Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Fiction - Episode 6: The Next Generation (FIN)

[The Traveler]

21 Days after their birth... Sakurako was tired.

But happy.

Every hungry mouth required her attention. She was perpared. She had a schedule where two at a time could be fed by her over the course of an hour. She believed in a natural feeding, so she faithfully scheduled her day around the new lives under her care.

In between she had everyone on deck. Chris handled the heavy lifting in regards to getting food and supplies. Mary helped with caring for their health, and Sarah loved cleaning and caring for them with The Professor's help.

Three monitored their every heartbeat and cry as a digital Nanny.

And Sakurako knew it wouldn't last. She sensed it, their Quantum was starting to surge upward. She felt their movements. She knew Yomi was already talking and some of the other babies were already expressing powers, although in very subtle ways.

As she fed Kamina, it happened. He started to glow at his last feed, and he grew.

The others grew one at a time soon afterward. Yomi being the last to have a growth spurt.

Sakurako sighed as she noticed they were starting to grow teeth and were starting to seem they wanted semi-solid food.

She wondered why their growth was like this, but she realized that their childhood wouldn't be long as she surmised.

They will only be toddlers for a few months. Adolescents in the same way. It would be a year before they were full adults.

She sat in her office and cried after taking a break.

"I'm... going to have to enjoy every moment... aren't I?"

She picks up her communication unit that looks like a antique phone on her desk. "Tokyo command, yes this is Sakurako. I'm going to have to take a year's time away... right... Yes the younglings. Oh good everything is in order? I've seen my Mother is handling her duties as the Chancellor very well. She's already dropped martial law and has started the mechanical things required for Democracy across the planet. She's more suited for it..."

She sits back. "I'm... okay... Just I gotta enjoy every moment of my children now. Tell Mother when she is able thank you for everything."

She hangs up and sighs. Before standing back up and stepping out.

Her children are starting to figure out how to walk. And somehow with her perception... it seems even for it's evanescence it was... just right.

[The Traveler]

Three months later... more or less...

She called Chris in, wanting help in the playroom they set up in the former room that was Heather's. Turning it into a small playground with toys, and everything they could think of to make it their home.

"Kamina, stop pulling Yomi's hair! Umi, go help your sister! Aoi! Calm Yomi down she's starting to cry. Martin, stop trying to hack into the computer system of the ship! Again! And Sam... stop copying your sister!"

She sighs, her once well kept hair was frazzled. But she knew today by her calculations would be the day their had another growth spurt. After today their education would begin and she would have to cram in a whole school education in 6 months time. Their adolescent years would be a crash course, and although the children are all absorbing their education at various speeds on their own, it never feels like enough to Sakurako.

Yomi runs over and hugs Sakurako's leg. Of all the others, Yomi looked to her mother like a protector and mentor, even for a toddler her long black hair suggested she was going to be beautiful, but for now the little one was the cutest of the bunch. Aoi was the peacemaker, speaking to every sibling and calming conflicts. Although it seems Yomi tries the same, but she doesn't have the sway like her sister Aoi. Martin was a genius, a builder and doer, a dreamer and architect. Sam was a social chameleon in the literal sense. Umi was a water controller, and would make imaginary friends made of water to play with. But Kamina... he was the true personality, a force of nature contained in a toddler's body. He had already lifted several tons once and has shown himself to be tougher than vitrium yet flexible like eufiber.

She both wondered and feared their next stage of development.

When Chris walked in, Kamina immediately turns around and runs to him. "Dad!"

He jumps up and grabs on around his neck like he had jumped into a tree.

"Well Chris... today is the day." Sakurako said, lifting Yomi up unto her lap. She scratches her nose in code. She didn't want to tell the kids their next growth spurt was coming. They'll figure it out after today... but it would become a goal for them she hoped than something to just wait for. A benchmark of future growth.

Yomi laid against Sakurako's chest, using her like a pillow. Sakurako takes a breath, expanding the airsacs in her chest to make Yomi's rest softer.

"Yomi I think's going to sleep... would be her... She's always seeming to be in a dream."

"And Kamina how many times have I told you, ask before jumping up on your father!"

Kamina looks recalcitrant. "Sorry Mommy..."

"What do you say to Daddy?"

"Please?"

Chris nods and Kamina smiles as he hugs him.

"Everyone, can you come over here for a few minutes? Daddy's here!"

The other children run over, some teasing their siblings or simply coming over to see what Chris is there for.

Sakurako giggles. "I think Chris would love to see you guys a little bit." Sakurako says.

[Mech]

Chris had been onhand for their fist steps, many of their first words. He worked tirelessly for this world, bettering it through his efforts, making it somewhere he'd be happy to raise his children. And the children themselves were growing rapidly. in three weeks they were already at the size of year olds. He marveled at thiem, not knowing why, but accepting their maturation.

The attention of his younges son made him smile. He had the alpha personality of the children, though Chris knew Aoi was the one to watch. He could feel her probing him, or trying to. "It's good to see all of you. and for today, I'm all yours."

[The Traveler]

Kamina grins. "I got something to show you, Daddy!"

He hops off and lands on his feet and Sakurako feels the Quantum surge like before. "Chris... Looks like Kamina is the first this time..."

