*land of beginnings

*third person POV

After seeing Big One depart the island in the form of a green light, the girls resume their search for materials for Ryza to do her alchemy

Formidable: what is it Ryza? Have you found something noteworthy?

Ryza: this plant caught my eye. what do you think of it

Formidable: it looks like a bunch of weeds. what about it?

Ryza: hmm. That sounds like what I need. let's take it with us

as Ryza was putting the plant away, Klaudia called out for them

Klaudia: Ryza, there are some odd pillars over here!

Klaudia exclaimed, pointing at a set of pillars

Ryza: whoa. looks like the ruins of a building. I'll see if I can break them with my staff. Hey Bristol, mind gathering that rubble next to you? I could probably use that stuff as material

Bristol: but it just a pile of rocks

Bristol looked at Ryza with a questioning look until she realizes something

Bristol: Wait, maybe these rocks are infused with magic or something. Wait, no maybe they contain some rare ore

Ryza sweatdropped at this

Ryza: uhh they're just normal rocks

Alfredo: I totally figured out how it works Ryza. I caught this spider. you can use it as an ingredient, correct?

Alfredo giggled as she displayed a spider that she caught to Ryza.

Patricia: eek a bug! Get that thing away from me!

Ryza: aha yup. Patty's still scared of bugs I see. Anyways you're probably right about it being material though. Spider webs can be useful as well so try and grab a handful of those too

Somewhere nearby, Lila, Shimakaze and Suruga discovered some sort of lake

Lila: seems like this island is sitting in freshwater. you can directly drink the water here

Shimakaze: woah you're right. I assumed we're in the middle of the ocean so i never even bothered to try I supposed that means we're not in a mirror sea but rather a Mirror Lake

Suraga (Thoughts): she's really jumping to conclusions here. The sirens obviously turned this saltwater to freshwater. I don't know why they would do that but

Suruga's thoughts were then interrupted by Ryza

Ryza: That means getting drinking water won't be a problem. Plus I can even use it to synthesize stuff

Formidable: even something as simple as plain water can be used in alchemy

Patricia: So it seems it has a number of uses as well. Normally there's no need to collect water by hand when you can buy it from a vendor

Ryza: Buying things is more convenient but nothing beats exploring new places and searching for your own materials. Also, once I have made myself a fishing rod, we can catch fish and have something to eat, as well as another material for alchemy

*timeskip

Later, once the girls have collected enough materials, they went back to the stone monument and sat down on the ground to catch their breaths while Ryza went up to the cauldron and added the materials they have gathered

Ryza: there. now we mix it together

Ryza said as she finished adding the materials and started stirring the cauldron

Ryza: I can tell how high quality the ingredients we gathered together are. So what comes out at the end is sure to be incredibly useful

After a few minutes, Ryza successfully made a red neutralizer

Formidable: this how alchemy works? How did you manage to create that from an assortment of completely different things?

Bristol: Whoa now this is something I've never seen before. another magic craft from another dimension

Alfredo: that weird looking liquid even came out of the cauldron pre bottled. That's just wack

Alfredo then took out a camera and took a photo of the red neutralizer that Ryza is showing to Evan's shipgirls

Alfredo: And a photo op. I've got to immortalize this incredible moment of actual alchemy being performed. Teach and Torricelli would want to see this later

Ryza: So uhh I was thinking about this rigging recipe Klaudia found while exploring. I'm pretty sure this is one of those power granted recipes the monument talked about. The item it synthesize should make us able to fight alongside the rest of you

Klaudia: Really?! I'm glad I'm able to help

Shimakaze: oh boy. I'm extremely curious to see what rigging you'll synthesize

Alfredo: Moreover, it will be a ground breaking discovery if you're able to create a rigging using alchemy

Suruga: MATTE!!

Suruga suddenly spoke up, causing everyone to look at her

Suruga: Hate to rain on your parade but doesn't all this seem a bit too convenient to everyone else? There so happens to be a cauldron fit for alchemy, a stone monument telling us what to do to get back home, and that's only the start of it. Then all of the necessary items are just lying around, same with the key we need and to top it off, a recipe to make rigging from scratch. That recipe is extremely suspicious. We found it and a list of required materials written all in capital letters inside a box. Granted I don't understand how alchemy works or Shikikan's magic but I seriously doubt that it can simply poof a rigging into existence. Even if it can, can it really trust this cauldron to work as Ryza expects? In short, my point is the sirens obviously left this stuff for us

Shimakaze: oh goddess. The sirens left this stuff for us? I didn't realize how charitable they are this whole time

Suruga: That's not the conclusion you're supposed to draw! however you cut it. This is clearly a trap!!

Ryza: is it? well uh don't be mad Suruga but I just synthesised whatever this rigging thing is

Suruga: Nani?

Right as Ryza finishes speaking, a rigging materializes out of Ryza's back after the cauldron erupted in a blinding light

Ryza: whoa! So this is what a rigging looks like. i feel a strange power coursing through it

Suruga: Well, what's done is done. Just try to be careful

Suruga said as she sighed

Shimakaze: Wait until Shikikan dono sees this, maybe we can ask Ryza to make a rigging for him. That way, he can support us even more besides using his magic. I wonder what Shikikan dono's rigging looks like. Maybe it's one of his ships or maybe even... BIG ONE

Alfredo: The first train based rigging in history? Count me in. I want to see it as well

Shimakaze: No worries. I will

Alfredo: Yay! Galaxy Railways?

Shimakaze: Yeah! Galaxy Railways. Ginga Tetsudou

Everyone giggled at the two destroyers while Suruga sighed

Suruga: Shimakaze. Don't give Ryza any ideas

Shimakaze: Don't be like that Suruga. You're just jealous that you can't do magic like Ryza or Shikikan dono

Suruga: That's not it Shimakaze

Shimakaze: no? Maybe you're just jealous that you're not in Sirius Platoon that drives Big One

Suruga: Shut up Shimakaze! I'm totally not interested in magic or joining Shikikan's Sirius Platoon

Shimakaze: Perhaps you have crush on Shikikan dono but you don't know how to confess

Suruga's face became red

Suruga: SHIMAKAZE!!!

*Big One's Bridge

*third person POV

Evan sneezes once he heard his name being mentioned multiple times

Emanuele: Janus ikuzo!

Janus: hai!

Evan: Zensoku Zenshin! we're ploughing right above the centre of the island!

Big One whistles as it made its way towards the siren stronghold located on the northern island, dodging energy blasts before retaliating with blue laser beams from its main guns located on the fire coach