After a wonderful dinner…
"You're all BIOROIDS?! You mean…like in Appleseed?!"
Hiromi nodded. "Exactly the same idea as what the good Master Shirō Masamune came up with in his manga series. With some small differences," she then added as she held up a finger in emphasis. "The good worthies of the City-State of Olympus were all cloned from donors from across the Earth of that reality…but when they were first formed and awoken, they were deliberately denied certain capabilities that normal humans possessed. Such as the ability to do evil. Or to procreate." She held up her hand to gaze on it. "The technology that made my life the way it is possible — as well as gave Karumi-san her own life — creates a being that is fully independent in every which way possible. In effect, the project this technology was developed for — it was called 'Project: Avalon' — was designed to see if it was possible to allow a society to develop…WITHOUT the need to have two separate genders and natural reproductive processes to allow future generations to be born." A sigh. "Rather short-sighted, I would believe. Eventually, I will desire to find someone to share my life with and give birth to my own children…beyond those of my children from my first life that never got the chance to truly live, of course. So do all of us."
The Sebone cousins nodded in understanding. After supper, the Moroboshi siblings, Lum, her adopted twin sister Hensō and the Urashima siblings had walked out of the main house to the so-called "Forbidden Annex." Which wasn't forbidden anymore; Negako, when the Moroboshi siblings had moved to Hinata three weeks ago, had gone back to clear out the cursed areas and thus allow the eighteen rooms in the three-floor structure to be opened up once more. The Moroboshi siblings and the Redet sisters had the rooms on the ground floor of the Annex. "So bioroids — Avalonians, you call yourselves? — all arise from this factory that's on a planet held by one of the allies of Lum's people. Allies that Lum doesn't particularly care for anymore," Mimōko stated.
"With good reason," Lum breathed out.
"That is correct, Mimōko," Negako said. On learning that the dark demon that had haunted the lives of those of their past-selves that had lived in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period had finally obtained what she had wanted, Mimōko and Shikuko had been prepared to flee for their very lives. However — despite Negako being quite cold and logical when speaking to others — there was no real threat from the being tōshi all called "the Black Death of the Martial Arts" towards either of them. You do not threaten my family, so why should I seek to injure either of you? Negako had told them. "The Niphentaxians possess an incredible capacity to replicate anything they encounter. From technology to social customs to modes of emotional behaviour. What they lack is the ability to create their own culture and society. Because of that, those who have seen the advantage of controlling such a power have, over the ages, created worldwide 'churches' that allow them to stimulate the common masses to support whatever they desire to do. The latest incarnation of this phenomenon is the 'Universal Church of Lum,' founded by a fellow named Ōgi Zkuhsbagh ten years ago after Lum rescued him from being consumed by a native of what is popularly addressed as the 'Terrible Swamps' outside the capital city of Uru."
"In his eyes, I was 'divinely touched,' so I became a living goddess to him. And his followers," Lum added. "Within five years of that — Ōgi's my age, by the way — he had turned almost the whole planet into my 'Loyal Faithful.'" She tried not to spit out those words. "And when I came here to Earth — and they noticed how much people like Shūtarō and Megane-san and all the others were behaving around me — Ōgi and his supporters concluded they had created the 'one true faith.' And with that, they became prepared to do anything to ensure the 'faith' remained strong."
"Including planting a five-hundred megaton cobalt bomb in the Tomobiki Ginza to ensure Lum-san's 'Holy Apostles' and 'Holy Friends' would not stray from their 'proper place' in the Universe," Hiromi added, her voice dripping with scorn.
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"FIVE HUNDRED MEGATONS?!" the Sebone cousins shrilled.
"Exactly," the reborn emperor stated, nodding. "What is worse, the leaders of the Niphentaxians' allies — including Lum-san's people — are quite aware of what Ōgi and his boors are capable of doing. And they have said NOTHING about this to the Men in Black in New York City to give them a warning so they could be on the lookout for such things." A sigh. "Well, it's a fortunate thing that six months ago when Onii-san first encountered Hensō-san here, he was able to learn all about these non-worthies and we all began working on ways to have them forever removed from the planet."