The other children look, and Yomi wakes up and sits in Sakurako's lap seeing Kamina start glowing. "Mommy... Kamina is growing again!"

Sakurako wondered why Yomi was able to understand what was happening, but seeing Yomi was the most intelligent of the 6 and the most perceptive, she understood. "Yomi... he is... you all will today. I wanted Chris here this time to see what I saw when you became toddlers. Have fun... enjoy this time. Things will change once you all go through this."

"But Mommy... I want to be a kid..."

Sakurako tussles Yomi's long black hair. "Don't worry about it. We all grow up. Kamina is just first this time."

Yomi buries her head in Sakurako's chest.

"She's taking it hard... as expected..."

Kamina completes his growth spurt and looks very much like a adolescent.

"Chris... the children seem to grow in spurts... growth stages instead of a gradual, linear growth. I think it sort of follows my ability to regenerate, but they seem to use it to grow. His next growth should be in about 3 more earth months."

Kamina hops about testing his new legs. "So Dad, when do we start the martial arts training or something? I wanna beat up bad guys!"

Yomi looks at Kamina. Her body starting to glow. "It's not about fighting, Kamina! It's about defending the weak and protecting peace!"

Kamina and Yomi never saw eye to eye. But there were times when they also stood side by side.

Kamina sighed, but Yomi hugged Sakurako as she grew. By the time she was done, she looked like the younger of the siblings. Kamina looked 10, but Yomi looked 7. The others felt like they were starting to change but they were slower than the two. It would be a hour or two Sakurako wagered. She let them play and enjoy their last moments of their toddlerhood.

"Yomi, could you hop off for me please? You're a bit heavier now."

She nodded and hopped off of Sakurako. "May be excused to go to the Library?"

"Not yet, dear. The other 4 will be coming along soon..."

Yomi pouted but nodded as she went over to where the coloring books were and started making origami from the used pages with her powers.

[Mech]

The jump to adolescense was Jarring to see for Chris, but he nodded. "You all certainly aren't giving me much time to get used to you."

What followed in the next four months was a mix of learning and play. When they learned from Chris it was in the use and application of their nova abilities. Sakurako taught them Academia.

Aoi had proven to be a telepath and telekinetic. She was cute, but soon he could tell she'd become more, and beautiful would be a better descriptor. Samuel was a shapeshifter like him, and possessed more power than he should. He seemed to take the mantle of responsibility well. Kamina was a hothead, and sometimes he came off as a bully, which earned him stern reprimands from Dad. He had Dad's impossible toughness.

One thing all of them did was fly and in that, he flew with them freely, ending the day with the seven of them flying together.

One night he walked with Aoi and smiled. "Promise you won't take their will away. Even with all my power I never take away the right to choose. Use your unique gifts to make things better. but never let power consume you." Among all the children, he worried most with her. She seemed to have all his social grace, and mental powers that neither of her parents had.

She looked at him, knowing there could be no deception and nodded. "I promise Father, I will do as you have asked of me."

[The Traveler]

Sakurako prepared her classroom for Aoi. It wasn't going to be a typical lesson. It was one she felt needed to be brought home.

Aoi sat down at her desk in the class. Sakurako preferred her lessons to be one-on-one. Also she requested that each of the children when in class dressed in a proper school uniform during the educational portions of their day. The uniform she chose was a brown vest with a white sailor collared blouse for the girls or a white shirt for the boys, a red tie for the boys and red bows for the girls, and a black pair of pants for the boys or a long black skirt for the girls. Any shoes were allowable. Yomi seemed to enjoy the uniforms most, and wore it even when not "in class".

"Hello Mother. What's today's lesson?"

Sakurako used a abandoned school for her lessons. She let her other children clean then make sure the school she was using was kept presentable. She also allowed them to play, but she banned the use of powers on the premises. It was a challenge to them to have them learn to adapt to know when the use of powers was proper. Of course, Kamina was the worst delinquent in this since all his powers were physical... but she would get to him soon enough she hoped.

"Today I wanted to give you a historical lesson."

She sat down in front of Aoi. "When I told you what you gathered from World War II, I wanted you to see things from the angle of Hitler. What did you learn."

She scratched her head. "I picked up that his successes as a leader only came when everyone was in lock-step with his plans. The minute he started to lose his grip not only on his own control but showed his true colors as a dictator, his regime crumbled from within as it crumbled from without."

"Aoi. What sort of leadership structure did he have?"

"A cult of personality. One where a elaborate fiction was created to make him the leader of his people."

Sakurako clapped her hands and pointed to her. "Correct assessment, Aoi. But now, here is a tough one. How did his people fare before Germany was torn apart as such paper to a grinder?"

"The Germans lived well, as long as you fit the part. If you were other... you were second class and worth eliminating."

"And why did that exist?"

"The Nazi regime was built under the premise that the Jews were the underpinning of Germany's downfall in the first world war and were instrumental in Germainy's failure as a state during the Wiemar Republic."

Sakurako nodded.

"What did you take from this."

"A charismatic leader can, and most of the time does, take the reigns of power easily because he sells himself to the people, but generally they have the most ulterior motives."

Sakurako leans forward. "How do you assess yourself?"

"Hmm?"

