Disclaimer: I do not own YuruYuri or any of the associated characters. All other original characters that appear in this story are of my own creation.
Episode 7: Relentless Attack! Our Protagonist is in Trouble!
As Akari and Chinatsu headed into the nurse's office, they were greeted with a terrifying sight.
"Ma… MAMUSHI?" Akari yelled.
The woman was sitting in the nurse's chair, was in fact, their previous foe. As their eye's widened, she let out a sickeningly condescending laugh, and stood up from the chair, a sly look on her face.
"You really thought I would go down so easily? How cute. Allow me to tell you something! I'm on a completely different level than the Time Agent you fought yesterday!"
Both of their eyes widened, "Wh-what?"
"Recently, both the Resistance and the Time Agents have upgraded their technologies," she began, "The Agent you fought yesterday, Mantess, was overconfident in her abilities to win with her upgraded Blacksabre. I will not display the same fool-hearty confidence! My fight with you earlier was for three purposes. One, I wanted to ascertain if you would need your Bladebots to fight the prototype Blackdagger. Two, I wanted to observe your moves in combat, both in and outside of a mech. Three, I wanted to figure out how much of a threat your Bladebots were!"
Akari froze, gritting her teeth, "So… so this whole time she was watching us!? She was observing us, and learning about how we fought?"
"In making you believe I was defeated, I drove you out of your Bladebots and away from your weapons. You're inside, so you can't simply call for help anymore! You will be powerless against this!" She grinned, and the same black metal cocoon from earlier began forming around her. She emerged with a similar, but slightly different Blackdagger.
The two eyed their opponent in horror. She had completely outwitted them, and now they were trapped. Knowing the Blackdagger's speed, even if they ran, they wouldn't get very far.
"Is this it?" Chinatsu asked herself, "We've only been wrapped up in this insanity for a day now! Are we really going to die so quickly?"
"Chinatsu," Akari whispered, grabbing her pink-haired girlfriend's hand, "She might have been analyzing us, but we were also analyzing her. The Blackdagger might be fast, but we were able to dodge just by side-stepping! It would win out in a footrace, but if we use our agility to our advantage, we might be able to escape to the outside!"
Chinatsu's eyes brightened, "You're right! We could easily weave out of this room before she could turn around to attack us!"
Akari and Chinatsu rushed for the door, and Mamushi smiled, "It's useless!"
Akari waited for Mamushi to get really close to them, and then she quickly swerved out the door into the empty hallway. Mamushi's eyes widened for a second, and Akari smiled.
"We did it, Chinatsu! We found her weakness!"
Suddenly, however, Mamushi put on a sly grin and her eyes gleamed, "You fell for another one of my traps! I wanted to learn about your fighting style through observing, but I realized that if I fought normally, you'd be able to do the same thing. So I deliberately kept from using the full extent of this Blackdagger's capabilities!"
Mamushi turned on her heels and began quickly catching up with them, claws bared. As she got closer, Akari realized there was truly nothing they could do in this position.
"So, for the protagonist… this is it, huh?"
Suddenly, however, Mamushi stopped in her tracks, and all three people present in the hallway were surprised.
"My, my," a voice spoke behind Mamushi, "It seems you forget whose room you just walked out of."
Akari and Chinatsu knew that voice, it was the school nurse. They looked up to see Hatate in a standard school nurse uniform, holding a clipboard and a strap of gauze, the end of which was unraveled and wrapped around Mamushi's left arm. She was pleasantly calm for the situation, smiling softly with her eyes closed, and bowing slightly.
"Sorry for keeping you girls waiting, I'll get that arm patched up…" The nurse's eyes shot open and her expression grew fierce, "Just as soon as I get rid of the snake someone let in."
Mamushi's eyes were wide, "W-wha…. what the hell!? This is just medical gauze, right? So… why can't I move!? The Blackdagger is completely locked up!"
Hatate smiled, "This isn't just medical gauze… it's laced with copper wires! I'm feeding a disruptive electrical charge directly into your Blackdagger!"
Mamushi frowned, "B-but… such a thing would never work on a regular-sized Blacksabre! And we've never used the Blackdaggers before! How would you have known about it?"
"The development of the Blackdaggers was a predicted move!" Hatate announced, "I figured you Time Agents would try something like this!"
Mamushi smiled, "Fine, if a Blackdagger won't work… then maybe a BLADE WILL!"
Mamushi's Blackdagger collapsed, revealing Mamushi holding a small knife in her right hand. Hatate tried to pull the gauze wrapped around her arm tighter, but Mamushi quickly cut the gauze before she could be restrained.
She charged at Hatate, smiling victoriously, "I have you now!"
Suddenly, however, the gauze strip still on her arm quickly burst into flames, and Mamushi screamed in pain as her eyes widened.
"W-what was that!? What the hell did you do?"
