New York City, the Searrs Foundation tower, lunchtime…
"ALIENS?!"
"Yes, sir," the executive stated as he bowed his head to John Searrs. "Early this morning, an alien starship, approximately 0.6 miles in length, appeared over the Canadian city of Welland, which is just outside of Niagara Falls in Ontario. The leader of the aliens, a man calling himself Invader Redet — we believe that is the translation of the name — has come threatening invasion of our planet unless someone from Earth defeats his daughter, Lum, in a game of tag. The one chosen is one Ranma Saotome, a boy from Japan about the same age as some of our target Valkyries currently at the Fūka Academy. According to what we've learned of him, Mr. Saotome is a student in a very eclectic version of kempō known as 'Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū' or the School of Indiscriminate Grappling." A sigh. "He is also confirmed as being a blood relation to Indiana Jones; the professor is Mr. Saotome's maternal great-grandfather."
"From what we could discover, Mr. Searrs, the MIBs are already moving to ensure that Mr. Saotome will be shifted to attend a Montessori-style school in Welland which, we believe, is being financed by the Canadian Defence Department," another man said.
Hearing this, the elderly philanthropist and the current leader of an ancient organisation that dated all the way from classical times could only shake his head. "What results have our attempts at learning more about this massive increase of personnel in the Canadian reserve forces have been produced?" he asked.
A shake of the head. "Very little, sir. All we know is that, if these forces are ever fully mobilised for war, the Canadian Army (for example) could produce an army corps composed of four heavy infantry divisions with organic armoured brigades atop the three traditional mechanised infantry brigades. Atop that, they would still have one regular force and nine reserve force heavy infantry brigade groups scattered across the country AND a special light brigade group that is currently partially tasked to support their special operations forces units." A pause. "Other Western nations appear to be doing the very same thing, including the United States. Where the funding is coming from for all this, we have no idea whatsoever, but we are investigating this. As to where these people are coming from, we have no idea whatsoever. I…" He gulped. "I took the liberty of contacting the Wisdom Alliance in Switzerland for their input on this."
Searrs' eyes flared. "Why them?"
"Because they also deal with the paranormal, Mr. Searrs. They, as you are aware, are conducting a worldwide search for human children that are showing psychokinetic abilities atop their normal mission of trying to influence national governments away from the use of any form of weapon of mass destruction such as nuclear arms," the executive stated. And while the Alliance's mission did dovetail nicely with the Foundation's own goals, Searrs and his fellow executives knew that things would come to blows in the future should the Alliance gain control of such psychokinetics and the Foundation had a HiME or two under their control. "They also are noting this massive upswing of military power. Britain, for example, has established reserve divisions that could give them a full fighting ARMY on the old scale before long." He paused. "There is one thing the Alliance did discover I'm having our people look at right now. Most of these new soldiers are young women. Average age between 17 and 30 years old."
Silence.
"Really?" Searrs noted. "Have we tried to contact any of these women?"
"Not yet, sir. We can initiate same at your order, of course."
"Do so at once. Is there anything else you noted?"
"Yes, sir. Other societies like ours are making note of this odd development as well. The magical societies on Earth, for example; especially those who call themselves 'wizarding' societies. Our contacts amongst them — usually centred on those who have been disenfranchised from these societies for one reason or another — have reported that there is a noticeable increase of young witches appearing at various magical schools such as Hogwarts in Britain and Salem and Seven Hills here in America. Girls with better-than-average magical abilities. And what's even stranger, these girls are exhibiting…" He then paused as he tried to hide a smirk crossing his face.
"What?" Searrs prodded.
"Lesbian tendencies, sir," the executive then stated, a wry grin crossing his face.
The older man's eyebrow arched. "Really?"
"Indeed, sir. These witches are forming large 'covens' — normally based around one's age group with a very popular witch as the leader — to better protect themselves from those who would take advantage of them. According to one of our people in Britain, a coven at Hogwarts has been formed around a girl named Harriet Jamie Evans…" The executive then smiled. "Who we now believe may be a transformed Harry James Potter."