"I didn't stutter, Aoi. You can sense my thoughts when you're in passive mode can you not? You know what I want to ask. It's locked in my head. Aren't you in the least bit curious?"

"You... you banned the use of powers on campus unless specifically ordered to or in your own defense."

"I know. But it's you and me... Here I am... I wouldn't even know."

Aoi winced. "No."

"What... I didn't hear..."

"No... I don't want to."

"Then... How do you assess yourself?"

"In regards to?"

"That is for you to find out."

"I... I don't know..."

"You do know. Didn't you do the class material as I expressly asked?" She leans foreward. "How do you assess yourself?"

"I... you think I am... a potential dictator?"

"I didn't ask about me. And you failed."

"What?"

"You read my mind!"

"I didn't!"

"That was the thought in my head, but it wasn't what I wanted you to find."

"I didn't read your mind it was the most obvious question from the course material! And No, I am not a dictator in the making because I loathe people that manipulate others!"

Sakurako smiles. "Heh... you passed then... Want to know what I was thinking?"

"What?"

"The Fibonacci sequence. I was looking to read the look on your face when all you saw was numbers. Luckily you stuck to your guns."

Sakurako stands up and looks outside. "Do you know why I put you through this lesson?"

"To test my moral and ethical limits?"

"No... I actually think they are sound... but what I do want to know is... Why did you manipulate me?"

"What?"

"You manipulated me into showing my hand through a careful question followed by a rebuke. You asked if I thought you were a dictator, assessing that from the lesson material for today. You then rebuked my accusation and moved me to the point where I would tell you what was on my mind. Yet you had a tell... you said you hated when people manipulate you, correct?"

"Yes."

"Wrong, you said you hated when people manipulated others."

Sakurako smiled, sitting back down in front of her. "You're so focused on protecting yourself from stumbling into other peoples minds that you've left yourself open to having your recollection of events skewed by a interrogation. People can do that."

"That's not right!" Aoi says angrily, getting right up in Sakurako's face. "No... it isn't yet people play that game every day in every universe I have been to." She puts her hand on Aoi's shoulder. "I want you to remember I did that to strengthen you. You know the consequences of power. And you now know what those in power will do to twist someone into compliance. That was classic interrogation and manipulation at work. Learn to protect yourself from it and you'll have what you need. Now you know how it feels."

Aoi looks down at the floor. "You didn't fail, Aoi... I have given you the weapons you need to succeed."

[Mech]

Kamina chose the hard way. He sparred with his father, annoyed that there was nothing he could do against him. "Kamina, stop!"

"No I'm gonna hit you at least once!"

Chris shook his head. "No." He was a blur landing a blow to the back of Kamina's head that knocked him out. Sam and Martin were watching intently. "What lesson did Kamina fail to learn?"

"Understand and assess your opponent. If he's beyond you accepted it, fall back and regroup."

He nodded. "Carry him back home. His mother will have words for him."

[The Traveler]

An hour later Kamina's recuperative power does him credit and he is fully functional, laying in the gymnasium. Sakurako is laying next to him and she looks over to him as he stirrs. "Oh... done getting yourself almost killed for your own personal gain?"

Kamina searches in his mind for a comeback as Sakurako sits up. He notices he's in his school uniform again.

"Mother... you know how much I hate wearing this."

"Yep."

"You saw what happened out there didn't you?"

Sakurako does a hop-up like a martial artist. "Of course. I saw it as I was giving Aoi her lesson for the day."

Kamina looks away in shame.

"Kamina... stand up."

Kamina is confused. "Stand Up, Kamina."

He stands up and brushes off. "What if I told you there is another way to be a warrior?"

"Come on, not that again..."

"No seriously. Let me show you..." She looks up. "Three! Begin simulation!"

Three begins projecting a holographic village around them. Something that could be seen in a military training exercise.

"So what is the goal here?"

"Identify the sniper through sound and the rounds alone. you have the perception and the intelligence to pull this off Kamina."

A shot goes off and Sakurako ducks behind a sandbag pile. "Get down!"

Kamina gets behind a rock nearby. "We're hiding from sniper fire?"

"They're using "God Killer" rounds. You saw the specs right?"

"Yeah! Dangerous work those things."

"Okay... where are those shots coming from?"

"I don't know! I didn't see the shot!"

"Remember, that rifle is being controlled by a Human. They miss, even the best snipers in the world miss a Nova on the move."

Kamina nods and moves away form his rock to a different position. The sniper fires off two more rounds.

"Did you see it yet?"

"No! I'm too busy running!"

"Dammit boy! You can look around as you run! Close in and move!"

Kamina listens to Sakurako's commands and he moves up and for the first time he sees the bullet, aimed at him. He dodges and gets behind cover again.

".50 Cal... fired from a Barret... Max range 2.5 Kilometers estimated."

"Where did the shot come from?"

"Don't know yet!"

"Dammit! Focus!"

Sakurako moves position and a bullet misses her by two feet as she gets behind cover. Then it clicks in Kamina's head.

"That bullet has a velocity of Mach 1.1... I got an idea... Mother! I need you to move one more time!"

"What?"

"Do it!"

Sakurako listens and does a tumbling leap to a new cover point as another shot goes off, narrowly missing her chest as the bullet whizzes by.

