"So where did this thing come from, anyway?" Heart Player asked.
In response, a woman called out, her voice muffled by the helmet she was currently wearing, "It's called an Orphan. But this is the first time I've seen one of these things outside Fuuwa-jima."
"Who?!" everyone else gasped as they turned to see a girl about the age of the Sailor Senshi, she dressed in a black-and-red motorcycle racing suit, a red helmet covering almost all her face. In her hands were two curious silver-and-blue firearms resembling a cross between a revolver and a derringer, its ammunition drum being globe-shaped in lieu of cylindrical.
Soul Searcher's eyes narrowed as she telepathically scanned the newcomer. You're one of Tokiha Mai's friends, aren't you?! she telepathically challenged.
Kuga Natsuki gasped in shock as that voice echoed deep in her mind, her body tensing up as she scanned for the person who "said" that. In a flash, Infinity is standing right beside her, a finger poised over her mouth in a shushing motion. "Be very, very quiet," she then whispered. "Don't say your real name and don't take the helmet off. We got someone filming this."
She then notioned towards a nearby building, where, on the roof, a lady in urban camouflage currently stood, a highly-advanced webcam in hand and aimed their way. Natsuki looked up, and then she nodded; she had heard of Windtalker. "Right . . . "
The others gathered around the HiME. "You're just like our friend with the flying dragon who came out today to help with Gojira," Mustang mused. "Your ki signature's the same as hers, even if the exact powers are different."
Natsuki's eyebrow arched. "You can tell?"
He lowered his voice to explain, "Spend ten years training as a martial artist every moment you're awake, you can learn a lot of things."
"Oh."
"You called this creature an 'Orphan,'" Mercury then said. "What is that, anyway?"
"I'm not too really sure about that," Natsuki replied; she knew that her current questioner was seen as the smartest of the Sailor Senshi. "Unlike my friend whom Mustang-san and his friends have met, my powers developed quite early in life." She held up one of her guns in emphasis. "As for Orphans like this thing here . . . " She indicated the wreckage nearby. "They're been appearing over the last couple of months or so on an island called Fuuwa-jima. It's near Hiroshima in the Inland Sea."
"First time any of us have ever heard of it," Jupiter mused.
"Don't be surprised," Natsuki stared, a touch of venom in her voice. "Ever since the first of these things started to appear, a government agency called 'First Division' has been busy trying to keep these incidents quiet from the general public." She then glanced at Mustang and Soul Searcher. "I'm sure my friend's told you what people like myself are called."
"'HiME,'" Soul Searcher provided. "It's a backronym taken from the Romanisation of the Japanese word for 'princess,' meaning 'Highly Advanced Materialising Equipment.' You have the ability to tap into an energy source called the 'HiME Star' which allows you to manipulate photons to create 'elements.' Like your friend's telekinetic shields or your weapons. Atop that, you also gain the ability to make use of a being called a 'Child.' We've seen Kagutsuchi. I assume you've got something similar at your beck and command."
Natsuki grinned under her helmet, and then she barked out, "DURAN!"
An explosion of ice nearby heralded the arrival of the silver warhound. "Waaai!" Infinity crowed out as Duran howled his arrival, and then he trotted over to join his mistress. "What a cute doggy! Can I pet him?! He doesn't bite, does he?"
Mass face-fault! "'CUTE?!'" Natsuki screamed out.
New York, the Searrs Tower . . .
"This is not good, Mister Chairman."
"I can see that," Joseph Searrs stated. "Keep calm, my friends. We can still move to take control of this situation. When the time comes, this won't matter anymore."
The others on the Foundation's board of governors nodded.
"Miss, there's something you need to know."
Eyes locked on Mercury. "What's that?" Mustang wondered.
"This creature eminates the same type of lifesigns as the Orphan Infinity-san just destroyed," the studious member of the Senshi declared.
Silence.
"WHAT?!" Natsuki screamed out, she spinning around to stare at Duran.
Who was now being petted by Infinity, a delighted coo escaping his mouth as his glowing eyes seemed to close in delight. Everyone blinked as they stared at this weird scene, and then they gazed directly on Infinity as she looked up. "Duran-chan's really friendly," she then said as she looked at Natsuki. "He really likes you a lot."
"I . . . "
Natsuki blinked as she took that in, and then, willing her Elements back to wherever they came from, she walked over towards Duran. He stared at her, and then he moved to press the side of his head into her side. Natsuki watched this, and then she smiled as she reached down to stroke the side of his head. Another delighted coo escaped the warhound as he accepted his mistress' petting.
Watching this, Mercury's eyes narrowed as her mind rolled over the information she had just received, and then they went wide. "I understand now!" she declared.
"What?!" Jupiter demanded.
