something and let's start."

"Well then, how about we cover our bases with the most recent and glaring elephant in the room."

Looking at swordsman, Kisei frowns uncertainly as she produces a briefcase from beneath the table and begins entering a complicated series of keys onto the three separate tumblers keeping it locked. "You're not just talking about the Abyssals that arrived the other day are you?"

"No," agrees Swordsman with a nod. "Anybody with more than two actual brain cells to rub together, can see that the latest Abyssals to turn up on Japan's shore aren't likely to be a threat as long as we don't go about poking them. Better to leave the feeling out and diplomacy to the nomajs for now, and see what their assessments can turn up. They're the ones with the shipgirls, and thus the fire power to keep everyone in line in the highly unlikely event any of these new Abyssals dissent from their groups' current diplomatic or party line."

Mary makes a face, but otherwise signals her agreement with this course of action. "I'll do my best to keep an eye on things, but I honestly can't say how long this will be something I can have a secondary bead on by dint of overlap with my current work. No doubt those Abyssal-Hybrid children are going to be of great interest to numerous parties, but the fact of the matter is that most, if not all of them are of them are of Canadian heritage. Technically we have no real justification to go poking around and keeping an eye on things. This is after all, Japan, not the US. And they're legally the Canucks' problem unless their Ministry invites us to go nosing. That or unless somebody in the ICW forgets their brain, and decides to force the issue as to whether those kids fall under the general purview of 'things related to the Abyssals we don't bother oblivitaing for any more', or if they are sufficiently near-human enough to be considered a demi-human subtype, and thus their own thing outside the previously allowed loopholes amended into the Statute and other legislation. Of course, that's leaving aside how impossible such a thing would be to enforce at this point, what with how much the knowledge of their existence has already disseminated among the nomajs at this point, even outside those immune to obviation."

"Which either way, leaves us with our hands tied on that front for now, at least until those upstairs and the politicians can finish hashing a response out among themselves," mutters Swordsman, drawing a grimace from Mary as she hands over the first of the folders to Kisei, who then places it inside the briefcase. "So. Now on to what MIB and MACUSA's defense department are actually going to be interested in."

Kisei frowns for a moment, before looking at Swordsman. "Tokyo's response to the original raid alert?"

"Or rather their lack of it." finishes Mary through thinly pursed lips, wearing a professional expression that nevertheless says much about her opinion on how the events of the previous day were handled.

"I heard you inadvertently kicked up quite a storm at the Diet. Apparently some bricks were shat by many of the more moderate Representatives who're still banking their chips on Tokyo, when they found out you and those two British officials got fobbed off by their head of Magical Law Enforcement." The old wizard then laughs and shakes his head with a grin of amazement. "And then you just had to go to Kyoto, and coordinate with their response instead. That sends a special kind of message Mary, no matter how inadvertent."

The veteran witch simply gives her fellow elderly agent a flatly unamused look. "As I said before, when I came out of retirement for this, influencing foreign governments again wasn't exactly one of the things I was expecting to be doing again at my age. And even if the effects of my actions create a statement because of my station, I can not honestly say that the message is one I disagree with."

"You think we should begin projecting support for Kyoto?" In a rare glimpse behind the normally irreverent wizard's gaze, a keen steely intelligence shines through, studying Mary carefully. The younger witch at the table looks somewhat shocked at the idea, but remains nervously silent and watches the veterans converse.

"Overtly and from an offical stand point? No. At least, not yet or without further and more careful consideration." Slowly pushing another manila forwards, Swordsman then opens it up and gives a cursory glimpse at the initial pages and the bullet-points Mary has written out for his benefit, while the witch herself elaborates. "But I do think it's time to begin carefully considering the status and viability of our current relationship with the Magical Diet. Tokyo did nothing, and Kyoto did. Regardless of how the situation resolved itself, this is not a good look for anyone in the current Diet, and while it might not directly taint us, it does raise a number of worrying questions I really do think we should be concerned over."

"Are you sure you aren't just letting pre-determined biases color your judgment?" Kisei looks alarmed at the inferred accusation her superior is cordially leveling at Mary, but the older witch simply grimaces.

"I won't deny that personal perception may color my report. That man rubs me the wrong way for numerous reasons, but many of those I feel are justified points of issue and contention to be worried about." Flicking her wand, the folder in Swordsman's hands flicks to the relevant pages and files of her report. "Hirano Josuke. Card carrying ICW aligned conservative, generally associated with the NDRC Party, but also has ties to Ryuusei family. Or at least had ties to them, before rather conveniently back-dating his cutting of them to shortly before that 'incident' a while back."

