PLEASE SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE AND CHARACTER PAGES

-CHAPTERSTART-

Unmapped secret facility in a forest in eastern Germany

October 23, 2015 – 1440 Hours (Japan Time; 0600 Hours Local Time)

Gamma and Lancer Teams spearheaded the (local) early-morning assault on SEELE Base 1. Pelicans and Phantoms flew into the forested valley, heading for the expansive location; anti-air defenses had already been neutralized by Wild Weasel units. The first wave of dropships, Gamma and Lancer onboard, now approached the base; a few of the ships let fire some missiles to further soften up enemy defenses.

Aboard Echo-479, Lancer Team – Texas, Carolina, North, York, and Florida – readied their weapons; Tex secured her cargo of Spike Grenades on her person and in a subspace pocket, and cocked her MA5D, Carolina ensured her Type-52 plasma rifles were fully charged, York loaded his M90 shotgun, North adjusted his SRS99's scope, and Florida loaded a clip into his M398 rifle and fiddled with his MA5D's 40mm grenade launcher attachment. Inside Echo-419, Teana and Marie readied their Devices, along with Teana's Type-33 Needler and Marie's ARC-920 Railgun, Sarah loaded her 'Lancer' assault rifle and made sure her Gravity Hammer was secure, Kaede hefted her M398, Mai slapped a drum magazine into her M379, Shion set her arm device to Plasma Repeater mode, and Ahsoka had her lightsaber hilts gripped in her hands.

"LZ's clear" Foehammer said over the troop-bay speakers. "Hostiles are still disoriented, but they're tryin' to rally. Get out there and put the fear of God into 'em, girls!"

The Pelican hovered a few feet off the ground as its rear door opened, and the girls of Gamma piled out. Several of the other dropships were disgorging their armed cargo as well; Agent North Dakota scored the first kill of his group, his sniper shot killing a would-be enemy sniper atop the roof. Teana felt good having this guy watching their backs; though in most fields North was "Spartan-3 level" in skill, in sniping he was literally as good as Linda-058.

Teana got herself back on track, looking through the 2.5x scope of Mirage Rifle and firing a single shot through the skull of a SEELE agent up ahead. A 40mm grenade from Florida exploded amongst the enemy, killing two more of them. Rounds from Kaede's DMR began picking off more of them, as the attack force pressed forward. A squad of Sangheili threw a quartet of Plasma Grenades, and Gamma & Lancer took advantage of the resulting brief hole in the defenses, slipping through and into the facility.

Inside the deepest area of SEELE Base 1, Kihl Lorenz frowned. Not content with ruining SEELE's decades-long plans, the enemy had chosen to come after them and take them out at the source. They had launched simultaneous raids on this location, SEELE Base 2 in the Rocky Mountains, and SEELE Base 3 in the badlands of Australia. Shrugging to himself, he got up out of his chair, his various cybernetic augmentations shifting inside him as he hobbled over to a large locked metal cabinet…

The assault teams advanced further into the structure, carving through SEELE's defenses. A well-aimed Spike Grenade throw from Tex took out an autoturret, while a Railgun shot from Marie downed a nine-foot-tall combat mech. Florida rushed in, his assault rifle gunning down several soldiers, including one wielding an RPG launcher; "Pardon me, gentlemen, mind if I borrow this? Thank you!" The shot from the weapon took down another SEELE-built heavy battle droid, and Flowers then threw the now-empty launcher, nailing an enemy soldier in the face and knocking him over.

As the rest of the coalition soldiers spread throughout the base, Gamma and Lancer Teams spearheaded straight through to the center. They soon reached a heavily guarded door where Teana, Ahsoka, and Carolina did most of the de-guarding. The door was promptly blown down by a Super Missile shot from Marie, and the teams filed in. Then they immediately had to take cover from a hail of gunfire. Kihl Lorenz had apparently decided that if he was going down, he wouldn't make it easy for them; the head of SEELE was wearing full-body powered armor with a heavy machinegun strapped to the right arm and – as Ahsoka almost learned the hard way – a flamethrower on the left.

Unfortunately for him, compared to a high-level shinobi, Kihl was still just a weak, ineffectually-angry old man, as demonstrated by Teana when she flash-stepped right in front of him and smashed him with a Rasengan. The spiraling sphere of chaotic chakra grinded into the chestpiece of his armor, and then detonated with great concussive force, blowing his armor open and wrecking his internal components. Kihl went sailing back, smashing into a wall and sliding down.

Teana walked up to the still form and scanned it. The attack had destroyed the cybernetics that kept the old man alive. Kihl Lorenz was dead.