"Childs and Orphans are fundamentally one and the same type of being!" Mercury replied. "And given the way Duran acts around our friend here, its clearly obvious that deep down, they want to bond with a human. No doubt, it's some type of evolution they're driven to endure. The 'orphan' stage is the unevolved level, while the 'child' stage is the evolved level! When Duran first met our friend here, he was no doubt able to evolve himself into what he is now. But the other one . . . "
Everyone's eyes fell on the wreckage nearby. "It couldn't find someone to bond to like Duran and that other Child we saw on TV this morning could," Mars concluded. "And when these things can't do that, they get agitated and lash out."
"Exactly," Mercury confirmed. "Some animals tend to go into wild displays as a way of attracting attention for a whole host of reasons. This is obviously no different."
Acknowledging hums escaped the others. "So what's this 'First Division' you were talking about earlier?" Venus then asked. "You said they were trying to keep the appearances of these things quiet. How come?"
"It's quite simple, really," Natsuki replied. "They wish to gather HiMEs like myself, put us under government control, then use us -- I suspect -- as some sort of superhuman army. Given the way all our neighbours tend to act whenever we show any signs of building up some sort of power, you can guess what might happen next."
Somewhere in Japan . . .
"How could this child betray us like that?"
"Her mother was terminated while in our service. She never was given any explanation as to why it was necessary. She seeks revenge."
"We must control this matter."
"Agreed."
Washington . . .
"This is the first time I've ever heard of these people," Emil Hamilton noted.
"My first time, too," Amanda Waller declared, her eyes narrow as her mind rolled though what had just been said.
The implications of something like this were disturbing. Not for the United States, of course; America would gladly welcome Japan's willingness to better see to its own defence without relying on its former enemy from World War Two to aid it. But when it came to Japan's closest neighbours, especially the Koreas and China, it was a whole different matter. Any sign of Japanese rearmament that went beyond the "self-defence" level was always viewed in Seoul and Beijing -- and especially P'young-yang! -- as a potential pretext to war. And this was something that went way beyond any sort of conventional military buildup.
"We better have this investigated right away," Hamilton warned.
"Agreed."
CFB Ellesmere Island . . .
"Send to our liaison officers in Beijing and Seoul," Edward Mills ordered after pressing the intercom button to the operations room of the Regiment's Headquarters Signal Squadron. "Have them present all our intelligence on First Division and the Searrs Foundation to the applicable authorities in the Chinese and South Korean governments." A pause, and then he added, "Also make it very clear to our L.O. in Beijing that any provocation from P'young-yang in response to this will be dealt with severely."
"Yes, sir!" the Regiment's chief yeoman of signals replied. "We'll get it out right now."
Elsewhere . . .
"My God!"
"Kuga-san . . . "
"Holy Moley! This is something straight out of a bad James Bond movie!"
"It is worse that that, my son," Shazam stated as he, his champion, Superman and Tokiha Mai -- the latter having been brought to the Rock of Eternity by the ghost of Captain Marvel's deceased father, archaeologist C.C. Batson -- watched these events play out on the Historama. "The people who run First Division are ultimately motivated by the warped racial and nationalist beliefs which plunged of the Land of the Rising Sun into the insanity of the Second World War. Worse, the people who administer the Searrs Foundation are willing to manipulate these events to their own advantage, press forth their 'golden future' -- which, I suspect, will be no different than any other dictatorship which has arisen on Earth throughout history. The Gods of the East, especially the Great Kami of Shinto, wish for that not to happen." His eyes then focused on Mai. "And that, child, is why I have bade you to come here."
Mai blinked as she took that in, and then her eyes focused on the image of Kuga Natsuki. A friend of sorts, but someone who had known a lot more about HiMEs than she ever did. And now, she had just learned thanks to Captain Marvel's patron, it turned out that Natsuki only knew the barest fraction of the ugly truths governing their lives. And of what she had overheard the leaders of First Division themselves say about the fate of Natsuki's mother, that particular element of the Japanese government owed the lone rider of the HiMEs a lot. In blood.
She then focused on the ancient wizard in whose court she now stood, her heart chilling as Shazam's offer echoed through her mind again. To gain the power of the Gods so she could not only do good for those who could not defend themselves -- but to put a final stop to the madness of the HiME Festival that a being currently possessing one of her schoolmates wanted to provoke.
A literal battle royal with winner-take-all stakes that would pitch twelve girls against each other, their powers and Childs fighting each other to the finish. For the losers, the loss of their powers -- and worst of all, the life of the person they viewed as their most precious one. For the winner, eventual enslavement by the Obsidian Lord so he could go forth and remould the world into his own warped image.
HiME Festivals had been happening on Fuuwa-jima every three centuries since before the dawn of modern Japanese history.
The last time a Festival rocked Fuuwa-jima was during the reign of the Emperor Higashiyama, midway through the Tokugawa Bakufu.
It was now three centuries later.
"I'll do it."