"Which we technically succeeded in a month ago," Ataru said.
"When you made the aliens vanish from Tomobiki, you mean," Shikuko stated.
A nod. "Yeah. Not only were Lum and the others that were publicly known to live or visit Tomobiki at the time sent home, so were all the Niphentaxian agents — about four hundred of them — in and around town sent back home." A smirk. "Lucky thing that Relota-chan was more than willing to help out on that; I doubt any of the ch'uokyek would have been able to do it!" He then sighed as he moved to pull Lum and Hensō closer to him, which made them both purr as they hugged his waist. "Along the way, the cobalt bomb was teleported to the space anchorage where almost ninety percent of the Niphentaxian Navy's major combat ships were anchored. And then it exploded."
"How many?" Mimōko asked.
"About twenty-eight hundred of three thousand ships," Hiromi said.
"B-b-but-t-t that-t-t's not-t-t all," Karumi stated.
Eyes locked on Keitarō's twin sister. "What do you mean?" Mimōko asked.
"It-t-t's the same sit-t-tuation that-t-t Jap-p-pan faced-d-d at-t-t the st-t-tart-t-t of the G-g-great-t-ter East-t-t Asia War, Mimōk-k-ko-san," the reborn general of Cáo Wèi stated. "Yes, we d-d-dest-t-troyed-d-d the ship-p-ps…but we d-d-did-d-dn't d-d-dest-t-troy their ab-b-bilit-t-ty t-t-to b-b-build-d-d new ones. We need-d-d to crip-p-ple that-t-t once and-d-d for all b-b-before we can say they are no long-g-ger a threat-t-t. And t-t-to d-d-do that-t-t — thank-k-ks to their willingness to have Avalonians work as slave lab-b-bourers in every major ind-d-dust-t-try on the p-p-planet-t-t and all her colony world-d-ds — we need-d-d to seize the b-b-bioroid-d-d fac-c-ct-t-tory it-t-tself, p-p-lus all b-b-bioroid-d-ds alive t-t-tod-d-day."
"You need an army, you mean," Shikuko concluded.
Hiromi nodded. "We're having ships being built right now as we speak. Fortunately for us, the Avalonians are genetically descent of a race known as the Sagussans, who left a large collection of ships — and a space dry dock factory satellite as well — in orbit over a dead world called Den'sha Two not far from the Phentax system. The gods blessed us in a way. Two of our brethren — Jun'iku Bunjaku and Kōgetsuei — were kidnapped by the Oni's main enemies, the Ipraedies, four years ago so they could study humans in anticipation of their own invasion of the planet; the whole Tag Race thing was designed ultimately to counter that. Bunjaku-dono and Kōgetsuei-dono were able to escape…and on their way back to Earth, stumbled onto the Sagussan factory satellite. They later learned of what Lum-san's people were planning to do…"
"But had only built a small number of ships by the time Queen Elle came into our lives," Lum cut in. "That's when Darling learned of what they planned to do; they met up with him and his siblings after Hiromi-chan, Negako-san and Tariko-chan were allowed to get out of his mind. Negako-san — through the Imperial Palace here in Japan — got in contact with various private groups all over Earth who had been working on high technological research since before my people came here…and with the 'gifts' the Sagussans, in effect, were able to pass on through the Avalonians to us…"
"A space fleet?" Shikuko asked.
Lum nodded. "Tcha! But we need crews. And the technicians and other support workers to maintain such a fleet. Not to mention help in other ways to make sure no one can try to sneak in and steal what the Avalonians are giving the people of Earth."
"What would your people think?" Mimōko asked.
