Chapter 13: Invasion: Part 3

"The three of you working together can easily take me on."

"Huh? Where did that come from, Senpai?"

Tsukiko Squad was currently in their operating room with their leader eating ice-cream and the other three just hanging around. They had duty later on, but just figured they would use their free time to idle about.

"I'm just saying. You three are definitely strong in your own right, but can't do much against someone like me or stronger. You can get a few hits in here and there, but there are people who can easily out-class me even when using my Side Effect."

"What are you getting at, Captain?" Suzume asked, taking her earbuds out.

"I'm saying that it's always better to fight together, for you three. You're strong alone, you're stronger when you have teammates, but you're strongest when fighting together."

"That's obvious. Everyone is at their best with their own squads, so of course that would go for us too," Toby said as he finished his chocolate bar.

"That's true, but...You three are different from everyone else. I don't know if you notice this but I'm sure Mei-chan has. You three always compliment each othe in battle, whether you realize it or not."

"Porcupine!"

"Asteroid."

Takeshi and Toby jumped back from the hit that the Rabbit tried to land. While the blades all around Toby retracted, the orbs around Takeshi were gone.

The two were use to working together. They knew how the other would move and what attack they would unleash. That being said, so did the squad's Sniper.

"Suzume-senpai."

"Right!"

The two jumped to the side just as a shot past them and hit the Rabbit. It didn't cause too much damage, but there was now a fifth bullet sized hole in its arm. Something like that was a deciding factor in any if their fights.

"You two, I'm gonna use that, so get ready to land the finishing blow," Takeshi said as the three orbs floated around his head again.

"Sure thing!"

"Gotcha!"

The three orbs flew towards the Rabbit, but split up and made a triangle around it. Multiple small beams shot from each one and headed for the Trion Soldier. They followed after it when it jumped up and even when it moved to the side.

"Just get hit by my Laser Circus."

"You honestly read too much manga."

Toby ignored his two teammates and got into position. He was right in front of the Rabbit with blades coming out of his body. He rushed forward and met the Trion Solider head on.

The Rabbit tried to land a punch, but was hit by the beams following it.

Toby easily dodged the punch and beams before using Teleport to appear above the Trion solider and slashed at its eye.

The Rabbit fell to the ground with a thud while Toby let out a sigh and fixed his hat. He could hear the other two going at it and let out a small sigh.

He looked around and saw that they were able to keep the damage to a minimum, but some houses were destroyed.

'Nothing we can do about it now.'

CRASH!

Toby felt something stab into his back.

He felt like something was pulling him backwards and saw three beams headed for him. He got ready for another fight as the beams went around him and towards whatever was behind him. He felt the pull stop and he quickly turned around.

He went wide eyed at what he saw.

Standing before both he and Takeshi were two new Rabbits with different designs.

"Toby, your back!"

Before he could think about what was being said, he felt the same pull from before and was quickly brought to the ground. He tried to get up, but the pull was too strong.

'Gravity? No. It doesn't feel like Lead Bullets, so... That crackling sound... Magnets! These things can use magnets too!?'

He heard a loud noise and looked up to see one of the new designed Rabbits flying in the air. He saw two beams pass above him and quickly used Scorpion to dislodge the two things from his back. He rolled to the side as the flying one smashed into the ground.

A shot was fired and hit the new designed Trion Soldier, but left only a small hole.

Toby jumped up and used Teleport to get closer, but the new designed Rabbit flew into the air again. He used Teleport to follow it, but missed his target and got hit by a powerful punch that sent him crashing to the ground.

Meanwhile, Takeshi had been trying to land a hit on the other new designed Rabbit, but was only using his Asteroid beams. He tried to get more power instead of using Hound or Viper's trajectory changing abilities since they would still somehow escape.

He had both his hands out as he fired from the (now five) orbs around his head. Each shot out two beams with only a half of them actually hitting.

'Damn it... Our opponents are our opposites... We're too far to actually switch as well...'

Takeshi continued to fire, but kept an eye for where everything was. Generally speaking, he was not smarter than Toby. But when it came to tactics and mid-battle strategies, he was far better than Toby was.

"Senpai, see if you can help Toby and push them closer to where I am. Toby, when we're close enough, we're gonna switch opponents."

"Roger!"

Jumping back a little, Takeshi let loose his beams again. He could hear the sounds of Suzume's shots and kept an eye around him to make sure he would be close enough.

