[Episode 226418] [Episode 226418](Note: The time-frame of this episode is the same as episode #226383, Faking It - Great Guardians: Prequel in Nerima. G.)
The planet Uru…
"Eh?! Invader's child is a…?!"
"It's true!" the raven-haired Oni general snarled as he stood on the balcony of the beautiful starship-shaped home located south of the capital city of the Urusian Union, Onishuto. "What's worse, that tailless monkey Moroboshi somehow found a way to get a sex change of all things to make himself Lum's perfect dream lover!"
A snort escaped the older green-haired man with the Lincoln-like beard (without moustache) on his face. "So what, Des?" Yethis Seq demanded as he turned around and walked back into the living room of his private mansion, which had been built over the destroyed ruin of the old castle of House Seq years before, when the Union Marine officer had been made the chief-of-staff to the current President of the Union, General Lana Hozan. And became the first member of the Imperial Round since the final defeat of the Empire in the Union Revolution 190 years before to achieve such a high level of power within the government. "Even if he is now a she, there's no way…!"
"They're married now," Dez Azu, the current director-in-chief of the Defence Intelligence Directorate, then said with a note of finality. "Invader's senile grandfather just made the registry of the marriage with the Ministry of the Interior."
Silence.
"What?!" Yethis snapped. "HOW?!"
"A promise bond."
More silence.
Yethis began to shudder. "Those boneheads…!" he growled.
"Tut-tut, Lord Yethis," a voice then spoke from the shadows nearby. "That's an insult few of my people will ever tolerate. Especially from a petty dog such as you."
Both men tensed. "Who…?!" Des gasped…
…Just as the spiked metal ball of a flail the size of the average flitter flew right at his face! The whole building shook hard as Des was crushed to death by the impact of the giant weapon, his back and skull pulverised into dust as he slammed into a hard reinforced structure beam buried underneath the soft ceramics of the wall of Yethis' living room. Before the stunned Yethis could fully comprehend the sudden and violent death of his closest ally — the leaders of Uru's chief movement to restore the old Empire could barely call each other "friends" given their own unbridled ambitions — he then cried out as the sharp pain of a short sword punching through the side of his neck registered somewhere in his brain as all feeling below the impact point vanished.
As his throat began to fill with blood, the knife was withdrawn from Yethis' throat as the giant flail disappeared, allowing Des' wrecked body to collapse in a bloody heap on the floor nearby. At that moment, a smiling face appeared in the general's vision as a Noukiite woman — appearing to be somewhat older than Lum herself — walked up to stand over his head. Tilting her head slightly, she then leaned down to place a device on his chest. "A pity you will never live to see the destruction of all your dreams, Lord Yethis," she then said as her dark golden eyes twinkled with delight. "But worry not. The other traitors to your race will be sent before the Ch'uoeuk soon enough for their just judgement, especially considering all the crimes you've done to your race and others since you became the Lord President's chief of staff." She straightened herself as an ominous ticking began to echo in Yethis' ears. "Yethis Seq, Her Imperial Majesty the Empress has judged all those who follow your banner guilty of crimes against the civilized races of the galaxy, guilty of crimes against galactic peace, and treason against your own race and all it has created since the day of the martyrdom of the Most Venerable Lady Syl Aruka two centuries ago," she announced with deadly finality. "The judgement is death. And death will come to you all, never fear."
With that, she vanished in the sparkle of a teleporter beam. Yethis shuddered as he tried to shift his head to see what was ticking away on his chest, and then he froze as the ticking suddenly stopped. "No…!" he gasped as his eyes went wide.
A second later, a miniature sun exploded in the horizon south of Onishuto…
Triton…
"I came as soon as you called me, Father," Oyuki stated as she and Benten walked clear of the Central Warp Chamber, having just teleported from the storage closet aboard Lum's scoutship when the summons came in from Kôri City. "What is it?"