The Oni-turned-Avalonian sighed. "Personally, I don't care what they think, Mimōko-san. Ōgi is a liar and a mass-murderer. He makes all the dictators that have haunted the lives of people here on Earth — Hitler, Stalin, Máo, Pol Pot and the rest of them — all look like kindergarten bullies in comparison. He ordered the death of five million innocent people on a planet named Vos six years ago…AND HE DID IT IN MY NAME!" She then shuddered before Ataru moved to hold her close. Taking a moment to compose herself, Lum sighed. "Most of the leaders of the Galactic Federation planets — that's the alliance Uru and Phentax Two are a part of — didn't blink an eye when that happened! I wanted to DIE that day for what he did! And…!"
A pained sob then escaped her. "Sorry," Ataru said as he moved to pick the crying Lum up and carry her out of the living room. "Let me put her to bed."
The others nodded as Hensō stood up to follow her sister and her would-be husband out of the room. "So are you looking for volunteers?" Shikuko asked.
Hiromi sighed. "I have been busy these last few months liaising with other groups across the planet to get their support for this effort. It had to be done with a veil of secrecy because the Niphentaxians were everywhere — not just in Tomobiki — and could have easily warned Ōgi this was happening. Fortunately, we did sweep them all off the planet with the help of a sympathetic friend from the planet Yiziba last month. What we have to do before we make the strike on the bioroid factory…"
"Is to keep them away," Mimōko breathed out. "I'm in."
"Mō-chan!" Shikuko gasped.
The Nan'yō senior breathed out. "Shikuko, do you really think being subject to the 'fate' we all believe we must face is better than fighting for the whole PLANET?!"
Her cousin from Rakuyō blinked, and then she nodded. "I wear the magatama. The magatama doesn't wear me. But…" A helpless shrug. "I'm not in the best of shape right now." A laugh. "Damn! The one thing I'd LOVE to do…!"
"Your problem can be dealt with, Shikuko."
Shikuko blinked as she gazed on Negako…
Later…
"So you would clone a body for me — writing out all the DNA defects that made me get sick in the first place — and then telepathically TRANSFER my SOUL into it?!"
"Essentially correct," Negako stated. Shikuko was now in the grandmaster's room, which was the closest one to the back of the property and the small storage shed where the infamous Yōkatana Hinata — the spirit of which now lived as Keitarō's other genetic twin sister, Urashima Taiko — had been secured. The Rakuyō senior was now laid out on a futon, covered only by a sheet as Negako used her considerable knowledge in traditional Oriental medicine and ki flows to analyse her body. "Since the body will be a near-perfect replica of your birth-form, the transition will not be psychologically damaging in the long run. There will be changes. Avalonians have a projected lifespan of eight hundred years on average…though if they were created as children, they would mature as normal Terrans would until the end of puberty, when their aging process slows down to one-twelfth that of normal Terrans." As Shikuko — and Mimōko, who was kneeling beside her cousin — gaped on hearing that, Negako added, "That was part of the problem Lum experienced in the wake of Hensō's creation and the brief merger of their souls before Zōju's curse broke them apart five years ago."
"Lum didn't know who she was, you mean," Mimōko mused.
"She knew…but there were parts of her that found accepting that sense of self difficult," Negako stated as she moved to force some ki into Shikuko's back, which made the Rakuyō senior moan out in delight. "That contributed to her lack of real trust when it came to the situation of her 'marriage' with Ataru. She accepted him as her husband…but because she lacked an Avalonian's empathy, she had to make sure constantly and consistently that he was loyal to her." A smirk. "Of course, the many incidents where that lack of trust provoked a violent reaction from Lum was quite beneficial to me; the anti-ki that was generated from that would have served me well had we not been taken to Okusei seven months ago by Nengmek'i to encounter Hensô and learn of the Avalonians. Over time, the ki node in Tomobiki would have become strong enough to allow me to break away from Ataru on my own and create my own body."
"Many of us have often sensed that ki node," Mimōko stated. "It's part of the reason we've always avoided Tomobiki. The amount of energy there is HUGE!"
"Indeed. And with my no longer needing it to create my own body since I was given one on Okusei, there is now the pressing need to dissipate the ki-node before it begins to build on its own and explodes with considerable force." As the Sebone cousins winced, Negako smiled. "An unexpected consequence of Ataru becoming my fifty-seventh host. It is not a worrisome issue if we do not allow it to become such."