Looking over the general details, Swordsman, can't resist a snort of darkly ironic amusement at one point in particular. "Ah yes, the National Democratic Renewal Cooperative Party. Four lies for the price of one."

Looking between the two older agents in confusion, Kisei frowns. "I'm sorry, but.... am I missing something? Aren't the NDRC the technical leaders in the current coalition government in Tokyo at the moment?"

Mary shrugs. "That's true on paper I suppose. But in reality, most of the parties that are aligned with them, are making alliances of convenience or desperation. Their nickname of 'The Four Lies' Party stems from the fact that the NDRC has traditionally never really been any of those things. They cosy up to and curry favor with the ICW, so they aren't really working in solely national interest. Their party hierarchy is nepotistic, full of oligarchs, or the descendants of those who saw their fortunes turn thanks to the downfall of others in the aftermath of World War Two, so they aren't democratic. Their interests are usually in retaining the status quo, and often see them opposed to the Progressives, the Liberals, and even the Traditionalists as well, so they aren't renewing anything on either end of the political or cultural spectrums. And in the few periods they've not been filled with an irritating amount of infighting and self-servicing bordering on corruption, they've often earned their majorities by browbeating or enticing other parties into line with deals they can't survive without, so there's rarely anything Cooperative about them either."

"And why are these people in power?" asks Kisei in open bafflement.

"Because for fifty years it was convenient," mutters Mary, with no small amount of disappointed bitterness.

"Irregardless of a well tread argument on past foreign policy and retrospectives of our own choices-" Swordsman interrupts, "I believe you still had an assessment to give?"

The witch's sighs, but nevertheless nods and points at the files in Swordsman hands. "Ah yes- So, Hirano is essentially your text book case of a reactionary political reappointment. Unfortunately, he's also a perfect example of how a reactionary political reappointment can be a worse cure than the original ailment. Maybe in another time and place he would have had his uses, and been a well schemed appointment. Somebody who could enforce and propagate the party line and political agenda of his allies in a department, while also stonewalling any attempts at political reform by the opposition or rises through the ranks by those don't march to the beat of the NDRC and ICW's drum."

The witch then grimaces. "Unfortunately, the same traits that make him a useful tool for peacetime machinations, and likely an appealing knee-jerk response to 'correcting' the previous leeway and willingness to look the other way that their preceding Head of Magical Law Enforcement showed during the Gashadokuro Incident, makes him a terrible wartime appointment and a disaster waiting to happen. One that almost did, really. We were fortunate that these Abyssals were friendly."

Leafing through the pages, Swordsman begins listing off a number of billet points from one section in particular. "Dogmatic. Lacks initiative outside party leadership's orders or agenda. Shows a dangerous unwillingness to compromise. Background check shows a career of bureaucratic and administrative positions, but none involving active command or crisis management. History is absent of any previous experience with wartime leadership or combat. And lastly...." Raising an eyebrow, Swordsman hands the folder to Kisei to place in the briefcase while looking at Mary. ".... displays a level of prejudice and disconnect that hampers decision making, to the degree that it may be the final push that sets the boulder of Tokyo's final downfall rolling, regardless what damage control they run."

The wizard looks at Mary carefully. "Those are some strong words and a pretty definitive prediction you seem to have laid out."

"It's very likely the truth," says the witch with a disgusted and frustrated look on her face as she thinks back to the previous day. "Hirano was absolutely willing to write off Hokkaido, near as I can tell, simply out of some disregard based in the idea that it would predominantly be only yokai and nomajs at risk. In reality, he may have just spurned a multitude of factions, and one of the few portions of the voter base that while not entirely loyal, was at least still indifferent towards answering to Tokyo."

Opening up one of her other folders, Mary then pulls out a map of northern Japan covered in scrawled annotations, along with sheets of data and graphs taped to the side for reference. "Hokkaido has always had the smallest demographic for magical Japan's human population. But by dint of being so isolated, they've also often been somewhat more self-sufficient or involved with the nomaj economy, so they have actually born out the war and adapted better than many other places, in spite of the Diet's mishandling of the transition to a war economy over the last few years. They were also relatively less harmed by attacks back in the early days, so the magical population of Hokkaido has actually ballooned massively thanks to the influx of refugee and displaced magicals forced off of Japan's island territories, and unwilling to resettle in southern or central Japan at a time when the Abyssals still trying to replicate the USN's late Pacific War naval raids on the Home Islands. And then finally, the reason for the success of the protection and the resettlement, often belongs in the hands of local factions, not the Diet, who have honestly been lucky with how indifferent or cooperative most of them have been at this point."

