Yggdra was for the first time in a long time completely stumped at what had occurred during her morning waking up. Honestly, she has never been so impulsive as to take the action that she did just because her little Naru got upset. It made absolutely no sense. The absurdity grew leaps and bounds when she discovered it was caused by the drastically increased feelings she had for Naru, which was also caused by the transference of latent feelings of protectiveness and love for Naru from her Neblading of Kushina Uzumaki as well as annoyance at being woke up herself by the same enemy.
Truly, this Uzumaki stubbornness is a force of nature itself.
And now she was in a bad situation… well, bad for the inhabitants and all non-sentient life on the planet below her ship that was completely cased in night.
(A few moments ago, after leaving the planet's atmosphere after getting Naruko…)
Having finally left the land of her new child, Yggdra was tuned to nothing but the soft murmurs of Naru as she pawed at her chest simply feeling her new mother. The most important sense of an infant to nurture was the "Touch" and she had no qualms with letting her explore and learn. She looked through any acquired memories she had of those with experience in child rearing and began taking as much knowledge as she could and creating a new "file" for situations in raising Naru.
She cooed at the baby small enough to fit in both palms of her hands. She noticed from Kushina's memories that Naru was definitely smaller than average, perhaps about 4-5lbs, so she was a tiny thing compared to her. The other female guards aboard the shuttle knew not to crowd the child but even as professional as they were, they had some trouble not wanting to fawn over her. Her little whiskered cheeks didn't help the situation either.
With their breeding cycles every one hundred years lasting for five years and the lack of Valkyrian females that could produce sperm for the fertilization, some of them went centuries without even holding a child despite their desire for one. For the sub-class Minors whose lifespans were a little over 1000 years, the majority of them would only have a single actual breeding in their lifetimes. Some got lucky and got it within their first centuries while others wouldn't until their 500 year mark or older. It really put a lot of issues onto the all-female Valkyrian race and since they were incompatible with any other races, they couldn't turn to the males of another species.
Knowing how some of them were feeling, Yggdra offered to pass her around. KOS-MOS stood off to the side while constantly receiving updated scans on Naru's health. She had failed to save her mother and she felt indebted to the woman to at least make sure her daughter never got ill. Though she was technically an A.I. in a gynoid platform, she attained the understanding of all sorts of feelings millennia ago and these feelings merely compelled her to do all she could and more for Naru.
Her blue eyes, now shifted to red as signs of her bio scans working, followed Naru's little body around as she went from one Valkyrian's arms to another, slowly making her way back to Yggdra. Each woman, a battle-hardened warrior, fell for her innocence at first glance, causing the medic A.I. to mentally giggle. The child was only a day old and already a lady pleaser. It made her think of how much worse it would get (or better if you asked a certain white-haired Sannin) when she would get the DNA infusion from Yggdra, making her the first Valkyrian princess ever. Her scientist persona was also very excited to see the process work since while this process has happened before, it's never been from the Queen herself and it has always been an exchange from a Valkyrian to another Valkyrian of different classes.
The last one it happened to was Esdeath as she was a Minor yet received a transfusion from her adopted mother who was one of the thirteen Royals.
Her attention shifted back to reality when Naru ended up in Yggdra's arms again, the immortal leader being careful with her own strength to not crush her new soon-to-be blood daughter. Yggdra walked over to the plasma window that gave a view from the side of the shuttle.
"Take a look, little Naru." She maneuvered the baby so she could see outside the panel. Before her uncomprehending eyes were millions of bright dots in the far off reaches of space, all different sizes and colors. Below them was the pale glow from the planet she was born on. Up here, one could not see the constant warfare and struggle the native people put themselves through, nor would she be able to comprehend any of this until many years later.
Her little eyes were drawn to the moon, a massive rock that glowed white from the reflection of the sun. Its pale light reached out to her and she made gurgling noises as she watched it go by, reaching her little hands out to it. Yggdra thought the gesture was cute and let her reach out until it disappeared from view. Walking her way up to the cockpit of the shuttle despite the curious glances sent to her from KOS-MOS and the guards, she entered the cockpit that had a screen of plasma to give them a clear view of the space before them.
"Little Naru, welcome to your new home where many more of your future family awaits," Yggdra said in a happy voice.
At a few hundred miles away, the area in front of them began moving. It started with one speck before multiplying to a couple more. While eyes couldn't see them in detail at this distance, when they arrived closer, the specks were actually light-bending panels of pure energy. They flashed for a few moments before fading away in time for the shuttle to pass through before reactivating, showing that they were transparent for those inside to see outside. The inside was a different story though that had even baby Naru's eyes widened in wonder.