"Angle... 45 degrees. My turn!"

He dashes out to her position turns to where he guess the shots are coming from and for the first time sees the shot's position. He dives to her.

"It's the guard tower, 75 meters from us at 2 O'clock."

"Got you... how you figure that out?"

"Triangulation."

She hands him a target designator. "Mark the target. You can paint it on the move. You have to keep the laser on it for 10 seconds and Chris will wipe it out."

Kamina nods and begins his staggered run, keeping the beam on the target... for 8 seconds the beam keeps on it, but just as it seems success was in his grasp... *BANG!*

Kamina looks down as most of his chest is obliterated.

Simulation terminated...

"Dammit..."

Sakurako walks over to him. "You did everything right, Kamina... No need to be hard..."

"I could have done it!"

"And you would have. You died at .5 seconds remaining. Chris would have seen the location and raised Kaine. They did kill his favorite son."

"It... it was impossible to do without getting shot. I was out in the open for too long."

"Kamina... sometimes someone has to take that risk. At the right time."

Kamina looks down again, the holographic horror show disappeared. "Kamina..."

"You... you're right... my tilting at windmills serves no purpose... I... I had something to fight for... You."

Sakurako walks over and hugs him, although with her chest she could be suffocating him a little. "You definitely did. And that was the point!"

She releases him. "And... it's the only way to get you interested in your math lessons."

Kamina smiles. "Hey, at least you found a real-world use for it right?"

Sakurako smiles.

[Mech]

Umi garnered Chris's attention next, as she enjoyed playing in and with the water the ship rested in. He smiled. She was a cute girl, with aqua blue hair, and in truth her moods were as mercurial as the sea.

"There is one water you must never play with." She looked at him, blue eyes meeting his intently. She was something of a Daddy's girl, loving when he praised her, spending time with her and the like. "The human body is 80% water. Even if you can affect it, you must never do so to harm anyone." She looked at him and nodded vigorously.

"Okay Daddy, I promise!"

He pat her head and pulled her to him. "Good girl." She nuzzled into him and he smiled. "And as your mastery increases, I expect the weather too will obey you Umiko. You must ever be mindful of how your powers affect others." The young girl looked up at her Father, For all intents and purposes he was God of this world, it's protector, and final arbiter, for all that he disliked such a title.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"You love this world, don't you, and everyone in it?"

"I love all of you, and this world is your Mother's true home. I will protect it with all I have. I want you and your siblings to love and cherish it, and the people here too."

She nodded. "I do daddy, I love it here. I promise I'll help however I can."

He hugged her to him and smiled. "I know I can count on you, my little sea sprite."

[The Traveler]

Sakurako was in the gymnasium's swimming pool, floating in the water wearing a blue swimsuit and floating by a life jacket. Her lesson was for Umi, and it was one to see how well her physics was. Umi walked in wearing her swimsuit, smiling and waving.

"Hey Mommy!"

"Umi dear! Okay... I got a challenge for you. Remember our physics lesson last week?"

"Regarding Buoyancy?"

"Right, and we covered the concept of displacement. It's how buoyancy works. Now. Since my displacement is currently less since I have the added buoyancy of this 250 newton life vest on, I am currently quite buoyant."

And she was... she wasn't cheating with the airsacs she now had. "Now, I got a challenge for you... I want you, without coming into the water to save me..." She unlatches her vest after swimming over to the side of the pool and sets it on the side and grabs some weights. "...to bring me to the surface."

"But... you can breathe water, right?"

"Yes dear, I can, so don't worry about me drowning. But try to be quick with it, since someone may require your aid and your knowledge of this concept might be what saves them. Oh, and for this test you will be wearing that vest and sitting in the water."

Umi nods and puts the vest on. "Don't adjust the air in it just hop in."

She struggles a bit to keep the vest out of her face. "Distracting?"

"To say the least, this was made for an adult and even then it's big!"

"That's the point, now just float there while I sink myself. This is a timed test."

She pushes away and sinks herself to the bottom of the deep end and sits there with two 50 pound weights in hand.

Umi thinks for a moment and starts moving the water in the pool, starting the process of trying to push her mother up. The water starts to become turbulent as it moves from around Umi to start to push Sakurako up. Umi notices the seconds tick away and she puts everything she has into her effort, until Sakurako is on the surface. She takes a gasp of air and fills her airsacs enough to carry the weights.

"How much did you displace?!?"

She notices the water level around her is down quite a bit. Umi swims over and whispers the number in her ear. She felt proud since she practiced to know just how much water she moves at any one time.

"Great! Now you can return it to normal."

Umi relaxes, and the water does as well. Sakurako swims over to the side of the pool, depositing the weights and swimming back to Umi.

"So... you can now use that knowledge in a rescue situation you think?"

"That... I think could be useful." Umi says smiling. She swims over and hugs Sakurako as best she can.

"Aww..." Sakruako says with a smile. "...Now, you earned your reward. Have fun in the pool! I got the other younglings to teach."

"Yay!"

"I will be having three monitor you, but keep the vest on. Consider it a challenge since I know you like making things out of water."

"Do I have to?"

"Well... you can think outside the box... I said you have to wear it..."