On the other side of things, Toby dodged a hit from the speeding Rabbit. He tried to get a few good hits in, but ever time he got close, it flew back up.

He tried using Teleport in collaboration with Suzume's shots, but the Trion solider seemed to only mind the shots.

While in the air, he continued to move his eyes to use Teleport while slashing along with the shots. This seemed to have a good effect as the Rabbit couldn't block all of the hits and tried to move away.

"Take, we're good!"

"Right."

Toby started to fall. As he did so, he turned his body so that he was facing Takeshi and the other new designed Rabbit.

Takeshi followed his teammates example and turned around as well while his opponent was distracted.

The two Rabbits went for another attack.

"Teleport!"

"Teleport."

Takeshi was now in the air.

Toby was now on the ground.

"Hedgehog!"

"Laser Circus."

Multiple Scorpion blades sprang from Toby's back and stopped the Rabbit in its tracks.

Seeing this, Toby formed two more Scorpion blades - after losing the ones on his back - and looked around to use Teleport. He quickly moved around and continued to slash at it before slashing at its eye.

.

While in the air, the flying Rabbit tried to dodge the attacks by flying, but the beams let out by Takeshi easily followed their target and caged it in before pelting it non-stop from all directions.

The beams blew holes through the Rabbit. They started moving around inside the Rabbit like a sword that was used to chop a bamboo dummy multiple times. They didn't stop until they completly destroyed it.

Takeshi smirked at his work as he fell to the ground.

He put his hand on his ear and said, "Next is helping out Yuki-senpai."

"You're damn right!"

"You're damn right!"

"Target confirmed. A flock of baby birds. They're evacuating the citizens," one of the Neighbor girls said as she looked at her screen.

"Of course. No wonder nobody came out when we disturbed their nest."

"Now then. Let's capture those baby birds," Hairein said with a smirk. "Miden's manpower is favorably dispersed. Everything is ready for the Rabbits to carry out their mission. The investigation by out Rads revealed that the baby birds' Triggers don't have an escape function. All of you, go play with the Miden soldiers, so the a Rabbits can do their jobs."

"Hm. Looks like even a small animal can have a nasty poison in them," Pyr said as she looked at the screen.

They all look at the screens to see a large shot fired, destroying one of the Rabbits.

"That Trion reading sure is amazing. I would love to make that creature my personal pet."

"Was that a Black Trigger?" Hairein asked, looking back at the footage.

"No, not a Black Trigger," the second girl said. "The reading was of a normal Trigger... Or should be."

"A new enemy!? They've destroyed two modded Rabbits already!"

"It's not a combatant, but one of the baby birds. But these numbers..."

"A golden goose. How unexpected..." Hairein looked up and started looking from one of them to another while saying, "Ranbanein. Enedora. Pyr. We'll send you through a Gate as planned. Scatter the Miden soldiers and support the Rabbits. But don't go all out. We're only looking to scatter them. Mira's Trigger will retrieve you if you get in danger. And you, you will do the same."

"'Danger'? As if Miden's small fry could hurt me!" Enedora said, getting an agreement from Pyr.

"Visa. Hyuse. Go after the golden goose, we might be lucky enough...to acquire a new god."

In four different places, Gates opened up.

One opened up to show a black haired man with black horns.

The #3 A-Rank saw this Gate.

One opened up to show a man with red hair and regular horns.

Two Snipers saw this Gate.

One opened up to show an orange haired girl with regular horns.

A new A-Rank saw this one.

One opened up to show an old man and a young man with horns.

Agents from a certain branch saw this Gate.

"Commence with combat."

He would soon show his true colors.

'So it has finally begun... Good~'

He wore a sinister grin that went unnoticed by everyone else.

"I see. Alright. I'll head over there right away. Just wait for me."

Ketsueki turned to the B-Rank squad he was with. He had been helping them while also regrouping with the other agents.

"I'm sorry, but I must be going to assist in guiding the C-Ranks to the base. I have no doubt that Rei-san and the others are more than capable for something like that, but I've been having this bad feeling for a while now. If you don't mind..."

"No. By all means, head over to assist them."

"Right. Some other B-Rank squads should be around this area, so just meet up with them and you should be fine."

"Right!"

Oshiro and Hitsugi watched Ketsueki take his leave by jumping onto the buildings.

They had heard Kimura tell them that there really were some B-Ranks nearby and got ready to meet up with them.

