Since the last week in June would feature the first day of July, there was a lot of preparation for some of the special celebrations in Animalia, especially Fourth of July and Animalia's Birthday Celebration.
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The latest episode of 'When Worlds Collide...' was also a bit of a Season Finale, but it had some things that were rather surprising. When everyone got to Byodo-In, they were faced with a number of ghosts from the past. The first one they encountered was Saito Yoshitatsu, who was difficult, but not impossible to defeat. As he died in agony, his mempo (the face mask of a Japanese helmet) fell away revealing that his face was eerily similar to Hide's, causing a number of suspicions amongst the Musketeers as well as King Arthur and his Knights.
The next "ghost" was the demon Ryoman Sukuna, but thanks to the combined power of Sohayamaru and Excalibur, he was also defeated. Then the demon suddenly transformed into a human, who revealed himself to be Saito Toshimitsu. Toshimitsu then proceeded to apologize for attacking them, then revealed that it had been the sorcerer Kashin Koji who had orchestrated Nobunaga's betrayal, acting through him.
The third "ghost" was a bit surprising, since it was a giant toad wielding a spear. But when William weakened it enough, Hide used the White Spirit Stone to reveal who it really was, Hanzo's father, Hanzo Sr. (as Arthur, his knights, and the French Musketeers understood it). Before departing, Hanzo Sr. gave a lecture on the dangers of the Spirit Stones, and how "true" shinobi should never use them to accomplish the mission given to them, much to Hanzo, Jr. annoyance ("Really? Another lecture, master? You haven't changed since you died."). Before he departed, he revealed that he had taught Hide many ninja secrets and made Hanzo, Jr. promise to spar against him ("I told him repeatedly that he should try fighting my son and heir.").
The fourth "ghost" was actually from William's past, the sorcerer Edward Kelley, which William demanded that he alone face. Just when it seemed that William would prevail, Kelley used his magic to turn Shibata Katsuie back into his boar demon form. But he quickly found Katsuie more than he bargained for, because Katsuie proceeded to charge him and crack a can of whoop-ass on him. One really impressive feat was when Katsuie caught one of his tusks on the inside of Kelley's thighs and proceeded to throw him quite a far distance. After this, Kelley made a well-known fatal mistake.
"Enough!" he yelled, causing Katsuie to pause briefly. "Your power is beneath me, you dull creature. And I will not-", but what he would not be would never be known because Katsuie grabbed him by his injured leg and slammed him into the ground several times, then twice more for good measure, allowing William to finish him off as he was doing his death chant ("I am the hollow man. Many times, I died. Many times, I lived again.").
The final ghost was also from William's past, the sorcerer and spymaster John Dee. While trying to convince William to join him, he revealed that he was Kelley's master. When he was convinced that William's loyalty wasn't with England anymore, he accused him of treason and transformed himself into a Hundred-Eyed Demon to "execute" him. Hide retaliated by changing into his Phantom Yokai form and destroying the summoned eyes and allowing William and Hanzo to defeat him.
"So that's why you returned to England." said Hanzo as he shook the blood off his blade before sheathing it. "To try to stop a second, third, or even fourth Kelley from coming to Japan."
"What?!?!" gasped the French Friar.
"He was a homunculus." Explained William. "I'll tell you later."
Finally, they got to where the Spanish ninja Maria was using the Spirit Stones to resurrect Tokichiro, but were ambushed by Kashin Koji who tried to possess Tokichiro's corpse. Hide prevented this from happening by allowing Kashin Koji to possess himself, and inside Hide's mind Kashin Koji revealed himself to be the Aratama Lord, Otakemaru, and attacked him.
However, the two of them were so evenly matched that neither could get an advantage over each other, Hide's speed and skill neutralizing Otakemaru's size and strength. Eventually, Hide lunged with Sohayamaru to decapitate him when he had been forced to his knees, but his aim was a little off due to fatigue and only succeeded in severing Otakemaru's left horn. At that everything in Hide's mind went dazzlingly white.
