From out of Left Field...

Of Course Zuikaku (or whoever the unconscious shipgirl actually was), HAS to wake up then and there and start having some kind of magical fit...

And everyone, INCLUDING the Emperor of Mankind, can only watch as they find themselves . . . frozen in place. Except for one bruised and battered Red Shirted figure in Kirk's crew who is growling in anger as he struggles to break the wooden stocks he finds himself trapped in.

"THiS iSN'T rIght!" he mutters darkly, seeing an opportunity passing by as he can but just watch from afar!

Meanwhile...

The Crane Princess pauses from her fussing over her little box of baby Wo-class Abyssal and looks up at her . . .Other.

"Phew... That's enough," she whispers, looking momentarily distressed as if at the start of an existent crisis. Only to calm as she glances at one of the babes by her as she give her a toothless grin.

"I mean... I did what I could have done...," she continues, nodding to herself as if coming to a conclusion. But frowning as she finds . . .she cannot stop speaking those haunting words. The words she remembers haven spoken right before starting to sink below the waves for the last time. Right before realizing something had been VERY wrong but being unable to stop her death monolog. Her lying monolog! "That's right... at that day... at that sea... I did what I could have done... Eh? You, you are... me...I see... Alright!"

"I am the Crane Princess," she nods to herself, satisfied as to who she is for a few seconds only to look up in alarm as her Other's "fit" becomes more alarmingly "pronounced" for lack of better words.

"W-who am I then if I am over there?" Zuikaku whispers alarmed, slowly sitting up and staring into the middle distance and seeing nothing. "If . . . i-if the Crane Princess is me, does that make me not Zuikaku all along? Does that mean that I am Zuikaku and she is Zuikaku? We're both Zuikaku? Both the Crane Princess? That makes no sense! I am over here and she was over there? Does that mean that she was actually Defending mankind as the I was actually trying to kill every last human being?

"No . . .that makes no sense. That is NOT who I am but . . . Who am I then? I am? I a-am. I am!!"

The Crane Princess' rigging (the toothy creature that was part mechanical shark and part landing strip) rears up and stands before Zuikaku and the Crane Princes with her infants, protecting them.

Paying no mind, poor Zuikaku has a look of exhalation comes to her face as she stands suddenly, her rigging (having already manifested earlier) begins to flicker in and out of existence wildly. Then her "landing deck" part of her rigging suddenly drops off to the side, forgotten as she suddenly morphs into somebody else!

"I'm Zuihou," the shipgirl chirps brightly. "I'm a light carrier, but with proper experience, I'll be able to show you that I perform as well as an aircraft carrier."

She then flickers back into Zuikaku and the majority (but not ALL) of her rigging back to "normal." looking put out massively as she shakes her head in confusion.

"No, no I am not Zuihou!" she mutters to herself.

"But . . .you are Zuikaku!" the Crane Princess protests, looking concerned for her confused . . .Other's distress. She would go over to hug the Other, but finds her way blocked by not only her fussing box of infant Wo-classes, but her sharky landing deck (who fears for her mistress' safety).

Meanwhile, Zuikaku's dropped landing deck has . . .morphed slightly into something a bit . . .toothier. That is unnoticed by the two shipgirls however.

"No I'm not!!" the shipgirl in distress protests loudly, looking back at the Princess. "I am? I am? I am!"

"Hmpf, it seems that I've kept you waiting ...," a well-tanned and busty Japanese Battleship says proudly as she looks over at the Crane Princess. "Second of the Yamato -class battleships, Musashi, has arrived!"

The battleship shipgirl then morphs back into Zuikaku, who staggers about for a few seconds before looking at the Crane Princess again, alarmed.

"What was that?!" the poor aircraft carrier blinks. "I thought that I was . . .Musashi? But? I am NOT her! But . . .I am actually Zuikaku?"

A hopeful look passes over her face, only to fall and disappear into her head shaking in denial, rejecting such a notion! Anything else that the Crane Princess would have said on the matter is interrupted by Zuikaku's discarded rigging as it starts . . .growling at the Crane Princess. Both aircraft carrier shipgirls look over in askance as they witness Zuikaku's discarded landing deck has now sprouted both TEETH and . . .Musashi's powerful battleship guns! Looking like a more colorful version of the Crane Princess' sharky landing deck!