Umi grins and starts letting the air out. "Good... have fun, Umi!" Sakurako says, pushing out and walking off to the showers.

"Umi is becoming very creative. She needs that creativity in order to fully realize her potential... Through knowledge of physics, she can unleash the full power of her talents. Hopefully Yomi has been a good influence on her." Sakurako thinks, grabbing a towel and putting it over her shoulder, thinking of the rest of today's lesson plan.

[Mech]

Martin was in his room, controlling a dozen game systems, three computers, and two Tv's with only his mind. "You don't even really need me to speak with you about your powers do you Martin?" "Not really Dad." He looked at him. "I still can't control your mechanical form, or even a clone."

"I'm not really a machine son. I'm alive even then."

"I know, but I'm trying to broaden my outlook. Living things are machines in a sense, just organic as opposed to inorganinc."

"Why?"

"Because if I can control it, I can fix it."

"Fix?" Chris' eyes narrowed.

"You know, when something goes wrong in the hardware, I can fix it alot of times without removing it. When coding is bad, I fix that too."

"And you'd treat living things that way?"

Martin stopped and looked at him. "You're really asking if I'd be so callous with life, thinking I know better."

"Yes."

"I wouldn't dad. You know I'm curious, and that I just really want to understand it all. I won't fix personality issues, or genetics. I don't think I really can. But if I can be a healer, if I can mend broken bodies like I mend broken machinery, that wouldn't be so bad would it? I want to be a real doctor, not just a mechanic."

Chris reached out and hugged him. "That's a noble goal son. I'm glad you have something like that in mind."

He smiled. "Aoi and I have had alot of talks about eithics. We have powers unlike the others, save Umi. We can affect people and the lives of people with minimal effort, and We've decided to work with each other to keep within what you've established as safe boundaries."

Chris nodded. "I knew I could counter on the two of you."

[The Traveler]

Martin tapped away on his datapad as he sat outside, a large hiking backpack he wore on his back and he traded his school shoes for hiking boots. Sakurako managed to weave in what most people would need in the outdoors in the uniforms she made her children wear, and Martin gave a lot of input.

He playfully worked on yet another engineering concept as Sakurako walked up.

"Are you ready?"

Sakurako was wearing a full dark grey and black jumpsuit-like garment, loaded with pockets. Her hiking backpack was lighter. "I see you prepared like I asked."

"Yes, three days nova-grade rations, a change of dry clothes, my rain-gear, a compass with map of the area, the deployable tent with room for two adults, a hand-cranked flashlight, 50 feet or rope, a fire-starting kit, a first aid kit and a two-person raft with foot pump."

Sakurako takes a knee. "I guess you decided to forget one important thing."

Martin blinked.

"You forgot to have fun. We're just going to the river to have a day outing."

"I was going to survey the life in the marshes downstream later, so I thought after our lesson today I would study the effects of this universe's revival on the plants and animals in the area. There have been reports of dead zones caused where the Hive did the most damage in nature, where there is nothing but a wasteland. I want to see if it was caused because the life in those areas was extinguished before the universe went into heat-death or if it was some lingering effect of their former presence."

Sakurako nodded. "Ah. That is actually quite thoughtful of you, Martin. But Nature can wait. It heals itself quite well if you let it."

"Humanity will need to eventually reclaim lost farmlands and find ways to efficiently restore damaged biomes to re-establish a homogenous climate. That is of great importance."

"In a hundred years time, Martin." She says, sitting down. She pats the ground next to her. "Sit... let's talk for a minute."

Martin dutifully sits down, looking out over the Satoyama.

"How long do you think it took for Nature to create that scene, Martin?"

"Over 100 million years or so, in recent geological history."

"What would that look like if we made it? Would it look natural? Would there be a balance to everything there?"

Martin looked puzzled. "We... we create... we bring order to the chaos. It would be a efficient system that would benefit everything that lived there."

"Martin... it would, but nature is also efficient. It takes time but it operates in a way where life moves forward and strengthens itself. Do you see chaos in all nature? Or is that just the observer putting his own opinion into what is supposedly a scientific assessment?"

He was shocked... was he not being objective all along? Was the perfect machine of nature he wanted to create spawned by his own ego?

"I... I think you're right."

Sakurako puts her hand on his shoulder. "Use your heart more, Martin. When you said you wanted to be a doctor to Chris, I was ecstatic. Chris told me and I just about jumped for joy. But as a doctor you need heart. To help others you must be more than just there and doing your job. People will look to you for advice, for guidance, and for help. It'll take more than a clinical mindset. It'll take intuition, guts, and some tears."

Martin nods.

"And it'll take more than understanding, it will take empathy and kindness. What is the most important tenet of the Hippocratic Oath?"

"Do no harm?"

"Right. You must act in the best interest of the patient, but you must respect the patient's needs and wishes as well. Harm comes when you ignore either."

Martin sighed. "That... is a paradigm I need to adapt to."

"Nature took a long time to create this, Martin... it takes a while to finally create the real you." Sakurako says, standing up.

"Now, let's go on that hike."

Martin smiles as he stands up. "And Mother..."

Sakurako looks over, interested. "Yes, Dear?"

"Thank you..."