Now the witch begins placing pictures on the table, starting with a picture of a familiar youthful okami clan head. "The first of the three lynch pins is the Hokubu Clan and Yamainutaira. While they're obvious supporters of an inevitable move to Kyoto, they've also largely remained respectful and continued to answer to Tokyo, working from within the system while advocating a carefully planned and measured change of power, for the sake of maintaining order and a clean transition of government. With Tokyo basically throwing them under the bus like this however, I can't definitively say whether or not the 9th Koshaku will be able to advocate a continued state of neutrality and administrative jurisdiction that answers to a capital that has ignored and marginalized them for decades, and now won't even bother to defend them. They're self-sufficient enough and riding high from pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps, that they very well could just say nuts to Tokyo, and openly turn to Kyoto, especially if the public outrage is great enough and other regional communities follow suit. It's not just a town of wolves anymore, the war has seen a great influx of humans and business ties from not only Hokkaido's coastal Districts, but also from across Japan."

The next photo that goes down is actually a wanted poster of pale skinned and raven haired woman. One that on closer inspection, is holding a ball of flames with hands that are covered with numerous swiveling eyes. "Meanwhile, Hirano also seems to show a complete misreading of the situation regarding the Reserves, in particular ones like Daisetsuzan. He acts like the Diet is running out of people to man the boundaries, but the honest fact is that they've already lost many of the larger Reserves. The Diet's grown increasingly frantic over the last few months about the mounting rate of break ins, break outs, guard bribery, corruption scandals and smuggling operations, especially by groups like the one lead by the ever illusive Kurosawa Mika, but they've completely missed the message that's between the lines for the data coming in. Daisetsuzan, one of the largest reserves they had, is no longer under their control to the degree they like to believe. In fact, I have a worrying feeling that Kurosawa and her allies may actually be increasingly operating their black market businesses at a loss, and have so for the last few months in order to pursue other ends. There's a suspicious amount of fudging going on with the numbers in the opposite directions to which you would expect for materials and funds received, which suggests that Kurosawa has been the real source for at least a third of the Reserve's staff, budget, and supplies for quite a while now, simply because she and her group know that the Reserve failing or everyone rising up and trying to escape, would create a greater crisis than simply shoring up the status quo themselves and playing the long game until the Statute of Secrecy finally falls, and they pass the problem on to the nomaj government."

Increasingly through all this, Swordsman looks old and weary, running a hand over his face as he reads through the data. "This is CORDS isn't it? I'm having a 'Nam flashback, and it's the CORDS pacification program all over again. Unless you actually go there and see for yourself, everything looks fine on paper when quantified into oversimplified data, doesn't it? And of course the Diet are so disparaging about these people, that they're never going to look that closely or personally."

"And it's not the only case," says Mary ominously, pulling out even more photos as she goes. "Old Esashi, Outer Hakodate, Sounkyo.... Sapporo is about the only community that still has strong leanings towards the Diet and the mainland, but almost all the rural areas have already lost much of their faith in the Tokyo administration. The coastal towns have gradually dried up as the war's dragged on, Sounkyo's struggled to deal with the lack of tourism ever since the bottom fell out of the economy, and even Ebetsu, despite being a urban center, has little true loyalty to Tokyo. They all turned inwards or focused their economies cooperatively to survive the last eight years."

Swordsman carefully tents his finger, eyes starring at the papers in front of him with flinty intensity. "So when all is said, that leaves Tokyo in a very precarious position. If the Hokubu lose what faith they have left in the government and go to Kyoto for protection, the rural communities will follow to maintain their consumer markets, and Kurosawa will likely follow since the Reserve will now be surrounded by Kyoto friendly territory. If Kurosawa folds first and decides playing the current game is too dangerous for everyone involved, Daisetsuzan collapses, and everyone else likely goes to Kyoto too, to help keep supplying them. And if the rural communities go to Kyoto, Yamainutaira will have to follow to in order to maintain it's access to the resources fueling it's revival, and Kurosawa follows once her borders are secure. It all depends on nobody blinking."