"Come here and look for yourself, my daughter," King Fuyu, a very kindly-looking man appearing to be in his mid-sixties — as a Neptunian, one of the few races with the longest lifespan potential in the known galaxy, he was actually well into his tenth century (Earth-time) of existence — said with a smile as he gazed upon his daughter, beckoning her and her lover to follow him. "A most interesting thing."
"What is it, Uncle?" Benten asked, glad that she had been able to get a cold weather bodysuit on (Lum had spares for her friends aboard her ship) before heading into the freezing sub-zero atmosphere of Triton's northern hemisphere.
The three soon reached a viewing gallery that provided a grand panorama of all of Kôri City beyond; the Central Warp Chamber complex was actually part of the Royal Palace. Awaiting them were Oyuki's mother, Queen Samui, as well as her cousins, Crown Princesses Pukaze and Tôji. "Ah, there you two are," Samui — an older yet quite graceful version of her own daughter — said as she waved outside. "We have a most beautiful visitor who has come to thrill the people this very day."
Oyuki blinked, and then she and Benten looked outside…
…before they both gasped on seeing the beautiful ice dragon — clearly a Noukiite one, both were quick to conclude as they remembered the black tattoos on Kyech's body — now relaxing in a park near the edge of the city. It — it was quite hard to tell what sex the great ch'uokyek was — was now surrounded by crowds of gaping civilians and a cordon of Royal Neptunian Defence Forces security personnel (who were also quite taken aback by the giant visitor) there to keep order.
After taking a minute to absorb what they were looking at, Benten and Oyuki exchanged a shocked look. "You don't suppose this might be one of Kyech's friends?" the former asked as she scratched the side of her cheek, a wry giggle escaping her.
"Well, they do address her as 'She Who Speaks to Dragons,'" the latter noted.
A deep yet clearly feminine chuckle then echoed in the air around them. So you are two of those who now shares the bed of Nengmek'i's friend.
Everyone jolted, and then Tôji gasped, pointing. "Oh, my! Look there!"
People turned to look…
…as the dragon seemed to glow before vanishing, being immediately replaced by the image of a regal-looking Noukiite woman about Oyuki's age with hair of purest snow and eyes of crystal blue, cloaked presently in a simple dress of white and sky blue, no caste tattoos on her cheeks. As the crowds on the ground gasped and cried out, the transformed dragoness floated through the air towards the Palace. Seeing that, Oyuki then calmly walked over to open the windows, which were tall enough to allow the visitor from Noukiios to float in while still standing erect. Which she did, landing on the floor not a couple of metres away from Fuyu and Samui.
Silence fell over the scene as the Neptunian royal family and the Fukunokami biker teen stared wide-eyed at the visiting Noukiite dragoness, and then the latter smiled as she gazed on her hands. "How strange," she said in a voice that seemed almost as quiet and as calm as Kyech's. "You bipeds lead such different lives than we."
Fuyu blinked several times, and then he timidly asked, "Um, Great Lady…?"
She stared at him. "Yes?"
He suppressed a gulp. The King of Neptune had met the Empress of Noukiios several times before. During those meetings — either here in Kôri City or over in Suchkyuk — Fuyu understood all the necessary protocol when it came to speaking to his spiritual and legal equal ruling the Imperial Dominion. But where was the protocol when it came to speaking to one of the great Sky Lords of Noukiite legend?!
Oyuki lightly smiled. "Forgive my father, Most Venerable Lady, but I do believe he was about to ask you the honour of your name," she said as she walked over to steady Fuyu.
The dragoness stared at her, and then her smile widened. "In the language of the bipeds of my world, you may address me as Kep'kat'-k'ap'."
'Ice Fire,' Oyuki mused to herself as she bowed her head low. "The blessings of the Heavens upon you, Most Venerable Lady," she greeted her as she clasped her hands together in a prayer-like gesture. "Welcome to our world. May this one ask you as to the reason you have chosen this day to bless us with your presence?"
