World Trigger: Genesis

Chapter 9: Tora Rokuda 2

Author's Note: So if anyone is wondering if I have any scheduling or reasoning to what I release and work on and when, it entirely depends on the inspiration, ideas, and maybe just a bit of whatever I have been watching recently. I do it when I can, and what I feel like. Thus is my creative spirit!

(Tora POV)

Going back in time a bit...

I thought I had cured it. I was not really wanting to be the kind of person who was comedic relief after all. I thought, after what I heard about its tactical benefits, it would be fine.

It was not fine.

I was shorter then even all the girls registering. And my white outfit matched with my white hair, which made it worse. I should have just altered my style, gone with a black outfit instead of the white all the other Trainees do.

So between those two factors, I drew a lot of attention.

But, there were many people who thought because of my size and age that I was weak. So, before we could even get to training a lot of people wanted to challenge me, give me a good "initiation".

I thought that maybe, the sempais of Arashiyama might not totally hate me for being a neighbor and give me support. Actually, if I recalled correctly, one of their members were on the list of people I was told to fight for points, that when I beat them I would rank up.

But in the end, I got challenged by all my peers, and Arashiyama Squad just let this go on! I didn't sense any malice, but they were smiling micheviously!

These C-Rank people didn't even know me, but I couldn't tell them either even if I wanted to. They just thought because of my height, I was...

"Come on, Chibi-Shota! Lets go play!"

"We promise it wont hurt much, Chibi-Shota!"

"It will be fun, Chibi-Shota!"

"Hey, maybe he is a real shota in the fact that in order to get into Border..."

Most of them were calling me the nickname that somehow everyone kept thinking of that irritated me to no end, but also one said something really dangerous! First off, I was eleven or twelve years old! Yes, I look like someone whose age is in a single digit, but that...that was not the point!

But that person who essentially called me and someone else "that" ticked me off, so I pretended to get upset and outraged like that and got them to all join one huge free for all match. After which, I proceeded to hunt them one by one. They all grouped up into various groups near each other to give me a good beating, but when I encountered a group I would use the Cyclone. I walked up from behind sometimes, striking them by cutting through their Trion Center of their Trion Bodies from behind with the Cyclone's Saw Blades, and then using the wire length ability and the magnetize ability to fly off before they could spot me. I also sometimes used the wire to trip one and then strike the other before finishing off the one who tripped, or if they tried to use a big open area I would jump in the center and swing it around, modifying it's length to cut through their cores.

It was already impossible to hide my primary weapon anyways, it would have happened in training no matter what, so it was okay for me to use it like this.

Anyways, I proceeded to hunt down and eliminate any and all combatants. It scored me a nice sum of points. And when I left...

"You! You are in Tamakoma right?! Recruited by Jin-niichan?!"

I came face to face with my first target, Shun Midorikawa.

"I will bet all the points you need to rank up, so lets have a match!"

He had a look of determination in his eyes, as if he had found something interesting that he would enjoy...but it didn't feel like it was full of malice.

Actually, it reminded me a bit of Jin but with more energy. I don't know why, but I got the feeling...we might actually get along? However, I did feel a bit of what I thought might be jealousy coming from him, especially when he mentioned Jin and Tamakoma.

I was familiar with jealousy due to my upbringing. I was jealous of everyone else, having what I did not. This was the first time I felt someone being jealous of me.

I actually really liked it.

"Sure! Let's have fun!"

He was a really good guy too, because since I only had a Training Trigger he decided to limit himself only to Scorpion. He was a bit interested in my choice of Cyclone also.

The first match I faced against him, we had no idea about each other's tactics and abilities. But he...he was different from those other people, who underestimated me. He actually seemed to be aware of my ability to some extent, and had his guard up a little.

He came at me while watching my movements, which was smart. But, I could be sneaky as well. I launched one of the disks at him and pretended to miss, but then used the recall feature to pull it right back as I moved myself so that it spun around a little and the blade plunged into his back, destroying his Trion core and netting me the first win.

After that, although I could go on ahead and describe nine whole other battles that were longer between the same two people in the same setting repeatedly, lets just skip to round ten of us beating each other up. He was good, and scored four wins against me. But in round nine, I scored a fifth which brought me into the lead. Now, it was the final tenth round.

Midorikawa and me smiled at each other.

"You...are strong...and fun..."

"Thanks...you too".

