We just arrived in port, but Marge didn’t let me sleep.

“Greyster! Adjust output on engine number three!”

Coz this Dick’s finally going airborne!

I’m in dry dock right now, and it feels really weird. Is this what fish feel like when they flop onto dry land? What’ll the fish feel when they go airborne?

Huh, well, come to think of it, fishes are born doing 3D maneuvers, and I’m just a surface vessel stuck doing 2D maneuvers, so wouldn’t they actually adapt better than me if they suddenly gained wings?

Marge is doing the rounds on the ground below, going up and down scaffolds to check on my eight, shiny-new Chaos Engines.

Marge named them. Should I be concerned about accidentally contracting with an extradimensional entity? Don’t get me wrong, I think “Chaos Engine” is just about the most straightforward naming scheme this time, coz as Marge puts it…

“It uses chaos to feed a self-sustaining magico-resonant reaction!”

… Yeah. I don’t get the specifics, but I just think of it as “magic nuke engine,” and considering it’s apparently the same principle as the magic nukes, I ain’t wrong, am I?

Marge put eight of the engines on me. Actually, I only need four to get airborne, but she said “Let’s be doubly sure!” and doubled the engines.

She’s such a free spirit, huh?

“Why…”

Hm? Oh, it’s Sam.

“Why must Marge splurge on the development budget like this!”

Oh, she’s crying.

Oh, I see. Marge is a free spirit if given enough budget. Well, ain’t that everyone?

***

The next day, I’ve got a bunch of angry Japanese topside. Oh, it’s that battleship captain stepping up.

“Where? Where is the imbecile who launched a rocket at His Majesty!”

… Huh?

Not only me, but everyone else on-deck tilts their head.

“Do not make fools of us! It is the same shape as Kaminari-sama’s engines!”

… A’ight, I remember who dun it, now.

I’m not sure if I should drag her out, but I don’t feel like watching the Japanese riot on my deck, either… A’ight, I’m dragging her out.

A little bit of CCTV cycling later and I find Sam and Marge in the Operations Room talking about future plans.

Marge is scratching her head. “For some reason, even if Grey should have enough power, we’re not getting clean output out of the engines. It’s like there’s interference or something. Honestly, Bestie? I’m rea~lly iffy about taking off until this prob’s sorted out.”

“It must have something to do with the mimics Aureos and I discovered here upon our arrival. There are many yet-unexplored areas, and so… I believe it best to send labyrinth teams to discover and eliminate any potential source of Grey’s power issues.”

“Right, right. We can’t get this project off the ground, otherwise! Hehe, get it? Off the ground?”

Huh, I had a problem like that the whole time, huh?

“Where is that imbecile! Yabai-dono, prepare the Shame Frame!”

B-better not keep the Japanese waiting. Welp, I’ll go ahead and butt in.

{Hey, guys, just sayin’, but there’s a bunch of angry Japanese saying something about someone launching a chaos engine straight at the Emperor.}

Sam pauses, parses, then cranes her neck towards Marge. The latter’s sweating bullets.

“I-it was a nighttime test 30 miles from the Bay! How was I supposed to know?! It’s not my fault!”

Seeing that she cracked under paperweight pressure, Sam sighs and drags a begging, flailing Marge out of the Op Room by the collar. She gonna be okay?

 

Up on deck, Sam greets the Japanese captain. I’ve got my marines on standby in case all hell breaks loose, but I think Sam can solo them all, to be honest.

“Good day, Sir… Nihonno, was it? I understand your grievances. Hence, I present to you the source of our shared headache.”

“Please! It wasn’t on purpose!” Marge cries, clinging to Sam’s leg.

“Greetings, Your Highness.” The captain bows. “As you may have heard, the disrespect committed towards His Majesty cannot go unanswered. Hence, we request the perpetrator’s punishment, fitting for one who has disrespected the Emperor.”

Sam shakes her head. “I have heard your concern. However, this girl is considered vital to the liberation of Merika, and hence, towards sending unified and committed Merikan support to Japan. I cannot have her be punished to such an extent.”

“A-are you saying that we should ignore her crime?! We will take justice into our own hands if we—?!”

The captain jumps back with a hand on his sword hilt. The heck, what’s going on? Even the guys behind him suddenly all went into a defensive stance.

Sam’s posture is a bit… overlord-y? Might be unleashing some sort of Princess Pressure or something, I dunno.

“That is quite enough, Princess Burnheart.”

The heck, where’d Embro come from?

… Ah, right, he just teleports all over the place, doesn’t he?

Sam’s also a bit surprised, but she adjusts her posture into something a bit more princess-y.

“Your Highness. I apologize,” she says with a curtsy.

“Haha! Think nothing of it! Rather, my subordinates are too gung-ho, aren’t they?”

Ahh, there goes Embro again.

He leans in closer to Sam’s ear, whispering something that I can’t quite make out. Sam nods, but with a difficult expression—along the lines of “Goddamnit, stop giving me more chores to do” or something, so it’s probably not that big of a deal?

Sam turns to Marge, who’s still sobbing on the floor. They make eye contact for a second—then Marge slams her face straight into the deck on her own.

Yeah, I don’t think Princess Pressure is a theoretical thing. There’s a literal wave of getting scared straight, starting with Marge, then washing across all the Japanese, forcing anyone who hasn’t fainted to stand at parade rest. Marge herself looks terrified as fuck—hey, Sam, don’t be too mean to the girl!

“Margarita Colada. To preserve the dignity of the Imperial Family of Japan and the Royal Family of Merika, you are tasked to risk your life and enter the unexplored depths of the ancient spirit ship, Sir Grey, and eliminate the plaguing issue which prevents him from taking to the sky.”

Beneath the tears, Marge’s lips turn up into a smile.

“Oh noo!~ Why would you do this to me!~ I thought we were friends!~”

Fuckin’ bad acting, this girl!

“Ohh! What a creative punishment!” Embro says, clapping his hands. Is this guy going to join them on impulse or something?

“Let me join you! I have not explored a labyrinth in a long time!”

The Japanese on-deck are on all fours and hitting the deck with their fists and foreheads, shouting “Not again!” “Your Majesty, stop leaving us behind!”

Before any of them regained the sanity to properly protest, though…

“Before I forget—none of you are allowed to follow me! This is my field trip, excuse me from my duties for a while!”

“But, Your Majesty!—”

“My bones and sword muscles are creaking from disuse! Give this old man a proper vacation! Look, we do not have administrative duties here at all, do we not? Well, neither do we have rice, which is a tragedy, but we mustn’t falter! If we do not have rice, we must at least deserve a vacation!”

T-the heck is this character break? Why are the Japanese crying?!

“S-such beautiful words…” “Damn Merikans, grow some rice!” “We will follow you forever!”

“Like I said, don’t follow me!”

Who the hell is this grumpy old man?

{You’ve got it tough, huh?} I really can’t stop from butting in.

“O-oh! Ahaha! Kaminari-dono! W-well, when a Hero becomes a King, he misses being a Hero on occasion. One day, you will also feel such a compulsion—hence! Have tea with me when the time comes, won’t you?”

{Sure, I guess? Assuming I can even drink anything, in the first place…}

“Haha! Oh, well,” he faces Sam, “Dear Princess, when shall we start?”

Sam’s rubbing her temples. She probably didn’t expect Embro to tag along.

“Why must I send my best friend together with a head of state into the unknown…”

I feel like that’s what she’s thinking.

W-well, it should be fine, I guess