"Primary target is down" she reported.

"Well, that's one less asshole to worry about" York quipped.

They were about to report back to Command and leave, when suddenly the air seemed to darken and chill. All at once, a near-smothering demonic presence was felt everywhere & nowhere, accompanied by a deep, flanging voice.

"Foolish children. You have attracted the attention of I who am infinitely your greater. Previously, I have relied upon insignificant underlings to combat you, but this time… I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL OF THE SITUATION."

Kihl Lorenz's corpse began to twitch and seize, a pitch-black miasma appearing around it. Parts organic and synthetic shifted and morphed within it, the flesh turning a dark grey as spikes of bone and metal jutted out of its body. It got to its feet as the metamorphosis continued, increasing in size, the visor over its eyes falling away to reveal glowing red eyes.

"This fragment of my power should be sufficient."

Everyone stared in shock as they looked upon their reanimated foe and felt his power. Florida summed it up best: "…Well, crap."

The dark entity's possessed avatar rushed forward with inhuman speed, lashing out with a punch that fractured Teana's hastily-conjured Rune Shield. Bullets from the Freelancers' guns pinged off of the Dark Avatar's full-body shield; a round from North's rifle had more of an impact, making the Dark Shield flare brightly, and in response the dark being loosed a burst of Darkness that knocked North for a loop, his vision swimming and the low-pitched beeping of his armor's shield alarm going off in his ears.

Teana swung at its head with Mirage Longsword, the blade of superheated magical energy quickly burning its way through the Dark Shield. In response, the dark being flash-stepped away before its defenses could be completely breached. A charged Light Beam shot from Marie crashed against and drained its shield, and then a thrown Spike Grenade from Tex adhered to it and then detonated. Pitch-black flesh was shredded, revealing a glowing dark-purple energy inside the being; the wounds began to spontaneously heal, completely repairing themselves within 10 seconds.

"You only damage a vessel; you cannot harm me."

The dark entity rushed at Teana, forming a huge, serrate blade and pressing down against her Mirage Longswords, slowly overcoming her via sheer brute strength.

"Hey, asshole!"

The dark avatar turned in the direction of the shout… and was impaled by a 20-foot-long high-velocity arrow of raw chakra, pinning it to the far wall. Kyōko walked in, scowling with her Mangekyō active, her Stage-3 Susanō loading another chakra arrow into its crossbow.

"My name is Kyōko Uchiha-Sōryū, granddaughter of Izuna Uchiha. Teana's the daughter of my second cousin. I'm her last surviving adult relative. As of a few days ago, I'm her legal guardian. Now… stay the hell away from my kid!"

The dark entity raised its hand, charging another Dark Burst… only for a second Susanō Arrow to obliterate its head, punching through the thick metal wall behind it. The mutated body then rapidly decayed into dust and ashes, a dark mist fading away to nothing.

"And yet I remain out of your reach and unharmed, little humans" the voice came from nowhere. "That puppet bore only a fraction of my full strength. It would've been nice to eliminate one of you, but one can't always get what one wants. Besides, my plan continues regardless of the miniscule setbacks you've thrown in my path so far. Ready yourselves; the destruction of rebirth shall soon be at hand…"

The oppressive feeling in the air faded away, as the unholy presence vanished. York and Carolina quickly ran over to North, who waved them off as he shakily got to his feet. Kyōko dispelled her spectral guardian, her eyes returning to their normal blue; she walked up to Teana, checking on her… and the teen gave her a hug, which she happily returned.

"I'm fine" the purple-armored soldier said. "Just need to put some ice on it, maybe buff out the ding in my chestplate…"

"Theta?" York asked. "Is he really okay?"

"Nothing as bad as a lot of the things that have happened to him" the AI replied as he appeared on North's shoulder. "North'll be fine once he can lie down for a little while."

"The others have already captured or killed the other members of SEELE" Kyōko reported. "All that's left is the cleanup."

"I think I can help with that" Teana replied, as she shifted Cross Mirage to Rifle Mode and switched it to full-auto. "Point the way."

(AN: I feel compelled to point out here that, despite stealing Harbinger's catchphrase and modus operandi, our mysterious Big Bad is NOT a Reaper, nor is he connected to them in any way. Just throwing that out there before the wild theories start.)

-SCENE BREAK-

Tokyo-3 – Groundside Coalition Base

October 25, 2015 – 1130 Hours

Things went smoothly after that. Later in the day of the raids, NERV contacted the United Nations and revealed the full truth behind Second Impact and behind SEELE's plans. Horrified and outraged, they quickly took custody of the surviving SEELE Councilmen, with plans to reveal everything to the world and place the men on trial for crimes against humanity.