I felt like a similar development might have happened once actually, but found myself unable to place it.

"Can people watch this?"

"Yeah...but, I set the settings so they cant hear this. To think you are really a Neighbor though..."

"Does that bother you?"

"Maybe a number of others, but it only makes me interested. And well, when I first saw you and how you fought despite the sneakiness, I just felt like you were a good guy".

"I see..."

"The only thing I care about is if they are a good person, and if I can have fun with them. Other then those two factors, I don't care who they are or what they are. And forgive me if this sounds cold, but I don't care about someone's past too much either. Sure, I think what I heard was horrible and given the chance I would pummel them into the ground for it, but that is not the only thing that defines someone".

Now I understood, why there was something about Midorikawa I really liked. He was not looking at me with hatred, or sympathy. There was no pity or rage in his gaze for me. He just...he just saw me as a playmate, someone to like and have fun with. And that was why we were both smiling. Even if he came here with different intentions, we had found something in each other we found likable and fun.

And so, our round ten began. Midorikawa...no, Shun charged forward at me. However, his Scorpion suddenly turned fluid like and he used it as a whip to attack me with suddenly. I sensed it with Danger Sense, but because it was an unexpected way of attacking I had not seen him use yet he was able to strike me. This was how he kept beating me despite my Danger Sense. He kept coming up with new and creative ways to attack me with Scorpion. After hitting my arm with the whip and dealing some damage, he swung it right at me.

I managed to duck under the strike, and then got a shot at his back...is what I thought but he had already pivoted around and struck at me again with the whip form! This time I was able to sidestep it, but he used my evasion as time for him to move behind me.

But I was getting used to him as well, and when I evaded I actually threw one of the Cyclones into the air and hit a lamp post. I used the wire length modification ability to pull myself up and over shun, and then deactivated it to dive right at him striking towards his neck. He just barely managed to dodge, but I was already in mid swing to bring the other one around and cut him in half. Shun had to use Scorpion to defend, which ultimately weakened the blade and damaged it.

I jumped towards him with another strike while swinging the other end around again to get him from behind. Cyclone's ability to attack the same enemy multiple times at once made it extremely useful for me.

But then, he ducked under both strikes. I barely managed to avoid my own blade, but then when I went to focus on him I felt a sense of danger from the ground. I quickly dodged it, and surely enough a Scorpion blade emerged from the ground and tried to stab me in the head. But in all that time, I was able to swing around another Cyclone for a strike while he was occupied with that. He managed to realize that however, and dodged it. But it was not perfect, and I got an arm.

Now we were both leaking Trion. But in a contest of Trion leakage, I would win. But I did not want to win like that, and neither did Shun. That would not be as much fun.

The two of us charged at each other, aware it might not be tactically ideal for either one of us but we did it anyways to enjoy the fight. I retracted both Cyclones and now had one in each hand, releasing a flurry of combo attacks one after another. Even though Scorpion was not meant to block, Shun was able to do so and avoid serious damage. But Scorpion was getting whittled down, and he knew he had to counter attack.

And then, right during a combo he did it. He launched an attack at the wire, cutting it by morphing the Scorpion blade mid swing and preventing me from using those tactics again. WHile I was ccaught with that, he moved around out of my eyesight to strike from behind knowing I could not do that trick from before. But, this time I used my height that I always complain about to my advantage, and while crouching did a back roll behind Shun, and then threw a Cyclone into his back. This destroyed his Trion core, and gave it my victory. A final score of six to four, although this last fight was probably close. I was pretty sure he almost had me several times.

As we returned to the booths, he immediately came over and congratulated me.

"Huh? Thanks..."

"Wait, remember? You are B-Rank now! First day too".

"Oh...OH!"

Then I remembered the very beginning. I had so much fun, I totally forgot about that. Right, he bet enough points for my Rank Up. I was now going to become a B-Rank.

"And then, when you become A-Rank, we can see which of our teams is better also!"

"Ooooh!"

"Hey, you want to go another ten?"

"I do...but wait, no! Better idea! Let me get my full Trigger first! Then we can have a real battle!"

"You are right! Good idea! Come on! Let's get you to B-Rank so you can fully load your Trigger!"

"Alright! Uhh, its my first day here so lead the way!"

"Hey, hold it! I refuse to accept you were only using a Training Trigger then!"

Suddenly, it appeared that a few people who I beat earlier were coming to confront me.

