As Pride Month finally wound down, everyone began gearing up for Animalia's big birthday celebration. However, in some colonies, Animalia was gearing up for Fourth of July, sometimes in very odd ways.
"So, why are we doing this again?" asked Sappho, as she, Susan, and Pho were taking part in one of the infamous "bikini car washes", this one sponsored by ROSE House. Not that they were complaining about the "work uniforms", their new bikinis were showing off their developing "egg bumps".
"It's a 'sorority fundraiser'." answered a mare Animalian as she worked the sponge (and indirectly, her breasts) over their latest car. "It's also a means of keeping cool in the summer."
"It's for keeping you cool in the summer." said Susan, "We reptiles actually function better during the summer."
"Not that I'm complaining." said Pho, sending a flirty wink and pose toward the nearby BARA House Firework Stand, where Rosco was working with a few other BARA house members, including "Sergei", selling a few fireworks to the owners of the car they were currently washing.
"It's also a means of keeping water handy in case of 'accidental discharges'." snarked a cheetah Animalian, causing more than a few giggles amongst the other girls.
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Usually, when we think of "blooming flames", we think of either flowers that look like flames when blooming, or the fireworks known as "ground blooming flowers", but in When Worlds Collide..., flame was blooming in a completely different way.
During the Battle of the Landbridge, the Japanese forces attempted something so crazy, it would have been stupid if it didn't work. They crashed an atakebune (a kind of 16th century Japanese warship) laden with brush and dried wood, a small pilot flame, and two cauldrons filled with a mysterious substance, into the causeway the Uruks were building. When the ship crashed into the causeway, the cauldrons dumped their contents over the dried wood, and the pilot flame ignited it, causing a massive explosion.
Not long after the explosion, a massive umi-bozu (about the size of a small palace) surfaced and began smashing the causeway to pieces with its arms/tentacles, even washing whole sections of the causeway (and Uruks) with its whole body. At the same time, Chien Po, warded with magic cast by Suzuka, charged the gates of the captured fishing village and quite literally threw himself into the gate, smashing it to smithereens. The Ming Army raised a cheer at Chien Po's actions and swarm through the broken gates, massacring all the orcs/Uruks they could find.
There was a tense moment when the umi-bozu reared out of the water at the village during the cleanup, but things quickly became stranger when Otakemaru went up to it and began speaking in a strange language, to which the umi-bozu responded in a similar language (albeit somewhat sloshier and gurglier). After Otakemaru bowed his head and the umi-bozu retreated into the waters that Otakemaru revealed what he said.
"The umi-bozu destroyed the causeway because it was unhappy with it intruding on its territory." explained Otakemaru.
"But what did you say to it?" asked Shang, not complaining about the unusual help.
"I simply thanked it for its help." answered Otakemaru, much to the surprise of everyone.
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Tuxing, once again, came to visit Lenard and Mikey for Fourth of July, but this time she brought a surprise gift with her: both Chinese and Japanese fireworks. Mikey was the one most confused by this because they were nothing like the fireworks he was used to, but he did admit, once they were let off, that they were fun to watch.