[Mech]

Sam ent through his forms, even as his father matched him. it was so effortless for Chris, yet Sam was slowing down. "Done already boy?"

Sam grunted and looked at him.."I can still.." then he fell over exhausted.

Chris caught him and nodded. "It's not weakness to know your limits Samuel. You canot take on everything or everyone. You have five siblings. Rely on them."

Sam looked uo at him. "But Kamina.."

"Is your brother Sam. no matter what. All of you are different. He's tough and strong, but you have my adaptible abilities. A leader must be strong, but he must also be able to adapt to the situations he faces."

He smiled. "I have no favorites among you, despite what you think. You're my first born Son, and the most like me. Iwant to see you all succeed in life."

Sam looked at his father and nodded. "Be the leader Sam, not the boss."

[The Traveler]

Sakurako scratched her head. She sat at her desk trying to figure Sam out.

"Sam... Your tests are showing no real outstanding traits. Is there anything that you have interests in?"

Samuel scratched his head. "Other than listening to Mary's stories from before the war, not really."

Sakurako smiled. "She was amazing, she was. And still is. She believes in her cause and won't stop and never give up."

The Professor gets up and walks to the window. "Of all my children you are the one I understand least. You want to be everyone else... have you ever asked who you are?"

Sam blinked. He knew he had changed his hair color and height again, to his own likings for the day, what was so important about what you looked like? To him this was his way to express himself. "I am who I am today, and will be tomorrow."

"Are you so sure? You now have ginger hair and blue eyes. You came out of me and grew up to have black hair. You also look more Caucasian today than being a half Asian, half Caucasian template. Are you uncomfortable in your own skin?"

Sam looked away from Sakurako. "Return to your base form in class, Samuel. You know my rules."

"No."

"What?"

"I... don't really know myself."

Sakurako stormed over and stared him right in the face. "Then return to your base form. Now."

Samuel relents and returns to his short black hair and brown eyes. To Sakurako this was Sam, with freckles and looking actually quite cute compared to the others outside of Yomi and Aoi.

"What was so wrong with that?"

"It's not mine."

Sakurako nodded gaining an important insight immediately.

"Not of your creation but not who you see yourself to be? Sam... Show me what you see yourself as."

He closes his eyes, and his form takes shape, he seemed a mixture of Kamina and Yomi, if she was a boy.

"You want to be as intelligent as Yomi but as strong as your brother Kamina."

"They always stuck up for me."

Sakurako nodded. "But they stuck up for the real you. I think once you try to be yourself, perhaps you'll feel more comfortable with yourself."

"I want you to stay in your base form for the rest of the day. I already talked to your brothers and sisters as well as Chris. They will let me know if you shift to something else. Three also has a drone she can have follow you. You'll not know it's there but it will be. Do you understand?"

Sam nods. "Yes... Mother."

"When we meet again I want you to tell me who you think you are and what you'll be."

Sam did as he was told. He wandered about. Chris was happy to see his son being who he was.

Kamina loved having is real playmate back to spar with.

Umi and Aoi loved seeing Sam and played their usual games. Sam actually started looking interested in Aoi's hobby of playing chess.

Sam loved helping Martin with his projects. He was the most interesting of the siblings.

After Yomi stubbed her toe in the woods near the school, he was the first to console her and they ended up finishing the day reading under the tree that wronged her.

The next morning Sam returned to his Mother.

"So Sam... have you decided who you want to be?"

"I want to be the Sam that's there... for everyone."

"That's a start... Sam. That's a start."

He couldn't really put it to words, but he wanted to be that shoulder everyone could lean on. The counselor. Aoi was the negotiator of the group, but Sam... could soothe the individual. In a way, he was more of a doctor than Martin could be at the moment.

"Samuel, I want you to help Martin for the next few days, get to know him. Socially he's not the best but you seem to fit in wherever you go. He can learn a few things from you."

"Right. Anything else?"

Sakurako sat back in her chair. "That's all."

[Mech]

Yomi was the last of the kids for Chris. She was the youngest, and she was the only one that had complications. Still she was unique, and decidedly both a daddy's girl and momma's girl. She had Chris' serene innocent beauty and voice, and a keen discerning mind like her mother.

Today they sat beneath the cherry trees in the park, reading of all things.

"Daddy?"

"Yes Yomi?"

"You have read to me every day I can remember."

"and the ones you can't."

He smiled. "When you manifested your unique powers I was surprised, but happy. I'm glad you all have varied abilities. You can do things nobody else can."

"but I'm not as strong."

"Strength is relative."

she smiled and hugged him. "Do you still love me even though?"

"No."

She looked at him. "I love you because you are my beautiful baby girl, and nothing will change that Yomiko. Not your power, not anything else. You are my daughter. You're smart, funny, beautiful and unique. Never dout that my love for you is any less than any of your siblings."

She cuddled into him tightly, crying she was so happy at her father's words."I love you Daddy."

"I love you too, dear little Yomiko, always."

[The Traveler]

Yomi walked about in the dusty library of the school. There were still bookcases knocked over from the war, books still needed to be organized. She was hunting for a particular book... one that Martin said might be in the rear. Something that no other universe save a few has. A version of Harry Potter where the protagonist was a girl instead of a boy. She had read the male Potter, but never the story of Henrietta Potter...