Soon it was revealed that the one who was using the White Spirit Stone was none other than Tokichiro himself, but Hide was now accompanied by another person, with white hair and horns, though the left one was severed. At that, Sir Galahad stepped forward to finish the other person off, but suddenly stopped and dropped his sword.
"Oh... I'm... I'm... I'm seeing things! Lord Merlin! My King! Do you see what I see?!"
"What is there to see?" asked Arthur, not getting it at first, but soon seeing it himself. "Other than the fact that this man and Hide are... unusually similar to each other?!"
At that, the ghost of Hide's mother, Miyoshino, revealed herself and said something really unexpected to the horned man.
"It is good to see you in your right mind again..." and at that, she dramatically pulled her hood back revealing her full face, "dear brother."
"Suzuka. I've gone back." said the horned man, surprising everyone, "Back to when we shared the same dream. Of living in peace with the humans."
"Suzuka?" asked Maeda Toshiie in disbelief, "As in Suzuka Gozen?!" But at that, Tokichiro began chatting up with her about her son Hide, revealing that he was actually a kind-hearted soul, nothing like history depicted him.
"But is not Hideyoshi a traitor and-" asked Maria in disbelief before bumping into William, which allowed him to finally capture her. When she struggled to escape, she found the Musketeers pointing their muskets at her, showing her that her plans were well and truly over.
Back in the Capital, there was a lot of revelations about what had been happening in Japan.
"So, Maria was behind the almost-uprising of the Date Clan, and what happened at Osaka." said the French Friar, going over it all. "But the last remaining puzzle is why she would do this."
"I can answer that." said William. "Maria must have discovered that Queen Elizabeth Tudor used the power of Amrita to defeat the Spanish Empire and deprive it of its status as a world power."
"Aha! So that's it!" declared Hanzo, "She was fueling conflicts here in Japan to create enough Spirit Stones to return Spain to 'world power' status."
"And I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for that meddling William." said Maria, which everyone watching recognized.
Not long afterward, a great feast was arranged for what everyone thought was the lifting of the shadows, but also to show Hide's uncle, Otakemaru, that humans are not as bad as he had thought them to be. But just as Nobunaga was wrapping up a performance of his favorite art, a loud knocking at the doors to the hall where the feast was taking place showed that the adventures were far from over.
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Another surprising thing actually came from Project Phoenix, which was running the conversions for those suffering from the radiation-based illnesses. While those who converted did have somewhat larger muscles than those who didn't, it wasn't enough to provide a definitive yes or no answer, so more research would be needed.
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A third surprising thing was a result of the uptick in LGBTQIA people who were converting. While a large majority of the gay men had become bears, it wasn't the only kind that were there. There were also horses (which caused a spike of mare conversions, not just among the LGBTQIA community), dogs (mainly among the medium-large breeds, such as Dobermans, Rottweilers, Huskies, Golden Retrievers, or similarly sized breeds), large cats (none the size of housecats), bulls (which got the attention of a number of cows in both Lyre and elsewhere), and similar animals usually associated with gay furs.
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The final surprising thing was partly a cultural thing, since it was around that time that the Quasi-Raccoon Cuties published their coverage of the Temple of the Body. Instead of just one building, it was actually a small cluster of buildings, but again this was more a cultural thing than anything else.
The only part that could be associated with a shrine was a somewhat small building housing a golden statue of a monstrous-looking figure with demon-like features. Fortunately, there was a Buddhist priest who was able to explain what it was.
"Wrathful deities are in no ways tied to the sin of anger in Buddhism." he explained, "They are actually enlightened Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or Devas, whose job it is to destroy the obstacles to enlightenment and Nirvana."
"So, which one is this?" asked Tani, "I've never seen him before."
"He is rather new." answered the monk, "In this new age of food being readily available, he's taken up the burden of fighting the demons of gluttony. But because he's so new, he doesn't have an official name yet."