They had been moving as a group and were able to take out a large amount of Trion soldiers. But not that they knew more B-Rank were close by they didn't try to take the Trion soldiers out. They figured they would regroup and get more done that way,

Hitsugi let out a frustrated sigh once she noticed that Misó wasn't moving faster.

"Hey, Misó, why don't you- ...!?"

Trion body limit exceeded. Bail Out.

Oshiro turned around, but jumped up a split second after. He landed on one of the buildings and looked down to see Misó looking up at him with a large grin.

Misó Epanástasi was the type of person anyone could hate. He loved seeing others in pain, while also liking any pain brought upon himself. He was a selfish person who only cared about information, pain and himself, so it would not be too far off to say he was someone who should not have been allowed in Border to begin with.

Something like this shocked his squad though. They knew he could be the worst person to know at times, but they didn't think he would purposely cause someone to Bail Out while in the middle of an invasion.

"What the fuck, Misó!? Why the hell did you-"

"Trigger off."

Misó couldn't hear the Shooter anymore.

He was now in his real body.

"Kirai-kun, what are you..."

Misó continued to grin as he pulled something out of his pocket.

"Hey, captain... I hate you. I hate every single thing about you. I'm not saying this to 'encourage you to win' or anything. I seriously hate you with every ounce of my being. You are the one who hurts my pride the most. You hurt it beyond even the point of enjoyment. You have information that even I don't know, and even when you get hurt you put that same fucking smile on. You have absolutely no idea how many times I wanted to just breaks every bone in your body, smash your face in and then dump you off somewhere for the crows to peck at your barely living form that wouldn't even be recognizable to someone with 100% perfect memory."

Oshiro started with wide eyes as Misó continued to say these things with a grin in place.

"Oh, and one more thing... My name is Misó. Just Misó. You can stop calling me 'Kirai' now. I am Misó of Aftokrator."

Oshiro froze.

He couldn't properly register what had just been said. Multiple things rushed through his head.

He's lying, right?

He couldn't possibly be one of them, right?

He just wants to see pain again, right?

If he really was from Aftokrator, then he would have-

"Págos."

He was back in a Trion body. This one was different from the one before. Instead of being in the Hogo Squad uniform, he was now wearing a gray and black outfit that had a large coat covering it.

This was the proof. The proof that he was telling the truth.

"Now let's begin."

One battlefield that was located southwest of the Border base had an old man and a young man.

"Oh dear. I'm not sure I feel quite right about abducting children."

"It's our duty."

This was the battlefield that also contained Tamakoma Branch's strongest squad.

One battlefield that was located east of the Border base had a black haired man with heterochromatic eyes.

"It's a humanoid Neighbor, Kazama-san."

"Yeah, and... He has black horns. Seems like we drew the short straw."

This was the battlefield that also contained the #3 A-Rank squad.

On a separate, and moving, battlefield stood a woman with orange hair.

"Only one person? I'm gonna have to complain to Mira after this." She turned to her opponent and let out a sigh. "At least it's a cutie. Hey, how would you like to come home with me and be my personal pet? I'll treat you kindly~~"

"Nope. I already have a crazy Operator to take care of, so I don't need you. Thanks for the offer and the opportunity to come and fight, but..."

Tsukiko Yuki held a pole in his hand. The pole was completely back and was the length of his arm. One end had a pointed tip while the other had a blunt end.

He spun the pole in his grasp. When he stopped, the pointed tip was now covered with Trion and looked like a scythe belonging to the grim reaper.

"I'm going to take you down now."

"Fine. I guess I'll just blow off your legs so you can run. By the way, what is the name if my new pet?"

"I don't know. But my name is Tsukiko Yuki."

"Well mine is Pyr."

"Humanoid Neighbors, huh? ... Sigh. So damn irritating. ... Alright. Give us the exact locations of each fight."

Sekai spoke to his squad's Operator while the others listened in. They seemed to be farther than other squads, so they needed to be kept up on everything going around on the other battlefields.

"Alright... So Azuma-san's group, Tamakoma, Tsukiko, Hogo, and Kazama Squad... Disregarding our current position, Tamakoma should be more than capable of taking care of their opponents. If Ketsu is also there, they shouldn't have any issue."

Putting his chin between his fingers, Sekai started to think. The group's current position gave them a chance to help one of two sides. Which one depended on who needed more help.

"Tsukiko is by himself... But Taichi, Chano Squad and two of Arafune Squad have already been taken out... Alright. Minoru, you and I will head over to help out Tsukiko. Jinsei, you and the other two... No. I want you three to head over to the base actually. Take out any Trion soldiers you can, but try not to lose too much Trion."

