Ten
Kazu Squad
After being rudely woken up by his platoon leader, Takeo had been almost dragged by the older Inkling, who seemed very rushed. He followed the warrior for several minutes, avoiding the morning sentries who were watching the perimeter of the camp. Eventually, Takeo understood that this was odd, and asked aloud what they were doing.
Instead of answering his question, Ren shushed him, then brought him to a crouched figure that put him immediately on the defensive. Before he could even say the Inkling's name, Kazu stood up and glanced around the tree he was hiding behind.
"That isn't Kiko, Ren." Kazu quietly said, his hand nervously gripping his sword's handle.
"I didn't peg you for a liar, Kazu. You need to tell your squad leader what you told me." Ren quietly returned.
"What? Why? You need to take this to Tetsip, or someone else who can actually check the commander." Kazu angrily whispered, Takeo realizing he had never seen his squaddie this way. It was almost as if he was panicking.
Wait… commander?
"He can't. He won't. If our commander is planning something, then it will be up to us to stop him." Ren solemnly stated.
"Whoa. Whoa, wait. What?" Takeo asked, his heartbeat quickly rising. "What the hell is going on?"
"Takeo, your squaddie might have discovered a plot by our commander last night. He was spotted trying to sneak into our camp in the dead of night, under the smuggler's moon." Ren quickly explained, looking over his shoulder as he spoke. "Kazu has been dodging squid-guard ever since, and I've been called by our commander to explain who Taki, from Taki Squad is."
"Why the fuck am I being brought into this? Wait, you didn't…"
"Ha, yeah. Sorry." Kazu breathed, a smirk coming even in this desperate situation.
"What are you going to say? What's going to happen to us?" Takeo asked Ren, unsure of what or how he could do anything to help the situation. A part of him wanted to doubt the entire thing just due to Kazu being Kazu, but the name of Kiko being dropped possibly meant that she had also seen what had happened.
"I'm going to tell him the truth. We've never had a squaddie named Taki, or a Taki Squad. I'm going to tell him that he was lied to, and hope he doesn't investigate through other platoon leaders, or his sub-commander. Kazu and Kiko are going to hide in plain sight, and…" Ren stopped, staring down a pair of sentries patrolling around near them. "Just go do what he tells you, you fucking idiot. Prepare yourself for battle at a moment's notice."
Scoffing loudly as if in disbelief, Ren trotted away towards the center of camp, leaving the two of them to stare at each other. As they watched Ren go out of view, Kazu spoke, saying, "I'm pretty sure you were the 'fucking idiot' this time, Takeo."
After a pause, Takeo sighed. "Shut the fuck up, Kazu."
"Wait, what?" Renzo asked, not liking the words coming from Takeo's mouth.
"Kazu is squad leader now. Do as he tells you, and prepare for combat at a moment's notice." Takeo ordered, getting a bunch of negative responses from everyone besides Kiko.
"Is this about last night?" Kiko eventually asked after he and the others were left waiting for an answer to their complaints. What was strange was that she had directed this to Kazu himself, who she had never been witnessed talking to before. Everyone watched in silence as Kiko offered Kazu his two swords, which she hadn't explained as to why she carried them in the first place.
"Yes." Kazu answered, taking the offered scabbards gently, before dropping them beside a tree and kicking leaves over them. "And if anyone asks, you've never had anyone with three swords in your squad."
Realizing that part was directed at each of them, the squad shared confused looks between each other, before Kazu asked, "Got it?"
"Are you going to explain why?" Nara piped up, the question more directed to Takeo than to their apparently new squad leader.
"In time, yes. Until then, listen to Kazu as if he was squad leader. Also, if anyone asks, we've never been, or have heard of, Taki squad. Understood?"
"I don't like this." Renzo immediately said, suddenly understanding that espionage was at play. His father had always told him to be vigilant during his time in a company, especially to that of deceit.
"Me neither. What we've done as a squad, how little it was, was in the name of Taki. Are we just going to stop-" Yori probably would have continued, if Kazu hadn't interrupted him.
"For fucks sake, Yori. Shut the fuck up. You think I want to do this? It's not like I'm telling you to quit being you, and pretend to be somebody else. Just keep your mouth shut for a couple of days, and if asked if you know anyone named Taki, shake your head. If anyone asks to see your squad leader, just go point out Takeo for all I care. But if you think I'm going to let you get us all killed because you suddenly have an attachment to a four letter word, I'm going to beat you to death myself."
