Lettuce+Rogue Bunny=Teaser

[Rieverre]

Maa ... I've tried three different approaches to this scene. This one seems like being the least bothersome one.

---

The sudden beeping had almost all those present startle. Given the tension that had been hanging over the Garderobe personell and assorted people in the tent - the impromptu command post for the former - it wasn't really all that hard a thing to do.
The fact that they were missing two students, then two of the searching Pearl Otome coming back from scouting the place where a Materialization had taken place saying they'd found not only boat debris and a nearly empty and badly battered water flask of the sort they'd issued to said students, but also a cyborg of some sort standing guard in front of ...
"Ruins?" well, alright. Nagi dai Artai had been unusually calm throughout, but then, none of those present had ever seen the young Grand Duke act anything but.
Nina Wong, Garderobe student, was not. Not only due to the fact that two of her ... well, they were the closest to being what other people would describe as friends ... were missing, her adoptive father - Sergei Wong, direct subordinate of dai Artai - who'd gone out searching for them was missing as well.
The beeping interrupted Yukino Chrysant from giving an explanation as to what these ruins were - her and Haruka Armitage having been present from the onset of Garderobe's so called 'field trip' traversal exam, since Garderobe did need the permission of the Aries Republic to hold said exam on their soil. The President and her Otome had been agreeable, even going as far as to personally greet the Garderobe administrative and teaching staff upon their arrival. Their further stay there ... well, whether it was due to a desire to keep an eye on Garderobe or just for the company and break from their own administrative work was a toss-up.
The source of the noise was quite obvious, though - the computer Garderobe's head medic and technician, Yohko Helene, had brought with her and set up on one of the tables in the tent. A remnant of the old Earthen technology, it was extremely valuable, and her having taken it along spoke volumes about how deep Garderobe's supplies thereof were.
The woman rushed over, fingers working the keyboard on instinct, eyes jumping from one called up readout window to another with the ease of long practice.
"A Materialization?" Natsuki Kruger asked, making the others present, again sans Nagi, shift nerviously.
"No," Yohko's eyes widened slightly as she read the influx of data. "There are some similarities, but whatever it is is also far too unstable and very ... faint."
She finished, blinking, looking up ...
The sudden gust of wind that buffeted the tent, with enough power to make its structure groan in protest, took them by surprise.
Haruka's chair hit the floor in an instant, as the woman shot to her feet and pulled Yukino behind her. The other present Otome were also momentarily on guard, with the two Pearls who'd just given their report but still hadn't dismissed their Robes rushing out ...
... to almost stumble on the prone and bundled up girl who'd been laid down on the ground beside the tent.
"What ... Erstin!" Akane Soir, top Pearl Otome, exclaimed, recognizing one of the missing students.

---

I'm considering rewriting this. The exposition still feels awkward.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

Since I already had it ready and all, but I like it too much to wait on trying to write something else. ^_^

---

---

I'm not going to go all-out and give you a blow-by-blow of the fight - I don't have the energy and you don't have the interest - but even with half of what Miyu was doing lost to the camera's framerate it was interesting.
Miyu was faster and stronger, and certainly had the deadlier weapon, but having it fixed to the plane of her arm cost her a good deal of a sword's normal flexibility and emphasized the fact that any esoteric properties it may or may not have had did not allow it to simply cut through the tough plastic of a modern policeman's side-handle baton. Akane, I think, was actually more skilled, and had chosen her weapons quite well from a defensive standpoint, but seemed to be having a hard time generating enough force to do more than inconvenience someone so much tougher, physically speaking, than a normal human.
Overall, it seemed for a while that Akane was going to lose despite having done everything right. It was taking everything she had to stay ahead of the android, and even if she somehow, miraculously, managed to avoid a mistake she couldn't afford, she would still have tired, slowed, weakened long before she managed to cause some serious damage. The thing was, though, that she must have known all that would be the case going in, because this was just the first step. The judgement she and Miyu had gained of each other through their fight called for Akane to take a narrow loss, but it was predicated on the human girl's use of mundane, conventional weapons rather than her Elements... or Child.
Obviously she had chosen to use neither in light of the possibility of that sword being just as capable against an Element as a Child and the fact that preserving Harry's, and thence Kazuya's, life was the entire point of her actions, but in retrospect it was obvious that she really had nothing to lose by deploying them, since being defeated one way was much the same as another.
Twenty/twenty hindsight, and all that - I was completely shocked when a massive orange bulk dropped into the frame from above and lashed out with a paw that caught Miyu across the side of the head and knocked her tumbling across the room. When the replicant came back to her feet I could see that much of the skin - flesh - over the right side of her face had been torn away entirely, and inch-deep gouges actually driven into the metal and composites of her 'skull.' One of those deeper wounds crossed her eye socket, and the... organ? Sensor? within had been completely destroyed, and electrical shorts could be seen sparking in the shadows where it had been. It looked, frankly, really creepy, especially given how well the fluid oozing slowly from the edges of her torn outer shell mimicked human blood.
"So," Miyu said, for all the world as though she hadn't been injured at all, and attacked. Most of what happened next was lost to the camera, but from the situation when things slowed back down, what went down was this:
Miyu broke out into a running lunge that turned into a broad sweep when Akane ducked under and to one side of it, discarding her weapons as she did so and ending up in a crouch under the blade's arc for a split second before exploding straight up as her Element's materialized. For a long time I had no idea just how what happened after that had worked, but the way Akane explained it after everything was over was that she had focused a tight, powerful air current against the outer end of her Element's rotating outer bars, increasing their speed beyond that achievable by a conventional tonfa's whipping swing. When the tip was moving at the same speed as the fastest wind she could generate - which took only a split second and a small fraction of the total five hundred and forty degree arc - she had moved the focus down towards the bar's axle, turning it from a second class lever to a third and increasing the maximum speed of the bar's outer end. The spiraling contrail this process left behind confused the hell out of me, but the rest of the result was clear enough from deafening crack the bar's tip made as it broke the sound barrier and the way Miyu's elbow seemed to practically explode when the strike landed.
The silence that followed was broken only by the soft thunk the blade made as it fell, spinning to the floor and stuck in the polished hardwood tip first.
Miyu narrowed her remaining eye, then seemed to relax back into a neutral stance. "Is... is she next?"
Akane shook her head as Harry fastened his jaws onto the android's shoulder, then stepped forward and to one side - out of the reach of his intake. "Not if she gives me a choice."
"...thank you."
A moment later, with a howl of rushing air and a high-pitched buzzsaw snarl, it was over.