Mary nods. "Hirano has rather merrily leveled a Damocles Sword over Tokyo's head through his inaction. One that also has the potential to escalate into a regional domino effect as well. I have no real bead on what could happen nationally, but then I haven't quite had the time to assess the chances and consequences of yesterdays fallout on a longer lasting scale just yet either."

"Such a right and wonderful clusterfuck," sighs the older wizard. "Which begs the question of if this is a clusterfuck Tokyo can even recover from."

"Or," offers Mary warily, "if this is a clusterfuck we want them to recover from at all."

There is a carefully weighted and heavy silence between the two older agents as they stare each other down, as if measuring silently the idea against elements of their shared past. Kisei however, finally finds her tongue and interrupts in shock.

"Are you seriously suggesting that Tokyo collapsing could be beneficial to us? That we should help it happen?!"

"It is," Swordsman answers with cautiously considered words, "a notion possibly not entirely without it's merits at this point."

The younger witch looks from her handler to Mary in shock, only to see the veteran woman looking unconcerned by the gravity of what she's suggesting they simply let happen to one of MACUSA's most important allies in the Pacific since the beginning of the Cold war.

"Consider this then. From everything I've seen since arriving back in Japan, and that surely Howard has had the misfortune of having to watch for the past few years, Tokyo is done for. The question at this point, is simply when it happens. The magical population is rapidly showing signs of moving from disillusionment and disenfranchisement, to open disregard and growing regional calls for either succession or a restructuring. And even if Tokyo does survive the growing power and relevance of Kyoto, the Diet is living on borrowed time. The Statute of Secrecy is coming apart at the seams. And once it finally does fall, the nomajs won't tolerate the current administration. Not in the state it's in, certainly not after the things they've allowed."

Mary pauses. "And then there's also the question of whether the american public and our own administration back home will accept and tolerate this. Japan is supposed to be our closest ally in the Far Eastern Pacific, and they had most of their post-war limitations removed by the ICW around the same time nomaj Japan did away with it's restrictions, specifically so they wouldn't be reliant on outside help and could aid with offensive operations in turn. How can we expect them to help us, when despite a years long lull to build up and huge amounts of war debt they've taken from everyone, their administration has apparently turned out to be so ineffective or callous that they can't even defend themselves."

Swordsman nods and looks to his novice underling to take up Mary's explanation further. "The short term game with Tokyo is almost invariably a loss, no matter how you spin it or the Diet might manage to survive. So with that in mind, what can the US salvage in the way of a long term game plan here in Japan. The way I see it, we have three options;"

The wizard raises a scaled finger and begins his list. "One, we stick with Tokyo, and no matter what happens, invariably look bad when the curtain comes down and the nomajs start looking for all the dirty laundry and secrets we've been keeping from them for the past few hundred years."

A second finger goes up. "Option two, is that we distance ourselves, and stay neutral while Tokyo and Kyoto vie for dominance. Either way, we could look good, or we could look bad, but it will likely still look bad when they go hunting for the past."

And then the last finger. "Behind door number three, we play for all the marbles, at least discreetly and from behind the scenes until the fall of the Statute. Aligning ourselves with Kyoto gets us two big things. The first is that it gives us a greater chance of having diplomatic in-roads and some good will to bank on, with whatever form of magical government or nomaj-magical administration comes next. The second, is that it gives us something of a counterpoint when the past finally starts coming out. That for all the things the ICW had Japan do, all the stuff we did post-war, and the things that were tolerated and allowed in the decades since, the American presence in Japan has become a progressive one, at least in recent times."

Kisei shakes her head in disbelief. "I can't believe this- you two- what you are proposing sounds like you want to back a coup!"

Swordsman winces with pained rememberance, while Mary shakes her head vehemently. "No, absolutely not. I've seen enough of those to last me a lifetime and they never work. A peaceful and orderly transition of power, is the only way to ensure peace and order for the future. A coup is not the answer."

"Besides," Swordsman says with a slight grimace. "At the end of the day, we're just the eyes and ears on the ground. We're here to provide data, observations and our opinions, but in the grand scheme of things, the ball is in the court of those upstairs to decide how they want us to proceed in the long term, or what kind of over-arching strategy they want to pursue in the wake of all this." The wizard makes a face for a moment, before looking at Kisei with an attempt at a reassuring smile on his face. "I like to think that we have enough of our old friends from our Saigon and Hong Kong days now running the show, to not make our predecessors' mistakes."