Even Ayumi was left speechless by the sudden aggressiveness that Kazu had displayed. The words he spoke put Renzo on edge, but the air of sincerity he commanded with made it impossible to argue with. Undoubtedly feeling nervous, Yori only nodded to the boy who was standing less than an arm's length away.
"Good. Now that that's settled, get packed up. Ayumi, Enri, Kiko, Nara will lead us, followed by Takeo, myself, Renzo, and Yori. Hopefully it will rain soon." Kazu said, glancing at the cloudy sky above them. As the Inklings remained standing, glancing between each other, Kazu shouted, "GO!"
The next few minutes were a blur as Takeo, or Taki, or Kazu Squad quickly rolled up their canvas cover, and stuffed their kits as fast as possible, quickly falling into their new marching order before joining the slow moving platoon.
Nara fixed her hood for the fiftieth time in a day. For some reason, she felt as if several bugs had gotten inside the waterproofing and were running along the back of her head. She glanced back, knowing it wasn't bugs, but the proximity of her new squad leader, standing right behind her.
Her 'friend' was currently ignoring her very existence, even though his head was fixed forward, forcing eye contact. Nara wondered how he didn't even blink whenever she stared at him, occasionally spotting Kazu's eyes shifting ever so slightly before returning back to their original positioning, as if he was trying to remain a certain way, yet keep everything in his view.
Nara turned forward to stare at the back of Enri's hood, knowing how strange Kazu was acting, more so than their new usual. On the bright side, their squad was no longer fighting and arguing on the road, each too busy trying to figure out why Takeo had abdicated his position to the one he supposedly hated the most. Everyone, except for maybe Yori who was borderline retarded, understood that there was something important going on, and they wouldn't be privy to it for a while.
At least they were about to be out of the woods. For a while, they had been walking through shrub brush and tall grass, but they could clearly see the end of the annoying terrain. Soon, they would be in the flats and sands of the delta proper, and get to see the ocean itself. For a while now, they could smell the salty sea air, which meant she was about to see something Nara had only heard from third person accounts.
As she pushed her way through the last of the tall grass following Enri's wake, she bumped into the girl, not understanding as to why they had stopped. Moving around the girl, followed closely behind by Kazu, Nara also was halted at the sight before her.
Before them, several scores of two legged fish stood in rows on the sandy banks below them, water at their backs as the mob started to make a clamor in their guttural language. To their left, the shores of the ocean and the wonders that had washed up on the beach. To their right, and towards the low hills that led inland, crude constructions had been made along the small streams that led into the bigger river that the current horde stood in front of.
Kazu and Takeo both started shouting orders at them even as the signal horns began to bellow to bring their company to a halt, ordering them to draw weapons and prepare to fight. For whatever reason, the throng in front of them didn't take this opportunity of confusion, and let their enemy form up into their platoons.
Nara dropped her rucksack on the ground in the grass, drawing her sword as she watched the barbarians continue to wait, not understanding why these ambushers were waiting patiently for them to form their battle lines.
"Nara, behind me." Kazu ordered, as he tried pushing past her, but she rebuffed him. She wouldn't repeat their first battle, and brought her small shield up, locking it in place with those in the squads beside her.
"PLATOON, FORWARDS!" Ren shouted from somewhere beside them, his own squad close to the front. As the front rank slowly went down the small slope that led to the large river bank, Nara felt the rain batter her as she breathed heavily, ignoring Kazu's words from behind her.
She wasn't going to let Kazu protect her again. This wasn't some small skirmish, but an actual battle now. If she was going to live her dream of being a heroic warrior, then she couldn't rely on someone else's skill. Nara felt herself grin madly as she realized the boy behind her was trapped in the middle of the platoon, thirty one Inklings moving in a loose block around him and keeping him contained.
"Just watch, Kazu. I'll prove myself here and now. I'll show you that I don't need your help." Nara whispered, hearing the start of Ren shouting to keep the pace of unified lock step. Every time he would grunt, they would match and step forward with him, before they all would be grunting in unison. Glancing to the other assault platoons closer to the sea, Nara could see others were replicating their actions, each moving closer and closer to the stationary mob before them.