---

---

I'd say it's not bad enough to be problematical - I couldn't pick up on any problems until I took a third pass actually looking for them.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Rieverre]

*watches fight* Ka ... kakkoi!
*evil crackle* We can rebuild her! We _have_ the technology!
Short and direct follow up to the last scene.

---

'Well, it's not like the rain hadn't already done this,' I thought as I trudged ashore, clothes that were now totally drenched making me have to work to get out of the water.
Sometimes, viewing the body as nothing more than a complex biological machine can be an asset. A machine needs fuel and a way to convert it to energy. In this case, food and air, by ways of the digestive and respiratory systems. Normally. An S2 organ lets me cheat in that regard.
Usually, you follow what you know. You react to the actions of others based on what you've seen and done yourself.
Take the Otome in that tent. They'd feel the wind. They can leap, fly ... of course, the first place they'd look for someone or something that can arrive and depart as swiftly as I just had would be the sky.
Which is exactly the reason why I'd just subjected myself to around three quarters of an hour worth of getting reacquainted with the ocean. Or, in this case, the ocean floor in the immediate vicinity of the coastline.
And whatever else one could say about the standard issue Black runner uniforms, sturdy though the are, they can be a real drag.
I winced. Alright, maybe that pun had been a bit too much.
The jacket was the worst of it, really, since it was long enough to go down to my hips ... what, you thought I'd left it with the girl?
I'm not quite that absent-minded.
But damn, I needed a change of clothes.
And, I realized as I unslung the mostly empty backpack, some food _would_ be nice.
The fact that I don't neccessarily have to eat doesn't mean I don't want to, or that I don't get hungry.
This was Aries territory, and I remembered the town here as having a small satellite office of the company, a bit like what we'd set up in places where messages still went fairly often, but where we didn't have manpower enough to expand fully like we did in Aries itself and later Windbloom.
'Looks like they'll be getting a surprise inspection,' I chuckled, getting off the beach and following the treeline towards the lights of the town.

---

-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

---

1 kg
400 m/s
20,000,000 newtons
3 cm^2
6.6 x 10^10 Pa
Heh.

---

Here I thought, there was no way a normal baton can generate that much pressure.

---

*evil crackle* We can rebuild her! We _have_ the technology!

---

Does Searrs have one on standby?
Great job! I was holding my breath there. Akane as a tactician?....surprised me there, but she does have a incentive.
BTW...do you realize you have the elements of a dating sim game..aka as the "polygon of love" in place? I can see Midori wanting in on this. *evil chuckle*
As to Shizuru wanting to "adopt" N-Tate...doing the "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" thing is a time-honored tradition.She just has to make up her mind in what category he is.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Guest]

Nooooooo Miyu..... *snif snif*
I wonder how Allysa will react? I imagine it will not be good.

[VladimirTherin]

So as Akane grows in her own confidence and relationship with the one she cares most for...
Do we get to see some Kaiju!Harry?

[Valles]

---

Here I thought, there was no way a normal baton can generate that much pressure.

---

I was wondering when I posted it if anyone would figure out the significance of the figures. In retrospect they're probably somewhat higher than she could really manage, but since, if I have my figures right, structural steel gives at around thirty tons to the square inch and she's hitting with somewhere north of four thousand, I doubt it'll matter much.

---

Does Searrs have one one standby?

---

Safe to say 'no.' The purchase price of a single M.I.Y. Unit would make the United States military cringe, and bankrupt some first world nations. Even Searrs' resources have limits.
So it'll be a few months before anyone sees her again. ^_^

---

BTW...do you realize you have the elements of a dating sim game..aka as the "polygon of love" in place?

---

*innocent* Do I?

---

---

The other incident that happened while I was down for the count I can't be as certain about, since there were no cameras, but having heard accounts of it from both of the involved parties, I think it's safe to say I've a fair idea what went on.
The one that was mauling me (and hitting Nao's locker and Natsuki's shopping bag) wasn't the only 'subsidiary self' that the Orphan had had out and running about. For some reason - I'm honestly not sure I want to know what - one of those other bodies decided it was going to stop by the boys' dormitory.
Evidently there are a surprising number of places to find girl's underwear within same, but by far the largest concentration was of course in Akira's room. In the long run it was probably fortunate that the lady herself was out - art club, y'see - since her roommate was having his sister over for a visit.
Of course, I'm free to think that, since it wasn't my room that got demolished.
Anyway, the first sign they got of the thing was when it knocked over some of Akira's art supplies in the process of getting into her sock drawer. Takumi poked his head around the curtain first and caught sight of the thing slurping down one of her chest wraps like a kid with a spagetti noodle.
So he yell and fell on his ass, so that Mai, being the sweetheart she is, dashed over to check that he was okay and what was it that had startled him like that, anyway?
One of the problems with knowing what to expect from an opponent is that it can cause you to be overconfident because you 'know' what they're going to do. This time, though, it didn't seem to much matter - after all, when something launches itself at you like those monsters did, the instinctive response is pretty much all that you have time to do. So she tried to swat it away, just the same as I had, though fortunately with different results.
The one that attacked me had been trying to cause damage - Nagi would later outright admit to targeting me - but Mai's was 'just' trying to eat her clothes. That probably wouldn't have made much of a difference without the second thing, though, which was her showing the same kind of panic-reaction 'partial activation' of her Elements that had been shown in the show's version of the first episode.
The shield blasted the Orphan across the room so that it bounced off of the wall and landed, quite disgruntled, in the middle of Akira's bed. It gave her a nasty look, somewhat spoiled by the fact that its nose was smoking visibly, hissed at her, then bounced out the window.
To hear Mai tell it, most of their conversation after that consisted of her mind bouncing from one reason for panic to another, what with her having it just had it emphatically confirmed that not only was her own life at risk, not only did she all of a sudden have super powers, not only were there conspiracies and all-out, real monsters out there - after her - heck, it wasn't even enough that her brother's continued survival was dependant on the success of not one but two people at an event that had a truly terrifying casualty rate.
No, now she had to contend with having the fate of the entire world very literally dumped onto her shoulders, and she said that it had been all that Takumi could do to keep her calm enough not to hyperventilate.
His version of events, in stark contrast, has her as being perfectly calm through the whole thing, if a little worried, and simply sitting him down and filling him in on what a HiME was, that she was one, and what would likely be happening over the next few weeks. When we talked about it, he tried to tease me about how often my name came up during that talk, which, frankly, is ridiculous - Mai's more than sharp enough to know better than to think I'm anywhere near that important.
Anyway, both of them had it concluding the same way - one of your Kodak moment hugs... You know the ones? Tears, smiles, 'I love you too, Sis!', the whole nine yards.
Which was broken up, alas before anyone could get a picture of it, when the fully merged Lingere Monster ripped out the room's outside wall.