"Oh... there it is! And... Yes! It's there!" She hugged it and spun around, before bumping into Sakurako wearing her grey and black jumpsuit, with a... parachute?

"Oh... Hello Professor... I was just looking for a..."

"Book?"

"Yes... Martin said that there was a unique rarity in this univ..."

"Henrietta Potter and the Sorcereror's Stone?"

"Yes. How did?"

Sakurako smiled. "I have a copy in my private library... you'll see what is in there soon. A few months from now."

Yomi smiled. "So... why the parachute?"

"We're going flying. I honestly don't have a lesson plan so I wanted to see how you do it."

"Oh, right, you are unable to fly. A wise precaution. I am going to need some paper for this once we go outside."

Sakurako trails behind Yomi... realizing her gravest error. She had knew of Yomi's potential from the start. Before her birth during the 9th week, books would occasionally move toward Sakurako's stomach. When Yomi finally came out, the only name that came to mind was the name of a fictional character.

"Yomiko..."

Hmm?

"Most have been calling you Yomi... Three registered your name as such. But I was so tired that I couldn't get your name out. You are Yomiko... Yomiko Hino."

"I figured as such since Dad has been calling me that. I already talked with the government and my paperwork is being processed to have my name formally changed."

Sakurako nodded. "So what are you going to do exactly?"

"Form my wings."

She dramatically presents an arm and paper wings form on her back, connected to a white paper vest.

"I will carry you, I've been practicing carrying human weights. I'll attune to you as well to ease our flight."

She stands behind Sakurako, and lets paper strappings anchor to the straps of Sakurako's parachute.

"Hold on..."

In mere moments, the seemingly 8 year old girl was carrying a full grown adult into the sky. Sakurako hurredly gets her goggles out and puts them on to be able to see. Sakurako missed Yomiko putting her goggles on as well.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Yomiko?"

"I wanted to ask... would you allow me to stay... with you... on your voyages?"

Sakurako was stunned. All the others had been expressing a want to stay on her earth once grown but this...

"Why is that, Yomiko?"

"Because... I know everything of your adventures, the good and bad... the people you've met and the friends you've lost. I want to experience that... with you and father."

Sakurako smiled. "Are you sure... your siblings will be here."

"Out there is where I want to be" She said, pointing to the parked Hikari Maru in a pond near the old school. "Flying through the different cosmoses, experiencing all the possibilities that the continuum provides."

"It's a dangerous. Traveling between universes isn't like dusting crops."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is easy."

Sakurako knew this was her time... her calendar said so, her watch said so... and those words...

"Are you absolutely sure?"

Yomiko started to glow. "More sure than anything in my life!"

Yomiko soared up two miles, soaring on the winds of quantum joy. Then the distraction of growth disbanded the bonds of Yomiko's wings. Sakurako grabbed on to Yomiko out of reflex.

"Yomiko! Can you form new wings?!?"

"No! I'm out of paper!"

"Hold on to me as best you can!"

She grabs on to Sakurako's straps to her parachute. But Yomiko, in her teenage form smiled. "This is why I want to come! I wouldn't trade the danger for anything!"

Sakurako actually sighed for a moment, but realized that perhaps... she had a death-wish of her own to be hopping about between universes.

She pulls the ripcord and the parachute opens Yomiko hangs on long enough for Sakurako to grab her.

"Okay, I'm busy holding on to you... can you reach the parachute controls?"

"Yeah. Easily!"

Yomiko was tall... easily as tall as Sakurako by now. But thinner a bit. Sakurako turns Yomiko around to face frontwards.

"Okay, you remember when I showed you how to do this?"

"Yeah."

"Steer for the Hikari Maru in the pond. Don't worry, I can float for the both of us... and if you're wearing my uniform, you're safe too."

"A bio-flotation foam deployed into the vest? I read the owner's manual."

"Heh, not suprised. Now just steer casually..."

For a while, things seemed actually fun... until the cold bath at the end.

Sakurako disconnects her parachute and drops in after their feet connect. She swims up and gasps, making herself float. Yomiko bobs up soon after.

"Now that... that was FUN! Let's do it again!"

Sakurako smiled. "I'll be sure to get you a parachute. Let's swim back to the Hikari Maru and get dried off."

She looked over Yomiko's uniform. "Looks like the form-adaptive fabrics and membranes I used in the uniform worked beautifully too... looks still tailored to you."

"Feels a bit tight in the chest."

"Yeah."

She grabs her parachute and drags it to the entrance. "I think you got that from me... sorry."

Yomiko blushed. "Heh... Let's get dried off. I think the others will be getting their growth spurts soon too."

"You know of it?"

"Since my first."

Sakurako smiled. It seemed Yomiko was a lot like her... how much of Chris was in her was starting to show too. Yomiko looked 18, and had the looks to match her IQ. "Well... we never stop growing. In more ways than one."

Yomiko nodded. "And Mom..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks... You'll not regret it."

Sakurako knew she wouldn't.