"Why aren't they moving?" Ayumi asked the boy next to her, occasionally adding her own voice to the shouting. Beside her, Renzo was nervously looking to their right, towards the empty hills beside them. She shifted her hood as the rain started to get heavier, not taking her eyes off the jeering monsters before her. Around her, fellow Inklings drew blades, preparing for the bloodshed that they were slowly marching towards.
"I don't know. They're waiting for something, obviously. I don't like how our flanks aren't secure."
"What?" Ayumi asked, knowing the boy had some knowledge in tactics and strategy.
"All of our assault infantry are on the beach with us. The harquebusiers still haven't moved up to support us. Our enemy is luring us in, closer to the water, and the rain is only getting heavier."
"What are you saying?" Ayumi asked, wondering if they were walking towards their deaths.
Renzo paused, looking around at the faces that were directed at him. In fact, a good portion of their platoon had stopped shouting to listen to the boy. Ayumi quickly attacked his ego, knowing that if he understood he was effecting the morale of his fellows, he'd stop informing them of the danger they were walking towards. She had to know if the life behind her was going to die if they continued acting as they were. "You're so full of shit, Renzo. You're just being a coward because you're in the first rank."
"I'm not scared, bitch. I'm just saying that we're blindly moving forwards. We don't know enough to just march into the enemy." Renzo finally said, unaware that nervous looks were directed towards him.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, KID!" Ren shouted from a hidden location within their platoon formation. Whether he heard from a second source, or heard Renzo himself, their platoon leader was apparently enraged enough to stop holding the pace of their platoon, and was paying the price immediately.
Hell, Ayumi hadn't lost step, but the stranger beside her was walking too slowly now, and Renzo was walking too quickly as if he was trying to recover from a blow to the head. Slowly, the platoon returned to the same pace, but by the time they had, they were almost ready to sprint into the stationary enemy who were barking at each other in their unintelligible speech.
"HALT! BRACE!" Ren shouted out, Ayumi stopping what she was doing and feeling the shield arm of Enri on her back to support her in case an enemy ran straight into her. Digging her heel into the sand, Ayumi brought up her sword behind her shield, and stared silently at the invaders before them, each roaring themselves into a frenzy as they battered themselves.
"The harquebuses are moving up." Kiko informed Kazu, who was angrily standing behind Nara with his sword in the air.
"Harquebusiers." Kazu corrected, his eye twitching violently as the fish creatures took a unified step forwards, as if doing a tribal dance only a few yards away from the clean lines of Inkling infantry.
"What?" Kiko asked, her sword nervously shaking in her hands as she prepared to fight for her life. Kazu only shook his head, not even wording an apology if he was planning on saying one. Realizing she was getting distracted, Kiko looked at the barely clothed creatures hyping themselves up for battle. These ones looked a bit different from the last ambushing group, noticing how their weapons seemed to be… well, weapons.
Instead of the wooden fishing spears or the crude bows, these fish creatures were armed with real metal. In fact, she could clearly see Inkling armor attached to the bodies of the invaders, who had no doubt looted from the dead of her countrymen. Some were even using the short swords that every Inkling was given when they were conscripted!
"Kazu, they have our weapons!" Kiko nervously stated, realizing strangers were surrounding her. Suddenly aware that her squad was split up, Kiko began to grow even more nervous, wondering if following Kazu had been a wise choice.
"Yes. They do." Kazu grimly affirmed.
"What do we do?" Kiko asked back, hoping there was some grand strategy.
"Hope they don't have anyone on that hill." Kazu responded, also hearing whoever was talking about that earlier that had suspiciously sounded like Renzo.
"What if they do?"
"Then a great number of us will die." Kazu spoke as if it was fact.
Kiko wanted to run, but was trapped by the ones behind her, who also looked ready to flee at a moment's notice.
"Can't we back up, towards the ground we were on?"
"Not without giving them an opportunity to charge. We're dedicated now. Just… remember your training and try not to cut our friends."
"Right… our training. Slash. Not stab. Wait… stab, not slash? Right?" Kiko asked, looking at her short curved blade, her intuition telling her it was meant more for cutting that stabbing.
"Either is fine. We're in the second line, so focus on protecting the guy in front of you."