"There is no way one twerp like you could beat all of us! What are you, eight? Nine? Are you even a boy?"

"Actually, he is eleven...or was it twelve?"

"Orphan, no idea".

"Well, whatever. He is somewhere around there".

"Huuuh?! That Chibi-Shota?!"

"...did they really give you that nickname...oi, oi! Don't cry Tora-kun!"

"Uwa! Midorikawa! Tell them I am not really that short!"

"Uhhh...guys, calling him that is a bit much don't you think?"

"To hell it is! He cheated! We should call him worse!"

"Nope, he didn't".

"And who the hell are you?!"

"Shun Midorikawa, A-Rank".

"Wait...what?"

"Now, if you will excuse us, we need to get Tora-kun ranked up! Come on!"

"R...right, following!"

(Miwa POV)

"..."

"Miwa, you know, the silent approach really doesn't suit this location don't you think?"

"What the hell is that idiot doing...Midorikawa...isn't he the one that always wants to join those Tamakoma traitors?"

"He is apparently really obsessed with Jin..."

"Tsk".

Miwa and Yosuke had that conversation after having observed the events that transpired.

"Whatever, he is only Neighbor bait. I guess if he is B-Rank, he will be better bait".

"Speaking of which, those guys have been oddly silent. And few gates have opened".

Hearing Yosuke's words, Miwa stopped for a bit. He could tell there was something more.

"What is it?"

"Well, maybe its nothing...but don't you find it strange they launched that huge invasion? And lately, there have been reports of people going missing in the city when no Neighbor attack occurd, and yet...I head minor traces of Trion were detected".

Now Miwa fully understood what Yosuke was getting at. That there was a possibility that scientist guy or his men were still here, and secretly growing their forces. A serious issue...and a good way for Miwa to vent.

"Very well, we can leave the Neighbor here alone for now. It looks like we have other prey to hunt that is higher in danger".

"Alright then".

(Super talented Elite Jin POV)

Jin watched as Tora and the other two moved about. The two had already won their first B-Rank Wars match, and Tora already got promoted to B-Rank. Things were going pretty well.

"So what about it Jin? This invasion you seem to see?"

"It is still coming. Could end great for us, could end poorly. I can't be certain due to the fact I could see the futures of our enemy, but...the worst case scenario is Border getting destroyed. And aside from the Best Case Scenario, there will still be problems".

Kido walked out from a dark hallway and approached Jin.

"You know, you should probably get the lights in that hallway fixed".

"Please focus. I want to know, with these additions how are our odds?"

"Well, I admit that it seems the ones coming after our Neighbor friends might get involved. I only know that this Kranz person will definently be involved, but I cannot guarantee he is the nation that attacks in the upcoming invasion. What I do know though is that both Tamakoma teams and myself will be pushed to the absolute limit?"

"Even with Fujin? With Fujin, you are extremely hard to defeat. I admit, I wish we could see more of that in the training sessions. Having people watch you fight with Fujin would help a lot".

(Now, surely I am not implying some sort of desire of mine to see Fujin returned to Jin here. Certainly not, just your imagination)

"I suppose so. I guess you cant use Amo huh?"

"Please don't joke like that. Anyways, what is our odds?"

"About...a ten percent chance for best case scenario, a twenty percent chance for worst case, with a lot of various inbetweens taking the rest".

"It changed quite a bit..."

"So far, everything with Tora went right. However, there is still three issues I hope to fix before or during the invasion".

"Three?"

"First is, the death of someone close to Tamakoma-Second. Second, the destruction of the Base. And Third...Tora's death itself".

"His death?"

"Yes, during the invasion I saw it...Tora gets killed by a Black Trigger user while protecting someone. The issue is that the someone keeps changing. But it was even you at one point".

Kido frowned when he heard Jin's comment.

"But, I will be in the command room during the fight".

"And you see, that is the issue I have yet to figure out. During the invasion, either someone gets inside the base undetected...or someone betrays us. And that traitor always kills Tora, directly or indirectly. Either Tora gets sent right into enemy forces alone or with a small group, or he ends up getting to base only to get stabbed by someone who appears to be a Border Agent".

"And with your side effect you can see who?"

"They are tricky. Somehow, however this traitor or infiltrator gets in, how they appear constantly changes. I think they must somehow be aware of my side effect, and has chosen some method to ensure whatever their plan is cannot be predicted".

"...but how can they know about your side effect?"