[Mech]

Chris marveled as he beheld his six children. The girls were all beautiful with Aoi leading there, each of them devolping into beautiful young women. All the boys were at least moderately handsome by nova standards, With Sam leading there. He and Kamina were tall and built powerfully, where Martin was thin and wryry. He smiled They all possessed great power, and now as "adults" it was time for them to be free. Sakurako and he had spoken at length, and their Promise to Sarah had come due. The kids were grown, it was time for them to make a choice. To stay here at home, serving the people and as this realm's guardians, or to accompany their parents to fulfill their promise.

Chris already knew that his sons would all stay.

[The Traveler]

Aoi and Umi joined them. Smiling they looked, execting Yomiko to follow.

"I... I'm sorry..."

Yomiko stepped back towards the Hikari Maru, floating in a dock in Tokyo Harbor, now starting to bustle with activity once more with cargo ships.

"You will be here to continue Sakurako's legacy... Mother's Legacy... but this is not for me... My road is out there in the stars. With Mom and Dad and their companions."

"Yomi-chan..." Umi spoke, she was already crying. "We did so much together! Why?"

"Because, Uma-sama... this world isn't for me anymore... I have to go. There is so much out there beyond us and I can't just stay here. It is Humanity's nature to explore new worlds and discover new horizons."

She looks to the rest, Martin was crying, she could even see the hard exterior of Kamina cracking...

"One day, I shall come back... Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."

"Thank you..."

She begins to hug every one of her siblings, but Kamina refuses. "What's wrong?"

"We don't say goodbye like that between me and you..."

"Oh... right..."

Yomiko and Kamina grin as he jumps back. "You promised you will return some day and I will hold you to that! Or I'm gonna come find ya!" He says, his right fist glowing with flame.

"Oh... I fully expect you to crash through the gates of hell to find me, Brother!" Yomiko shouts, her hand surrounded with paper.

"Who are we, Sister?"

"We're the children of Fate!"

"What do we do?"

'We come When called!"

"And how do we serve?!?"

Yomiko and Kamina's fists clash together as they jump into each other as if to challenge themselves to war. They shout in unison, Yomiko, Kamina, and the other children. "WITH ALL OUR HEART!"

The fire didn't hurt Yomiko, and the paper didn't cut Kamina. "Go be a hero, Librarian."

"Give 'em hell, General."

She starts to walk away, when Martin runs over. "I... I was going to give this to you at Nippontai headquarters, but... I think this is a better time... it is cold on some earths so I made you this coat..."

"Oh Martin, thank you!" She says, looking at the slightly tan overcoat.

"It's pockets have a dimensional expansion to them, allowing greater capacity overall. I also put in a communicator that can patch into the Hikari Maru through the Stonehenge relay. No matter where you go you can talk to us!"

"Thank you, Martin, it'll go well with my outfit."

"I'm suprised you're still wearing that uniform from our school days... you've lost the sailor collar but you got a bow instead of a tie on the shirt... what gives?" Samuel says.

Yomiko just turns around and heads back to the Hikari Maru, but not without answering his question. "Samuel... it is because I am in a unique position, as a Nova... I'm a Continuum Jumper. We gotta have our look down. I am The Librarian after all."

"A Codename, Yomi-chan?" Sakurako asked.

"Well, you are The Professor."

Sakurako nods... "Touche... very well... Librarian... We got a lot of space to cover! We gotta get Sarah back home! She's gonna be an Empress you know soon!"

[Mech]

Chris towered over even his sons, none of the kids were over six feet tall. Still it lent him the fatherly image he cultivated with them, that they'd come to love and know. He smiled, Embracing each of his children, kissing his daughters on the forhead softly. "Samuel, Remember all I've taught you."

He looked to Kamina. "Remember your mother's lessons, and mine, Know when passion is called for, and and when restraint is needed. Trust your siblings, they will not lead you astray."

He looked to Martin. "Chase your dreams, never stop learning, and you will do more good in the world than you can imagine."

To Umi he wiped her tears and kissed her nose. "Water is the element of Life. You can restore the dead places upon this world, helping restrore nature to her glory. I entrust the beauty of the natural world to you, my beautiful daughter."

Aoi he addressed last, Wiping away the tears she tried to hide. "You make me proud Aoi. Be the connection between your siblings. Set yourself to working as one to protect and revitalize this world. Do good, be good." She kissed him on his cheek and smiled. "Yes Daddy, Always."

Yomiko was last. "Welcome aboard Yomiko. I knew you would choose this path, your thirst for knowledge grows beyond a single world."

She smiled and hugged her father tightly.

"This is not goodbye, merely "until we meet again soon." I m entrusting this world I reignited for your mother, the world you were born to, your true home, to you five who remain. Help each other, help the world. I have the highest hopes, and the greatest faith in all of you, my darling children." He spoke with the powerful voice of a loving and caring Father. "Pursue your own happiness, and live. Your Mother and I, and your little sister will return when we can, Nothing will keep us from coming home to all of you."

Chris smiled, It was hard to leave them but it was time. They were grown and mature. They'd soaked up a lifetime of information in a year, and he could now only hope for the best for them. "Your Aunt Mariko is here if you need council from an another outside the family, an outside perspective. Sheis someone your mother and I trust, and knows you will go to her if need arises. Be kind to her children, as they are like all of you, just not as mature."

He stood with his arms around Sakurako and Yomiko. "We love you all, beloved children, and siblings."