And of course, that change seems to jump then to Zuikaku herself in the span of a mere handful of seconds. First change Zuikaku finds her dark green hair turning plain black and then starts to braid itself again and again into twin tails, mimicking the wild hairstyle of the Crane Princess. Second change which sweeps through Zuikaku is the short red skirt that she'd been sporting changes into the red shorts that Zuihou had been sporting. Then almost instantly after that, the red and white hachimaki that the other aircraft carrier shipgirl had worn as a headband now adorns Zuikaku as a belt (worn like how the Crane Princess wears it).

Yeah, Zuikaku (or whoever this actually is here) morphs into a more colorful version of the Crane Princess . . .including the fact Zuikaku now as busty as the Crane Princess (and Musashi).

Oh! And her now glowing PURPLE eyes! Let us not forget that! Must not forget that!!

"But-but-but!" the transformed Zuikaku protests, looking increasingly panicked and shaking her head violently in denial. She wanted to be herself, not a mere Mirror!! "But what? What?!"

"Princess Zuikaku?" a young teenage boy's voice calls out from the side, interrupting Zuikaku's slide into a mental breakdown. "I got a bunch of your misplaced kiddies here you might want to take claim of here?"

A figure in tan POWER Armor of indeterminant origin steps past the growling gaurdians and then steps forward with a box of oddly familiar looking Wo-class infants. Yep, a box of Wo-class aircraft carrier baby shipgirls who are identical to the Crane Princess' ones in fact.

Going past the pair of growling shark/landing deck rigging things as if they weren't even there, the young man in power armor goes. The rigging . . .things are left in Shock at being totally ignored; the twin toothy THINGS instead watch in befuddlement as the teenager stops in front of both shipgirl princesses and then gestures at the box of precious infants.

"Oh?" 'Princess' Zuikaku blinks, looking first at the unannounced teenage boy in power armor (and sporting bird WINGS coming out of the back of his armour for SOME reason) and then at the box. And found she could only look at that . . .precious cargo as they look at her. "Oh? Ooooh!"

Suffering from baby blinders, the new princess rushed over to her children . . .delighted beyond words.

"Okay, that worked it looks like?" muttered the teenager, looking at the now totally drunk on infant shipgirl/princess fussing over her newest (and youngest) fleet. "And no evil rejects from the Mysterious Stranger showing up here to ruin things? No Randal Flagg?"

"Who are you?" the Crane Princess blinks, only to jump when a scream of demonic rage interrupts and ask that very same thing! And while that that should have scared the infants into a crying/screaming mess, it didn't since SOME Random Omnipotent Being opted on shielding the little ones of this by freezing them in time for this next part.

"Moi?" the tan power armoured teen asked mocking. "I'm one of the guys who objects to your little plans on making linear time a fond memory by making the Dark Tower fall!"

Princess Zuikaku and the Crane Princess look at each other in askance, not knowing just what/who in the Hell Randal Flagg and this Dark Tower is. And what and how this could endanger linear time was also lost to them.

"All things Serve the Beam," a male voice says softly. "And the best way you would serve the Beam is with your death Flagg. But not yet..."

And between suddenly a rather loud argument in an alien language starts between the unseen voice's owner and a rather beat up Red Shirt that both Shipgirl princesses believe must be Flagg, ending with the Red Shirt screaming in rage as he slowly faded from existence to places unknown.

"Take over kid," a man shaped entity (dressed like a human male sailor from the 20th century but clearly had an eldritch aura to him) says to the tan colored power armoured teen, and then blips out of existence.

"Ah yeah right," muttered the teenager, shrinking slightly as now ALL eyes are upon him, including a twelve-foot-tall man dressed in armour with more gold than God's own Cadillac. "Of course, you'd leave that to me. Of course."

"And just who are you again besides being someone against that fugitive from Stephen King's The Stand young man?" the former International man of mystery continues, frowning slightly as he sees that perhaps a softer touch might be called for here.

"Don't worry," the Emperor says, opting on shifting into a somewhat less threatening form (his olden image as his time as James Bond as seen in Dr. No). "I will not order you to reveal the truth nor try to use my power to Take it from your mind. But as Emperor I do feel a NEED to understand what is going on here, considering that THINGS that just left clearly are more than they appear, to say the least."

Every last person (human and shipgirl) had felt it in their bones the alienness from both Flagg and the sailor looking eldritch entity who'd left moments ago and almost anything would be believable.

Almost!

John Quatermain ("maiden" name Conner) swallowed slightly and groaned softly; he had expected this but had hoped that the others of his little adventuring group would have arrived BEFORE him. Sparing him this task.