"That is the million dollar question".

(Tora POV)

Some time later...

"Alright! Now that I am in B-Rank, I can join with the rest of my team!"

"You have to shoot up for A-Rank as fast as you can so we can have our Rank Wars battle!"

Me and Midorikawa were having this discussion. I was now the proud owner of a B-Rank Status, and I had the ability to properly use my complete Trigger. Furthermore, our team uniform was now fully complete. We had a lot of options including color, design, and such. I actually did a bit of the design myself, though it ended up a bit messy.

On my shoulder was the Tamakoma Emblem. Originally it was suggested we go with Teal since few teams used that color, but I did not look the like of it. So instead, we decided to mainline purple with red and black secondary and highlights to put it basic. But to go into detail...

It was long black cargo pants, and a purple long sleeved jacket and red shirt. Although Daisuke tucked his into his pants, I left mine untucked and free. Sarah also went with the long pants, opposed to the idea that the girl's version would be a skirt with just long boots. Our boots were red and black, and we each had a purple cap. The Tamakoma Branch Logo was on the hat as well. Additionally, where my Neighbor Trigger normally is around my wrist I have a normal looking purple and red band.

As for gloves, Daisuke and Sarah use black gloves, while my gloves are purple with red stripes and the ends of them are hidden. My jacket has larger sleeves then the others and are a bit poofier, and yes that is a word that I did not make up, and my pants are also a bit baggy. Not overly baggy, but a bit. Sarah's boots are actually a bit bigger then mine and the same size as Daisuke even though her feet are not. Daisuke meanwhile is actually a bit less roomy then Sarah's, and is apparently so he does not stand out as much.

Originally, we tried to make it as close to each other as possible, but Daisuke is about 166cm, and Sarah is about 149cm. This leaves me, who is about 125cm and that is totally not standing on the tips of my toes with a clear difference in height. So, the uniforms were never really going to perfectly match. And then...well, apparently I don't have much artistic capability. At least with that design computer.

And as for why I did not program my Trion Body to be taller? Well aside from being told that it would only draw attention and make people realize I had a height issue, when meant more people would tease me for it, Kyosuke actually programmed it to be 20cm taller once. He said normally the Trigger would automatically scan it and replace it with an exact Trion Duplicate, but that manual adjustments could obviously be done as the clothing could be changed. However, the moment I experienced it...I fell on my butt with overwhelming dizziness and nausea. It appears that doing such things would result in disorientation, so I elected to keep it the same as my normal body.

Anyways, I was now trying it out around the base, and was rather enjoying it as me and Midorikawa were returning.

"And also, maybe you could convince them to let me join Tamakoma!"

From what I heard so far, it seemed Midorikawa was obsessed with Jin after Jin saved him from a Neighbor, and joined Border to be with him. I certainly had no issue with Midorikawa joining, but the fact that he and the rest of his team had not yet even though I am sure Rindo would be fine with it probably said something. That was why I sensed jealousy from him earlier, it was because I was in Tamakoma.

"So, how much have you experienced yet? Oh, you are new here right? I should show you my favorite noodle place too! Ah, we should totally make plans for fun, some future battles, and what not. Oh, now that you ranked up we should also have an all out match!"

While Midorikawa started to think of all the various things I had not been able to experience yet, I had to admit that aside from the most heavenly commodity Mideen had, soft things like beds, couches, and clothing, the food was also really good. Even if they lacked in Trion technology, they truly did excel in every other field it seemed.

And as we were walking down the hall, we turned a corner and ran into a few new faces.

"Oh, excuse me"

There were two of them. A boy and a girl. The boy had black hair and onyx eyes, or at least one eye was onyx as I could not see the other, and the girl had brown hair and eyes and reminded me...of Sarah, actually. Just brown hair instead of black.

When the two looked at me, it seemed that they recognized me. Probably due to my white hair, red eyes, and shortness. The boy gave me a bit of a look that I could not place but it was somewhat similar to Shun, while the girl gave me a look that reminded me even more of Sarah, a sort of mischievousness and some other stuff as well.

"So cute!"

Suddenly, I felt myself grabbed and picked up into her arms before I even could realize she took action. Was this some sort of attacker skill?! No, didn't Sarah employ this very same skill before?! Anyways, I was now being smother hugged while my feet dangled helplessly off the ground, and kicking the air certainly was not helping.

"Ah, Suzume, I think you might be suffocating him".