Searrs' eyes widened. "Potter?! He was reported to have died five years ago due to an accident at his normal relatives' home outside Lon-…!" His voice trailed off as he considered what had just been proposed, and then he hummed. "Are you suggesting we contact Voldemort? You are aware of how mentally unstable that man is."
"I am, sir. And I realise this is a very risky proposition, but I'm sure Miss Greer would find Voldemort and his Death Eaters easy to deal with," the executive noted. "She is designed to confront and destroy the Childs themselves. And they are beings at a whole scale beyond the power of even a man like Voldemort. Or Albus Dumbledore."
"You seem to have come to a conclusion about this," another executive at the circular table where the Foundation's leaders normally met then noted. "Make it."
The younger man took a deep breath. "Strange as this will sound to you, gentlemen, I sincerely believe that these 'Urusians' — as what Invader calls his people — are NOT the ONLY alien race whose people are living here on Earth. Ignoring those alien refugees that the Men In Black deal with, I believe these women, whoever they are, are actually NOT Terran per se but a Terran-like alien race who are now on this planet in MASSIVE numbers. And what's worse for us, there are elements in the United Nations and in almost all national governments who are not just aware of this, but are accepting this other race's assistance towards unknown goals that, I fear, may lead humanity in a direction where we do NOT want them to go! After all the work we've done to see the Golden Millennium come forth, we can't have something like THIS derail it!"
"Indeed, we cannot," Searrs noted.
"What do you propose we do, sir?" another executive asked.
"We cannot act until we have all the information necessary so that we can protect ourselves from any known possible threat," the elderly philanthropist then noted as he stood up and walked over to gaze out the windows at the metropolis around him. "And you're right, son. All the work we and our predecessors have done over the years and centuries can't be threatened by ANYTHING at all, so we WILL have to investigate this as thoroughly as possible!" He turned to his subordinates. "Begin all necessary preparations. Keep an eye on things at Fûka. If the next HiME Festival appears to be starting in earnest, we will have to divert resources for that, of course."
The others in the room nodded…
Near the Fūka Academy, that moment (local time: two o'clock AM) …
"I didn't realise you were an Avalonian as well as a HiME."
Tokiha Mai breathed out as she allowed her elements to disappear. With a nod, she bade Kagutsuchi to vanish to whatever dimension the phoenix-dragon resided when he was not needed by her. At the same time, Kuga Natsuki willed her own elements away as Duran faded once more to wherever cold place he went when he wasn't needed. The only one of the HiMEs currently standing on the potted battlefield where a poor Orphan had faced the wrath of three of the Princesses of the HiME Star and their Childs was Minagi Mikoto, who kept her claymore-shaped weapon at the ready as she stood protectively in front of her roommate, her golden brown eyes locked intently on Natsuki.
"Nor did I realise you were one, either," Mai noted as she placed a comforting hand on Mikoto's shoulder, sending an empathic surge of calm into the wanderer's body to make her relax. "Put it away, Mikoto," she gently urged. "She's a sister even if she needs to learn some manners. You wouldn't draw a sword on a sister, would you?"
Mikoto blinked, and then she relaxed. "No." And with that, she willed her sword's scabbard out of stuff-space and, with the skill of an iaidō master despite the sword being almost too long for her arms, sheathed it before dispersing them both back to where they normally would remain when she didn't have call for them.
Mai relaxed, glad that the younger HiME who had adopted her both as lover and elder sister figure was listening to her. Given how Mikoto and Natsuki had first acted when they met aboard the ferry before Mai began attending the Academy in earnest…! "So who else are Avalonians and HiMEs?" she asked, crossing her arms. "I don't actively go search for sisters, but now that I know you're both Avalonian and HiME…"
"Several others I know of," Natsuki replied. "Fujino Shizuru, of course. Kikukawa Yukino, Suzushiro's little lap dog on the Student Council; I swear they're going to be bond-mates if they're not careful. And Higurashi Akane, you co-worker at the Linden Baum." She gave Mai a knowing look. "Your turn, Tokiha. Who else?"