---

---

Okay, so, I'm off to conquer the ancient world for a bit.
Ja! -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

---

I was wondering when I posted it if anyone would figure out the significance of the figures. In retrospect they're probably somewhat higher than she could really manage, but since, if I have my figures right, structural steel gives at around thirty tons to the square inch and she's hitting with somewhere north of four thousand, I doubt it'll matter much.

---

It would if Miyu's skeleton was designed to absorb higher pressures. But I would say that even Chobham armor would be defeated at those pressures.

---

Safe to say 'no.' The purchase price of a single M.I.Y. Unit would make the United States military cringe, and bankrupt some first world nations. Even Searrs' resources have limits.
So it'll be a few months before anyone sees her again. ^_^

---

Unless they have the parts on hand to create a new unit , it's gonna be longer than 3 months.
Anyway...

---

The one that was mauling me (and hitting Nao's locker and Natsuki's shopping bag) wasn't the only 'subsidiary self' that the Orphan had had out and running about. For some reason - I'm honestly not sure I want to know what - one of those other bodies decided it was going to stop by the boys' dormitory.

---

Not really that surprising..considering a few of the guys probably sneak their girlfriends into the dorms for a few hours of the horizontal lambada. This I know from experience.
The other possiblity is that someone (or several someones) is collecting used girls underwear. There are vending machines in Tokyo that sell them.

---

The one that was mauling me (and hitting Nao's locker and Natsuki's shopping bag) wasn't the only 'subsidiary self' that the Orphan had had out and running about.

---

Lemme guess..Natsuki decided to have a back-up stash..only she forgot that there is more than one of those things running around. As for Nao..if it didn't happen to her then, it's not gona happen to her.
Now....
Did the campus cameras record where the "flashing" took place? ^^
If N-Tate /Fujiro can remove the only copies and give them to both of them..seems like the nice thing to do.

---

Which was broken up, alas before anyone could get a picture of it, when the fully merged Lingere Monster ripped out the room's outside wall.

---

How the hell is anyone gonna explain the damage?
Edit: This depends on whether or not Miyu transmitted a log of her last moments, but Alyssa Glear had just become more dangerous than ever.
Edit 2: You know, if you leave the damage control problem to Haruka, it just might work out.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[classicdrogn]

---

Edit: This depends on whether or not Miyu transmitted a log of her last moments, but Alyssa Glear had just become more dangerous than ever.

---

No kidding... anyone else who figures that since Artemis is just possessing an already-extant object now and then, that is in fact NOT its intense-love-or-hatred kaiju form? And is alarmed at the mere thought?
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
Dr. Akagi will recover. Observe, Rei smiled. Shinji-kun, are these your clothes?
Ritsuko shot up like a spring loaded meerkat. What? Shinji-kun is naked?
See, Anata? Dr. Hentai is alive and well. - Innortal's _I Do_
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Rieverre]

Given that this was the guys' dorm ... *snicker* did N!Tate just lose his living quarters due to an oh so unfortunate accident? *we're looking at you, Nagi*

---

Przypadki chodza po ludziach, as they say where I was born. Ancient Polish proverb. Well, for a given value of 'ancient'.
It meant as much as: Coincidences happen.
The town was quiet after dark. A good thing, since someone who looked like he'd just drowned, and I'm not even going to mention the sort of damage my jacket and shirt had taken, wouldn't exactly blend into the normal flow of human traffic.
It took me the better part of half an hour after getting to it to find the local office.
"Boss?!"
I did my best poleaxed steer impression for a moment, which was met with the same from the person on the other side of the door.
"Um, yo?" was perhaps not the best line for the situation, but I think I'm excused for using it due to extenuating circumstances. Like being in dire need of a warm bath and a warmer drink. "Mind moving? It's cold out."
Picture one, Tsujimoto Natsumi. She was, quite likely, the best runner we had in our employ. She was also brash, arrogant and...
... you know, if I didn't know better, I'd say she and Armitage were somehow related.

... well, I didn't really blame Ren. Meeting Miyu can be an unsettling experience.
"The facial structure, his genetic print ..." she was rubbing the index finger and thumb of the hand she'd offered Ren to shake against one-another. "There is more than a 93% probability, when extrapolating from existing evidence, that the man is at least a second cousin of the Aries Republic's President."
"We knew there was a relation, though his files list one a bit more distant than that," I replied. "It's under control."