The younger witch still doesn't look entirely assuaged of her novice nerves. Swordsman though, now glances at Mary with a curious look on his face. "Of course, the question then is, if we are to remain mostly hands off for the time being, who or how do we wish to begin throwing our support around with for them time being, and what do you inevitably have planned?"

"I had a number of things really. A couple of which I wanted to run by you first." Mary taps at the remaining folders on her side of the table she hasn't yet handed over for Swordsman and Kisei's perusal, while raising a curious eyebrow of her own in return. "I'm assuming that the reason you're asking, is because you have something you want me to do in return."

The wizard nods, and gestures for her to go first, to which Mary responds by pulling one of the larger folders out of the pile still beside her. "Well, since you're concerned about cleaning up our potential image before the inevitable storm of finger pointing and dirty laundry airing begins, then this particular suggestion might appeal to you in particular."

Opening up the folder and flicking through the first few pages, the wizard and younger witch frown as they examine the background notes laid out inside. Kisei quickly pales and rapidly looks mildly sick at what she sees. Swordsman however, can't help the slight smirk that breaks through the impassive expression of intrigue he tries to bear.

"You want to put what's left of Sub Unit-942 out to farm as what, a peace offering?"

Glancing at the notes she has just handed over, Mary's own face darkens for a moment with conflicting emotions. "I think it's time we started cleaning house of our old mistakes. We should never have let them walk at the end of the war in exchange for what they had and Oaths not to go to the Russians. More than that, I've found evidence that their past misdeeds aren't as entirely dead an buried as we previously thought."

Swordsman groans as he scans the page. "Facility near Kure, live surviving test subjects, tanks, obscurial production, that one dockyard in the caldera.... oh that's just great...."

Scanning her list of recommendations, Kisei's eyes then widen in shock. "You want to put the nomaj SDF in contact with an okami!? Not just that, but a surviving official who has ties to the group. The son of a war criminal?!"

"Hold on, I know this guy." picking up the paper, Swordsman strokes his chin thoughtfully. "Hokubu Jiroumaru.... I'm surprised the guy's still alive. I haven't really heard anything notable regarding him in years. Not since the 8th Koshaku died."

Kisei looks at the paper nervously. "Is he dangerous?"

"No," the older wizard shakes his head. "At least not depending on where you stand and as long as you weren't involved in any shady research projects during the war."

"What?"

Mary pulls a photo out while Swordsman elaborates, causing the younger witch to blink in confusion at the weak and unassuming wheelchair bound man, starring at the camera with his remaining eye.

"Hokubu Jiroumaru's been on the periphery of many intelligence networks for decades, as well as more than a few less reputable scholarly ones with more interest than sense. It's known that he served as some kind of liaison officer or personal agent for his father during the war, reporting on and observing a variety of less savory research projects and studies. Ones of a kind that eventually lead to a rather.... extreme reaction in attempting to quit and absolve himself of whatever he was involved with. Unfortunately we don't know what exactly that was, because when the war ended, everyone thought he was a vegetable, and so no one bothered to follow things up. In all later interviews and investigations since then, he has only ever given the bare bones details of what he was involved in, to deny the propagation of whatever dark knowledge he absorbed by osmosis."

Swordsman then pauses before continuing. "He's also been suspected of involvement in the deaths or disappearances of a number of different ex-members of Sub Unit-942, and the wider Unit-731, between the late '40s and the mid '80s, but nothing has ever been substantially proven enough by anyone in any of the investigations to even get him officially listed as a suspect. It doesn't help that many of these deaths and disappearances have often been tied to the supposed 'victims' restarting their research on innocents, so there hasn't exactly been a lot of support to look into what these men were doing, why somebody would want to kill them, and how they were allowed to be left running free in the first place."

Kisei frowns uncertainly. "So he's what....? Some kind of repentant vigilante?"

"That's likely a bit of an oversimplification," answers Mary. "But the fact is that he has no love for the things he saw during the war, and more than that, might be one of the few people capable and willing to do something about aspects of the past, that most others who were involved or have information on, will refuse to acknowledge or do anything about."

"How does that work? The guy is suspected of killing people that restart their research. Why would he let anybody else start poking around and asking about things?"

Swordsman shakes his head. "There's a difference between killing for revenge or to punish, and then killing to secure, protect and contain." The wizard then looks to Mary questioningly. "Do you really think he'll allow access to his personnel files to the SDF? The best we've ever gotten is the general archives preserved in the Hokubu Library. He's sitting on mountains of stuff he's never shown to us, or even his own family, that's probably never going to see the light of day."