"Buuut Yuki! Not only was it horrible what happened to him, he is so cute! He needs love and care!"

Yuki just had a sort of smile on that while looked light, felt very genuine.

"Suzume, I am sure his team already does that. Didn't you already ship him and Sarah anyways?"

"But...but...look! He has white hair and red eyes! The legendary combination you see from a lot of main characters in manga and anime!"

It seemed to be that maybe, girls like Sarah were not as rare as I thought. I was not entirely sure what to think about that, but right now I really wanted to be put down. I am not sure why people seemed to have this obsession with picking me up.

After some talk from Yuki though, I was finally put down and...

"Tora-chan!" x2

Suddenly, I heard two familiar voices call out my name. Me and Midorikawa turned around, and it was my teammates.

"Sarah-neechan, Dai-niichan, did you win already? What is..."

Suddenly Sarah went right over to me and picked me up. I had actually gotten so annoyed at this once that I lectured her on it. Not to mention I was only just put down.

"Sarah-neechan...put me down!"

"Sarah, you probably should..."

Shun just gave me a look of sympathy.

"It's okay Tora-kun. I am here for you".

"Thanks Shun".

"Its you...Tsukiko Squad right?"

"Ah yeah, we just happened to run into I'm now. I hear you won your first B-Rank match. Congratulations".

"Tora-chan, who is this boy?"

"My name is Shun Midorikawa, Tora's best friend and rival!"

Somehow Shun already dropped the honorific, but I actually didn't really mind at all. So long as people did not call me Chibi-Shota.

"Yep. So when is our next Rank Wars match?"

"We have one five days from now, and then another a week and a half from then due to some sort of event or something Border is planning".

As Sarah told me that, I nodded as I understood the situation.

"Then I suppose we should spend the next five days working on our team work and strategy then".

"Actually...apparently the Tamakoma training rooms will be down for three days for updates. And also, you still have not had your medical checkup and..."

I went a bit pale when I heard that. Partially due to my fear and hatred of scientists, and partly for other reasons, I was not entirely happy with the idea of a medical checkup.

"Hold on! There are still things way more important then a medical examination that Tora needs to do!"

And then, Shun came to my rescue by stating something.

"He has yet to enjoy the wonders of a hot springs! My schedule also happens to be open for the next four days!"

Sarah heard those words and then nodded at Shun's suggestion.

"A hot springs trip would be fantastic! A great team building exercise and a truly heavenly experience!"

"It is true...out of everything we want to have Tora experience, so far our defense duty assignments or training got in the way of this. We can spend three days at a hot springs, and then the remaining two after the rooms are fixed for training".

"We need to remember to invite Jin-niichan and everyone else from Tamakoma as well!"

"Yeah yeah! Me, you, all of Tamakoma! Yuki, Suzume, what about you?"

"Unfortunately we have a B-Rank Wars matchup the day after tomorrow, so we cant join you".

"Then we should invite Yoneyan and Izumin...ah, sorry, Yosuke and Kohei. Those are nicknames I gave them. Anyways, we should have them join us too!"

"Hey hey, if we invite too many people it will be too big".

"Then just that amount should be good, right?"

"Well...Rindo will probably be too busy, but maybe Konami-sempai and the others of Tamakoma-First might. But, the two you mentioned might be..."

"Yosuke is busy, but sure. I am available. Sounds like fun".

And thus someone new came into the spotlight. From what I could guess, he was apparently Kohei. He seemed nice enough, given he did not look at me with disdain, but...I got a strange feeling about him.

"Alright then! Lets all get packed and meet up somewhere then! I know just the place to go to!"

That strange feeling would have to wait though, as it seemed Shun launched us right into high gear.

(So I already mentioned this last chapter, but in case there are strange people going around and not fully reading every chapter I place, let me say it again: Thanks to TheAnimeTrain for letting me use Tsukiko Squad in this! We discussed quite a bit and some fun stuff should emerge! Still accepting new ideas, but keep in mind implementation will be harder as I go on and eventually once I develop past a certain point I wont be able to accept anymore! Anyways, PLEASE REMEMBER TO READ ALL CHAPTERS for any credit I give, and please leave a review on each chapter! Especially answering the questions I often ask at the end, like for this one: If you were a Border Agent, who do you think you would do the worst against that isn't an obvious choice? EX: Jin, Yuma, Tachikawa, ect.)