"How can you get rid of that thing?" Shikuko asked.
Negako gave the Rakuyō senior a knowing look.
"Do you wish to have sex with Ataru?" the grandmaster asked.
Shikuko's jaw dropped as Mimōko gaped…
Later…
"How is she?"
Ataru sighed. "She's having a rough time of it," he admitted as he gazed briefly on Shikuko before turning back to stare at the dozing Lum, who was now asleep on her bed. Hensō was kneeling beside her sister, gently holding her hand as she allowed her own love and concern for Lum to flow through the psychic link now connecting their souls together. "I have to admit, going all the way to doing the one thing a married Oni dreads — to publicly DIVORCE her like that — might have been too harsh of a step to take. But then again, between the time Onē-san got out of my head and a month ago, I was blocked from using the skills and powers I inherited from her."
"Why?" the Rakuyō senior asked as she sat down beside him, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder as she leaned in against him.
"The Niphentaxians, of course," he admitted. "I couldn't reveal that I knew about them and what they were doing to Lum; that might have made the agents in Tomobiki believe that I was moving to break their 'goddess' away from her 'most devout' and force them to detonate that cobalt bomb as a result." A smirk. "It was easy to act as I did prior to our meeting with Elle; my body was just too conditioned to let me play at being the dumb letch who'd chase a pretty girl at the drop of the hat." A sigh. "I certainly owe a few people apologies for forcing myself on them, but what could you do? If that damned thing would've gone off, it would have turned all of Kantō into a big radioactive bay of the Pacific! We didn't have the ships available to allow us to prevent them from sending more agents if we got rid of the first lot…"
He shook his head. "You just couldn't predict what would've happened, you mean," Shikuko concluded. "Nothing wrong with that, Ataru-kun. Even if you were Negako-san's last host, you're not a trained soldier. What could you've done?"
He tried to smile. "I'll be asking myself that question for a while to come."
"Darling…"
He reached over to gently take Lum's other hand as her eyes fluttered open. "Hey, Koishii…" he whispered. "How are you feeling?"
A tired sigh. "Still so confused…" Lum whispered.
Her eyes closed again. "Damn! What happened to her?" Shikuko asked, cringing slightly on hearing the level of pain in the Oni's voice.
"It was my meeting up with her again after five years," Hensō answered. "When Darling got Relota-san to teleport all the aliens back to their home planets, he made sure she treated Onē-san properly. But when she got home…"
The planet Uru, west of Onishuto, two hours after the end of the Second Tag Race…
"I'LL KILL HIM! HOW DARE HE DO THAT TO MY LITTLE GIRL?!"
A thunderous Redet Invader was grabbing everything he could get his hands on so he could crush them, wishing every time that they were the neck of the bastard that had just destroyed his little baby's heart like that! Seated at the table in the middle of the living room of the Invader home, his wife Chim — addressed in Urusian tradition as "Mrs. Invader" — was shuddering as sparks of bio-electricity flashed over her body. Also there was the elderly Redet Traveller, Invader's grandfather and a retired Urusian Marine general, who had been found in a cryosleep capsule recently…just as the news of Lum's "engagement" to Prince Rupa of the Yaminokuni had come to light. He was relaxing in his hoverchair, enjoying a cup of spice tea. He seemed calmer than his descendant or his wife, though he was upset by the fact that his great-granddaughter — whose existence had nearly broken his heart because of what he had promised long ago to Rupa's great-grandfather Upa — had been effectively rejected by her husband in such a manner. Lum was also there, looking as if she had aged fifty years all at once.
Also present were her three best friends from galactic middle school: Aruka Ran of the Urusian colony world of Shingetsu, Shigaten Benten of the planet Fukunokami and Crown Princess Oyuki of Neptune. And while the rose-haired Seishin-Urusian seemed quite calm as she enjoyed her tea, the other two teenage girls were visibly rattled. "How the fuck did Moroboshi DO that, anyway?!" Benten then demanded as she felt her sore arm; when she had been teleported back to her home planet from Earth, she had appeared twenty metres off the ground…and she couldn't fly like Lum could! "What the hell did he do?! Who the hell helped him out in doing that to us?!"