Before her were a cacophony of lights from a spaceship bigger than she could comprehend. Its sheer size was larger than that of the moon they had passed. The ship itself was made of metals that when altogether glowed predominantly white with waves of red, blue, silver and gold, the actual aura of the ship extending hundreds of miles beyond the exterior of the ship itself. From here or far away, it would look as if the ship was made out of crystals that simply reflected a massive light shining from within its body.
At 4,600 miles long, the ship had a large main body at 598 miles in height and 424 miles in width, though it seemed much larger from the front as behind it were a set of twelve massive wings shaped like those of a dragonfly's positioned in three rows of two with each row equal distance around the ship, each spreading to a length of 1,506 miles. In front of the main body section were what seemed like three massive tendrils coiling around each other like a length of rope with their flattened ends (the end of the cannon) coming together in the shape of a large "Y" with a massive tunnel at the intersection. This 3,000 miles of ship served the single purpose of ending any threat that showed itself to the Valkyrians.
The shuttle approached the planet sized ship on a steady course as it was soon joined by an escort of six ships of different design, these being fighter craft about twice as big as the smaller shuttle.
Yggdra looked down at Naru and smiled at her awed expression. Lifting her up to her face, her eyes retrained back on her and once she saw her smile, she giggled and waved her small hands for her.
"You certainly are a strong baby for being only a day old, Naru. You will make an excellent Valkyrian if you're anything like your mother, though I do hope you don't develop the same ramen addiction Kushina did. You should go to sleep now, young one. You will get the chance to explore your new home later."
As if understanding her, she gave a timely grunt.
"Perhaps a song will put her mind to rest, my Queen," the copilot of the shuttle suggested. She knew that grunt well since she had to raise a child a century ago and learned much in that time.
"I will take your word for it, Eve," Yggdra complied, easily calling the pilot by name since she was connected to all and knew all their names via their hive link. "How about a lullaby, little one? Do you want to hear mommy sing for you while we make our way to the ship?"
A quiet look was all she got, making her pout a bit since she was hoping for another cute response. "I just assume you're waiting on me then." The pilots hear this and giggle. Yggdra positioned Naru against her very large (by Naru's standards) chest and laid her head to rest on her. She looked through her memories of Nebladed victims and chose a song that seemed to fit almost perfectly with Naru's circumstances tonight. Taking a deep breath, a soft wind-like note passed through her lips, tickling the ears of those on board like a cool breeze.
[Play Music: Aoife Ni Fhearraigh—"The Best Is Yet To Come".]
The soft note soon began to climb in pitch. What seemed like the whistle of a fast wind would make soon tapered off into more soft low notes, unceasing as Yggdra never seemed to stop. Soon, other sounds of different tones and pitches joined in with the first, creating an orchestra of what a human would associate with an ocarina and a set of recorders. What would stun most species is it all seemed to be coming from Yggdra herself. If one was to look in her throat, they would see not just a small section of her muscles moving, but the entire throat area moving and vibrating in various places as each produced a different sound.
Naru quickly found her eyes closing and within seconds her soft breaths could be felt on her mother's chest but Yggdra continued, not actually singing lyrics along with the added back sounds.
"An cuimhin leat an gra
Cra croi an ghra
Nil anois ach ceol na h-oiche
Taim siorai i ngra
Leannain le smal
Leannain le smal
Lig leis agus beidh leat
Lig leis agus beidh gra
Cuimhne leat an t-am
Nuair a bhi tu sasta
An cuimhne leat an t-am
Nuair a bhi tu ag gaire
Ta an saol iontach
ma chreideann tu ann
Tug aghaidh ar an saoi
is sonas siorai inar measc
Ceard a tharla do na
laethanta sin
Ceard a tharla do na
h-oicheanta sin
An cuimhin leat an t-am
Nuair a bhi tu faoi bhron
An cuimhin leat an t-am
Go siorai sileadh na ndeaor
An ormsa na orainne a bhi
an locht
Ag mothu cailite s'ar fan
Cen fath an t-achrann is
sileadh na ndeor
Ta ailleacht sa saol
Ma chuardaionn tu e
Ta gliondar sa saol
Cuardaimis e..."
She finally ends the song and glances down to see Naru fast asleep. She felt a swelling emotion within her chest at the sight and went back to the shuttle's hold to await their landing in "Outer Heaven".