I did know better, though. She and her fellow Jipang expatriate, Kobayakawa Miyuki - and every time I heard those two names, I got the impression that I was missing something, like one of the universe's little jokes - had only been with Black for the past few months, but they'd both gone through the screening without any problems, and they'd both met Miyu.
I didn't ask how Miyu had accumulated the sheer volume of data, genetic and otherwise, she seemed to have access to. Likely, it had been a long and ardous process ... or not, since I can't really recall Miyu ever having trouble getting somewhere where she wanted or needed to go without arousing undue suspicion.
Tangents aside for the next little while though, it actually took a moment or two before I could go in.
You know, you've got to respect the guts of the person running someone looking like I did there and then through a security check.
Still, once that was over and done with - I _must_ remember thank Miyuki for the hacked together DNA readers, crude thought they were. We'd finished outfitting the offices with them and updating their databases just two months ago, after quite a bit of effort, but they were proving to be a blessing all the same - things started going smoothly again.
"Sorry, it's just, nobody in the Windbloom office knew where you were and Turippu-san was being really evasive about it," Natsumi informed me after I was back to being more or less fit to face the civilized world again. Such as it was.
Coffee, how I love thee, let me count the ways.
Or, you know, not.
"How's he been doing while I was gone?"
"Staying in more, occasionally cursing the paperwork, little edgy," she frowned, looked like she was about to ask me something, then shrugged.
"What?"
"Well ... some of the ... there's been rumors," she fidgeted. Though when she did start going, she picked up steam preatty quickly. "And really, you show up here, half dead. What the hell happened to you, anyway? I mean, there was that wild rumor that started going around a day or so ago in the Windbloom office, that Turippu-san killed you and did away with the body. I just got here yesterday evening, and with the way you looked ..."
Say WHAT?!
Okay, that definitely counted as one of those moments where you either laughed your ass off or cried out in disbelief. I barely managed to _not_ snort the coffee. That could have been ... painful.
On a sidenote, it should be said that a normal run from Windbloom to this far in Aries territory usually takes a Frame somewhere around a day and a half. But then, Natsumi's riding has been described as borderline insane before.
"Let's just say that's about as far from the truth as possible and leave it at that," I finally managed.
I could almost feel the 'That's _it_?!' in the air, barely being held in by the fact that ... well, I paid her wages, or at least delegated that task.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" I asked, finishing my beverage.
"Info packages. Turippu-san sent one along for the Garderobe people, one for the Aries bigwigs. Figured they'd be meeting here and it would shave off the extra effort of having two runners taking care of it or the whole thing taking twice as long," she told me.
It was about that time, I realized. Nodded. Stood, navigated out of the kitchen, grabbed an empty message tube and a sheet of paper from one of the three desks in the main area of the office, and started scribbling down a message.
I handed her the tube, and a bit of a raw deal. Well, the boss had some leeway on acting like an asshole, especially when he paid his runners as much as he did.
"I hate to do this to you, but I need this message to go to Windbloom as fast as possible. Hand it off to Ren personally, if you can. Since I'm here, I'll take care of the Garderobe and Aries deliveries," plus, it would let me get an impression of the moods all around. "And yes, you can tell them I'm still alive and kicking, but try not to mention the way I showed up here, yes?"
She groaned, took a deep breath, and nodded. "I'll be on my way first thing in the morning."
And since I really didn't want to have to deal with the beehive that was the Garderobe encampment right now, plus, it had been a while since I'd had a decent nights' sleep, I retired for the night as well.
It wasn't a large room, barely big enough to hold a bed and a dresser, but it would do. Especially since the bed _was_ fairly big, and the blessing of spare uniforms had been bestowed upon me.
I stiffled a yawn, stripped down to my boxers, and collapsed into bed.
And then ...

... Suzu... no ... who is that? So familiar, yet not. What did they call me? Is that my ... no. It isn't ...
... wolves howling at the scarlet moon ... flames spearing through the sky ... the clash of steel ... memories ... memories ... but ...
... how am I alive?
... arms around me as the world loses definition, fragmenting into shades of viridan ...
"Do you want to see her again?", a voice echoes in the nothingness.

... I abruptly awoke to the first rays of dawn, muddled recollections of another dream that I was increasingly more certain mean something ... possibly that I was going completely off my rocker now ... fading away into nothingness.
This one seemed more intense, somehow. More vivid than the ones I'd had before.
With a sigh, I got out of bed. Even if it did mean something, I had no bloody idea what, and right now I had things to do other than staring blankly at the wall and wondering 'What the hell was _that_ all about, anyway?'
I did make a silent resolution to either close the blinds or not sleep in a room with a window facing East next time the chance presented itself.

---

In my defense, cameos are easier to come by than original chars.
Now I sleep.
Ja! -g
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

It would if Miyu's skeleton was designed to absorb higher pressures. But I would say that even Chobham armor would be defeated at those pressures.

---

I would be genuinely shocked if there was a real world material that was strong enough to handle that kind of impact using a volume small enough to fit inside what looks like a normal human arm.

---

Unless they have the parts on hand to create a new unit, it's gonna be longer than 3 months.

---

The hardware will be fairly simple, actually - the MIYU infiltration type was a prototype for the YUI bodyguard series. Yuis aren't nearly as smart, but the physical hardware is mostly the same. A lot of that expense I mentioned comes from cramming a computer small enough to run a human-complexity neural net into a space small enough to fit inside a ribcage, not to mention programming one in the first place - the process of getting a stable 'personality' is just too hit-and-miss at this stage in the technology to allow mass production.

---

Did the campus cameras record where the "flashing" took place? ^^

---

-_-;;; Fortunately, no.

---

No kidding... anyone else who figures that since Artemis is just possessing an already-extant object now and then, that is in fact NOT its intense-love-or-hatred kaiju form? And is alarmed at the mere thought?

---

...yes. Actually, it's entirely possible that the only difference Artemis would have would be the ability to move independantly rather than just sitting in orbit.
It's not as though that weren't plenty, after all.