Hatate smirked, "I knew you were going to cut the gauze the second you lowered your defenses! I tossed a piece of flint towards the gauze where your eyes were focused, and I yanked the gauze to wrap and conceal it! The second your knife made contact with the flint, sparks touched the gauze and kindled it! Then when you came recklessly charging at me, you provided the embers with enough oxygen to ignite the gauze! Your next line is 'What kind of person are you?'"
"What kind of person are- ack!" Mamushi cut off as her eyes widened.
Akari's eyes widened, "I thought Mamushi was cunning, but Hatate… she's on a whole different level! She's calm and collected, and she can read through Mamushi entirely."
"My, my…" Hatate sighed as she approached Mamushi, "Are you really done yet? You've only burnt your arm, after all!"
Mamushi was still on the ground, cradling her arm. Once Hatate grew close enough to her, however, she shot upwards, knife still in hand.
"I won't lose so easy, you crazy nurse!" she yelled, thrusting her knife forwards. Hatate swiftly wrapped her arm around Mamushi's, knocked the knife out of her hand, and karate chopped Hatate's shoulder, dislocating her arm.
The woman, having two injured arms and nothing to lean back on, gritted her teeth and climbed to her feet.
"Don't think for a second that this is over, nurse! I'll… I'll crush you the next time I see you!"
Mamushi used her left arm to grab a smoke bomb hidden on the inside of her shirt. She threw it at the ground and used the distraction to make her escape.
When the smoke cleared, the bell rang as well, and the Hatate smiled, "Akari, I can take a look at your arm now. I'll write you a pass back to class, okay?"
Akari's head was spinning. Finding out the school nurse was a member of the Resistance, the battle with Mamushi. After she had her arm patched up, she passed out completely, and Chinatsu stayed with her for the entire next period until she woke up.
Mamushi was not done yet.
The woman yelled angrily as she looked upon the school. "Fools! I won't be beaten so easily, damnit!"
She slammed her shoulder against a nearby tree and relocated it. Giving it a few tentative turns, she smiled. Then she held up her other arm, and the burns slowly faded, revealing healthy skin. She tested her arm by punching the said tree, and even though her knuckles were scraped in the process, she smiled.
"The second-years are still away on their trip to Kyoto… meaning that I can catch Akari and Chinatsu alone at the abandoned clubhouse… then they'll pay for escaping with their lives! I'll show them what relying too heavily on other people can do!"
"What the…? IT'S FIXED!?"
Akari and Chinatsu looked upon the Amusement Club's room in amazement. Yesterday, the roof had been completely destroyed by Akane's Bladebot, but now the roof was fine.
Chinatsu smiled, "Must be some Time Agent trick to prevent people from noticing their presence."
Akari wasn't so sure. "Wouldn't Miraisei or Tetsuya have mentioned that in their explanation yesterday?"
"CHINATSU! Stay away from the club room!" Akari yelled.
As Chinatsu opened the door, she turned around, confused, and let out a "hm?" in response. Just then however, she saw something in the corner of her eye and she barely had time to dodge before Mamushi quickly rushed out, clad in her Blackdagger once more, and slashed the air where she once stood.
"You again!? They just don't know when to give up, do they, Akari?" Chinatsu yelled.
"Give up? I never gave up! I told you, didn't I? I would crush you the next time I saw you!" Mamushi yelled out, slashing at Chinatsu once more.
"TETSUYA!" Akari called, "We'll need weapons again!"
When Akari's request was met with silence, her eyes widened.
Mamushi laughed, "Earlier, I heard you talking to someone else while we were fighting… and then you got the weapons that can pierce the Blackdagger's armor! Before you arrived, I set up a signal jammer inside your club room! I'm not going to let you enter that room!"
Akari frowned. "We've seen how perceptive Mamushi can be… we can't outwit her… and on top of that, it would be impossible to know for sure what's in the club room once we enter. For all we know, the signal jammer isn't even in there… We can't beat her unarmed at all, and I'd bet the buttons wouldn't work either! Is this really it?"
"Now, bow before the Time Agents and accept your fate! Humanity will continue to be ensnared! The Resistance will be crushed! Anyone who knows of the Time Loop will be hunted down and killed! No mercy will be shown! Even to middle schoolers, even to children! Now… for my humiliation earlier today, DIE!"
Before Akari even knew what was happening, she saw Mamushi start to charge towards her at an alarming rate.
In the next moment, a dark blue Type-L Bladebot fell from the sky and landed between Akari and Mamushi. It was shiny, freshly painted, and had the name "Sunrazor" running down it on the frame of the cockpit. Both of the short, stubby arms were replaced entirely with guns on pivots, and the legs had blades on the knees.
"If you think I'm going to let you kill my friends while they're defenseless, you're dead wrong!"
Both Akari's and Chinatsu's eyes widened. "That voice!"
"HIMAWARI!"
AN: So, apparently Himawari knows how to pilot Bladebots now, and was clearly taught proper dramatic timing by Hatate. This one's a bit shorter than the other chapters, but I wanted to cut it off here for dramatic purposes.
Also, Akari and Chinatsu are pretty defenseless when they're not on the school roof, huh? The Resistance should probably do something about that in the future.