It didn't take long for the shuttle to be directed to the personal hangar of the queen and she wasted no time lollygagging about. With her shuttle's guard detail relieved, she stepped off the ramp by herself into a large hangar about three hundred yards in width and height. She planned to make her way quickly to the lab where she had ordered everything needed for the medical procedure to be readied upon her arrival, knowing Naru might be woken up by the noise of the hangar crew going about their daily maintenance routines. It wasn't as loud as she expected it to be when those inside took notice and briefly stopped their work.
Nothing needed to have immediate or constant attention in the facility so as per their crew chief's orders, once the queen arrived with her new child, they were to stop and remain silent in respect. Yggdra was pleased greatly by this and made sure to give them a smile and nod as her thanks. There in front of her waiting for them was her head scientist whose intellect was second only to hers.
She was a beautiful bespectacled woman of a tall nature wearing a form fitting, long sleeved, black robe that hugged her body and split apart at the legs, also showing that she wore matching black leggings and boots. Her rank of authority was denoted by the two black and white striped ribbons tied to her biceps and fell freely. Her long, spiky-style white hair fell to her back and framed her face, showing a pale, flawless face with ruby eyes that held much excitement.
"Frigga, we will begin as soon as possible. I do not intend to keep little Naru waiting if she were to wake up," Yggdra ordered in a business manner.
The scientist curtsied and followed by the Queen's side unlike many that would follow a step behind her. This showed just how much influence Frigga has and how close the two leaders were. Now side by side, she proved to be a full head shorter than Yggdra, so that put her at about 6'9. She walked with a noble gait but Yggdra could easily see some excitement in her body.
"The machine is ready, my Queen. Soon, little Naru will be your daughter in blood as well as heart," she replied in a happy tone. Anything that involved science and biology was her forte and she always relished the chance to do something new. "I would like to say that until I'm actually able to study his Uzumaki blood, I can only give a rough estimate as to her chances of successfully adapting her DNA to yours. It certainly helps that she's just born a little over an hour ago. Normally, I would prefer the recipient to be a fetus to avoid an imbalance in her hormones and chromosomes, so this will certainly push our skills past the standard safety parameters. Taking a guess, I will give her a 4% survival rate."
Yggdra took this all in stride, her confidence in Naru pulling through shown in how relaxed her body seemed. "I have Nebladed her mother and know all about the Uzumaki's blood. Their clan, before their downfall twenty-five years ago, were famous and infamous across their continent for their longevity, capable of surviving normally fatal wounds, regenerating minor wounds within minutes, living twice as long as the average person, and having naturally enormous chakra reserves that were much denser as well. There were several unique abilities spread out in this clan, such as sensing and pinpointing chakra signatures of other people miles away, consuming one's own blood to rapidly regenerate from fatal wounds, or materializing their chakra to make weapons. Kushina herself was capable of creating miles of chains from her back that could hold down any of the Bijuu."
Yggdra decided to stop there upon seeing Frigga looking at Naru like a snack, not to mention her breathing rate was increasing.
That woman seriously needs to get laid.
"Therefore, I have the utmost confidence in Naru's ability to survive. Given both her infancy and the potential within her bloodlines, I deduce that her chances are up to 58%."
Walking to the end of the hangar finally, they stepped to a "doorway" that seemed to be made of light and one couldn't see the other side. Both women thought of the destination they wanted to go to before stepping into it. Their travel was instantaneous as the foot they used to step into the first door came out the target door without breaking stride. The new room they were in looked like the generic laboratory but with a soft amber color theme instead of stark white.
Beds lined the walls of the octagon-shaped, hundreds of them on this floor, though there were twenty more levels above them. Each bed sat on a track system where one bed with a sedated occupant was hauled into a capsule behind her where it quickly filled with a green liquid. Closer inspection showed several wounds on her body healing visibly fast.
Yggdra and Frigga entered an elevator in the middle of the room that swiftly took them to the twentieth floor. This one was similar in layout with an oval ceiling. On the side, connecting from the floor to the ceiling were four capsules with an armored shell over them. One of them was open, the one Yggdra walked to while Frigga moved up some steps across the room to a dais where several control monitors were.
"Just place her on the gel bed and leave everything to the machines, Yggdra," Frigga ordered. "I will be using the most recent storage of your blood. I will also have to put a genetic lock on all but a few of the Nebladed DNA strains within your blood. Her chances are already slim enough with just yours. Any more than four additional ones will be too much for her to access until her body matures more. Which ones would you like to give her access to?"