"Thanks." The guy in front of her said sarcastically, not wanting to risk turning to face the noisy people behind him. "You know, you guys aren't helping morale, right?"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP OVER THERE!" Ren shouted at them, trying to keep everyone mostly silent.
"Here we go." Kazu stated as the horde before them started to move towards them, and the platoon seemingly breathed a sigh of relief. Horns and drums were played as the hundreds strong fish mob moved in a unified sprint towards them.
"BRACE! BRACE!" Ren screamed as the tide of bodies sprinted towards them in the rain.
Yori mindlessly hacked at one of the creatures that had torn the Inkling in front apart during their charge, realizing he was screaming his lungs out while feeling the flesh of his enemy on his sword. He didn't even get the opportunity to breathe before the next invader had appeared, his fangs stained with blood, as if he had been hit in the mouth. Somewhere, Takeo was near him, swinging for his life as well. Knowing that he wasn't alone, Yori mustered his courage, deflecting the incoming blow with his small shield and thrusting his sword into the chest of the creature.
But unlike the beasts in their first taste of combat, this one was wearing metal armor that was similar to that of an Inkling's. Yori knew too late that he had fucked up, his sword's tip not even catching on the single sheet of metal as the steel slid off. Yori watched with horror as the fish creature brought a sword similar to his own towards him, realizing he was going to die.
"YORI!" He heard Takeo scream as the metal entered his neck, indescribable pain making it impossible to breathe as he fell to the ground. As the world quickly vanished into darkness, Yori understood the body that was falling towards him was his own.
Renzo was having much better luck here than his last battle, those in his platoon proving themselves a bit more competent than those in his squad. Now that Kiko wasn't showing her incapability to fight and making his squad be defensive, they could focus on what they were here for.
To kill.
Ayumi had been a decent combatant in their last skirmish, but now the fury at which she cut apart the barbarian before her was actually inspiring. It was as if their first taste of combat was just a test to see how much strength she needed to cut through the flesh of her enemies.
Renzo barely avoided a downward slash as he brought his dual handed grip into the face of the enemy that had just tried to kill him. Ignoring the pain in his hands, Renzo snarled as he quickly brought the edge of his sword into the stunned creature's neck, watching it reel back as the creature tried to stem the red tide that erupted from the large hole that had been made. Pushing the creature over to let it leak to death, Renzo brought his sword closer to his chest as he looked for the next creature to come for him.
With half a mind, Renzo looked to the hill that had those small constructions, which had been small reed huts and twig fences, and realizing that his fears had been worth airing. Dozens of fish creatures were swarming down the hill, each carrying wooden bows that their people used to hunt with. Renzo knew that those archers would outrange the Inklings coming to support the fight, and though projectile fire was ineffective at killing Inklings, enough shots would slow them down long enough for the battling mob to carve a way through and win the melee engagement.
Renzo only wished he had a way to communicate his thoughts as he was suddenly beset upon by another fish barbarian.
Nara continuously swung, deafened by the sounds of combat that surrounded her. Steel against steel rang around her as she felt the flow of combat. Without a shadow of a doubt, Nara knew she was winning this fight, her blows finding openings in any fish creature that dared to ignore her. Anything that came to kill her would soon have steel in their throat or where exposed skin showed. If she couldn't find anything immediately to fight her, she would move to someone who was in a fight themselves, and quickly assist by either stabbing or distracting the enemy enough for her friend to finish their foe off.
Smiling, Nara had discovered just how easy killing was. Her enemies were constantly off their guard, or acting as if they had missed their blow. All she had to do was keep up the pace, and she would win the battle herself!
Finding the next creature to fight, Nara charged at the spear toting barbarian, unafraid of the wooden weapon. Hell, the spear didn't even have a metal point! Believing she was going to find another easy kill, Nara confidently swung, knowing that her sword would find its mark.
Instead, a pain flared in her thigh as the slack jawed monster brought the spear up, simultaneously blocking and attacking with the reverse end of the pole, which had also been sharpened. As soon she fell on her ass, Nara knew she wasn't in a good spot, and tried to get distance between herself and the enemy, knowing she had to get up or she would die.
The wet red sand gave her enough purchase to get to a knee, but the creature wouldn't give her a chance to fully stand, bringing his long leg into her chest and knocking her back down. Nara sensed more than saw the incoming weapon, as if her eyes were seeing things from a delayed perspective. As she moved to block the incoming strike for her face, her shield wasn't even touched, and the spear found a home in her exposed waist.