---

Given that this was the guys' dorm ... *snicker* did N!Tate just lose his living quarters due to an oh so unfortunate accident? *we're looking at you, Nagi*

---

He lives on the other side of the building, actually.
That won't happen until Mashiro-chan has had a chance to get annoyed about the fact that the HiME-sentai's bodyguard routine is putting them places they shouldn't be. Like boys' dorms.

---

---

A long line of cartoon series will tell you that the heroes always win, that property damage and physical injury mysteriously vanish by the end of the commercial break, and that nobody ever thinks to track the cute schoolgirl in the gaudy rhinestones back to where she lives.
Don't you beeeee-lieve it!
The footage that news chopper caught of the battle against the Ecchi Monster never got distributed worldwide the way it probably deserved - Searrs' work, no doubt - but the fact that it was going out live to the local station meant that the Festival we ended up having took place in full public view of the city of Fuuka. When I got a chance to see it later, I decided that it had definitely been a good omen for the future.
The way it had attacked Takumi and Akira's room sent everything in the room tumbling out along with its outer structure, and gave the Orphan a perfect chance to snag both of the occupants casually out of the air. It brought them both up to its eyes for a moment, then added another couple of tentacles to the ones it had wrapped around Mai's chest and left hip and tossed its male prisoner carelessly away.
Needless to say, doing something like that in front of the gentleman's loving sister was a bit of a tactical error on the monster's part.
The intensity of the column of fire that erupted around her body was such that the Orphan reeled back in pain after being abruptly relieved of the last fifteen feet or so of four of its tentacles, but, given the difference in circumstances, it was hardly a surprise to see it gutter out a split second later as she lunged into motion towards Takumi's falling form.
The thing about being kaiju-sized is that, although it greatly amplifies your ability to dish out and endure damage, it tends to make you kinda conspicuous.
This is an especially deleterious side affect when it results in your attracting the attention of a HiME passionately interested in your painful and immediate termination... even if they didn't posess motivations at the level of the loss of one of five remaining heirlooms of a beloved mother, or the consumption of an extremely personal garment while said article was still being worn.
Frankly, between one Child who specialized in - forgive me - the bondage of her opponents to any convenient piece of landscape and another who was equally suited to putting truly impressive holes through whatever was stupid enough to hold still long enough to get hit, it's really rather surprising that the critter lasted as long as it did. Probably this was due to its attempting to flee, but - having caught her brother and dropped him in a place of relative safety - Mai's choice to return and demonstrate the offensive uses of a forcefield like hers (rather like it had run into a flaming bowling ball built to scale that had been thrown in the opposite direction from its flight) was simply the icing on the cake.
Akira would later take great pleasure in increasing the three ladies' accquaintance with the many adoring fans they gathered as a direct result of the incident - something to do with a sketchbook she'd never been able to find, I understand.

---

---

Damn you, Hallstrom. That experiment with voice is all your fault.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

---

The footage that news chopper caught of the battle against the Ecchi Monster never got distributed worldwide the way it probably deserved - Searrs' work, no doubt - but the fact that it was going out live to the local station meant that the Festival we ended up having took place in full public view of the city of Fuuka. When I got a chance to see it later, I decided that it had definitely been a good omen for the future.

---

So much for keeping it under wraps...^^ .But given rumor propagates...there is no way for Searrs to slow down the news that there are real magical monsters and magical girls from spreading throughout Japan....are we going to see tourists flocking to Fuuka?..or is this just going to accelerate the coming invasion? I can see the Searrs council running like chickens with or wthout heads. Since they now have confirmation that there are 3 HIME's out, they may decided to send out threats to force the others into the open. At least for a while....now this isn't something that Nagi planned for..so he may back of on the monsters..then again maybe not. He may decide to go for the "monster of the week" format. He does watch sentai shows doesn't he? Given Searrs and Nagi are not talking with each other..it would be interesting if the plans of both happen to collide spectacularly.

---

Akira would later take great pleasure in increasing the three ladies' accquaintance with the many adoring fans they gathered as a direct result of the incident - something to do with a sketchbook she'd never been able to find, I understand.

---

Groupies, action figures, the whole lot. Takumi may be able to get his medical treatment after all. Be interesting how Mai reacts to this.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Rieverre]

No real time to sit down and write anything but a short segment today. Likely won't have any more tomorrow, either.
Still, for what it's worth ...

---

"How is she, Doctor?"
Yohko Helene brushed back an errant strand of hair as she stepped out of the medical tent they'd set up last night. Or should that be, this morning?
While she wasn't exactly a workaholic, she also wasn't someone who could just stop in the middle of an investigation into some facts. Especially if those facts were related to the well-being of one of her students.
As a result, she hadn't really managed to get any real sleep that night. First she'd been busy with examining Coral Erstin Ho, taking samples of her blood, then treating her. When _that_ was over and done with, Yukariko had come back, dragging most of the gear she'd found in what looked like where the girl had taken shelter.
An examination of said gear proved to bring up more question than it did answers, but it did explain the readings she'd gotten from miss Ho's blood samples.
"Stable and getting better," she replied to the query. It wasn't really surprising to see Garderobe's Headmistress up and about this early, what with one of her charges still missing and one in sickbed. "From the looks of things, their catalyst injector was tampered with. Which is why she's going through all that. From the bite marks on her leg, one of the venomous snake breeds from hereabout wanted a snack."
"Sabotage?" Natsuki Kruger asked, sharply.
"Looks like it. I'd triple checked the injectors before giving them out, and that one was brand new as well. It was the same with the beacons," Yohko spoke, interrupting briefly to yawn. "Though the traces of antiven in the blood samples I took before injecting her with the catalyst were unexpected."
Meaning whoever had brought her back here, had first tried that ... not that this would help much. The composition of the remains wasn't anything unique, rather, it was the sort of universal serum carried in most military field kits. Generic, made to be applied early after the bite, and not as effective as specialized serums against specific venoms would be. Both it and the venom had been slowed by the Garderobe student's nanomachines, which had been trying to counter the attack on their host even without the catalyst, but the battle had been a losing one all the same.
"Wonderful, more complications we didn't need," Natsuki groused, hand brushing back through her dark hair in a motion that was as unconscious as breathing to her.
Like they didn't have enough problems without more unknown factors popping up out of the night.
"Anything else, Headmistress?"
"No. I was just coming down to tell you we're leaving to go investigate the site of the Materialization."
Along with an armored transporter full of Aries troops, their President and her Otome, and both dai Artai and blan de Windbloom. Though as to why the latter two were going ...
... Natsuki shook her head. If this kept up she'd need to start taking painkillers. She could almost feel the migraine coming on.
A familiar beeping from the command tent drew their attention, and both rushed there ...
"This time," Yohko said, eyes glued to the readouts on the screen. "It's definitely a Materialization. More than one. In the vicinity of the last big one we received yesterday. Slaves."