Yggdra thought for a moment before replying, "Wraith, from planet Shear. The Echidna from planet Sipholi. Ceph Warrior-caste from M33, Triangulum system. Isolate the Uzumaki from Kushina Uzumaki and focus on that portion. Leave out that bothersome male's genes."
A chuckle with a hint of madness left the scientist's mouth as she made the proper adjustments. A few seconds of typing and she declared the procedure was ready. Looking inside the tube through a small panel of glass in the shell, Yggdra saw Naru had woken up and was crying out for her. The disparity the babe felt hurt her but she knew this wouldn't take long and then she would be able to spend all the time with her new mother that she wanted.
The capsule quickly filled with an amber liquid while quickly entering through Naru's nostrils and mouth. Her cries were drowned instantly, her body spasming a few times before the oxygen-filled liquid began substituting for the lack of air. Seconds later, a purple cloud of color entered the capsule from the top—her blood. The cloud diffused into the amber liquid, slightly changing the color. The real noticeable difference was Naru jerking, though this wasn't really her that was jerking but Yggdra's blood changing her body.
"Process is at 15% and increasing at a steady pace," Frigga called. A holoscreen in front of her face showed several scans of Naru's body, ranging from nervous system to skeletal system.
A part of Yggdra was extremely concerned for Naru, an act that would seem much out-of-character for her, though she really had to give Kushina credit. Even when Nebladed, the woman wouldn't leave her child as her emotions and memories tried to translate themselves onto Yggdra's expression. Putting down her sense of worry, Yggdra continued to watch the transformation and subsequent birth of her very own daughter.
"Process is at 65%. Her skeletal system has finished its adjustments. Now the hard part begins. This will either kill her or make her beyond what she originally was."
Yes, now they just had to allow the actual body to accept the new cells instead of rejecting it. Normally, the chances of that are nil, despite the young age but this is HER blood they're using. She's consumed and successfully adapted the cells of hundreds of species spanning billions of lives and not once has she ever had a rejection. Their hope is for her DNA consuming a portion of Naru's, making new ones for Naru which will, in essence, Neblade the rest of her DNA within Naru, and let Naru's new cells Neblade her remaining human DNA before finally completing the genetic experiment.
"Process at 83%. As expected, her body is showing signs of rejecting your blood. 98% chance of the process killing her within the next minute if improvements in conditions aren't shown."
The fact Frigga could say that with an aloof tone proved why she was best for her position of authority. Millions of other Valkyrians would have already sought to strangle the mad scientist if they'd heard her. For these kinds of procedures and the thousands more experiments that were conducted in the labs, a woman like Frigga was needed to use the given resources to their fullest extent.
Yggdra could now see the obvious changes Naru's body bore, such as growing at least five more pounds from just a visual perspective, her size now being at least 50% larger than before, and the tell-tale physiology of a Valkyrian's feelers—for an infant like Naru, they were just stubby tentacles of nerves in three rows of four along the middle of her upper-back about three inches in length and covered in a soft gel-like skin. As she matures, they would be several feet long and protected by hard, flexible chitinous plates.
"Her body's new DNA is now Neblading the old and reproducing at an accelerated rate. Process is at 98%. Her Uzumaki blood and even the Kyuubi helped her adapt to the changes. Process is now 100% complete. Draining ambient fluids."
It was a great relief for Yggdra as she listened to her XO continue listing the status of all of Naru's systems as in optimal condition. The amber fluid was drained from the capsule quickly, allowing her to see the full changes of Naru when the armored shell lifted, followed by the capsule.
"Congratulations on your new child, Yggdra."
She was absolutely beautiful in her eyes. Her skin texture was a bit bulkier than human babies, showing numerous areas where she will grow the Valkyrian skin plates as she matures. Speaking of skin, her pink body was now a pale shade of white. Her eyes were closed but Yggdra knew she'd have her new mother's crimson eyes and her red hair was now highlighted with specks of white that would surely spread as she grew older.
"WAAAAHHHH!"
"I believe she wants her mother now. Be sure not to tell her I basically almost killed her when she's grown enough to know about these circumstances. I wouldn't want my little niece to be afraid of me," the scientist said, her expression changing from amusement to flustered and then to ridiculousness as she made funny faces at the baby in her friend's arms.
"That will not be necessary for at least twenty years. While she will surely mature a bit faster than natural born Valkyrians, you'll have plenty of time to coddle and imprint on her before she even wonders about the time she was born," she reassured as Frigga was softly running a finger along her cheeks.