Kep'kat'-k'ap' seemed to chuckle. "Oh, Nengmek'i's friend asked me a favour," she replied before looking over as something seemed to whistle through the air right at the gallery where the Neptunian royal family and their guests now stood. "P'yap'ya?"
The woman leaping now through the air made a perfect two-point landing on the floor close to Pukaze and Tôji, and then straightened herself to draw off her hood, revealing the face of a smiling teenager with short-cut light green hair combed away from her forehead and secured with a dark headband to reveal the prominent ridges of her race's most well-known physical feature, eyes of purest bronze peeking out of her face and the blooms of the Flower Youth on her cheeks. Once she had straightened herself, she then went to one knee, clasping fist-in-palm as she bowed her head. "Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you and your noble family, Oh Majesty of Neptune!" she hailed in the traditional greeting when meeting foreign heads-of-state. "May you continue to rule over your realm with justice, truth and wisdom for as long as you live!"
Fuyu blinked, and then he nodded his head. THIS, he could deal with. "Our thanks to you, beautiful warrior, for your greetings. We wish you the blessings of the Heavens in return. May we have the honour of your name so we may know whom we now address?"
"Of course, noble Majesty. I am Seu-Nech Yesu-Kai Hechnich'-Kep'uo." She then stood up, allowing her hands to lower as she gazed fondly on them. "I also give until you and yours — especially your lovely daughter and her equally lovely heart-mate with us today — the name given to me in childhood: P'yap'ya."
A nod. "Lady Kep'uo. Welcome to Kôri City. What brings you here this day?"
"A declaration of war, Majesty."
Silence.
"What?!" Benten shrieked out as the Neptunians gaped.
A strange giggle, like the sounds of gently tinkling ice, then echoed from the transformed dragoness beside P'yap'ya. "She is still quite melodramatic, young Fuyu," Kep'kat'-k'ap' stated as people gazed on her. "Forgive her, please. She meant no insult or to unleash panic upon you and your people, for it is another race of bipeds that have attracted not just the wrath of the bipeds of my world…" — Her eyes then narrowed as the air around her chilled considerably, making even the Neptunians shake in fear as a cold breath escaped her lips. — "…but ours as well."
"The Niphentaxians, I presume."
Silence.
"Oyuki…!" Samui gasped as people stared at her.
Oyuki held up her hand to make her mother relax, and then she walked over to gaze into P'yap'ya's eyes. "P'yap'ya-yu," she said, using the Noukiite suffix ending befit for her name to profess close friendship and intimacy, "Kyech-u speaks fondly of your prowess in battle and in the duels you have fought with her in this lifetime. Please tell us what you have done to declare your Empress' intent against Ôgi's minions?"
"All those born on that foul world living here are now shattered fragments of flesh expunged from this lovely world," P'yap'ya calmly replied, making all around her save Benten and Kep'kat'-k'ap' shudder in fear. "Their 'embassy' is razed to the ground, the land expunged of their poison and reclaimed to the ice so that your people can build over it and forever remove the memory of their presence from this lovely city of yours. Most of all, all the apparatus they have used to invade the noble sanctity of your own personal diaries has been destroyed, Oyuki-yu." She then fondly turned to Benten. "As will also be done in Bensaikyô for yourself, Benten-u. And as will also be done in Onishuto for Lum-u's young and fiery cousin Ten. And with what Seup'it' is about to unleash on the filth currently plaguing Lum-u's and Tariko-yu's current home city of residence, the very rotten core of the so-called 'Church of Lum' will be ripped away, thus allowing the disgusting work of Ôgi to collapse on itself once and for all."
"My word!" Fuyu gasped.
P'yap'ya stared at him, and then she bowed her head. "Worry not about this, Majesty. As of now, the United Nations of Earth and the Kingdom of Neptune are under the shield and protection of the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios." She rose and pointed out the window and up to Neptune, which currently loomed like an angry sea god over Triton this day. "Soon, all those whose blood rose on that world will be able to walk its cleaned surface. And the people of Earth will be free to pursue their own path to unity and their final entry into space as one of the civilised races." She grinned. "And if the so-called 'church of the Living Goddess,' much less the backwards-looking fools on Uru that have plagued your dreams of seeing your homeworld healed at last for so long, try to interfere, they will face the wrath of the Heavens Themselves!"