"Mai, are you really sure?" Superman urged.
She smiled in thanks at the Man of Steel. "Thank you, Kent-san," she said before leaning over to kiss his cheek. "I know you mean well. But didn't one of your country's own manga characters once learn, 'With great power comes great responsibility?' Knowledge is power, isn't it? And with the knowledge I have, how can I do no less that to see to it all the HiMEs don't have to live through what Nagi's trying to see happen, much less those monsters in New York and the ones who killed Kuga-san's mother. And if doing so protects not only us but our loved ones . . . " She then shrugged as she stepped away from him. "Then why shouldn't I do it?"
Superman gazed on her, and then he sighed. "Can't argue against that."
"Do not think, Kal-el, that your arguments with me concerning my choice of young William as my first champion in this age have not moved me," Shazam noted. "They have. I take no joy in what must be done, but lives are now at stake. And the wrong action by anyone involved in this matter could lead to unnecessary deaths. That is what must be avoided in the long term, my friend. In the wake of the last Festival, as its lone survivor could readily attest to, none of those struck by the HiME Curse were restored to life. It could easily happen this time as well, though there are extra elements involved in this matter."
"Miyu Greer and Alyssa Searrs," Marvel noted.
"Exactly, my son." The wizard's eyes then narrowed as he gazed intently on Mai. It was time. "Summon your Elements and your Child, my daughter."
Mai blinked, and then she concentrated as light flared on her chest, her Elements appearing around her wrists and ankles. "KAGUTSUCHI!"
An explosion of fire later, the great phoenix-dragon wailed its entrance. Once he looked around to see no one threatening his mistress, he then turned down to stare quizzically at her. Why had he been summoned?
"Peace, great one," Shazam noted. "Soon, you will be free at last! Now, Tokiha Mai . . . speak my name!"
Dramatic pause.
"SHAZAM!"
And lighting came down . . .
"HEY!" Homura Nagi yelped in shock as a flash of energy ripped through the cave where the souls of the most precious ones bonded to defeated HiMEs would be stored until the end of the Festival. As that strange lightning danced around the darkened space, the silver-haired boy could only gape. "What's going on . . .?!"
The Tokiha Mai of old was no more.
In a flash of lightning and the roar of thunder, she had been literally reborn.
No longer was she the naive HiME that could have been manipulated by those powers interested in her special gift or Kagutsuchi.
She was now Lady Marvel, heiress of Shazam and Champion of the Gods of the East.
Blessed with the Power of Susano-o, the Shinto god of storms.
The Skill of Hachiman-shin, the Shinto god of war and defender of Japan.
The Stamina and Leadership of Amaterasu-Oh-Mi-Kami, the Shinto goddess of the sun and the divine ancestor of Japan's Imperial Family.
The Wisdom of Zhongni, also known as Confucius, the great Chinese sage and creator of the schools of thought influencing eastern Asia to this very day.
The Speed and Grace of Ama-no-Uzume, the Shinto goddess whose dance brought Amaterasu out of her cave to ensure light would shine on the mortal world.
Finally, the Courage and Determination of Momotarou, the Peach Boy, the legendary Japanese child hero.
Her Fuuwa Academy uniform had been sheared away by the lightning, reforming into a crimson-and-gold bodysuit similary to what Captain Marvel wore. There were some changes, however. Lady Marvel's top was a one piece affair, not with the button flap the Captain had. Further, special gold bands interspersed with green -- the marks of her Elements as Tokiha Mai -- were layered over her boots and the gold wrist bands covering her lower arm sleeves.
A mark of her past and the necessity of the blessings she had just received, Shazam knew as he exchanged a look with Captain Marvel.
As the lightning faded, a cry of delight escaped Kagutsuchi. Lady Marvel whirled around to stare up at her Child, she then gaping in shock on seeing that the huge sword that had been driven in his beak was no more. "How . . .?" she gasped before a voice deep inside her head whispered an answer to her. "The Obsidian Lord?" she then demanded as she gazed intently on Shazam.
"Exactly, my daughter. He is fanatical in his determination to remould the whole world to his warped vision. And he knows from his past experiences with the Childs that Kagutsuchi is the mightiest of them all. In times past, he was always defeated by the HiME who controlled Kagutsuchi, so in the last Festival, the Obsidian Lord put a block -- in the form of that very dagger -- in your Child's body."
"It's no wonder Infinity said we had to yank that thing out of him," the Captain then noted as he gazed up on Kagutsuchi, the great phoenix-dragon fluttering his wings in delight on having that hurtful slave chain taken off him once and for all.
"Well, it's done now," Lady Marvel then noted before she turned once more to her patron. "But Sir, what will happen now to the other HiMEs?"
"That, my daughter, you must go forth to ascertain right away," Shazam warned.
And now, we . . .
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(Posted Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:42)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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