"He probably won't show them anything beyond a fraction, no," admits Mary. "But at minimum, I believe he'd be willing to at least help those victims they have already discovered, and maybe enlighten them as to some of the lingering dangers that might remain in the places they have already found or have yet to discover. Either way, bending the Statute a little to put them in touch with somebody they likely already know is an okami due to his relation to the 9th Koshaku, that can aid them with magical incidents they already know about, should hopefully show the SDF that we're willing to help and play ball, and that we're different to those who came before and pointlessly tried to obliviate everyone."

Ruminating over the idea, Swordsman nods. "It's a small action and only bends the rules a little, but it's potentially a good first step."

On her side of the table, Kisei shakes her head in and mumbles to herself with mild disbelief. "This was not what I thought I'd be doing for my first assignment straight out of training. Oh hey, let's just casually talk about letting the government of Japan fall apart and be supplanted, but first as an appetizer, let's bend the Satute of Secrecy while we wait for the okay from back home."

Swordsman chuckles. "Welcome to the deep end Kisei."

Mary however, looks at the wizard pointedly. "Unfortunately, I think it's about to get deeper. You've had 'that' look on your face this entire time, which means my crazy idea, is somehow not quite or only just as crazy as your own harebrained scheme. So what is it that you've got planned or handed down to you, that has my suggestion rolling off you like water on a duck's back."

"Ha, you know me too well." Reaching into his jacket, it is now Swordsman's turn to procure a folder for Mary's perusal. "This, comes from on high."

"And what is this exactly?" Leafing through it, Mary then raises a curious eyebrow. "They want everything the SDF and the 7th Fleet have on their never completed ships that still turned up as summons. And they also want us to look for naval blueprints? But not of the more usual or common kind.... They want us to look for- not only unbuilt, but 'unconsidered' ships?"

Swordsman nods. "MIB is tired of being sidelined, and they can see the writing is on the wall, even if some of the conservatives and hardliners back at MACUSA still refuse to see reason regarding the inevitable fall of the Statute. The think tanks in Langely and New York both fear that once it does happen though, we're at risk of a major potential intelligence security leakage on both nomaj and magical sides of things. The US military had archives and computers in bunkers on numerous islands in the Pacific that may not have entirely been destroyed beyond retrieval. Likewise MACUSA has its fair share of islands that we haven't been able to return, or that the shipgirls don't know to clear, resulting to potential stores of assets and information abandoned or lost during Blood Week. Those upstairs think that once the Statute falls, a proper cooperation between magical and shipgirl elements could penetrate some of these places that were previously unreachable by either side on its own, or due to a lack of knowledge."

"And of course, they fear somebody other than us retrieving our files and assets," the veteran witch summarises.

"That's right. So MIB wants to get a head start before anybody else actually can."

To the side, Kisei's eyes widen in realisation. "Wait, you don't mean-"

"That's right," says Swordsman with full seriousness. "They want enough blueprints and plans to make up a theoretical fast attack or infiltration and raiding squadron. One made up of the spirits of designs obscure enough that even among those trying to summon unbuilt ships, nobody else will consider trying to summon them or notice they already have been called for a good while yet."

Kisei stares, mouth agape, while Mary looks over the plan handed to her with a wry dark bemusement at the information laid out within. "Huh... So the Magical Intelligence Bureau wants to form its own Special Operations Group style shipgirl task force. Let's hope this turns out more like Joint Advisory Command-Korea than MAC-V SOG or Tiger Force."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Checking his watch, Tanaka let out a soft sigh before looking over the beach. "Starting to get a bit late..."

After a few seconds a voice behind him spoke up. "Which means that you might want to head to bed. For some sleep."

Tanaka glanced over his shoulder at where I-351 had latched herself with her arms over the Captain's shoulders and legs around his waist. She had spoken with Akebono and Kasumi over what had happened. And before Tanaka had been able to do anything, the Submarine had attached herself to him. Oddly, I-351 was not acting like her usual, perverted self in regards to it. More like she was worried about letting him go.

It made it easier to ignore the two round objects pressing into his back.

However, at the moment he was giving her a look and realized that she was worried about him and he gave a small smile. "As good as a nice bit of sleep sounds, I'm going to be burning the midnight oil tonight, I think. So no sleep for a while yet."