The usually lazy-looking guy really gave off the impression of a leader now. But what he just said had confused the whole group. To them, it made more sense for them to assist in the battle that Azuma was on instead of going to the base.

Sekai continued to think though.

"I'm not saying you three won't be helpful in these battles, but something's been bugging me... Sigh. Just head over there. If anything, the Neighbors will be following the C-Rank agents to the base, assuming Tamakoma can't take them out before they reach the base. It would be best to keep them safe since they don't have Bail Out."

Jinsei and Daigo, who were in the same squad as Sekai and knew more about him, understood that if something about a fight was bugging him he would be more cautious. If it came to that then something really was bound to happen.

Minoru nodded his head and told Svantje to follow Jinsei and Daigo back to the base.

Sekai scrunched up his eyebrows.

'That bastard Misó...'

On a different battlefield, Mei shot a basic model Rabbit with Lead Bullets as she blocked a hit from a regular Marmod with her Kogetsu.

"Asteroid."

A cube of Trion appeared at her side before splitting up and destroying the Marmods that had surrounded her.

She pushed the one in front of her back and quickly went in to stab it in its eye.

She walked up to the downed Rabbit and stabbed its eye as well. She used Kōgetsu to split it open and take the cubes that were in it.

"Takaoto to HQ. I've gotten some more agents."

"Good job, Mei. We need you to go over and help Yuki out. He's facing a humanoid Neighbor. They have a regular Trigger, but we don't know what they are capable of. We are having other agents deal with more humanoid Neighbors, and your the closest to him. Hatohara and Hikigane are headed over to him as well."

"Right. I'll go over right now."

Using her Side Effect, Mei started thinking of her strategy. She hadn't been told anything else, but that didn't stop her. She would come up with hundreds upon hundreds of strategies before even making it half way to the battlefield.

'I just hope he doesn't destroy more than necessary.'

Letting out a sigh, Mei jumped a bit when she head a voice in her ear.

"Mei-san?"

"Hm? Oh. Suzume. Sorry I haven't been helping you guys out. I was busy getting rid of some soldiers."

"Wait, since when did you fight!?"

"Now isn't the time for that. Mei-san, do you know where Yuki-senpai is? We are going to go help him out."

"I'm headed over there right now. I've been told he, along with others in different areas, are fighting humanoid Neighbors, so your help will be useful. I'll send you all the coordinates."

"Alright. Thank you."

"Right. Hurry up, and don't be late."

Mei let out a sigh as he sped through the battlefield. She wasn't using the Trigger that was made just for her, so she felt like her pace was agonizingly slow. She didn't let that get to her though.

Her mind went back to a conversation she and Yuki had.

"Why did you tell them that? You already know that even if you tell them that, they only see it as backing you up, not really each other," Mei said as she typed away on her computer.

"That's true, but the parts that are attached to me are the parts I need them to get rid of," Yuki answered with a tub of ice-cream in front of him. "They are each their own person and I need them to realize that."

"You make it sound like they are just AI who learn for others."

"In a sense...they are like that."

Mei turned from her computer and gave a questioning look to her friend.

"Care to explain?"

"Think about Takeshi's personality, Toby when he got here, and Suzu's Side Effects." He took another spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth. "Takeshi sees almost everything as a blank canvas, so it's easy for someone like me, who can interest him, to 'paint something' on it. Suzu's Side Effect find a persons Rhythm, and she accommodates to it. She's like an instrument a person can play. Toby sticks with me because, besides Arashiyama Squad, I was the only one to really see him past his appearance. They need to learn to move forward without me."

"Hm. This coming for you and your Side Effect... It sounds like a bad joke."

"That may be, but it's true. They can't change their Side Effects, and I don't want them to change their personalities, but I do want them to know that they should work at their own pace and not try to match someone else's."

"..."

Mei didn't answer and simply turned back to her computer. She typed furiously as her friend continued to talk.

"Huh? Why are you mad?"

"..."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for sounding like a hypocrite, but..."

"No... Recently, I haven't been able to say you're being a hypocrite."

"What do you mean?"

"..."

"Mei, don't ignore me~"

'That idiot. He hasn't even noticed that he's going back to his old habits...'

Mei shook her head as she rushed to her best friend's side.

She would go meet up with him, thousands of strategies ready to use, and win. They would beat their opponent like they had before. They would not lose to a single person.

That was how they were.