Right now, a conversation between the pilots was interrupted as Mana walked out of a nearby side room. "H-How do I look?" she asked, nervous and blushing.

They checked her out. Her now-shoulder-length hair was in a short low ponytail held by a little red bow. She was wearing a loose-fitting pale pink shirt that slightly accented her bust, and a mid-thigh-length pale-blue skirt. She fidgeted as she 'felt' their eyes on her. Shinji stood up, stepped close, and kissed her.

"That's how I think you look" he said softly. "Boyish or girly, whatever you wear looks good on you." He turned to Rei, Mari, and Asuka. "Same for you girls, of course."

Mari giggled. "I think Mana-chan looks really cute and sexy in a skirt." She walked up beside Mana, who then gasped as she felt Mari's soft hand running along her uncovered thigh. Mari then pulled the prettified tomboy down with her onto the couch, hugging her. Rei, Asuka, and Shinji joined in, all of them giving Mana some love (with Mari also taking the opportunity to squeeze Rei's butt, earning a squeak from the blue-haired girl).

Sarah walked by, holding a plate with her lunch on it, and smiled at the cuddlefest taking up the couch. She continued on, having a seat at a far table, where Misato (also eyeing the cuteness on the couch) was sitting.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Cheeseburger sandwich" Sarah replied, holding a slice up. "Hamburger patty, with cheese and a little mayo, but with sandwich bread instead of burger buns."

"…That actually sounds pretty good."

-Mini-Break-

Half an hour later, Aqua came into the main room. Teana was seated on the couch with a happy and comfortable Erika in her lap and Timmy sitting squeezed in between her & the armrest, he & Erika holding hands, while Sarah had Marie's head in her lap; overall, it was very sisterly (well, plus Timmy) and cute. The four pilots and Mana were still snuggling on the other couch, while Laicixa, Mariko, Caro, and Erio were cuddled up on the easy chair, Lai & Erio squeezed together side-by-side with Mariko and Caro, respectively, in their laps. Aqua smiled at the scene, but then cleared her throat.

"I've finished going over the reports," she said, "and talking with Colonel Holland and Shipmaster Arum. We've decided where we should go next."

"Where to?" Marie asked in a dreamy, relaxed tone, half-lidded eyes looking at the young Keyblade Master.

"We've fought Heartless and Unversed recently. That 'Ruin' character has been giving us problems and seems to be a servant of a very dangerous higher power. And we now have five different Keyblade-Wielders among us. Taking all those into account, I think we should visit an expert on these things, someone I know will have useful intel for us. …We're going to my realm, to see Master Yen-Sid."

"Wait…" Marie raised her head a little. "You mean… We're going to the Kingdom Hearts universe next? …Awesome."

-SCENE BREAK-

Coalition Groundside Base

October 27, 2015 – 1450 Hours

Rei stepped through the newly-created portal, and then after several seconds emerged from it again.

"It works" she said. "A portal link has been established between this facility and the Starshot's translocation terminal room."

"So now we can come here, or you guys can come to us, whenever we or you want" Marie explained to the Local Group. "God, I love Forerunner tech…"

"I'll probably be using that function more than a bit" Kyōko said as she and Asuka hugged Teana. "You're my responsibility now, so I need to make sure you take care of yourself, dear."

"And I'll help mama do that!" Asuka added.

"Thanks, you two…" Teana smiled as she relaxed in the Family Hug.

"And I'll definitely step through fairly often" Shinji said. "So I can spend time with Mana."

The tomboy blushed lightly and smiled, walking up to him and kissing him on the cheek. Then Mari grabbed hold of the girl and frenched her, with Shinji hugging her from behind during that.

"Things'll be different around here, that's for sure" Yui said. "No more Angels, no more SEELE…"

"Our enemies will probably come after you guys, though" Shion replied. "So stay on guard, keep training, and be ready."

"Of course."

-SCENE BREAK-

High Orbit

Forerunner M-class Destroyer Starshot

Same Day – Two Hours Later

"Dimensional coordinates set" the navigations Ensign said. "Course locked in. Spinning up slipstream drives…"

Two starships ascended from this realm's Earth, slipspace ruptures forming off the bow of both. The Shining Ember departed first, returning to Sanghelios. Seconds later, the Starshot vanished into the realm between realms, heading for the home of an old and powerful mage who just may have information on their ultimate foe.

-BOOK 13 END-

Check out the Lyrical Nanoha / Kingdom Hearts crossover section for Book 14: Heart of Worlds. Until then!