Puffing out her cheeks, Akebono gave him a small glare. "You Shitty Admiral! You should be taking better care of yourself! Besides..." She gestured towards where Nagato was speaking with Tanith. "Nagato-San is here."

Also glancing at her, Tanaka shook his head slightly. "I can't fob off all the work onto Nagato-San. Besides which, I have to organize things as I'm more knowledgeable with the locals then she is. Nagato-San is better able to deal with things such as the shipgirls she brought with her." He was about to say more when he noticed headlights up in the old parking lot and raised an eyebrow. 'She didn't...' Making their way back up the path with the Akebono lighting the way, Tanaka could only sigh as he noticed Kamoi coming out from inside the pickup that was hauling his "Mobile Command Center". Upon noticing that he had her attention, he crossed his arms. "Kamoi."

Said shipgirl just smiled a bit before leaning against the vehicle. "I thought that you might need something set up since I am sure that you're a bit too busy to head back to Kushiro for a time, Teitoku."

Groaning, Tanaka facepalmed. "Not you too, Kamoi."

In reply, she snorted and raised an eyebrow. "You're out Admiral, so get used to it." Patting the pickup, she shook her head. "We're not going to change."

Even though he really had to question why they felt like that, Tanaka didn't bother. Instead, he turned his attention to the 'Mobile Command Center'. Not that it was really all that much to be perfectly honest. In fact, it was a RV that he had bought and gotten upgraded with both radio and satellite connections. Mainly so that it could be used to keep in touch with Kushiro for when they went on "Inland Expeditions".

Which was just a fancy term he used to allow for the trips further inland later in the year to pick berries and fruit for the base and to sound official.

Currently though, Tanaka only felt the weariness in his limbs from the day that he had. So, with a quick mention on the radio, he walked into the RV and flipped on the light. Taking it in, he glanced around it. There was a small kitchenette there which he could see Kasumi head to in order to put on some coffee as well as a couch in front of a table. At one end, he could see the bathroom and the other was where the bedroom was. All that was what it had come with.

But from there things were different.

At a small desk along one wall was a number of military radios and the television was less for channel surfing and more for looking over reports. Or speaking to people back in Kushiro or elsewhere. There was even a number of computers, all encrypted, at another desk as well as a laptop that he could see charging. Tanaka also knew that outside, on the roof was a number of antennas. Not just for radio but also to uplink to military satellites. Yes, it was not state of the art like some had. But he had done his best and was rather happy with it just the same.

Sigh escaping him, Tanaka barely heard the door behind him closing. Almost as soon as it did, he realized that he was out of sight of everyone. Or at least did so unconsciously. Moments later, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Kasumi grabbing his hand with a look of concern on her face. "Kasumi-Chan?"

Looking up at him, the Destroyer chewed her lip. "Are you feeling okay?"

With a light laugh, Tanaka gave her a grin. "Feeling okay? Of course, I am.. Why wouldn't I be?"

Only blinking, Kasumi turned her gaze to the hand that she was holding. "Because your hand is shaking. Badly."

About to laugh it off, the Captain stopped as he realized that she was right, his hand was shaking. In fact both hands were shaking as if they he was coming down from some sort of drug high. "They're... they shaking? Why are they shaking..." Then he blinked as he realized something else. "Why am I shaking...?"

Suddenly, his stomach felt like it turned over and his guts twisted. At hearing the sound from his throat, Settsu rushed to a nearby trashcan and brought it in front of him. As it turned out, she was just in time as Tanaka began to puke into it. When moments later, his legs gave out, Akebono was right there along with I-351 to hold him up and prevent him from collapsing. More then a little frightened, the Destroyer turned to Kamoi. '{What is going on with him, Kamoi!?}'

It said something about how scared Akebono was for him that there was no rudeness there in her voice. While gently rubbing Tanaka's back, Kamoi sighed over the radio. '{I was afraid of what would happen when it hit him fully.}'

Confused, Akebono stared at her as Tanaka continued to heave whatever was in his stomach into the pail in front of him. '{Hit him? What are you talking about?}'

Giving her a look, the Oiler turned and looked outside. Also looking in the same direction, Akebono could only see the beach barely lit by bonfires. Before she could say anything though, Settsu spoke up. '{About how wrong everything could have turned out today. And just how close to possibly dying he might have come if things had not happened the way that they had, Dess.}'

Kasumi's eyes widened a touch at that. '{He's having a panic attack?}'