Yggdra lifted Naru up onto her chest. She would definitely need to get her own body readjusted so she can start producing milk for her new daughter. Until then, she will have to use a wet nurse to feed her for the next day or so while her body changes. As Naru was lolling off to sleep on her breast, Frigga was now running a smooth finger across the stubs of feelers on her back with a doctor's eye.
"Her feelers are very well developed for a newborn. My scans predict a very healthy growth rate as long as she's properly nourished and trained in her infancy and adolescent years. She'll probably be around seven feet or so given that it's the norm for Valkyrian Royals, though since we've never had a Royal child of your blood before, who knows what will happen."
"Well I am in no rush for her to grow up. I'm several million years old and have never interacted with a child this much. I have a lot of child rearing to make up for."
Frigga giggled conspiratorially which was always a cause for worry in Yggdra's case. "Wait until she gets older and you start taking her on play dates with the other kids. She's going to have so many admirers." Somewhere deep in Yggdra's psyche, she felt a stirring of dread though it was just a sapling compared to the tree that it will become in a few decades. "Imagine when she gets in her adolescent years and the kids start taking interest in sex," Frigga continued with a chuckle fit for a certain half-Fallen Angel/Reincarnated Devil high school sadist. "With her being the only Valkyrian princess, you'll have to probably sanction off an area to build her her own fortress to keep the fangirls out, fufufufu."
Despite the growing disparity on Yggdra's face, she continued on listing off numerous scenarios that Yggdra was already making protocols and emergency procedures for when the time came for her daughter to hit puberty.
"And that doesn't even include the millions of adult Valkyrians who will try to arrange a mating period when our next cycle comes around and the princess matures enough."
SNAP
Frigga wondered what that sound was, having no idea it was actually Yggdra's patience for her friend's antics. With a glowing light, she brings out her White Scythe and swings to whack Frigga upside the head with it. Just as fast and in an amber light, Frigga brings out a massive, bronze-colored claymore sword with a chain snaking around and through the blade in several areas to block the blow. Even though she was mainly a scientist, she wasn't the 2nd-in-command of the Valkyrian people because of just her brains.
Though her power was nowhere near Yggdra's, the Queen still held back enough that when Frigga guarded the strike, a gust of pressurized wind wracked the lab, throwing both women's hair into a frenzy for several seconds.
No other moves were made except for when Naru started whimpering from the noise disturbance in her sleep. Both women glanced at the child for a moment before coming to a decision.
"We'll pick this up later. Right now I need to take Naru to bed and arrange for a nursing mother to feed her until my adjustment is complete. Please don't bother me with your eccentricities unless it's important, Frigga."
Frigga got the subtle tone in her voice and bowed her head. "Of course, Yggdra. Here, take three of these before you go to sleep." She hands over three pills the size of a human's pinky. "They are a metoclopramide to stimulate lactation. It will speed up your body's natural adjustment to motherhood by a few days. You'll be ready by the end of the next awake cycle."
The queen gratefully accepted them.
Yggdra makes her way with Naru back to the teleportation door at the first floor of the hospital. Stepping into it, she thought of her bed chambers. An automatic security scan of her voice and brainwaves confirmed her identity and she was soon at her destination. Her room was very humble considering her position of authority. It was only about forty feet (length) by sixty feet (width) by thirty feet (height). The room's floor, walls, and ceiling were made of wood native to the Path of Beasts—the colony planet where they first met the Wyrms.
The room itself was naturally dimmed with a dome section in the middle of the ceiling that raised out and gave one a clear view of space through the transparent, energy-made view panels. Her bed was directly underneath it, raised on a dais, and was one of her guilty pleasures. A large ten by thirteen foot bed made of memory gel that conformed to one's body shape without sinking too much. The technology behind it was hundreds of thousands of years behind more modern conveniences but it obviously made a lasting impression on the queen of the Valkyrians.
She dismissed her armor and clothes, baring her nakedness and also revealing along her back numerous coiled up feelers like Naru will eventually have that fall loose from their cramped positions to reach to her lower back though ones higher up on her back stick out a bit before falling. Unlike Naru's, these are not only longer, but covered in white chitinous armor with a glowing cerulean elongated orb on the end of them.
Yggdra sighed in relief and made her way to her bed. She pulled back a silk blanket of the purest crimson and laid herself on the crimson sheets and pillow. Naru—HER ACTUAL BABY—made a few noises but was soon breathing peacefully again. Covering them up, Yggdra used her mental control over the ship to isolate her room from any interference. Finally, Yggdra closed her eyes after the long awake cycle (day) and fell asleep with dreams of motherhood dominating the usual memories of her conquests.