Oyuki sighed. "There is one possibility."
"What?" Ran asked.
"They-Who-Must-Never-Be-Named."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"T-t-t-THEM…?!" a now ashen-faced Invader stammered as a cloud of DOOM literally appeared over everyone else on their hearing the Neptunian mention the Yizibajohei, the race of insane metahumans living on a planet between Elle and Karasutengu. "HOW?! How in the Maidens' Names could he have learned of THEM?!"
A sigh. "Do you remember when you tried to force Ataru to marry Lum in the wake of our meeting Queen Elle, Captain?" Oyuki asked. "When the cathedral we were in was destroyed by a blast of flame from the heavens with all of us inside…and Ataru disappeared for two months while we were in intensive care recuperating?!" As the others in the room winced on remembering that, the Neptunian sighed. "Why I wonder if one of They-Who-Must-Never-Be-Named was directly involved in that, there was a window of two months where Ataru's location could not be verified by anyone. Sadly, when he reappeared in Tomobiki in the wake of that, no one clearly thought to ask him what had happened. And because his behaviour seemed unchanged, we never really considered the true implications of what might have happened to him. But…" A sigh. "In the wake of today's events, it's now glaringly obvious. Ataru IS fully aware of certain things and he is quite willing to make use of that knowledge to his advantage. One of those things he learned…" Her eyes then fell on Lum. "Is also quite obvious."
Lum shuddered. "Why does he hate me…?"
Oyuki sighed. "Isn't it obvious, Lum-chan? In his eyes, YOU deliberately threatened the whole of Earth by forcing Rupa to NOT send his pigs to deal with those mushrooms unless he publicly admitted his love for you. You KNEW all along that he has always been hesitant on admitting his feelings towards you. And then you did THAT to him." Another sigh. "That, I believe, was — to borrow the Earth phrase — the straw that broke the equine's back to him. You were no longer his friend or a prospective wife. You were a MONSTER that had to be put down as quickly as possible!" As Lum visibly winced from that declaration, the Neptunian added, "And since he clearly has made an alliance with a person or persons from You Know Where, he clearly decided that the best way to eliminate a monster…was to turn to an even bigger monster!"
"Fuck…!" Benten breathed out.
"But…wh-why?" Mrs. Invader demanded. Fortunately for the others in the room, they all had subcutaneous translators in their bodies — or as Urusians, could speak her language — so her words could be understood by all. "I mean…THEM?!"
"Why not?" Oyuki mused. "As you might have heard, Mrs. Invader, the females of That Place outnumber the males by a considerable margin. Over three hundred females for a hundred males, I heard once. And given Ataru's capabilities — which could be seen as being on par for a native of That Place — it is in the realm of possibility that one of Them might have taken interest in him. And acted on it." She gazed once more on Lum. "He has constantly and consistently rejected all of your daughter's claims of marriage towards him. Given the way his parents — especially his mother — have treated him in the past, it's within the realm of possibility that he would gladly renounce all familial bonds to them if he is given a chance; for all their many faults, They-Who-Must-Never-Be-Named are quite kind to children and would frown on any form of child abuse." She gazed on Ran. "That also explains what happened to you, Ran-chan."
The Seishin girl nodded; while the others who had been in Tomobiki had literally been dumped from high altitude to crash onto the ground when they were teleported off Earth, she had found herself landed neatly on her family's ancestral lands south of Onishuto without harm. "Yeah, that's true. He was nice about that…"
"Why would he be nice to YOU?!" Benten then snarled. And with reason; her air bike had been dropped from the same altitude as she had been when it had been teleported back to Fukunokami, which had wrecked the machine beyond recognition since its anti-gravity system hadn't been turned on. "After all, you don't care for him!"