Barely nodding, Kamoi grimaced a bit. '{A delayed one, but still one. I expected him to have one before now to be honest.}' Her lips curled up a bit sadly. '{But then, our Admiral is a lot tougher then one would think.}'

Scoffing, Akebono gave her a glare. '{He may be a shitty Admiral, but he is a lot better then others.}' Her gaze softened a bit. '{And I would not have anyone else.}'

That got her nods before Kasumi walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water from inside as the sounds of puking subsided. With it in hand, she twisted off the cap and brought it over to a panting Tanaka. "Here, wash out that garbage mouth of yours." With a glance over at her, the Captain reached out with a shaky hand before she sighed. "Never mind, I'll help otherwise you'll spill it everywhere." Holding out the bottle, she tilted it slightly. "Small sips."

Doing so, Tanaka spat it out each time to rinse out his mouth. Once he was done, both Akebono and I-351 carried him over to the couch and sat him down. Still trembling, Tanaka put his head in his hands as he tried to get his breathing under control. "Oh Kami... That was..."

Just crouching down, Kamoi placed her hand on his knee and gave him a small smile. "Intense?" At the nod, she chuckled some before stroking his head. "I can imagine, you must have bottled it all up."

For a moment, it looked like Tanaka was about to argue when he instead suddenly sighed. Rubbing at his eyes, he gave a weak chuckle. "Yeah, I suppose that I was. I mean, I couldn't break down..."

A scowl on her face, Akebono glared at him. "So you bottled up your shitty feelings!? You BAKA!" Lightly punching him in the arm, she narrowed her eyes. "Don't be such a shitty baka! You had us worried there!"

Settsu brought out one of her doctor fairies and said being walked over and began to examine Tanaka. And it was not just the Dreadnought as the Destroyers brought out two of their own doctors to go over him. Once their fairies returned, Settsu gave a small nod. "You just stay there and rest, Dess. We can take it from here."

Looking up at her, Tanaka made to rise. "No, I can't. Just give me a moment to pull myself back together and-"

Before he could get any further, Akebono pulled him back down onto the couch with Kasumi plopping herself on his knees. Crossing her arms, Kasumi scowled down at him. "Listen to the garbage coming from your mouth! You are to take a break and rest! Nothing more!"

With a glance around, Tanaka blinked as he realized just how worried that they all were. 'I... wow...' Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Kasumi. "I need to sort things out though and give my reports."

Much to his confusion, Kamoi shook her head before gesturing at Settsu. "You have Secretary Ships, use them. That is part of their duties after all and right now there is not much for you to do except sort out the delivery of supplies for the morning. As for reports, Goto would not care if he received them in the morning as well."

All of a sudden, Settsu perked up. "Besides, I just finished talking with Nagato-San, Dess! I told her that you were beat and that we were sending you to bed, which she agreed with."

Sighing, the Captain shook his head. "None of you are going to let me get up to do anything, are you?" When they all shook their heads no, he covered his eyes. "You bunch..."

Voice soft, but with a tone of steel, Akebono spoke up. "You take care of us, Admiral. Let us take care of you for once."

It looked like Tanaka was about to argue that fact before he slumped. "Fine." Allowing himself to be hauled back to his feet by Kasumi and Akebono, he also allowed himself to be manhandled as the sofa was pulled out into a bed before placed back down onto it. To his surprise, Akebono and Kasumi laid down on either side of him as Kamoi took off his shoes which he had forgotten to do. "What are you two doing?"

Even while she blushed, Kasumi snorted some. "We're just making sure that you don't go and try to get up. Now, you lay back and just rest with none of that other garbage."

Beside her, Akebono did the same before blushing deeper as Tanaka laughed and gave them both a light laugh. Sure, he was still shaking somewhat, but now that he was coming down from his panic attack, he felt every bit of exhaustion come back. Laying back, he chuckled a bit. "Thanks you guys..."

Softly, Akebono grumbled a bit. "No need to say something like that..."

Five minutes later, Settsu looked over from where she was working on the computer and only smiled at the sight of Tanaka still in his uniform on the bed. On either side was a Destroyer while I-351 had curled up at the bottom of the mattress. Hearing a sound, she turned to find Kamoi there with a steaming mug of black tea which she set down in front of the Battleship. "Here, I think that we're both going to be up for some time."

In return, Settsu gave a small smile before turning back to her work with Kamoi doing the same with her terminal. Both of them keeping an eye on Tanaka... their Admiral.