Mai sighed. "My brother's roommate, Okuzaki Akira; she disguises herself as a man. Mikoto's friend, Yūki Nao. And Midori-chan, too."
"Mai!" Mikoto gasped as she gazed on the older woman.
Natsuki blinked. "Sugiura-sensei? You're kidding me."
Mai shook her head, a grin crossing her face. "Nope. She isn't as practiced in shielding her thoughts and emotions as I am. Right now, she has this wacky idea of teaming us all together as some sort of 'sentai' team to fight the Orphans."
A snort. "Won't happen," Natsuki noted as she walked over to her Ducati DR-III motorcycle, moving to slip on her helmet before mounting it. "Thanks for the help, by the way. Noticed you got rid of that sword in your Child's beak. How'd you do it?"
"Some creepy interdimensional thing calling itself an 'obsidian lord' put in on him long ago, back when he was bonded to another HiME. Had to use Mikoto's sword and a lot of telepathy to break the damn thing off," Mai responded as she moved to walk Mikoto back to the student dorms as it was now quite late in the evening and they had classes in the morning. "Don't know how long ago that was; Childs tell time much differently than we do. He's glad for it, though. Now all we have to do is find some way to wean Miroku away from 'protecting' this creature should he ever show up again."
Natsuki blinked as she mounted her machine. "Good luck."
And with that, she drove off. Mai watched her go, and then she perked as she felt Mikoto's mind touch her own, «Mai! Why'd you tell her about Nao and Akira?!»
A sigh. "She's alone, Mikoto. Even more so than you were when we first met."
The younger girl blinked. "Alone? How?"
"Don't know. Haven't touched her to try any sort of telepathic probe of her mind and I doubt she'd appreciate something like that from me," Mai stated as she grasped her lover's hand in her own as they walked up the steps to the student dorms. "She wants to trust us, to come out of the cold. I think — especially knowing Shizuru-sempai is one of us — she might be seeing her as a potential bond-mate. So we'll have friends on our side, especially if what I've sensed of Miyu-san and Alyssa-chan is true."
Both then tensed as they sensed another Avalonian close by. "Actually, Mai-chan, there's a pool out now amongst us all here in Fūka betting on when Natsuki and Shizuru WILL bond," a strange voice then called out, making both HiMEs look over.
"Really?" Mai asked as Harada Chie — an Avalonian but not a HiME — came up to them, a knowing smile on the brunette tomboy's face. "What're the odds?"
The two high school girls laughed as they and Mai's lover headed inside. As they made their way to Mai's and Mikoto's room, all three then perked on sensing another Avalonian close by. "Hey, guys!" Senō Aoi, Chie's bond-mate, then asked as Mai brought out her keys to open the apartment door so they could go in. "How was it?"
"Not much trouble," Mai stated as she flipped on the lights so that everyone could relax in the small living room while she put on an apron and moved to prepare rāmen for herself and Mikoto. "Found out about a few more HiME Avalonians. Can't believe I didn't sense the truth about Natsuki before now." As she prepared ingredients, she then looked over at the gossip couple of the Academy. "So what're the bets like?"
"It's across the board now, Mai-chan," Chie noted as Mikoto moved to undress herself and then slip on a nightshirt. "Average bet is a thousand yen. Total pot right now stands at 92,000 yen. The bond HAS to be confirmed and they have to confess exactly when the date and time was before the winner is declared."
Mai hummed. "Have to think about it…"
Elsewhere in the Academy…
"«I understand. How soon will I have to prepare?»"