Much to the surprise of her friends, Ran remained calm in the face of the biker-babe's anger. "No, not really…but if Oyuki-chan is right and he was being abused by his parents — even if only verbally — he probably realised what my mother did to me thanks to Lum-chan and decided I didn't deserve to be treated like that. Yes, get me off Earth since without my being there, Rei-sama would have no reason to visit Earth — now that Lum-chan's gone from the planet — but at least, he was kind about it." Seq Rei, Lum's former fiancé and Ran's would-be fiancé, had been aboard Ran's scoutship when it had been teleported from Earth back to Uru, so he hadn't been harmed either.
"Darling…"
Eyes locked on Lum, who had slowly staggered to her feet. "Now, Lum, calm down!" Invader said as he moved to comfort her. "We'll go back there and…!"
A signal chime sounded off. "Boss!"
"WHAT?!" Invader barked, recognising the voice of the first officer of his personal flagship, the battlewagon Kashin. "What is it, Number One?!"
"We just got a flash signal from our embassy in Lumukyō!" the other man answered through the communications console at one end of the room from the bridge of the Kashin in orbit. "Someone detonated a cobalt bomb — a real BIG one, too! — at the fleet anchorage of the Niphentaxian Navy! Over ninety percent of Ōgi's ships are gone!"
Silence.
"Oh, dear…"
Eyes locked on Oyuki. "What?" Benten demanded.
"Ataru clearly knows about Lum-chan's so-called 'most faithful,' Benten," the Neptunian then stated before she looked at the communications console. "Commander, when exactly did this attack occur? Would it be the same time…?!"
"Yes, Princess!" the first officer answered. "Exactly the same moment Miss Lum and all of you were teleported off Earth!" As shocked gasps filled the Invader home, he added, "Boss, we're looking at MASSIVE levels of fatalities here! Estimates of nearly FIVE million dead! Even if the fleet can be rebuilt…!"
"They'll need time to train new crews. And that takes years!" Traveller stated. "No doubt, when that cobalt bomb went off, it detonated the warp cores of all the ships closest to it. That's not a nice mix, cobalt and anti-matter." A shake of the head.
"Damn…!" Invader breathed out. "With them gone…"
"The Ipraedies," Oyuki finished for her host.
The large captain nodded. Unnoticed by any of the others in the room, Lum slowly walked into her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. As soon as she did that, she felt fresh tears in her eyes. "Darling…" she moaned.
"A little truth would have done you wonders, Onē-san."
Silence.
Lum's head snapped around…
…as fingertips landed on her skin just as another hand flicked on the controls to turn on the privacy screens. "Okay, they won't hear us," a voice that sounded very much like Benten's echoed in Lum's ears as her whole mind seemed to explode with images from five years before on an asteroid near Shingetsu.
"Signal the Red October!" the woman who looked like Lum's very own twin sister then instructed as Lum herself seemed to sway as those images began ripping through her mind. "We'll need to get Onē-san into a new body right away. Let's go!"
"You got it," Shigaten Kamen said…
"So Lum got her 'body-swap' aboard this Red October…?"
"He's named after an old Typhoon-class missile submarine that was built with an experimental drive system back in the 1980s," Ataru explained, falling on the Russian tradition of using the male pronoun to speak of a ship when not using the actual name. "The new Red October is a slipstream-drive hyperwarp missile boat, one of dozens that Tsukihana-kun built for the navies of all the declared nuclear powers. He was sent to Uru to pick Lum up after Onē-san warned me that Lum might not take our 'divorce' very well. Lucky thing Onē-san noticed that; if we didn't bring her here…"
"It's not your fault, Darling…"
He gazed once more on Lum, who was looking at them. "Do your parents know you're back here on Earth?" Shikuko then asked.
"No…but if they do, they'll be told that I'm Darling's hostage to keep the Oni and their allies away from Earth until such time as the Earth Defence Force is ready to take them on equal terms." Lum then sighed. "Shikuko-san…?"
"What?" the Rakuyō senior asked.
She grinned. "Do you want to be Darling's hostage, too?! It's really fun!"
Shikuko blinked. This is too surreal! she mused to herself as we…
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