She screamed in pain as the creature left its spear in her, watching it take out a wavy dagger to finish her off. The invader that was trying to kill her hadn't even made an expression as he was about to slit her throat, easily knocking Nara's sword out of her hands as she tried to retaliate.
About to get her throat cut, Nara's regrets flooded her mind, knowing her heroic career as a warrior in a famous company had already ended, not even three weeks into her conscription. Anger and sadness filled her as images of her friends flooded her mind, knowing her time spent with them had ended as the world started to silence itself. She closed her eyes as the blade touched her, knowing her death would be quick.
A moment went by, and she had felt nothing, and wondered if she was already dead. But the pain that embedded itself into her stomach hadn't left her… As she opened to see why her enemy hadn't easily finished her off, Nara saw the sight of Kazu, dual wielding and swinging like a maniac as the fish creature's horrified face watched the young male rip him apart. Only armed with a dagger, the creature couldn't keep up with fury at which the Inkling attacking him slashed with. Nara was stunned at the view of Kazu bringing both blades into the waistline of the fish barbarian, then cutting the two swords free, separating the enemy in half.
"Nara! I'm coming!" Kiko's voice suddenly registered in her head, turning to see the upside down view of her squad-mate running to her. A few seconds of Nara trying to remove the spear still stuck in her, Kiko eventually grabbed the pole and pulled it free, much to the downed girl's relief.
As she felt her wounds slowly heal, she watched the ragged Kazu breathe heavily, grabbing his knees as he greedily sucked up air. Taking Kiko's hand to get up, Nara grabbed her blade that had fallen from her grasp and prepared to defend herself, using Kiko as a crutch. Instead, she found no scaly beasts near her, save for the dead ones that littered the ground.
"It's a good thing we caught up to you." Kiko informed her as they moved back towards the fighting, Kazu slowly following after them. "You suddenly broke away from us, so we couldn't cover you."
"Cover me?" Nara asked while limping, her body trying to flood the holes in her with the orange substance that ran with her blood.
"Have you not been paying attention? What's gotten into you?" Kiko asked, her tone growing more and more worried as they neared the battle, unsure as to why their enemies were in front of them.
"Oh… oh no." Nara said, staring at the hill to her left and the second horde lining up and preparing to release their first volley. Even as she watched her platoon and those behind them begin to get pelted by arrows, she didn't truly feel the horror of them losing the battle until the retreat horn was sounded, and the entire line of Inklings started to crumble.
"That was the retreat horn!" Renzo shouted at her, an arrow already embedded in the top of his shoulder. Ayumi looked at the Inklings still fighting, only finding more and more enemies instead. Afraid to turn around and look for Enri, Ayumi continuously deflected, standing side by side with Renzo as they tried falling back.
There were just too many enemies, Ayumi realized, even though there were only a dozen left. Even if she and Renzo could kill six each, Ayumi knew it would cost them both their lives. Not only that, but the rain and wind were picking up heavily, along with the occasional arrow being directed towards them, despite the chance of the arrow sticking in one of the archer's kinsmen.
Ayumi continued to step backwards, blocking the probing weapons as her enemies tested her guard. She stepped over or on top of bodies, both fish and Inkling, the entirety of the large river bank being fought upon now that ground was being given freely by her company.
With one misstep, Ayumi stumbled on the sinking sands, and was set upon by three weapons in a mere moment as her enemies realized her mistake. Using her good leg, she launched herself out of the way of the incoming thrusts, knocking a sword to the side with her own as she looked at what had tripped her.
An Inkling. A familiar Inkling lay motionless, several arrows piercing her body, from her legs to her unarmored back, to her head. Ayumi laughed as she saw the figure, half of her face slowly melting in the puddle of water that was forming underneath her bare face.
"AYUMI?! KEEP GOING!" Renzo shouted, himself having already caught up to her.
"Why are you here?" Ayumi asked as tears came freely from her eyes, never feeling so much rage before in her life. Enri, who had followed Ayumi all their lives lay dead, and was now being trampled over by the kin of those who had killed her.