Silence fell after that dramatic pronouncement, and then P'yap'ya blinked before a blush crossed her face. "Ah! Seup'it' always warned me not to sound so over-melodramatic!" she said, a look of embarrassment crossing her face, and then she laughed as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry about that!" With that, she bowed her head. "Majesty, Heaven's blessings on you all. We will leave now."
With that, Kep'kat'-k'ap' floated out the window, her body glowing as it transformed into her starship-sized dragon form. As the crowds outside cheered and gasped on what they had seen, P'yap'ya turned to leap onto the dragon's head, and then she stopped to gaze on Oyuki and Benten. "Tell Kyech I'll be coming for her soon!" she said.
And with that, she was off, Kep'kat'-k'ap' immediately rising into the air over Kôri City before they both vanished in a blinding flash of light. As another chorus of gasps and cheers echoed from the crowd below, Oyuki and Benten headed over to the edge of the floor to gaze into the sky where they had vanished. "Shit! What that girl plans something, she doesn't leave ANYTHING to chance, does she?!" the latter mused.
"Indeed, the Lady T'uokch'eng is quite thorough when dealing with her foes," the former then said as she looked over at her lover. "So shall we head back to Earth?"
"Sure thing! I don't wanna miss this for all the super-vodka in Bensaikyô!"
Oyuki huffed as Benten headed off to the Central Warp Chamber. "Benten, honestly! You just drink too much," she stated as she headed off after her.
Leaving her parents and cousins behind, all slack-jawed at what just happened…
Onishuto, minutes later…
"What in the Maidens' Names is all this noise?!"
The security forces watching the slow and steady collapse of the replica of Tomobiki High School — the embassy of the Union of Phentax Two to the Union of Uru — erected in the southeast quadrant of the city jolted on hearing that harsh voice, and then turned to salute the large, almost-bald Oni warrior marching their way. "Mister President!" the detail chief called out. "We just came here when we received an alert from the idiots' embas-…!" He then paused to clear his throat before he carried on in a more formal matter, "Um, actually, I mean…!"
"I don't care what you call them! They ARE idiots! And lifeless ones at that!" Lana Hozan snared as he reached up to touch the flaming red goatee under his lips. Other than that, the only other hair on his head save for eyebrows and eyelashes were sideburns framing his ears and wrapped around the lower back of his skull, all extended out to a wrapped pigtail that went down to the middle of his back. "So who the heck has decided to declare war on these idiots, anyway?!"
The answer astonishingly enough came in a flash of light from overhead that nearly blinded everyone. As the radiance then began to fade, an annoyed voice then yelled out, "HEY, YOAI! YOU SAID WE COULD DO THIS ONE TOGETHER! K'UK'E!"
Everyone looked up, and then the detail chief said, "Um, it appears to be a…!"
"I'VE GOT EYES, YOU MORON!" Lana screamed out, the sonic boom produced by his voice blasting down all around him. "I KNOW WHAT A NOUKIITE DRAGON HAPPENS TO LOOK LIKE! YOU DON'T NEED TO GIVE ME THE DAMNED PLAY-BY-PLAY!"
A scream then echoed from somewhere in the back of the crowd. "A DRAGON?! WHAT'S ONE OF THOSE FIRE-BREATHING DEMONS DOING HERE?! GET THE FIRE BRIGADE!"
A young voice then called out, "Um, Mom! It's an ice dragon!"
Silence.
Very meekly: "Oh…!"