---

tsuzuku, and g'night.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

Oh, so you mean we'll actually be writing about the same amount for once? What a shame...

---

---

So, yeah. Having the presence of things like the HiME and the Orphans be common knowledge was a bit of a shock to a lot of people. Fuuka was under martial law by the end of the day, to give you some idea, and by the time I was out of the hospital Mai, Natsuki, and Nao had already had to field some rather pointed questions from the authorities.
I wouldn't think so if not for the persistent uncertainty of just how far the SEARRS Foundation's clout went, but fortunately Nao, bless her poisonous little soul, had managed to find a balance between telling all and lying her cute little behind off that made it quite clear the degree of access to government records we thought the First District had, and that their agenda was likely to be fatal to any HiME they IDed. Then she dropped the bombshell about the Red Star and Kokuyou's agenda.
By the time the dust had settled from that little revelation, the forms we'd be spending the rest of the Festival under had been pretty much hammered out. All in all, it was a pretty good deal for all involved - the world political community got better odds of avoiding a victory on Kokuyou's part, along with a promise from the girls to stay out of international politics; the HiME got immunity from prosecution for the duration, a (by an individual's standards) quite generous compensation package, and the knowledge that their identities would never go farther than the Public Security Investigation agents assigned to monitor them; the city of Fuuka got to go on with business mostly as usual - for every two people who wanted to get out of the line of fire, there were three more who wanted a chance to be where the most interesting events in the world were happening - and a guarantee of government money for reconstruction in the event of an act of God, Artemis, or Kagutsuchi; SEARRS got to avoid having its name and nature splashed over more front pages than even it's scale could afford; and Nagi, well, Nagi got a far grander stage to carry his play out on.
It took me quite a while to figure out just how the three 'open' HiME had managed to coordinate with each other well enough to present the united front needed to pull that negotiation off, but eventually Yukino let me off the hook and admitted that she'd had Diana transcribe and relay messages between them without their ever needing to leave their cells, sorry, protective accomodations.

---

---

Blech. That's pathetically short even for me. OTOH, it wraps up the last of the loose threads before I tackle the N!Tate/Shizuru scene in the hospital, so I guess I'll count it as good.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

---

I wouldn't think so if not for the persistent uncertainty of just how far the SEARRS Foundation's clout went, but fortunately Nao, bless her poisonous little soul, had managed to find a balance between telling all and lying her cute little behind off that made it quite clear the degree of access to government records we thought the First District had, and that their agenda was likely to be fatal to any HiME they IDed. Then she dropped the bombshell about the Red Star and Kokuyou's agenda.

---

*imagines Nao being interrrogated by your typical intelligence/police type*

---

SEARRS got to avoid having its name and nature splashed over more front pages than even it's scale could afford; and Nagi, well, Nagi got a far grander stage to carry his play out on.

---

I can imagine SEARRS holding off until the time of the festival, to take action. But instead of landing the equivalent of a Marine Expeditionary Unit..they might opt for landing a Brigade or a Division size force on Fuuka. The results would still be the same though. Did Nao drop anything about Artemis' existence. A great many countries would be twitchy about having a mini Death Star orbiting around the earth.
As for Nagi..is he thinking about televised matches?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[katreus]

And now, a word from our local sponsors:
Now selling HiME-Sentai action figures! Collect 'em all and you'll get the bonus pack of Childs half price and a free Orphan. Go go HiME-Sentai! Fight off the Orphan! Go online to vote for your faaaaavorite HiME and match organizer Nagi will endeavor to make *your* wish come true. Tune in every Friday night, prime-time, to see your HiME fight and see which HiME gets eliminated from the Fuuka Island!

[Rieverre]

Okay, so I lied ... been scribbling this down in between bouts of studying since this morning. It's good stress relief.