Relaxing in bed, a nude Higurashi Akane watched as Miyu Greer — also nude — spoke over the STU-3 unit she had fitted in her private quarters. They were alone this evening; given her cover as the daughter of a famous American philanthropist, Alyssa Searrs slept in her own quarters alone in the elementary school wing of the Academy. And since Miyu's "father," Joseph, was pretending to be a Catholic priest (though, when asked, he said he was of a sect that did allow marriage and adoption of children), it would be seen as rather arrogant and elitist to allow a normal high school student to reside in different quarters than what was set aside for students. Fortunately for Akane, Miyu lived alone in her room, which allowed them to have all sorts of wonderful times together after the young HiME persuaded the silver-haired combat android a year ago to take a chance to "be more human" and start a relationship with her.
"«I understand. Will Alyssa be protected?»" Miyu asked in English, and then she nodded as the other end answered. "«Very well. I will be prepared for pickup today at 1200 hours local time. Will Father be informed?»" Another pause, and then she nodded. "«I understand. Very well, then. I will see you later today. Good evening.»" With that, she hung up, and then walked over to slip herself under the covers, reaching over to draw her human lover into her arms as they shared a warm kiss.
"What happened?" Akane asked.
A sigh. "The Urusians have come to Earth."
Silence.
"What?!" Akane hissed out. "When?!"
"Single ship just arrived some hours ago over a city in Ontario, Canada," Miyu reported as she electronically deactivated the lights so they could relax and go to sleep; even as an android, the Multiple Intelligential Yggdrasil Unit needed time to rest her mind and recompile data collected during "awake" hours to better process the information and develop new behavioural algorithms to better emulate the human side of her mind. "There is to be a tag race run tomorrow their time between your sisters' former masters' 'goddess' and the great-grandson of Professor Indiana Jones." A pause. "The Foundation has started to notice something else as well, Akane."
Akane blinked. "Us?"
A nod. "Hai. As you know, the Foundation has connections with secret organisations across the world, connections they foster in hope of ensuring the creation of the Golden Millennium will proceed without serious interruption. And many of those societies have started to notice the massive increase of reserve military forces throughout the world. The incident with the Urusians today saw the arrival of Leopard 2A6M main battle tanks and LAV-III infantry combat vehicles in a city in Ontario named Welland, where the Urusian ship appeared. While the latter type of vehicle is based in Ontario, the former are reported only to be based in either Gagetown in New Brunswick or Edmonton in Alberta. Both locations are, respectively, 1499 kilometres and 3438 kilometres away from Welland. Too far for tanks to travel so quickly."
Akane considered that for a moment. She was considering a career in the J.S.S.D.F. after she graduated from high school and the National Defence Academy; as the Japanese were latecomers to accepting the Avalonians in their society, they hadn't taken up the Canadians' "fast school" approach in preparing future officers, soldiers, sailors and airwomen to serve in brand new units both on ground and in space. But she wouldn't do anything until Miyu was human, Alyssa was given her own Avalonian body, Akane was bonded with her lover and they were free of potential influence by the Foundation, much less the so-called "Special District One" element of the Public Security Intelligence Agency branch of the Ministry of Justice which helped keep press interest in the Orphan attacks suppressed. "Kazuya-kun likes to read up on what our sisters are doing in other countries." Kurauchi Kazuya was Akane's childhood friend and had been rescued alongside her by Avalonians now resident in their hometown in Beppu on Kyūshū from very abusive family situations. He was one of the first male Terrans to be augmented with Avalonian DNA, thus negating the need to undergo a sex-change by having a clone Avalonian body created for him. He also attended the Academy and worked at the Linden Baum alongside Akane, Mai and Midori. "Military space factories they obtained from the Niphentaxians were used to build all the necessary equipment for the reserve armies to use at no charge to any government. Given that this is the first 'open' first contact, whoever runs the show in that town decided not to put anything to risk given what was going on." She closed her eyes as she felt Miyu's lips tenderly brush her forehead. "Where are you going?"
"To contact a rather radical rebel group of wizards in Britain the Foundation wishes to seek assistance from in determining what's going on with the Avalonians," Miyu reported as she closed her eyes, keying her skin sensors as she moved to track Akane's falling asleep so she herself could power down for the day. "I am not in danger."
"You better come back to me, Miyu."
"I will, Akane…"
And now…
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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