Lana turned around, and then he laughed. "Ah, there's Invader's sister-in-law and nephew!" he called out as Ten came up on his hoverscooter, accompanying his mother — a volunteer for the local fire brigade who had a visceral hatred of arsonists, the President of Uru then remembered — as the crowd parted to let them through. "So what brings you two out on this wonderful day?" he then inquired.
"Oh, just some shopping in the local market," Ten's mother — born as Jon Seq, now known as "Jon Redet" (or "Mrs. Tan" given that she was a widow due to her husband's death in fighting a fire shortly after Ten's birth five years before) — replied, and then she blinked as she noted something coming out of the smoke and dust of the destroyed Niphentaxian embassy. "Oh, my! Who's that?!" she demanded, pointing.
The crowd turned as one to look as the figure came into the open, revealing a young woman dressed in a gold-trimmed, pink-and-blue sleeved uniform. Her pink hair was done up in two tower-like ponytails from the backs of her head, dark golden eyes peeking out of her face. On seeing her, the crowd then gasped on seeing what was slung over her shoulder. "Look at the size of that mace!" one man cried out as the woman seemed to pause to take in the crowd before her. "She's as strong as the Dragonspeaker herself!"
"What's she doing here?!" a woman demanded.
Silence.
"DOING THIS!" the woman at the centre of the crowd's attention then bellowed.
From her free hand, there rose a staff twice as tall as she, a black banner hanging from it, displaying Noukiite characters written in blood red. She then slammed the staff into the ground, allowing the banner to flutter free as a wind blew over the scene to allow it to wave free in the afternoon sky over Onishuto.
"Yoai…!"
Eyes then shifted right and up to stare at the green-haired girl standing over the snout of the ice dragon leaning her head down from well above the tips of Onishuto's largest buildings. A moan then escaped the woman that just destroyed the Niphentaxian embassy as she looked over. "WHAT?! WHAT IS IT, P'YAP'YA?! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, ANYWAY?! I KNOW YOU WANTED TO COME HERE TO HELP WRECK THIS PLACE! HEAVEN'S GATE, GIRL! I WAITED FOR YOU FOR TWO HOURS! WHERE WERE YOU?!"
P'yap'ya sighed. "Kep'kat'-k'ap' liked the ice mountains on Triton and she rubbed her scales all over it," she replied back as her shoulders slumped.
Hearing that, Yoai — formally, Seu-Se Yesu-He Hechnich'-Nakuk — blinked before she moaned, lowering her head. "Oh, I see." The crowds all blink-blinked as the pink-haired free warrior then took a deep breath. "Well, c'mon, P'yap'ya! We'll go wreck the embassy in Bensaikyô together, okay?!"
Hearing that, P'yap'ya blinked, and then she screamed out, "ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!"
With that, she and Kep'kat'-k'ap' rose into the air to gain some altitude as Yoai then wound up and tossed her mace up to her friend. P'yap'ya caught it, and then stood back as her friend bounded into the air to join her on the dragoness' head. Once she had landed, she then turned around and let out a shrill whistle. "T'A-YU!"
A deep growl echoed through the air as space over the wrecked embassy suddenly opened up. Instantly, the sound of air being sucked into a giant vacuum nearly shattered every ear within a kilometre of the scene as all the wreckage of the embassy — not to mention all the dead bodies, Lana morbidly noticed — was sucked into that wormhole in the sky to vanish from view, leaving behind a rather big hole in the ground that marked the embassy's location. Save for the black flag Yoai planted on what was left of the front lawn. "Thank you, T'a-yu!" Yoai called back before she stared at the ground. "Ah, Mister Cuddly Bear! Sorry for the noise! Have a good day!"
"Hope you can plant a garden there, Mister Bear!" P'yap'ya added as she waved, too.
In a flash of bright light, both Noukiite free warriors and their dragoness companion then vanished, leaving a clear sky behind. As the crowd watched them disappear, and then began to excitedly chat about what they had seen, the Urusian president moaned.
I HATE it when they call me 'Mister Cuddly Bear!' he thought as we…
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(Posted Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:04)
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