---

I beat back the sudden urge to jump in and get some comeuppance. That would definitely fall under the header of 'Unwise tactical decision'. It would also likely lead to my acting out of a comic book cliche, which I was more than happy to be able to avoid.
After doing that, I repressed one to go find myself a tuxedo, cane, top hat, and start throwing foliage around.
As to what I was doing, and where I was? Mm. Watching, and up a tree, respectively.
The latter, because it was a good lookout perch.
The former ... well, it was more recording than watching. Specifically, a fight.
Though running battle could have been applied without stretching the definition very much.
And I was there because my earlier plans had been massively derailed.
First, by a surge of Materialization ripples that had resonated clearly and solidly with my Field harmonics.
Second, by the fact that the people I'd been about to go and surprise/annoy/deliver information packets to had gone out of town and towards said surge before I could do so - dragging along an APC's worth of Aries soldiers who'd been stationed in town for the duration of the President's visit and whom I'd managed to avoid when coming in last night. This morning. Eh.
And finally, because in the wake of the solid signatures of those Materializations, which felt a bit off from what a Slave's did, though not glaringly so, had come the all too familiar ripple blip that I'd last felt on the Remulus/Romus border.
Once I'd swung back by the office and borrowed one of the two Frames in its garage - like I said, we didn't exactly have manpower to spare in this town, though crew rotation kept runners from getting complacent - I was on the way, trailing both the Materialization signatures and the Aries vehicles doing same. The latter from a safe distance, though.
Which meant that, when the bulk of something I was pretty sure was a Slave - because the local fauna didn't include what looked like an, and I shit you not, giant flying facehugger-slash-fish - crashed through a corpse of trees some thirty or so meters ahead of the APC, tumbled, and then lay inert on the ground, I was cresting a wooded rise off to one side of that forest road and had a decent view of the proceedings.
The gnarled looking tree I'd stopped the Frame by and leaned it against provided a perch.
I was watching again by the time the APC and its trailing all terrain vehicle had both come to a rapid halt.
The woods beyond the treeling from where the Slave had been thrown suddenly physically rippled, a bulky dark clad form leaping up and away from the distortion and alighting on higher ground. Which wasn't hard with the sort of rocky terrain we were in.
I was distracted from observing the figure's actions further by the brilliantly glowing chakram flashed through the air, slammed into and through the APC's front, and erupted from its opposite side before arcing back the way it had come.
The image that came after that made me pause and make sure I was double backing the binoc's recordings. It would have looked amusing in any other circumstances. Two metallic forms, one barely managing to keep on its feet, the other supporting it though little taller than a kid itself, and with the chakram from earlier hovering above his/her head like a halo.
The taller one moved like she - well, the curves were right, armor covering every inch of the body aside - barely managed to put one foot in front of the other, and when she reached the Slave she reached out, placed a palm against it ...
The Materialized beast shuddered as what looked like a wormhole shot open above it, pulling its beaten corpus in and snapping closed immediately thereafter.
Which was when everybody's attention was riveted to the area where the ripples had occured. With good cause, since the trees there were abruptly uprooted and thrown into the air as another Slave charged. This one far more massive than the fish-facehugger-thing. A giant of grey, gold and red that seemed a fusion of a beast of some sort with a chariot. Which could fly. And was charging through the air, massacred woodlands in its wake, towards the still black clad figure.
Definitely one of those - you have to have seen it to believe it - things.
There and then, I felt the characteristic ripple I had when still back in Lutetia, centered on the figure. The zoom of the binocs was enough to let me see that all the bulk it carried, which had seemd oddly angular before, was some sort of armor. Solid, flat black colored, cumbersome looking ...
The air around it was momentarily speared by scores of ice spikes, which simply snapped into being ... feeling like they were Materializing around it ... before shooting forward with a wave of its hand.
The charging Slave wasn't stopped by the onslaught, though. It was hardly phased ...
... which was when I noticed the figure wasn't where it had been standing, but rather ... in the air, leaping towards the attacking beast ...
There was a flash of metal against metal, and I realized there had been someone riding the beast, and the the figure and that someone were now in the process of duking it out on top of the flying Slave, twin swords against armored gauntlets.
And a moment later, the figure's right arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder, the twin short sword wielding red-head who'd done it - the Slave's Lord if I guessed right - grinning in triumph ... before being bodychecked by her opponent's far greater mass when said opponent refused to as much as flinch at the loss of a limb.
Later, when rewatching the footage, I'd see the figure's remaining hand snatch something from the red-head's belt as said red-head went tumbling from her Slave.
The signatures of Materializing Robes flared, even as the falling red-head hit the tree-line, Slave diving down after her.

---

Yes, Lumen and Ketos got the shit kicked out of them, and the Aries and Garderobe contingent only arrived to see the ending theme of that particular battle.
Smith didn't show up to snatch what Aswad grabbed from the ruins because ... well, why bother when you've got someone else to do it, and they needed a better field test than just playing with normal troops anyway.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

---

---

"It's good to see you're awake."
I don't know how typical it is, but every time I've woken up after sedation has been abrupt, like I had simply gone from total unconciousness to opening my eyes and thinking, 'Hm, I'm awake' without passing through any of the usual stages in between. Now, of course, everyone does that from time to time, but only by involving adrenaline in the process, which usually isn't how it works for me.
At that point, my subconcious still hadn't linked Shizuru's voice to the 'panic' button the way my concious mind had, so, for better or worse, that time was 'typical.'
"Mwehuh?"
Powers of speech and motion took noticably longer to engage than coherent thought did... or at least longer than the illusion of same. Eventually, though, I had put my mind together enough to take stock of my situation.
I was back in a hospital room - the view out the window looked almost identical to my last stay in that building, so I knew I had to be in about the same section, perhaps even the exact same room. My left arm was completely numb below the shoulder, and looked to be lying limp but carefully bandaged, and there was an IV in my right. Mikoto was zonked out in one of the visitor's chairs, and Shizuru was perched in the other with a notebook and Japanese Lit. textbook open in her lap. "How does your arm feel?" she asked.
"It doesn't," I reported. "How should it?"
"It shouldn't. Your muscles and tendons were badly torn - the doctor said that you should avoid moving it at all for at least the next couple of weeks. He'll be coming by to discuss it with you later."
"Thanks." Something occurred to me. "What happened with the Lingere Monster after they put me under?"
She told me.
I blinked. "Holy fucking shit."
"Quite." I found myself absently wondering just how many people had been driven to tears of frustration by that composed little smile of hers.

---

Grarrrrgh! Shizuru, the hell? GAH!
I'm sorry, but wrapping my head around her speech and thought patterns is giving me fits, because as calm and restrained as she is, she doesn't take it all the way, y'know? It's a struggle trying to strike the right balance between 'noble lady' and 'normal'...
*sigh*
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

Well, the scene where she met the businessmen gives a clue to her "normal" character:
There is a time and place for all things.
And think iron hand inside the velvet glove.
She does not issue threats..no need to. Crossing her is doesn't even cross your mind.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Rieverre]

---

She does not issue threats..no need to. Crossing her is doesn't even cross your mind.