Ayumi screamed as she charged, feeling her blade connect with the creatures who stood on her darling. She screamed Enri's name as weapons entered her body, the name of Enri being the only thing she could hear even as her throat filled with liquid and stopped her from screaming. Even as Ayumi was torn apart, she knew her love had been witnessed by at least one person who knew her, even as he himself was descended upon as their united front vanished with her suicidal charge.
Kiko continued to move, knowing she had to either drop Nara and make a run for the slope and hopefully climb it before she was shot, or cut a path with both Nara and Kazu, who were each on their last legs. She wasn't a warrior, or had extensive knowledge of combat like Renzo did, but seeing as he had been ripped apart, that didn't seem to matter anymore. Kiko knew the battle was over and had been since the retreat was sounded.
With a river behind them, and the enemies not chasing their company coming for them, Kiko had to make a decision and soon.
"Kazu, what do we do?" Kiko asked, hoping he had some sort of plan as he tried to keep the water out of his face. For a while, he was silent, before his sigh became audible in the downpour.
"I'll kill as many as I can. Take Nara and run inland. Try to sneak away in the rain and find a fortress." Kazu eventually aired his plan, not being a very good one. "Don't go back to the company. You'll only find more fish following them."
"What?! We're not leaving you!" Nara declared, speaking for the both of them.
"You will if you want to live." Kazu grimly said, before letting loose a mad laugh.
"Why?" Kiko asked, knowing this was the only chance she'd get to know anything more about the deceptive boy, who was now about to die fighting for them.
"Why what?"
"Why die for us? You can easily make it on your own." Kiko stated, starting to head towards the hill, away from Kazu, whose back was turned even as Nara weakly fought her.
"Because, Kiko. Love. I want to be loved, by those I can call friends. More than anything else! What kind of friend would I be, to let my own die?" Kazu called after her, knowing that he was being abandoned. "So don't die!"
Kiko cried with every step she took, trying to drag Nara even though the rain was bogging them down, and the river encroached towards them. Moving as quickly as she could, Kiko felt her heart sink as she realized she wouldn't be able to even let Kazu's death mean anything.
Six tall figures slowly raised their looted weapons as Kiko prepared to die, clinging onto Nara's body tightly.
Takeo ran through the woods, hoping beyond hope that his squad was in front of him somewhere. He chased after Ren, who was currently sprinting for all he was worth from those behind him. As they entered the woods proper, Takeo realized something was wrong by the ten figures that stood in both of their way.
"Taki, I presume?" Commander Kikimo asked, Tetsip standing a little way behind them.
"Commander? What is this?" Ren asked, checking behind several times at the forms that chased them.
"I can't have a platoon leader who won't play on my team, Ren. I understand covering for your lesser squids, but your betrayal is too much." Kikimo said, raising a hand for his squid-guards to discharge their harquebuses at the charging Inkling.
Takeo felt nothing as Ren was forced into his lesser form, his normal body changing to a fourth of the size in a violent explosion of blue. He sighed as he watched the commander stab the fallen platoon leader, separating the smaller body into pieces with his great sword.
"So, Taki is it?" Kikimo asked again.
"Takeo." Takeo corrected, taking a battle stance against the seven squid-guard, commander, and sub-commander.
"So… you're not Taki." Kikimo stated.
Takeo looked at the last figure, who was remaining in the shadows of the rain. Despite him trying to hide himself, this figure was obviously not an Inkling, as he was much too tall and thin, and wasn't covered by any protective covering. Takeo let a laugh without humor out as he realized his commander was in league with the fish they were enemies with.
"No. But I am in his squad. Did you start this battle hoping to kill us, or was this already a part of your plan?" Takeo asked, aware that he was being surrounded.
"Does it matter?"
"I guess not. It doesn't matter. He'll kill you, even if I won't."
"Who will? This Taki, who I'm told doesn't exist?"
"Oh, he does. He's the most annoying piece of shit in all of existence. He wasted an entire year of my life pretending to be a retard."
"How scary."
"More than you know." Takeo scoffed, trying to inch closer to the stationary Tetsip, who was the closest to him, with his weapon embedded in the earth no less. "You won't even see him coming."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because, everyone who's ever seen him will be dead!" Takeo shouted, leaping at the perplexed face of the traitor sub-commander, knowing his blade wouldn't reach the Inkling's neck before he was impaled by seven spears.