"Well, you are kinda going to have trouble believing this even with your Psyker power!" John begins, pulling off his helmet to show his face. "But since according to what I heard from my team lead explain it Warmaster Horus said that you studied up on 20th and 21rst Century sci-fi and fantasy pop culture? On the off-chance you guys meet us Champions, Mr. Bond?"

"Uh, I mean your . . .Emperorship?" Johh grimaces at how lame the last sounded.

"Mr. Bond is fine for THIS time 'John'?" the Emperor smiled slightly in humor, granting a small boon for the poor young man since he IS trying to be respectful AND informative. "And maybe you might finally explain why you Champions seemed so enamored with copying characters from those works of fiction and maybe even WHAT that power I detected so long ago from your earlier visitors to Ter. . . .Earth please? I don't have to worry about anyone being targeted for termination, right?"

He recognized John Conner from the Terminator franchise. Now finally! He could finally make allies with potential friendly aliens who would be SO very useful in fighting the forces of the Ruinous Powers! Finally!

These "shipgirls" gave off the similar aura as those "Champions" but having a larger field of potential allies to draw upon would be most fine indeed!

"Wait!" Trinitite interrupted, not liking this business with Horus being involved. "Tell me that this is Pre-Heresy Horus please?"

Putting aside who John looked like, that snot nosed punk kid who was fated to "save the humans from Skynet", she instead concentrated on the here and now!

"Pre-Heresy Horus?" mouthed softly the Emperor, looking at Trinitite both for interrupting AND for this "heresy" business. He DID not at all like the sound of it. But he felt it may have to do with this Warhammer 40k game the shipgirls had been talking about before this latest mess.

He then blinked, and looked at the still silent Star Trekkers and rejects from the Pilgrims Progress and had a sinking feeling: they may not be merely "extras" for some kind of sci-fi convention that he'd inadvertently unleashed back into the 40 millennium. His Primarchs had liked the fiction and fantasy he'd introduced to them and . . .spread it.

God help them all...this may have become even more convoluted than he'd believed in the first place. But best to stick to his decision to keep the entire lot silenced for now. Imagine trying to sort out the hundreds and hundreds of questions and shouts from everyone now! Still!

"Pre-Heresy Horus would be the best way to describe him ma'am," John answered, feeling a need to add however. "But more like a Horus who resisted falling to the Ruinous Powers and got yanked away from them killing him for resisting due to magicks . . .from some place in the multi-verse where some TV show I've never heard of called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Was the Halloween episode where the costumes made the wearers become them become the characters they'd dressed as or something like that."

He shakes his head, not sure he'd want to watch something so . . .out there. The veiled anger Rei had towards some young witch chick made John wonder if it would have been worth watching or a total flop. Whatever. All this mystical/magical stuff was making his head spin sometimes. Nearest thing up until now had been one of the wilder AD&D games he'd done while back home after school. Now this!

"Father! You are NOT going to believe what I've been doing and met!" a powerful voice echoes throughout the area, pausing as a rather tall and somewhat beaten up male figure says, halfway sticking out of a glowing portal off in a small clearing nearby. Right next to another (!) group of people, some with winged power armour (but more akin to the type you'd find from the Sisters of Battle....ala Warhammer 40K). The others are. . . .almost as oddly out of place as the mix of Star Trek and Pilgrims (with one figure looking like the Devil himself none withstanding).

Blanching, the male figure (who some identify AS WARMASTER HORUS) ducks back into glowing portal for a few seconds and then with a smile still on his face (which he wipes immediately off after fully exiting the portal stands and glances at his Emperor (and father) and then at the rest of the area around him, lingering on the winged Sisters of Battle looking group.

"Father! I have grave news as well as some Great news but . . .," Horus (who'd power armour looks like it had been through a meat grinder), looks at the winged Sister of Battle (?) with sky blue hair--her helmet was off--in askance.

"How did you manage to get here ahead of me AND be back there?" he finally managed, gesturing where the Portal had been. "I'd thought this had been to the Palace on Terra, but not to here. Time travel?"

Rei Takahashi (nay Ayanami) sighed, nodding yes before pulling forth a set of infant girls (which seems to be something of a trend), and starts walking over to join the fun! The Emperor blinks as if slapped when his eyes fall upon the infant girls, who's infant blankets were of this long lost Primarchs from the Scattering!

"This is going to be a very confusing story I do not doubt," Trinitite mutters, sharing a look with her Princess and Georgia.

1. "This is going to be a very confusing story I do not doubt," Trinitite mutters, sharing a look with her Princess and Georgia.

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