---

Maa ...
Generally, I try to imagine Love Hina's Mutsumi Otohime, only without the fainting thing, a bit calmer, and with occasional homicidal tendencies. And sans the ever present watermelons.
Okay, so she's almost nothing like Otohime, but it seems to help.

---

The aftermath of this entire situation was a bit ... frantic ... and I made myself scarce before airborne Otome widened their search pattern enough to make out my position. About the last thing I'd recorded was the one still missing Garderobe student accompanied by dai Artai's diplomatic attache to Windbloom crawling out of the bushes and nearly getting crushed under the Aries' Otome's ball and chain. Very enthusiastic, our Haruka. Maybe even a tad too much.
Still, there was reason enough this time. I wasn't sure how many, but there were casualties among the troops who'd ridden the APC. That little guy's chakram packed a mean punch, and I think it actually ricoched around inside ... well, with forseeable results.
Seeing as Armitage's official position _was_ General of the Aries Armed Forces ... she took it personally.
Mental note, I should try not to aggrevate her next time I see her. Though how well that works ... eh.
And speaking of the little guy, and the other metallic marauders ... there was only one group that had a good enough grasp on the 'old' technology to manage the creation of cyborgs. Not to mention enough motivation to do so.
They'd capitalized on the distraction and managed to make themselves as scarce as I was there and then.
As for Schwarz ... there wasn't really any chance of trailing them further. Their reasons for being here _now_ ... they'd obviously been aware of the presence of the Aswad cyborgs. Going after the same thing? So why pull in the resources from Lutetia.
A field test of ... whatever Frosty the Snowman was? It was a possibility. The loss of an arm hadn't slowed him/her/it down any, and however they'd managed that ice ... definite badness potential in that development.
... it actually took me a bit to realize I'd recognized the blond guy who'd nearly gotten to meet Haruka's mace head on. Only occured to me when I was busy trying not to crash the Frame into any trees, rocks, and so on - you know, worst possible moment for a revelation - that Scarhead over yonder monuntain was the guy Yamada had been feeding information for a while now.
Huh. Small world? Pfft. If you believe that, I have some prime farming land on the Romus border to sell you.
This wasn't actually too surprising, when considered objectively. After all, myself, Miyu and Yamada ... we all had our own agendas towards which we were working. Black's creation had merely made them easier to achieve.
I got back to the town and stowed the Frame back in the office's small garage before either the Aries or the Garderobe contingent did, which was a lucky break of sorts. Gave me time to change into something that didn't smell of bark and sap, or look like it had survived a ride over forest paths at middlingly uncomfortable speeds, and make my way over to the villa at the edge of town at a comfortable pace.
I still had those messages to deliver.

---

Ara ara?
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Valles]

Rewatching Episode 11, I just realized - Nagi thinks she's working with him to bring about the true Festival, if for her own reasons.
SEARRS thinks she's a major agent of theirs, helping to direct events at the Academy in their favor.
I mean, holy fucking shit.

---

Maa ...
Ara ara?

---

The thing is, though, that as far as I can remember, she never actually says either of those!
I don't know much about Otohime, I'm afraid - not really a LH fan.
Would the alternate image of, 'Belldandy, only a bitch' work? (A brain-breaking concept in its own right, I know.)
Ja, -n
(Blech. Shizuru...)
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Rieverre]

---

I mean, holy fucking shit.

---

Fujino. Shizuru Fujino. Tea, green.

---

The thing is, though, that as far as I can remember, she never actually says either of those!

---

Bleedover from the Otohime thing, I think. At least for the 'ara'.
*idea* Love HiME?! *braincrash* Bad brain! Bad!

---

Would the alternate image of, 'Belldandy, only a bitch' work? (A brain-breaking concept in its own right, I know.)

---

Dunno ... Bell just doesn't _work_ with Basic Nastiness 101. Plus, she's too domestic.
I don't know if there's anyone even remotely like Shizuru out there.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[ordnance11]

---

Dunno ... Bell just doesn't _work_ with Basic Nastiness 101. Plus, she's too domestic.

---

Actually it might just work..at episode 26 time frame 12:00
Nao was pissed off at her and she did what would be a "Belldandy" pose of apology..so yes Bell plus basic nastiness 101 would work.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

[Valles]

---

Fujino. Shizuru Fujino. Tea, green.

---

...*head explodes*
my god. I can see it.
Shot of the Red Star in the sky, expands and comes closer and closer until it expands enough that you can see Shizuru walking as it tracks across the screen, turn, *shing* of motion then red flows over the screen and the star wobbles and falls to one side before it expands to reveal a commando team moving into a base, SWAT style, Bond theme plays, then *shingthwipsplut* chain-naginata all over the place in a flashy action sequence and they all fall over, cut to black and cue Asu e Touchdown...
Mashiro is M, of course, with Mikoto Moneypenny, the startlingly adrogynous ninja genius Q, and Natsuki Cougar, a revenge-driven freelancer currently living under a highly suggestive pseudonym... Plot has two completely seperate conquer-the-world/world-for-ransom schemes running afoul of each other when a major department store's special ops department has built a powerful orbital weapons platform only to have it collide with one of the orbital reflector sattelites intended to redirect the beams of the ground-based DIANA laser facility, which has been secretly taken over by the Supreme Executive Council Society and its leader, Shizuru's old nemesis, She Of The Fluffy White Cat, Haruka Weissfeld, with the aid of her pet hacker and the reoccurring Plot Dragons Wind, Fire, and Earth... ETA: And, of course, the well compensated assistance of the (in)famous free agent known only as 'Juliet'.
*mad laughter*
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[ordnance11]

---

Rewatching Episode 11, I just realized - Nagi thinks she's working with him to bring about the true Festival, if for her own reasons.
SEARRS thinks she's a major agent of theirs, helping to direct events at the Academy in their favor.
I mean, holy fucking shit.

---

Plus, Nagi seems to have a thing for her, it looks like.
So...an ally?. Since Tate-N's goals and hers seems to dovetail.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell